CX-8 KG inspection checklist

Look for: Mazda was part of the industry-wide Takata airbag campaign; while most KG CX-8s post-date the worst affected stock, any car with replacement or imported parts should be VIN-checked, as a faulty inflator can deploy with metal fragments.

Look for: Post-injection during DPF regeneration washes diesel past the rings into the sump. On short urban trips the regen never completes, the oil level rises (a 'high oil level' warning), the oil thins and engine wear or damage can follow. A signature SkyActiv-D issue shared with the CX-5 diesel and addressed by Mazda recall REC-000894 (ECM/DPF software update plus a revised dipstick).

Look for: Heavy soot coking of the intake manifold, swirl/shutter valves and EGR causes rough running, lost power and limp mode, and can break a shutter valve - posing a debris risk to the engine. Increasingly common on these as they age and on town-driven cars.

Look for: The sequential twin-turbo system can suffer wastegate/actuator breakage and exhaust-pressure-sensor faults, causing boost errors, limp mode and power loss - the same hardware as the troublesome CX-5 diesel.

Look for: Leaking injector copper seals let combustion gases and soot past, and carbon can block the oil-pickup strainer dropping oil pressure - both reported across the 2.2 SkyActiv-D.