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Comments
Had to sign up and throw in my 2 cents here. I got my M3 sedan GT in Dec 2003 (one of the first to arrive in town).
I hate the AC. It's way underpowered - it blows hard, but always seems to be "barely cool" - almost room temperature! My wife's Ford Escort Z2 can chill you to the bone, and quite frankly when it's 28-30 degrees Celcius, that's what I'm looking for.
The heater totally underwhelmed me in the winter (lousy defrost power) and now I'm having the same problem with the AC. I find the HVAC totally lacking in the M3. That's just my personal opinion. It's bad enough that I don't enjoy the car on the hot days due to my sweaty back sticking to the leather through my shirt - It's always warm in the car even with the AC blasting and driving at 80 kmph+
My wife's car, again, is dramatically more comfortable to drive on hot days. Both have black interiors.
i am new to this forum and really considering getting Mazda3. I've been reading your messages and find it very informative. I was wonder how do you talk to the dealers down on price. like I read one person talk a dealer down to like $200 from invoice and another like $500 from invoice. Any tips.
We can help you with shopping tips a little bit here, but you'll want to use those resources as well.
Meanwhile, anything you want to know about the Mazda3, the folks here will be glad to share!
Exactly how durable are turbo engines? I've never own a turbo car but I hear that they (A4 1.8, Saab, ect) are not very durable.
Are turbo engines high maintenance?
Seeing that the Mazdaspeed 6 has a turbo and rumors are flying about a turbo engine on the Mazdaspeed 3 It just makes me wonder about a turbo engine.
Thanks in advance,
Drumm
WRONG! Read the information provided on Edmunds.com about True Market Value and other TIPS on how to deal. Your OFFER should be the PRICE OUT THE DOOR including taxes, title, and licensing. *Price out the door* means drive it home.
Check *Prices Paid by Others* for the same model with options you want.
fowler3
Although the incredibly smart people at Edmunds disagree with me, I always talk the price of the car PLUS tax, license, and fees with a dealer. It makes it easier for me to see just what kind of discount I am getting--and see what kind of fees they are adding. Then once we agree on that, we can talk about the taxes and fees. Sales tax and license fees are non-negotiable anyway. I am careful to see what other fees they add on, e.g. a documentation fee. To me, this is clearer than lumping everything together. To each his own.
Sportier? They both are. In my opinion, as a 40-year-old owner of a 4s Sedan, I think the Hatch looks sportier in a trendy, "fast and furious" way, while the 4 door looks sportier in a BMW 3 Series kind of way.
All depends on what image you want to project, I guess.
Jim
I got my 3 in Dec. and it has been through a brutally cold Jan-Feb up here in NW Ontario. It seems to me I now have substantially more wind noise around my front window than when I first got it.
Is it possible for windshield seals/trim to shrink or something in very cold weather letting more wind in?? Any opinions. Haven't heard anyone else complaining about this one.
Thanks
everfeb
I'm in an AT hatch, and my average mileage according to my handy-dandy PDA application is 24 MPG. That's with about 90% city type driving, since my commute to work is about a mile (plus when I DO go out and really drive, I like to rev the sucker up a bit). That was at a little over $1600 miles, on the factory oil; I just had my first oil change and am on my first tank after it, so I don't know if it'll improve or not.
"Just wondering if anyone's mileage got better after their first oil change?"
I KNOW I am getting poor mileage and did not intend to start another discussion on gas mileage in general.
I've read and heard that mpg should improve after first oil change and am wondering if any 3 owners have actually experienced this improvement.
everfeb
Front end looks better on hatch, but sedan does look Euro sporty.
CAN ANYONE TELL ME IF IT WOULD BE WORTH MY WILD TO WAIT A MONTH OR SO TO GET A DISCOUNTED PRICE ON A MAZDA3????
Haste makes waste -- you paid too much.
About better mileage, I have a Protegé and found that mileage increases as you break it in, but don't expect a big improvement after the first oil change -- give it time and many more miles before you see it's best mileage -- somewhere above 3,000 miles. Don't drive it too hard, break it in easy and it will be good to you down the road.
fowler3
The 3 is an amazing car. The handling, engine, transmission, interior, ... I could go on forever. The only downer was that it rained the whole way back to Maryland so I'll have to wash it tomorrow.
That's no downer, friend. Washing your 3 will give you a wonderful opportunity to appreciate the cars fine lines. Enjoy.
Speed limit is 75 where I live (SD) so going 80 is like people with a 65 limit going 70. You won't get a ticket at 80 here, and probably not at 85. Now 90 is another story.
Meade
Sry about that. My under Achieva can't do 80 anyway.(haha!)
This will be in the Aug. 2004 issue.
They say "small doesn't have to mean pokey or cheap. The Mazda3 is an overall high quality car with acceleration and interior quality on par with many mid sized sedans."
Meade
Is the suspension the same? Shifter in the manual? Seats? Any help would be appreciated.
Is the suspension the same? Shifter in the manual? Seats? Any help would be appreciated.
Main difference is the "i" model has a 2-liter engine while the "s" model gets a 2.3-liter engine... Suspension is the same but the "i" gets a 15" steel wheel standard and the "s" models get a 16" alloy wheel standard. The shifter is the same in either model. As for seats the "i" models get black or beige cloth and the "s" models get black with either red or blue accents. Leather is optional in the "s" models.
All this according to the Mazda3 brochure.
