What year to buy?
 

First off, I am new to this so Hello everyone! I want to get a M3 5 door and I have found 2 that I am interested in. One is a 2004 model w/48K miles and the other is 2005 model with 72K miles. I plan on using this car as my daily driver. I am an outside sales rep and do a lot of driving. Which model year is better and how is the reliability/longevity on either of these year models? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

I don't think there were any functional changes, but since it's the first year (and a little older) i'd vote for the 2005. In 2007 they added side air bags and I think a few other things but i'm not 100% sure of what changed when.

I recall seeing a year by year comparison on the KBB or edmunds website - detailing any manufacturing or option differences for any vehicle model.
The best thing to look for is what has been taken care of better, some of this has to do with where it was driven - highway vs city, how many bumps & such. Also, someone that beats on their car or has a tendency to race is likely to have more issues (struts need to be replaced more often, joints & bushings worn more etc...)

Do pay attention to small details which may indicate the car has had a rough life. Things like door dings and scratches are one, but rust, dents under the car, and many suspiciously clean parts may be a sign. Also evenly worn tires (brand new ones mean there may be an alignment issue they are trying to hide).

You can bring it to a mechanic to get it looked at as well, they would be able to tell you if things need to be repaired right off the bat.

I've recently been chatting with a couple people about passenger junction box corrosion - this is a main control module that sits under the dash and somehow gets water on the top left connector - corroding the wiring and causing expensive headaches.

Good luck finding a new ride - what's the price of these two cars?

I can tell you that the introductory 2003 Mazda3 was absolute junk. Good engineering sabotaged by shoddy construction. I don't know how quickly they fixed things, but if I were ever to consider another Mazda (and I probably won't) I'd get as far away from 2003 as possible. It's an incredibly expensive car to own as things fail for no good reason on a regular basis; things that have never failed on any other car I've owned. I thought car makers had made good progress on body rust until this one- always inspect under the center rear break light. If you see any discoloration at all, the trunk lid will rust out shortly. If it's been repainted, run! Look at the service issues here and try to categorize them by year. My guess is that the later years are the way to go.

That 3rd light is one of the first things I saw as a potential problem... I took it out and used black silicone to seal it in place to keep water from getting in... horrible location to not have a seal.

Another problem location is the drip tube from the windshield cowl, the stock location allows it to drip onto the power steering rack- check there for corrosion.