New Car N00b
 

As many others I am thinking about buying a Mazda 3 (sport)... heck I KNOW I'm buying one!

Anyway, I have been reading this forum and I am mildly concerned about all the problems I am reading with the windows and some other items... sensors and stuff.

I was just wondering if those kind of problem might be resolved by the time I purchase mine... probably late summer early fall of this year (2004).

This will be my first new car and I want to research it as much as possible.

Also, it is worth while to get the extended warranty... 7 years / 160,000km

:eek: "Wait! did he just say km!" Yeah, I'm from Canada by the way :D

Thanks!

hmm....I wouldn't worry too much about the quality or reliability of the new mazda3. It's a great car.

Every person has to decide for themselves about the warranty thing. I would say, "no way ever". My wife (who doesn't modify her car or run it hard) bought the extended warranty and it saved her....once. It's up to you though. what do you plan on doing with this vehicle?

Yeah, I wasn't really too concerned about that stuff (hence the term "mildly"). I'm really stoked to get one and can't wait!

Any extended warranty is a gamble. Just depends if you want to be "Safe" rather than "sorry". Chances are that I would never have to use the extended warranty, but ya never know.

I will be doing a fair amount of driving with mine. My girlfriend is moving 45 minutes (approx 50 km) out of town to a ski resort (http://www.sunpeaksresort.com/). I have to stay in town to keep working... my job is just too sweet to leave. Thankfully her job is only seasonal so it will only be about 6 months.

Anyway, I will probably be driving that drive about 2-3 times a week. Soooo maybe 200-300 km per week with city driving and stuff... I think that would be a bit of an over estimate.

what I meant was : Will you be modifying your vehicle, racing your vehicle, dressing it up?

If so, then do NOT pay for any extended warranty. Mazda is very quick to void even regular warranties that paying extra to have them void it later on makes no sense.

If you're just a point A to point B kinda guy then it may not hurt. My wife is this way and when her rearend locked up at 50mph and shattered all over the highway they rebuilt it for free. However, when her motor went to knocking real bad (big bucks) they tried telling her that her warranty was void because she didn't use a Ford oil filter, oil and air filter. thats what her car was designed for...nothing else. It's all just B.S.

The morale of the post is to NEVER RELY ON A WARRANTY TO SAVE YOU. A WARRANTY ONLY EXSISTS IF YOU GET YOUR CAR REPAIRED FOR FREE. until that time you're riding on a wing and a prayer!

I do my own repairs anyway, so an extended warranty is a waste of money to me, plus I work for Ford Credit...my experience is that extended warranties are either never used or claimsarent honored, for one reason or another the repair isnt covered

No, I won't be modifying the car in those ways. Might be taking the speakers and amp from my old car and putting them in the 3.

So did you wife actually get them to repair the problem under warranty?

My parents bought an extended warranty with the 97 GMC Jimmy that they bought and didn't seem to have any problems... although I don't think they really had any major engine trouble.

I'm sure I could do most repairs myself as well or at least the minor ones, but that would mean that I would have to pay for the parts and spend the time fixing it when all that could be covered by the warranty.

I will obviously make sure that I clear everything with the dealership before making any "changes" to the car like putting a new filter of any kind in. I know how anal companies (car or other wise) can be about their warranties and policies.

no Ford didn't honor it. I ended up spending about $200 to fix it myself.

I don't feel cheated though. I paid $900 for a 100K mile extended warranty (powertrain) and within days of buying it the rearend locked up and shattered. Total repair bill $2100. I got my money's worth. I didn't appreciate being told by a female service writer who knew nothing about vehicles that engine pinging and knocking was NOT part of the powertrain. I have not wanted tto hit a woman so hard in my life!

Forgive me because I don't know a huge amount about cars, but if I were to get the extended Comprehensive Warranty (which I believe is the more complete one) would something like that knocking "theoretically" be covered. I realise you may not be able to answer that question since the deal could find some way to say know... but I am just looking for a rough idea.

The warranty also claims to cover these types of things...
Towing,winching, battery boost, out of fuel
tire service, lock-out service, emergency travel expense reimburse
ment, travel planning and Dealer locator.

However, I'm sure that there are several "catches" or "loop holes" to most of those benefits.

comprehensive means "all inclusive" so I'd assume it would cover everything. Basically though a dealerships job and purpose is to void your warranty or not honor it.

They get paid 40% less for warranty work than when it is customer pay. The service writer who will explain this to you works off of the commission of the total of the mechanics bill....so it's to his best intrest to increase the total of that bill.

through mazda though you can supposedly wait up to a month before the standard warranty runs out before buying the extended. I am not abig fan of them that much either but given the chance 4 years down the road it might interest me.

a mazda warranty is about as good as a lifeboat with a mesh floor.