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We have a Mazda CX7 which was 3 years old in Feb 2011. It has done less than 27,000km since NZ new yet the tires are virtually bald, I am used to getting 60,000km out of a set of tyres but this is less than half that.

The tyres are Bridgestone Turanzas - are the manufactururers trying to save money by putting short life tyres on new cars?

This is not an uncommon occurrence for a lot of different manufacturers.

It’s not about manufacturers deliberately fitting short life tyres, its often more about the tyres not being specifically designed for NZ roads. Our roads in NZ are often described as low initial cost but high maintenance due to the course chip we use. And some of our road surfaces are much better than others.

While it would be ideal for Mazda NZ to specify a particular type of tyre to suit our roads, the reality is they don’t really get much of a say because of our low volume numbers in comparison to other markets.

On a positive note, the original spec tyres will provide excellent braking, ride comfort and handling performance.

Don’t forget also the CX7 is a fairly big and heavy vehicle. I’m not sure you are going to get 60K out of a new set of tyres, but I would expect better than 25K.

An awful lot depends on keeping the pressures set as per manufactures recommendations along with just how and where the vehicle is driven.