Mazda Repair: CV Joint replacement, cv joint replacement, cv axle

Question
I just had both transaxles replaced in my 1994 323 in January of this year (2009).  Today when cleaning out my glove box, I found a receipt from the previous owner showing transaxle replacement in February of 2003.  Six years does not seem a long life for a repair of this nature - is this unusual, and can it be signalling something else?

Answer
Not my area of expertise however it is common for shops to replace CV axle assemblies with low cost remanufactured ones.  You get what you pay for if you don't request Mazda or at least a well know brand of remanufactured.  Mileage and type of driving bears heavily on CV wear.  For example straight forward highway cars see less wear on CVs whereas city cars with loads of stop start and frequent turns see more wear.  I had one customer who parked on a 4th floor parking garage, he traversed the circular ramp twice everyday wore out both right hand tires and the front right CV twice inside of 60k.