Mazda 3, gf might bet used one, advice?
 

Hey guys,

I searched around the 3's forum briefly, but it is nowhere near as comprehensive as ours!! i had a mazda 3 loaner while my 8 was at the dealer. great little car, and it was the base model. nice ride, relatively stiff suspension, great steering feel. anyway, my girlfriend has a crappy 2002 accord, the base of all base models, no power anything, no cruise, etc. anyway, sort of always in the market for a new car, without actively searching. happen to run across a personal seller of a 2005 4 door mazda 3 s, totally decked out. it looks really nice, and it has everything she wants, AND it's the 1st car she's really liked the look of that's in our price range.

anyway, can any comment on the dependency of the engine? any major defects or problems it has had? i couldn't find anything on google, which is good, but just want to make sure. the only problem with the deal is high mileage, 62,000 miles for an '05. hopefully it's all highway, but it's obviously out of warranty, so we're just a little gun-shy about buying a high mileage used car, when we know her honda engine will last...

EDIT: title should read "gf might get used one", not bet -- sorry!

62,000 miles for an '05 = red flag when i read it, if she really like the 3 im sure you guys can find better deals with some patience. honda is ranked near the top of DJ power's long term reliability survey every year while Mazda is always below the 50 percentile. I'd have some serious contemplation about buying one out of warranty with such high miles.

good luck, its a nice car, I say keep searching and you will surely find better deals

ex: 2005 survey
http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/23/Auto...power_2005.gif

It's a popular car among cute girls, so your girlfriend must be a cutie.

they are great car. ive driven and worked on many of them. they are always a blast. i would definantly wait and look around for a better deal. thats just too many miles for that year. if her accord is running well, then there should be no serious hurry for another car and you can wait for a good deal.

haha, is it? well she is, so i guess she fits the bill to get one :)

thanks playdoh and topgear.

it's a red flag to us too, but damn, it was one of the nicest (stock) 3's i've ever seen, and has everything she wants. i guess even if they're all highway miles, it's still a lot.

if it would change your mentality at all, she was a very mature old (old = over 40) lady that seemed to take care of it will, and not peeling out at lights, etc.

yikes, i wonder how much our 8 played into that!! either way it's lower than i hoped/expected/thought.

wow.... buick, caddy and mercury are all better than Honda! :uhh:
Makes you wonder how this data is collected?

whoa! i didn't really look at that ... umm, that DOES seem a little shady! ha ha, no way those cars are at the top...:banghead:

or people are just ignorant to hard facts and statistics that some american brands have caught up in quality

maybe, maaaaaaybe NOW they have, but that was 2005. ford is just now bragging about it's quality "equaling" that of toyota's.

anyway, getting of track here. just about to call and see if we can go check it out. if we take the next step, we'll definitely get it inspected thoroughly, to see if there are any major potential issues/current issues, and to check all the wear items for negotiation points. sucks i'm going out of town today, and she can't drive stick yet...

There's some low financing incentives on the 3 right now. See if you can budget a new one... you definitely won't feel buyer's remorse. It is a great little car and the manual 2.3 has good pickup and is VERY user friendly, like shifting a toy car :)

I saw a commercial where they specifically said that too. They need to fire their marketing manager for allowing something like that. Basically they just said, when you bought a car from us 5-10 years ago, you really should have bought a toyota. Completely spineless, imo.

...off topic :)

dude, that's hilarious. that's the exact same reaction i had!! it's like the mcdonald's ... "now using 100% real chicken" ... wait what the f*ck did i eat yesterday then??! haha, what the hell took you so long to just now bring up your quality. and your right, what the hell do you tell the people that just bought a car that wasn't up the new standards?? anyway, done ranting...

good point, i'll check into where i get my 8 serviced. she doesn't want a payment tho. the honda is fine, so we're going for want, not need, and still trying to keep it reasonable. they're asking 12,5, but i'm sure we could get at least 12, if not 11,5, and her accord should sell for at least 6, if not 7 grand. she she's looking to pay it all of, not have a payment, at least not longer than a year, and still get a great car with all the bells and whistles she wants - i seriously can't wait for her to have auto windows, auto locks, and cruise control!! ah, the simples things. anyway, really trying to avoid a lease. thanks tho, i'll check it out.

uh oh...

click the link (to a pdf) right below their row of cars. looks like mazda is #1, above even honda...

http://www.rogerbeasley.com/

i even saw a ford commercial a few months back that said "the heart of a sports car" that one really pissed me off. not because they ripped mazda off, but because its such a lie. all fords drive like bricks.

While I do find some of JD Power's rankings odd sometimes I'll trust it long before some shady extended warranty company claims that seems to do LOTS of business with Ford. Consumer Reports also usually puts Mazda around the middle as far as reliability goes.

What's wrong with the new Mustang? 1' gap at thw wheel well goes well with the rocking from side to side in a corner.