A couple quick few questions...
 

My wife just got her 04 3. It is our first Mazda and I have a couple of questions, so please bear with me.

1. STARTING When starting, I hear a sound like a heat shield is rattling. Is this normal? I heard the same sound of another Mazda (don't recall the model) starting nearby and figured it was normal.

2. ENGINE COMPUTER Does the car have anything like driver adapting tuning. You know, where the car learns the way the driver drives the car. If so, is there a way to reset it? If not, is there a way to reset the computer back to factory specs?

3. BODY The previous owner must driven the car through a rose bush on a gravel road behind a dump truck on a daily basis. IOW, its got a few chips and scratches. What is the best way to take care of the scratches and chips short of going to a body shop? All I have done was just use some quick detailer and buffed some of the lighter scratches out.

=Tvieno

1. Is could be the engine just warming up. I noticed that in a few cars it vibrates quit a lot while its warming up. But it goes away. If not try to check in with your dealer.

2. To reset the computer all you have to do is unplug the battery and plug it back in.

3. Best for this one I can say is to use detailer, buffing (both of which you already did), or just get the hood or bumper repainted?

Hope this helped you!

For question 2 too. Yes the car learns the way the driver drives to make sure you enjoy the ride. It perfects the shifting quality and also tries to save you some gas.

I am seriously thinking about getting the car repainted. Its a shame that the previous owner treated the car in this manner.

I've always said, there are two kinds of car owners, those who take care of their cars and those who don't. I was at a car show last night (old muscles and the like), while most of the people with their hoods up had clean engines, there were some that should've kept their hoods down. If you're gonna lift the hood up, clean it up.

Lol absolutely! If I was at that car show and I saw a dirty engine with the hood up, id probably pull out a towel and start cleaning it! Haha.