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Comments
I certainly haven't noticed any true roughness in the transmission's operation, but I try to be *very* gentle on the tranny in the first 2 miles of driving, especially in winter. I'm not sure where you live, but low winter temps are transmission killers.
Tranny fluid doesn't flow very fast at start up, and unfortunately it takes MUCH longer to warm up tranny fluid at startup than it does motor oil. This is probably what you are experiencing. Try not to push so hard on the accelerator just after startup. When first engaging drive, let the tranny stay in first gear as long as it needs to. I also have been tempted to switch it to 2nd gear manually after 5-6 seconds, but it's better not to..the car will shift when the time is right.
The only way I can think of alleviating this situation somewhat is to idle your car about 1.5 to 3 minutes in the cold weather before taking off *with* your AC, Defrost, & Fan all off, and with the heater in the "cold" position.
This will warm up your engine faster,
*which will in turn warm up the coolant faster,
*which will in turn warm up your tranny fluid faster,
*which will in turn make it will flow quicker -
*which will in turn leader to easier initial shifting
(but it's still going to be a little rough)
Jeez, look at this rambling message (yikes)...
*To summarize, warmup your car longer in cold temps, and be very easy on the accelerator for 2 miles.
And Gandrigo, I completely agree with you. I don't regret this car purchase for a second. It would be nice to have a car without some 1st year assembly-design bugs, but they haven't affected me, and I just love how confidently it drives, how it's packed with features (safety & amenities), as well as how beautiful it is in terms of looks and price.
I intend to keep this one a LONG time...hey maybe even my baby daughter will be able to drive it, and not be laughed at by her high-school friends...who knows, by 2020, the Mazda3 could be well on its way to being a retro-classic!
I can understand some technical glitches on a new model; which I haven't had yet (fingers crossed). There is so much computing power and sensors in modern cars it's amazing.
I am slightly concerned about the rear brakes and some slight scoring I am seeing.
Car has been great though: no rattles, plenty of power, no leaks, no wierd noises and it handles wonderfully. Great value too.
Before asking the dealer if this was supposed to be standard equipment I want to ask the board. And if it is something you buy from the dealer if it is worth it or is it as flimsy as as was mentioned before.
Why not just call up a dealer in your area and ask if its standard equipment...
All Canadian-spec Mazda3's come with this driver's floor mat holder. The factory places it in the trunk (along with the license plate holders, antenna, and other stuff), and is the dealer's responsibility to install it during PDI (or PDE as Mazda Canada likes to call it).
If you have the Mazda3 all-weather floormats (i.e. the rubber ones), then forget about this hook because the hole on these rubber floormats don't match the location of the hook.
So definitely ask your dealer where your holder is. Speaking of which, which dealer did you get your car from, because my dealer is also in west Toronto (Westowne), so I was wondering if it was them.
In the early posts in this discussion board there was a lot of mention of excessive rear brake rotor wear and dust. PSYMN, mentioned that they had to replace the rear rotors and pads as they were already worn down after only 750 miles.
I took a closer look at my car today and noticed that there is a build up of dust on my rear rims (when compared to my front). If anyone can provide any input as to the proper way to inspect brake rotors, this would be appreciated.
Has anyone else had an issue with their rear brake rotor with regards to abnormal wearing and dust? Has anyone already brought their Mazda3 into their dealership for inspection (and repair if necessary)?
I am probably going to give Mazda Canada a call tomorrow to see if this is becoming an issue. Also I will probably bring the car in this week so that they can perform a quick inspection.
I’ll keep the board posted.
GT Sport
Titanium
The first snowstorm with the Mazda3 provided me with a huge surprise. When I went to open the trunk to get my snowbrush I filled my trunk with a foot of snow. I now leave the brush in the back seat. The gap is very large between the window and trunk, many times this freezes over and I spend time chipping away to access the trunk. I wish there was something to hold onto when opening the trunk, the rear has a great sleek look, but now I'm haunted by my first question to my salesman ... does it have a remote trunk release on its key? No was the answer .... I WISH IT DID! Anyone else find this a major nuisance?
wongpres - It is Westown, the owner is a hands on guy, his kids work there too. Been super to deal with.
