Any other Mazda3 owners?

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Jedi2016

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Just wondering, since we've got our own little Mazda forum here. :)

I've got a 2006 Mazda3i sedan. 148hp I4, 5-speed manual. Color is Strato Blue (it's a metallic indigo, for those who haven't seen it.. depending on the light, it can look either blue or purple, which is cool), which everyone who sees the car just loves. :) (I'd post a pic, but my digital camera's on the fritz).

It's practically a sports car compared to my old Crappy Car™ Ford Tempo. Nice and quick, especially with the 5-speed. Exceptional handling, too.. I've taken many a corner a lot faster than I ought to, and I've yet to hear a single squeak from the tires. It even sounds good, too... especially once it gets over around 4000rpm.

It's got a speed limiter on it, I found out... When you're in fifth gear, it stops at 5000rpm, which is only around 112mph or so (don't ask me why I was going that fast.. hehe). Without that, I think I could get it up to around 140+ near the redline.

I also forgot how much the car manufacturers were working on storage space these last few years. One my friends at work agreed with me about the trunk.. "Oh yeah, you could fit three people in there, easy.." And when the salesman at the dealership showed me the glovebox, I said "Holy crap, you could fit a cat in there!" (I actually said this, you can ask my friends who were with me.. hehe). The trunk even has special supports for the hydraulics and the hinges.. it's all built in to the sides at the top, so you don't have to worry about leaving space for the hinges like I had to do on all my older cars. You can pack it to the brim, and it'll still close just fine.

So, anybody else here got a Mazda3? How do you like it? :)
 
Out of curiosity, while you were shopping, did you also test drive a 3 s? I’ve been looking at used cars lately, and wondering how much difference there is between the engines of the i and s (I mean, I know the numbers, but how much noticable difference there is between them).
 
Actually, no I didn't. Price was an issue, and the fact that I needed a car right then, as my old one had just died. So I was pretty much only looking at the i. I'm not even sure if they had any S's there that night, or if they had any with a stick (since I specifically asked for a manual, and he said they had only two, both of them were I's).
 
Ah, gotcha. :)

How’s the shifter? We’ve had some bad luck with Japanese manual trannies (for example, I think the synchros are out of whack on the Subie, because it’s almost impossible to get it into first and reverse), but I know Mazda has a great reputation for its stick-shifts.
 
The shifter's pretty good, actually. Getting into first isn't an issue unless the car's moving forward at a decent clip, then you've got to really force it.

Getting into reverse can be tricky sometimes, though.. sometimes it just won't want to go, it's like the gears aren't quite lined up right for the final "pop" into gear. Letting the car roll a few inches will usually clear that up, or just letting off the clutch for a second with the car out of gear, it'll spin something and let it line up. It's a quirk, but doesn't really come into play during normal driving (just backing out of parking spots). Most of the time, it works fine, though.
 
[One month later]

Well, I’ve just ordered a Mazda 3 i. :) Titanium silver-gray-whatever, manual, with the Touring package and ABS/SAB/SAC. It’s on the water right now, and should be arriving within 2 weeks. I can’t wait for it to come!
 
I drive my dads one here in aus

Its the top model here SP23 The one with the 2.3l. Well at least it was top when we nought. The leather pack came out half a year later.

Colour winning blue

Its a hatch

And im to lazy to take a pic so here

Maz Aus Sp23
 
Wow... I've never looked into this thread, but curiosity got the better of me...

Getting into reverse can be tricky sometimes, though.. sometimes it just won't want to go, it's like the gears aren't quite lined up right for the final "pop" into gear. Letting the car roll a few inches will usually clear that up, or just letting off the clutch for a second with the car out of gear, it'll spin something and let it line up. It's a quirk, but doesn't really come into play during normal driving (just backing out of parking spots). Most of the time, it works fine, though.
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Sounds just like my Proty (although it's probably much worse in my car... and involves not only first and reverse, but second, also.

I'd thought Mazda fixed that... I've driven the new Focus manual (euro-focus, same engine and tranny, basically) and it felt smooth as butter... I'd thought the Mazdas would be good, too?
 
