WillySLC

Hi,

Obviously, brand new to your forum. Looks nice...

At about 5:30p.m. Mountain Time tomorrow (Thursday) we will be signing our papers on a new 2005 Mazda 3s 5 door. We have test driven them for 2 days and am very impressed with this car. I have never driven anything that handles like these things. However, how are they when the new car smell wears off?

I am specifically interested in hearing from those of you who have driven the daylights out of them. I mean, they've only been around for a little over a year. How are they holding up? Are the engines from proven models or is the 2.3 engine a new engine for them? How about the transmission? What about this Electronic Steering thing? I have read posts about people experiencing noticable power loss after several thousand miles, how common is this and are there common failures?

Oh, also a little personal background. My wife and I are 45 - 55 years old. Will have generally mild driving habits (although that is hard with this car). We want something that will give us good gas milage (near 30 combined city/highway, and some posts have lead me to worry on that). We don't mind the sporty firm feel, even if we are old buggers...

Looking forward to your replies. I'll check back tomorrow before I sign the papers...

Thanks,

*****

miles

Welcome to the forum
I have had my car 3s sedan for 5000 miles and I love every minute of it. I drive out of the way just so I can spend more time in the car. The engine is also on the 6 but I don't know if it is in any other models. Consumer reports gave it the highest reliability rating but its only been out a year. I only get 30mpg on the highway and in the low 20's in the city, but I drive fast. The mileage seems to improve as the car breaks in. I have noticed a little bit of power loss at higher rpm's but that might be due to increasing air temperatures. My brother and cousin also drive 3's and haven't had any problems either. However my brother did slide off the road into a ditch when it was icy and it cracked his transmission. The mechanic said the car is poorly designed and thats why it cracked. There was almost no damage on the rest of the car. So don't drive off road. I don't see how you can go wrong with this car. I would suggest going with the manual transmission because it is very smooth and makes the car extremely fun to drive. Its not bad in traffic either.
Good luck and don't pay full price.

Wingnut12

True I just bought mine last week, but I researched the hell out of everything in it's price range including the cobalt ss, sentra se-r, corolla S, and the civic Si-R. I even compared it ( the GT 2.3L with GFX package) to the hyundai Tiburon. The end result is that for what you get in features, for the price you pay, and the perceived quality, it's a hard package overall to beat.

I'm guessing that that for whatever reason, you still have doubts. If that's so, take some extra time to ascertain that this is the car for you. You already know that for a bunch of us, it's definitely the one we bought.

Good luck, and welcome to the forums

Speed 2000

7000 miles and I still feel like it should have cost about $5000 more than what I paid for it.

RedBlaze

Am also new to the forum....I've had mt 3 for about 3 months just remember to always change your oil accordingly i did not am at 11, 000 miles with engine # 2

M3

you only have 3 months and you have 11,000 miles

RedBlaze

Yup i work far 5 to 6 days a week about 68 miles a day just from my house to work not including the times i go out plus my house is in the middle of nowhere and actually right now am at 12,075 miles

M3

ohh crap thats a lot, i have like 20.000 but i have a year and a half

red_genisis

im at 26,000 and had mine a year, but i commute to my college......63 miles away 3 days a week. i get about 400 to 500 miles in a week....but my baby still runs like the day i brought it home

M3

ohh yeah thats for sure this car is the bomb

RedBlaze

well i must of gotten the retarded M3 of the family Am really upset with the car right now its making a clicking noise every time I shift gears The sound is more like walking around with change in your pocket but this only happens as sonn as i shift then it goes away what the hell is that

TGH

I have had my Hatch 2.3L GT 3 for since 12/03 and I have about 39,000km (24233miles) on it. I push the car hard and drive fast, probably too fast most of the time. I still get about 25-30mpg on average.

I do about 50/50 highway/city driving and I like the way it handles at higher speeds and in the city. No problems with the engine or transmission (manual) even at high rpms most of the time. These cars are made to be driven at high rmps anyway; the power dosen’t kick-in until 5000-7000 rpm anyway.

The only thing that I am starting to notice is the seal on the sunroof is starting to wear. It rubs a little every time I open it. I have notified the dealer on this but as usual the dealer will not do anything for me. (I absolutely HATE my dealer, the worst customer service!) Wear and tear on the “trunk” liner is good so far, I really only put my hockey and golf gear in there on a regular basis.

Other than that the car runs great! And I am still having fun driving it every day. And if you are worried about winter driving, get yourself some good snow tires and the car will do fine.

bbqmusic

Had mine a year and a couple weeks ... about 27,000KM .... and it runs FANTASTIC. I would easily buy another one and recommend this quality ride. I drive it pretty hard and fast and do about 50/50 city/hwy driving .... and go about 60km return to work M-F, and with the tire pressure around 35PSI the mileage is great ... about 34MPG on the HWY .... great car, love it ... glad I passed on the mini for this cheaper yet better ride. The engine runs so smooth ... i change the oil about every 5000KM ... and plan to have this baby for a few more years yet ... specially once I get all the mods on it ... mmmm ... mods.

Later.
Word.


2004 M3 GS 5-door
Winning Blue
Borla Cat-Back exhaust
Bazooka Sub
35 PSI tire pressure
no-wing

M3

every car has imperfection but try going to the dealer and is dont want tp do nothing go to another one but you have to fight with the managers ok

M3

go to another dealer and fight the manager tell him that your car is doing that and that you bought that car and it has its warranty for something and that they need to fix it