Mazda’s vehicles have been go-to suggestions among enthusiasts for a long time. The automaker has an uncanny talent for turning boring cars into reasonably fun machines, and, up until recently, Mazdas have punched above their weight in terms of value quotient. But a number of 2012-2013 Mazda 3 owners are at risk of having to recant their faith in Mazda, now that an out-of-production part has left their cars without hope for repair.
The replacement part is a cable in the gear shifter assembly of the first Mazda 3 Skyactiv models in North America, specifically those equipped with the 2.0-liter inline-four engine and six-speed manual transmission. It turns out that cars with this combination of engine and transmission use a cable that’s unique to them.
Mazda stopped making this cable as a replacement part in 2019, according to multiple owner accounts that cite Mazda dealers. The cable enables gear shifts in cars with the beloved 6MT, but it can fray over time. If the cable fails, or when the cable fails, the transmission becomes inoperable, rendering otherwise-good Mazdas incapable of driving, as one frustrated owner tells The Drive. Timothy Allen owns a 2013 Mazda 3 with the Skyactiv engine and a six-speed stick. He explains:
“The vehicle started out having difficulty engaging third and fifth gears at speed. The engagements became more and more vague to the point where now they are difficult to use at all. The cable has frayed and split at the transmission end where it attaches to the linkage. Given that it’s a multi-material (metal braid, metal core, plastic grommet, rubber shell) assembly, DIY repairing doesn’t seem too possible. I’m looking at getting a custom cable set made, but initial estimates put this at several thousand dollars here in SoCal. I’ve contacted numerous Mazda parts vendors and done an exhaustive search, to no avail.”
Allen tells me he’s been a Mazda owner for almost three decades, and actually learned to drive in a 1996 Mazda MPV minivan. The issue with Mazda no longer making replacement cables for certain Mazda 3s came as a surprise for Allen, who says he’s had no trouble with replacement parts for his old MPV as recently as 2019.
Even after 23 years, Mazda made “most all parts” for the underrated minivan, according to Allen. This makes the lack of a replacement cable for his 11-year-old Mazda3 all the more frustrating. As it stands, his car is no longer “drivable without skipping first, third, and fifth altogether.”
One Mazda dealer who was unable to get a replacement cable for Allen’s Mazda 3 said junking the car is the likely outcome—something that no one who loves their car ever wants to hear. Allen goes on to say:
“It’s a shame because this is the single most reliable vehicle I’ve ever owned. With almost 250K hard SoCal city miles, it still retains the original clutch and the check engine light has never come on. I’ve just changed fluids, brakes, and shocks. It still gets 35 mpg and burns absolutely none of its 0w20 full synthetic after all this time. I can’t think of another car that can tout all this plus a manual and a hatch at this mileage. That being said, I also can’t think of another mass-produced 2013 economy car whose brand has completely abandoned a critical mechanical component support already, while thousands of them are still faithfully on the road here in America.”
Worst of all, Allen’s Mazda3 is under the average age of cars in the U.S., which hit 12.5 years in 2023. This issue affects vehicles that are 11-12 years old—meaning, cars that aren’t very old at all. It’s unclear if the issue is related to the shift cable’s life in terms of age or use.
Other owners report the failure in models that haven’t gone past 100,000 miles, while Allen’s is close to 250,000. Owners of these manual Mazda 3s have taken to Reddit and forums to collectively throw their hands up in frustration, or for help finding the elusive shift cable.
Some owners on Reddit have undertaken exhaustive searches for the cable online and at local dealerships and wreckers, but have only come across “other people looking for it, too.” The common reply on Mazda Forum or Mazda3 Revolution is to suggest junkyards or dismantlers who, by some miracle, might just have the cable. Owners have considered custom-fabricated cables, but the attempts have gone nowhere.
Without replacement cables, there’s no straightforward path to repairing these specific Skyactiv cars. They’re basically being pushed to an early grave, but so it goes in a world where everything’s getting harder to repair. It just hurts that this obscure Achilles heel is killing off manual cars, which are anecdotally known for outliving their automatic cousins.
We’ve reached out to Mazda but have yet to receive comment.
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