I have a buddy with a 3i. That tranny sucks. You have to wait about 5 seconds to get it into 5th from 2nd at higher rpms. My dad's /93 Ranger never had that problem. I despise how light the brake pedal effort is--every time I even put the weight of my foot on it I end up nearly invoking the ABS. My Cavalier's effort is heavier, which is better when you're in a hurry and mashing pedals. It's also possible to modulate it smoother when braking hard. The 3's clutch is way too light and has no feel. ANd the exhaust sounds terrible--like a leaf blower. Easily fixed, however.
 
Why on earth would you want to shift from 2nd to 5th?

I absolutely love how light the pedals are – that was my biggest complaint with my Ranger (’93, coincidentally) and my mom’s Subaru. The clutch is absolutely perfect – I bought the car almost solely because of how light it is (I literally turned to the salesman during the test drive and said “This clutch is amazing!”).

What really surprised me was that at first I thought the brake was slightly too high for proper heel-and-toeing, but when I tried it out, I discovered that it’s perfect for the kind of heel-and-toeing that this particular car requires – in other words, the car only needs the tiniest blip in order to get the revs matched up (in the Subie, I needed to give it a ginormous blip to rev-match), and you can really only manage a tiny blip because of the brake position, so it actually works out perfectly. Ever since I realized that, I’ve always wondered if they did that on purpose.
 
You're making it sound like you know how to heel-an-toe brake into a corner. I get the idea and the how-to, but I've never been in a car where I could practice it. I find the gas pedal not long enough (in the down direction) to do it easily. Of course it's not my car and I was just sitting in the driveway, but it still felt funny.

When Donovan, my buddy, first got his 3 the "thinking" time for the elctronic throttle was agonizingly long, making smooth rev-matching nearly impossible. Since then it has quickened consiferably and it isn't that big a deal.

And about the 2 to 5 shift. I don't know how hard you run your car, but Dis either on or off the gas. Me too. Yes, even in his car. It's fun to mash it up an acceleration ramp, say, to about 80 in 2nd. Once I'm at the top I'd want to throw it in 5th and coast to the limit. But I have to wait a freaking hour before 5th's syncros speed up enough to allow the shift. It's quite annoying.

Oh yeah, the thing wheelhops like a bitch, even with his new tires (350Z 18in. fronts, to be exact). I saw a 3 today with aftermarket 17s and tires low profile enough to where they should look good, but they were smaller around than the stock 17s and tires, which were on the back end, and looked positively retarded. D's 18s look way better, but we have almost zero room to lower it--maybe a half-inch--and the rub on the tops of the inner fender slightly when the suspension compresses a lot. In fact, we went over an average railroad crossing, one we go over every day, and we must have been out of the groove because the left rear compressed about 5 inches (!) and on it's way back down snagged the fender itself and yanked the folded-in metal and bent it out. Pretty nasty. He took a rag and a hammer handle to bend it back in real good.
 
Word is, one of those hyperground kits, or at least an extra grounding wire from the throttle to the battery ground terminal speeds up the electronic throttle quite a bit.
 
Sage
Why on earth would you want to shift from 2nd to 5th?
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I actually did this not too long ago.. hehe. I was talking to one of the guys from work about shift points in our respective cars (he's got a beefed-up Pontiac Firehawk), and I said I thought 2nd would get you up to about 60mph in the Mazda.

So, after work, I tested it. Yep, it'll get you right up there. Granted, it's at 6K+, so the engine's going a fair amount. I think what he's referring to is how long it takes the engine to wind down from 6.5K to 2.5K, which is around where 5th is at that speed.

My only real gripe about the engine wind-down is going from first to second. First and second are so far apart that if you let it get up to the 6K range in first, you've got to wait a bit before engaging the clutch into second. Unless you're showing off, then you can bark the tires going into second. :)

One thing about getting it up to 6K, though.. the sound. Man, that thing sounds great when you get it up there.
 