I asked what else was available, and LO a Mazda Pro AND a Mazda3 were available! I pounced on the 3 at once. It's a white 3i that looks to be a little abused in its brief rental life (there were scratches on the outside etc). I hardly ever get Mazda let alone Japanese cars anymore from the rental companies.
10 second review
First test: Just by chance, I happened to pack extra stuff this week since I'm staying an extra day. Normally I bring one backback and one medium size zipper/wheelie bag (maybe about 2.5 feet long, would fit on an airplane overhead compartment). This time I brought my large zipper/wheelie(about 3.5 feet, definitely would not be acceptable as a carry-on) and two backpacks.
I immediately thought to myself, "well nuts, the one week I bring my huge bag I end up with the compact I always wanted... guess I can stick the big bag in the backseat." I popped the trunk and GULP all three bags went in easily with room to spare. This trunk is easily larger than the hatchback trunk of my celica.
Driving impressions: Handles like BUTTA. Or rather like a hot knife through butta. Very tight, yet definitely more refined than the Pro.
I was actually surprised that the engine was so loud and buzzy. And I'd definitely like to see just a wee bit more pep. If I ever got one, without a doubt the S would be the way to go.
The only other complaint I have is that the radio, as cool as it looks, takes getting used to since the knobs are a bit oddly placed.
That's it for now! I've only had the car for about 9 hours (and I only drove it for about 30 minutes).
Happy zoom zooming!
I've got the 6 disc changer and haven't even attempted to load a cd yet, just been playing with the radio and find that once I had set my station presets the only thing I do with the dash radio controls is mash the big knob in the middle to turn it on and off, otherwise I just use the steering wheel controls.
I made my obligatory ride up into the foothills near my home in Fresno to try out some really nice twistys and am in love with this car's handling, braking, and shifting. In tight stuff with steep grades it's best to keep the engine perking at about 4k rpm or a bit over, will accelerate nicely up a grade or out of a turn at that rpm.
The engine is almost totally vibration free, just a bit of nice exhaust note to keep one conscious of what it's doing. I didn't try any really hard acceleration as it's only got 100 miles on it, nor did I rev it past 5k at any time, but still was able to maintain remarkably high speeds on the tightly curving up and down two-lane. At least 3 times cars ahead of me pulled over to let me by, even though I was by no means crowding them or riding their bumpers in any way. The final 8 miles or so into town on the way back is nice almost empty freeway and the car was rock solid as far as stability at high speeds, no wander from wind, did not follow the notorious California Freeway rain grooves.
I've owned and/or driven Sentras, Corollas, Proteges, Elantras, Camrys, Altimas, you name it, and the little Mazda 3 is just in a class by itself as far as excellent driving dynamics--great stability, tossable, quiet, refined drivetrain, just overall very high class car that feels like it ought to cost 10k more than it does.
The main difference b/t the Mazda3 2.0 & 2.3 is the lower-rpm output, which is more critical for slush boxes.
Although the 2.0 auto's tall top gear should keep the car just a tad quieter than the 2.3 at cruising, anytime you need power the 2.0 will need to rev much higher & thus louder.
I've had my Mazda 3i rental for 2 1/2 days now. I have to admit that one major flaw is the AC system.
Yesterday I went out to eat with three coworkers. It was quite hot, easily 80+ degrees outside. Some of my workers were very curious to see the Mazda3 so we took it out.
Unfortunately the 3's schizo AC didn't make a very good impression. I had it on full blast the entire time, but it kept on cutting out. The air would always blow strongly, but would only remain cool for a few minutes at best, and then it would take a few more minutes for the next "round" of cold air to come. We were dying in the car, and all in all the 3 didn't receive many flattering comments during the ride.
Does anyone have any idea what influences the AC to act this way?
I'm quite familiar with AC systems that have temp variation as compressor cycles on and off, or that get pretty warm during extended idling having owned several cars in the very hot climate of Fresno CA (average summer temp 95-105).
The exact problem you describe is widespread in the Problems forum.
My June 04 production M3 has less of this temp fluctuation than almost any car I've ever owned,
so I think I've maybe dodged a bullet here.
We know that if a problem is reported here and at the dealer, we typically beat getting that information to corporate by about 75 days. Not bad! That's why it is important to post here (and not somewhere else or links to someplace else ;-) )
Velocity Red
spoiler
ABS
moon roof
6-disc changer
xenon lights
I was rather timid at that point since my research was on the I, but I went in to talk.
11 pm and 3 hours later, I told them I'd take the car if it was $20K out the door. They agreed. However, at signing, the document said $21,000 because they were under the impression I'd put $1,000 down. I told them the whole night I had my own financing and I had no interest in talking terms with them. I was annoyed and walked out.
Was I crazy? 21,000 for the s model and all those options? As I was leaving the salesman was telling me that they couldn't go down more because as it stood, they were only making $200 anyway.
I have the 2.3 but find that the performance difference with it on is less than on any other car I've owned with the exception of a 5.0 Mustang I had in the late 80s. That Mustang had the port injected 5.0 V-8, 5 speed manual, and weighed less than my Mazda 3 does. My Mazda is also a stick so that might be helping me.
The car I had just before the Mazda 3 was a Nissan Sentra SE, 2.0 liter auto and it had very much more noticeable ac drag but not anything dangerous.
where do you go to find a invoice price? edmunds?
also, anyone out there ever tried the costco member pricing plans? Are they any better then haggling or buying online? Thanks!