Note: The carpet ramp where you rest your left foot is unprotected. My other cars have always has a rubber/plastic piece on top of the carpet as this area is always being used and tends to whereout quickly.
We bought generic winter mats yesterday and cut them so a flap covers the foot rest. I am not sure how I will protect it in the summer. Maybe an iron on patch?
My salesguy was the owner's son and my experiences have been ok so far. My Mazda3 order was submitted to corporate about a month ago with April delivery.
Regarding mats, I'm looking into Weathertech mats. Extremely expensive but the highest quality out there (but still doesn't protect the left footrest).
1davao
I removed my fabric car mats the day after I got my car and put in rubber mats ..... the left foot however is very annoying. I had a rubber pad in my last vehicle. I don't know about Ironing something on? I was thinking of lining the whole foot area with plastic until the salt season ends.
As I first reported this problem a few weeks ago, I have since gotten my parts. The way it is supposed to function is this: You start your car, the light should go off almost automatically (if not 1-2 seconds later). If it's going off a minute later or quite a while later, there is definitely a problem with the sensor.
Now, what I was told at the dealer is that due to the sensor being faulty, it was disabling the air bag system altogether (even though my light was sometimes off). I would definitely get this checked because you want to make sure your airbag system is functioning problem and not disabled in case (heaven forbid) you would need it.
I'm glad to say that after this problem was fixed, everything seems to be working properly. Car runs beautifully, and I'm glad I got this fixed right now. Heck, my dealer even gave me my first 8000km maintenance for free because I had to bring my car in for service so quickly after buying it.
-- stokkes
-- stokkes
They informed me that the airbag sensor part should arrive sometime next week. In the meantime, they said that 'they' were not comfortable with me driving the car since the airbag would not deploy in case of an accident. They also offered to obtain a free car rental for me until the part arrives and the problem has been fixed.
Now, I have driven cars in the past that did not have airbags to begin with, and I ALWAYS wear my seatbelt anyway. So, I'm not sure whether or not I'll take them up on their offer. However, just the fact that they have gone the extra mile here, without me even making a peep is simply amazing customer service. If they can continue to keep this sort of customer relations up, I'll be buying 2 more Mazda's over the next several years to replace my current other vehicles.
They have two locations - one on Yonge Street just south of Steeles, the other is also on Yonge Street just north of Major Mackenzie. I go to the second one, although the customer service should be equal at both since they are both owned by the same party.
See my post #92 for more detail.
Jim
Stopped at our dealer today in northern VA and service rep said this was first he had heard of either of these problems.
My experience is, unless there is a TSB issued, they don't seem that concerned about looking into a problem.
Anyone know of Mazda issuing TSB yet?
Am considering purchasing an M3 (no, not _that_ M3). Currently own a '94 Protege, before that had an '85 RX-7. I remember when I was researching for the purchase of the Protege, Consumer Reports or another consumer magazine recommended the Mazdas, but to avoid the manual tranny, I think more having to do with clutch probs than actual tranny probs.
Does anyone know if Mazda has improved their reputation in this regard?
Thanks!
No they don't improve their reputation. They just improved the reliability of their products, and in all regards but a painting problem for the N/A spec Mazda6.
Currently, Mazda3 common problems are:
- CEL issue (calibration problem, fixed),
- airbag sensor problem (crack because too tightly fasten at the factory, fixed),
- brake rotors wear strangely (unresolved issue).
Bruno
My Mazda3 takes a little more than a second before it starts, this is with a cold, warm or hot engine it does not make any difference.
It seems to me this is slightly longer (cranking time) than the V8's I normally drive. But I don't see it as a problem.
Called Mazda roadside assistance and they dispatched a truck promptly and towed it away to the dealership. (Important: Mazda will tow to the closest dealership only)
Anyway, they looked at it for 2 days and test drove it and found no problem.
I am thinking that they fixed something but are just not saying what. Maybe something as simple as a loose hose connection or a leaking hose.