The 2.0 does sound fairly exotic from inside the car. But have you heard it from the outside? It sounds like an enraged electric leafblower. At high RPM there isn't even any perceptable engine noise, just SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Oh, and why shift at 6.5? The limiter doesn't kick until 7! :lol:
 
I can join this club now, I guess. I bought a 2007 5-door today. It's a real slick-driving car. I didn't think I was going to buy a car today, but I couldn't let the one black/manual/sport trim get away. There wasn't another within 300 miles...

I'm very happy though. Finally, a car that's all my own :D.
 
Hey, cool beans! :) Incidentally, yesterday was my first experience with the new ’07 models – I sat in one at the LA Auto Show. Not much different from the ’06, except for the audio jack (big plus) and new wheels and fascia (bit of a minus in my book).

Seriously, many congratulations – good to have somebody else who knows just how awesome these little boogers are. :D While I’d like to encourage you to play with the engine (my does she pull!), I think you’d be better off following the break-in rules. ;) Once you get over that 600-mile mark though, be sure to have lots of fun!
 
Sage
How’s the shifter? We’ve had some bad luck with Japanese manual trannies (for example, I think the synchros are out of whack on the Subie, because it’s almost impossible to get it into first and reverse), but I know Mazda has a great reputation for its stick-shifts.
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This is an old post...but manual trannies usually dont have synchros on first and never have them on reverse because there is no need. Every car needs some rolling/lifting up on the clutch to get into reverse.
 
Sage
Hey, cool beans! :) Incidentally, yesterday was my first experience with the new ’07 models – I sat in one at the LA Auto Show. Not much different from the ’06, except for the audio jack (big plus) and new wheels and fascia (bit of a minus in my book).
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I didn't even know it came with an audio jack until after I bought it, but that's way cool! That'll be nice on longer trips. I like the wheels on it, but I'll probably replace them with 18s at some point.
Sage
Seriously, many congratulations – good to have somebody else who knows just how awesome these little boogers are. :D While I’d like to encourage you to play with the engine (my does she pull!), I think you’d be better off following the break-in rules. ;) Once you get over that 600-mile mark though, be sure to have lots of fun!
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It's a slick little car, much in the same way the Protege was, but this car has more torque and power ;).
 
The unveiling...
newcar.jpg

It's even more beautiful than when I bought it :D. Now I can join your snooty little club :p
 
:D:tup:

Mr. Cameraman needs to tweak his photo a bit though. ;)

Have you taken ’er out on a twisty road yet? The roll stiffness is perfectly perfect for that kind of stuff.
 
Sage
:D:tup:

Mr. Cameraman needs to tweak his photo a bit though. ;)
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It actually came out well considering it was after sunset, and in a pitch black, electricity-deprived neighborhood.
Sage
Have you taken ’er out on a twisty road yet? The roll stiffness is perfectly perfect for that kind of stuff.
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The car is not insured yet, so no. And, many of our back roads are impassible at the moment. Mother Nature threw a hissy fit on Thursday night, and we're still cleaning up the massive mess.
 
Oh yeah, I’d heard about all that (and I thought the winds here were bad!) – you and your family made it through okay?
 
We're all okay, but mob rule is starting to form. People are coming from miles around to pilfer Seattle's gas stations of fuel, and our supermarkets of dairy and meat. It's going to be a while before things get back to normal.

But hey, new car!!! I'm quite happy :D.
 
Wow, talk about reviving an old forum....

I figure since I might be owning a 3 in the very near future I might as well start posting in the Mazda forum. I have been looking at the Mazdaspeed3 for a while now and driven it twice. So far I think it will be the next car I purchase, seeing as there aren't too many cars in the same kind of class (other than the GTI). All I really have to do now is talk with the bank about a loan and hopefully still pick up an '07 for cheaper. Wish me luck!
 
Is there such a thing as a Mazda 3 (2.3 version) in 4dr version? :odd: Or did I just see a dumbass in a regular Mazda 3 with a 2.3 badge?
 
Yup – most Mazda 3’s that I see are four-door 2.3 L. Mine is.
 

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