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Mazda3 Interior & Passenger Comfort Concerns
I am almost 6 ft. tall and wear size 11 shoes. If I drive my "3" Hatchback with manual trans with my shoes on, my right foot would sometimes get caught by the brake pedal when letting off the gas( gas pedal is in a tight spot).
It seems to me that this should be a safety concern. Anybody have this experience?
Fshkpr1
It seems to me that this should be a safety concern. Anybody have this experience?
Fshkpr1
0
Comments
page 30 - post 880 - All I can say is WOW - this Billm guy should get a job with Mazda - can you believe that someone just working on his own can solve a problem that Mazda has not solved in over 2 years.
I think Mazda knows what the problem is - they know how to fix it - they just don't care about their customers enough to do the right thing.
Yup, Mazda just doesn't care...
In each and every case, all of the vehicles were hot when I started my test drive and I opened the front windows about half-way down for about 2 minutes and had the air conditioning set to recirculate on full front, max coldness, and airflow set to 2-3. All of the vehicles cooled down within five minutes and the majority of the driving was in city situations (stop and go). Honestly, I did not feel hot at stop lights, or when traffic stopped. I have read about the Mazda A/C issues here on Edmunds and was really paying close attention to this during all my test drives. I did not notice little to any difference in A/C performance in any of the vehicles and decided (after much debate) to purchase the 3i Touring model.
My wife drove our new car several times this weekend and did not complain at all about A/C performance.
I am not saying that some folks have not had issues with their A/C, I am just stating, for the record, that I did not notice this issue with any of the Mazda 3's that I drove. All I can tell folks that are worried about this is to do a thorough test drive and ensure that they are comfortable with the 3's A/C performance..
From the moment I noticed the problem, I have been keeping a strict record of outside temperature versus inside (If anyone is interested, I'll post my results.) Of course, I don't know what good my records will do because the dealership's interest centers around the temperature at the vent, not the passenger compartment. Hopefully, my state's lemon laws will be of use to me. I'll know soon, as I've made an with my attorney for later in the week. In the meantime, I'll be taking the car back in tomorrow to see why my clock appears to be loosing time. While I'm there, I think I will once again mention the nasty static on my radio. And, lest I not forget, I fed Zula her third tank of gas yesterday and confirmed the fact that she is indeed a very hungry girl: 18.1 MPG.
I'm starting to miss my 96 Protege.
Just so everyone knows, I too loved the Mazda3; that's why I bought it. I just wish my Mazda3 would love me back.
Thanks
Thanks for your help...
Sorry, I don't buy it. I may have believed you if you said that you were fine at level 2 or 3 in highway traffic.
Checking our other car (a Mazda with fine AC) and rental cars I've been driving lately (AC of various quality), I'm wondering if there is a lack of insulating material underneath the floor mats and around the cabin?
Maybe, in addition to the expanse of untinted glass and black interior, this could add to the strain on the AC on very hot, sunny days?
Back to Nifty ... good luck with your attorney .. I work for a law firm myself and we actually were offered a case where someone really had a lemon Mercedes. In my humble opinion .. you'll be spending a lot in attorney fees with a small chance of recovery .. which money could probably be better spent on either another Mazda which will make you happy or something else. I wish you much luck. My past experiences with cars is this: Sometimes there is just a car that was put together on a Friday afternoon or Monday morning that just isn't "right" .. that doesn't mean they all stink. For example, I had two Cameros .. one great and one that was in the shop every other week. I didn't turn into a Camero-hater .. I simply got rid of the one I wasn't happy with and learned how to really evaluate a car during a test drive .. and I haven't been stuck with another stinker since.
I am extremely happy with my Mazda, it goes great, stops great, cools me off great and is a blast to drive. I'm really sorry a few of you aren't having the same good experience I am.
Good luck!
As to the suggestion that I simply get rid of the car and get another, rather than become a Mazda-hater--that's not always so easy. For a variety of reasons, none that I feel inclined to share, Zula is my first, and most likely the only, brand new car that I will ever own. She was a gift from my brother on my 50th birthday. Trading it would be tricky as the money I burn would be his, not mine.
Nifty56, here is the chart of inside and outside temps that I have been keeping. I realize that it is other than scientific, just me and a thermometer in the passenger seat, but here it is.
Outside Inside Miles Fan level
99 86 276-280
91 80 280-284
88 76 284-289
no A/C 284-301
85 80 301-317
98 79 432-438 3
99 84 439-445 4
no A/C 445-450
99 92 450-464 4
no A/C 464-478
86 87 478-504 2
(Nifty, if per chance, the 56 represents your year of birth, Happy 50th.)
That's a pretty strong statement that I'm in the minority .. personally I don't believe it. I felt compelled to respond to this thread because I really don't want to see people thinking "all" 3s have this issue .. the 5 cars test driven by me and my fiance all had a/c's that worked just fine. I used this board as a tool in research and I must thank you for making me double-check the a/c .. but would really hate to see people chased away from Mazda thinking "all" of this model car is a gas guzzler with a crappy a/c. I have been getting 30+ mpg, running the a/c most of the time and I'm not even really broken in yet. I'm very sorry some of you are not happy with either your a/c or gas mileage .. I wish I had a fix for you but my auto maintenance days went out the window when carbs were replaced with electronic ignition. I have found that "befriending" the mechanics as opposed to "alienating" them does help tremendously. Yes, I've done both and as usual found that Mom was right: "you catch more flies with sugar than vinegar."
