Hello,

I am new to the Mazda 3 boards but have been on the RX7 boards for years (before I sold all of my 7s ). I moved on to a BMW but we bought my wife a nice Mazda 3S. It's dark grey, fully loaded, automatic. We have had a couple of problems and I just wanted to check with you guys to see if anyone has similar issues. First, the front end started making clicking and popping noises whenever she turned the wheels and was rolling. The dealership replaced the axle on the passenger side and it appears to be fixed. The car only has 4000 miles on it. The second problem is that rarely when it's cold outside and you first drive off after the car has been sitting, there will be a VERY hard shift from first to second gear (car is an automatic and this occurs in the auto, not auto/manual). It actually snaps you back into the seat eventhough you are moving very slowly......like in a parking lot. It only does it once and then the rest of the trip is normal. It also seems to be sort of random. Some cold days it does it, sometimes is does not. I knew that problem would be hard for them to find. Anybody else experience that problem?

On another note, anbody know of other M3 boards that have more traffic? I'm just looking for the best resource.

TIA,

Todd

 

Hi there, I had the same noise in the front. Dealer replaced both front driveshafts. He said that it is a known problem. They appearantly redesigned the driveshafts. Can't help you with the other issue as I have a Manual.

 

well my sugestion for the second issue is that because is cold now this days is allways good to start the car and leave it on like 3 5 minutes before driving this way your car would get a normal temperature and im allmost sure that wont happend but if it still happend just call the dealer and make them fix that