2002 MAZDA MPV User Comment / Complaint

My family & i just experience the same catastrophic transmission failure as described in these entries. we have a 2002 mpv es with 54,000 miles and were returning from a weekend gateway to coer d eleene id. luckily we stopped at a state park to stretch when the transmission gave out, 130 miles from home. after arranging for our mpv to be towed to the nearest mazda dealership i pondered what went wrong and if i overlooked something. i came up with the following items. i performed all the regularly scheduled maintenance. i believed i mentioned on two separate service visits that the vehicles rpm are running high before a gear shift occurred but i don't see these comments in the customer invoice. during our trip i did notice the shift flaring but only when going up moderate to steep hills. i'm also very disappointed with mazda, i was expecting a much more reliable & dependable vehicle. i now question if i'll ever purchase a mazda made vehicle again.