I wish you all the best, I hope you get your problems taken care. For me, I need to go get in the shower and get on the freeway ... which is a much more fun ride for me in my Zoombie!!
Have a good one.
The reality is some Mazda3's have very good AC systems - some are OK - and some are very poor. Its the luck of the draw which one you will get.
This is true for the 2004, 2005 & 2006 model year (I would bet the 2007 also - but thats just a guess) - this is also true if you have the auto or manual climate control. Its just the way it is.
Mazda will not fix the weak ones - so check out the AC before you buy one.
We also own a 01 Tribute. My wife really liked it, and our Blazer was ready for the scrap heap. Reading some of the postings in the Tribute forum at the time, there were reports of windshield wipers breaking off, steering wheels becoming loose, axles rusting, in short - a litany of plagues. Test drives didn't indicate (as far as we could tell) that these problems were likely to occur. Our Tribute has proven reliable.
I also think that cultivating a friendly resource in a Mazda service department can be helpful. However, as z71bill has noted, what if the service department reports the AC is within spec - but the owner feels the spec isn't valid - what is the resolution?
Will have to wait and see how this works. It sounds like it's another diffuser plate fix which didnt do much if anything.
richml, when you say you rented a Mazda3 and had no problems, please be more specific. Some 3's have auto climate and others don't. The latter are the one's that have the A/C issue. Please also state at what level you had the A/C on: 1, 2, 3, of 4.
Luck of the draw - well if some are good - some are OK and some are poor you have a chance of getting one of the three - I guess you could improve your odds if you test drove it on a very hot day - I bought mine in January - temps were not very hot - I will change it to "If you test drive it on a bright and sunny 95 degree high humidity day then you should be able to tell if the AC works - but if you test drive (buy) in any other conditions - then IT IS LUCK OF THE DRAW" Happy now?
Ask your two service managers how many of the 2004 & 2005 models with weak AC that they fixed? What did they do to fix them? In other words - PLEASE PLEASE prove me wrong -when I say Mazda will not fix the weak AC system - its easy just post what was done to solve the problem - I would love to eat some crow on this - it would actually taste pretty good.
But if you go ask the service managers what they did to fix the weak AC in the "few" 2004 & 2005 models that they know about - and they say - NOTHING WE DID NOT FIX THEM - they you get to chow down on some credibility crow!
I don't see how you are getting anywhere badgering other Mazda 3 owners who can't do anything to help you (other than sympathize - which we do).
Eric
Nifty56 hummm ecm56 strange
check out the poll at the link posted here..let me know what you think....
Not likely.
Am I correct - 15000+ members of the forum and 254 filled out the poll? And out of those 254, half say they have "weak A/C (at level 1 or 2)"
Good question. Probably a combination of factors, such as not all cars being exposed to the conditions necessary to expose the defect, some people more tolerant than others, some don't complain or don't care, others don't have the problem (maybe it was just a small production run), some get fixed by dealers and are done, etc. etc.
Clouding the issue won't help.
Your move...
I'm not trying to argue - I'm actually quite sympathetic to the cause. I owned a Ford with the now famous ignition module problem that would cause the car to die at inconvenient times (like when you were going 70 on an interstate). It sucks that they won't fix it. How did I fix my Ford? The old fashioned way, I sold it (actually, I traded it on an Acura).
To get any traction with Mazda, this issue needs a larger forum than what's here. Now, if you could just find some poor woman with a child that had some terrible medical condition that required air conditioning and she bought a Mazda 3 with her last few dollars so she could transport him and was taking the kid to a clinic for treatment and the a/c didn't work . . . . they'd fix it in a heartbeat!
OK so let us pretend we all need A/C for medical reasons, we all go to a clinic for treatment, man woman child and the A/C is weak, we almost die, so why doesn't Mazda fix it. Kind of silly is it not? There is a difference between not working and working but weak. It's a design flaw and I am hoping there could be a fix and maybe Mazda is working on something. With the 04 they had many complaints and added a TSB to add a diffuser plate to help cure the problem but really was not good enough. So you see there was and still is a problem with many vehicles because there hasn't been any design changes. Mazda just keeps making the same mistake. All the A/C parts have the same part numbers from 04 to 06. 07? In Canada Mazda did not offer Auto climate control from 04 to 06 but will in the 07 model.
So you see I am still waiting for that fix in a "heartbeat"
The service tech at Mazda told me he has heard from many sedan owner about AC issues - but none in the hatchback.
I think my Scion has too much glass for the AC to deal with.
Any of you with deficit AC tried window tinting? Did it work or help?
The A/C in my 3 blows cold air, but if the car is sitting in direct sunlight for several hours it can take awhile to cool down. But that is true of any car..
I think your Scion will feel a little cooler with tint, and it should cut back on how much A/C you use. Good luck!