Anyway I drove it after getting it from the dealership for about 40 miles and did not find anything this morning. So keeping my fingers crossed.
But jeez 500 miles. Just my luck
"If there are ever any concerns that the dealership is having difficulty with repairing at this time (such as you suggested), be assured that EVERY Mazda dealership will directly contact their Quality Assurance resources immediately. Each Mazda dealership has access to Mazda's Quality Assurance Department via a technical hotline. This is offered to each dealership should they need assistance from Mazda with diagnosing or repairing a Mazda vehicle."
The problem is, my dealer, a large one in Va, claims the brake dust and rotor grooving is normal. They don't see any reason to contact Mazda about it.
When you think about it, if all dealers have that attitude, Mazda won't bother with issuing a TSB although I'm sure they monitor this and other forums, where there are plenty of posts about brake and airbag problems.
all of the sudden i am seeing 3's all over the place here in DC/NoVA. i think Mazda is doing some marketing around here. i also keep seeing the same blue 6 HATCHback....
anyway, the 3 sedan looks great in real life. the 3 hatch would look as good, if they would take off the ground effects. less is more! my opinion.
I bought this car cause my old one was in the shop constantly, which was understandable because it was 10 years old. I wouldn't have ever thought my new Mazda 3 would have to go into the shop 3 times in the first 3 months.
The Mazda 3 is a huge disappointment, as is my dealership that recommends I drive a car with no airbag!
And that's my vent.
You should have known going in and purchasing a car in it's first year - no, it's first couple of months - of availability, that there might be some hiccups to deal with. So far, it's the only widespread hiccup we've had to deal with on this car - hopefully the only one. Personally, I'm not at all disappointed (even though I'm dealing with the same issue). In fact, I even turned down the offer of a free rental vehicle. Gee, do I drive a Cavalier with a working airbag system or my 3 without the airbag system...No brainer.
I can see that you wouldn't be happy about it and you needed to vent, but I think you went a little too far.
In your defense, I don't think you were too harsh. You just spent around 20k dollars and have a car that you are dissapointed with. You are entitled to be disgruntled -- it was your hard-earned money!
I have had both the CEL problem and the Airbag Light problem inside of 1000 miles and am a little dissapointed myself. Of the 15 or so cars I've owned, the only other brand new car I ever bought was a (close your eyes, Petpad...) 1987 Ford Mustang GT and which was also the first year of a major redesign. It was in the shop exactly once in the 4 years and 65,000 miles I owned it. So, my Mazda is considerably worse. (Also, for what it's worth, My wife's 2003 Nissan Pathfinder has never been in the shop.)
Anyway, I think it is inexcusable for your dealership to have not offered you a loaner -- mine did. And even more amazing is that they say it will take 6 weeks to get the new sensor. My dealer got one inside of 24 hours.
My 3s is a really great car and I do expect it to get better once the bugs are worked out. I am more dissapointed with Mazda's cold-weather testing than with the car itself.
And Pile_on, I would suggest that you find another dealer -- one that is willing to work with you not just brush you off.
However, so far, in the two months that I've owned my 3, I've had it at the dealer a few times to fix some parts (broken sensor, etc). Each time they were extremely courteous and even gave me a free oil change and free 8000km maintenance because my car was in the shop so early. I have nothing but praise for my dealership as they have gone the lengths to make me happy. Heck, they even rented a car for me for 2 hours so i could drive my girlfriend to work.
For me, I have no problems recommending mazda, and I believe that if you have a good relationship with your dealer that good things will come of it. Unfortunately, not all dealers are good, and it's important to try and find the good ones.
-- stokkes
Are we allowed to mention dealer names in here?
If so, maybe those of us blessed with good dealers should let everyone else in on who they are?
Thanks for you help!
The fact that the brake dust is much worse on the rear is probably due to the fact that most of the braking force is applied to the rear rotors.
Does anyone know if this is per design? At this rate the rear pads will wear out quickly, as will the rotors. I see no point in having the dealer put new pads on or replacing the rotors, the same problem will just occur again.
At least after 400 miles, the scraping noise while stopping seems to be going away.