Author Topic: Mazda 3 (Read 21923 times)

articsteve · « **Reply #100 on:** March 09, 2005, 06:06:36 pm »

"anybody else had Differential problems on their Mazda 3,mine makes a noise now and Mazda won't cover it saying it is abuse!"

That's BS. But that's the downside of buying a Mazda.

wayno · « **Reply #101 on:** March 09, 2005, 06:54:34 pm »

I don't know if over here in alberta our cars come from different factories.
But i have heard very little of problems with the 3.
it is a 20-25,000 dollar car, it's not a hydraulic transmission, it won't ride like a luxury car, and it will be quirky in areas.
As far as the manual transmission goes it seems to be a good car in this part of the country.
I wish i could have bought a higher end car, but i had to go entry level and accept that.
People don't post comments very often on thigs they do like about their car.
Is there different facotires that canadian Mazda 3's are built at???
Here in Grande Prairie Alberta, and also in Edmonton Alberta very few recurring problems seem to be reported

mi5 · « **Reply #102 on:** March 16, 2005, 02:54:42 pm »

Ovr50 and Cosmo: The OEM Goodyears on my Nissan were total crap. The Michelins from Costco are WAY better. Since I started going to a different Nissan dealer, I even found that they recommend to their customers that they replace the crappy OEM Goodyears with the exact same model of Michelin.

As far as wiper blades go, anyone who has to go in to the dealer to get them replaced because they can't do it themself can't be very bright.

The only reason I started getting my oil changes done at Costco for a while was because the dealer I used to go to was so bad. Now that I found a much better one they do my oil (and everything else) instead of Costco. If my new dealership had your attitude I would still be using Costco.

There are some good dealerships and some really, really bad ones that intentionally rip off even regular customers. (I have seen it myself and there are detailed reports from APA and others.) Bad customer service needs to be punished in the marketplace by consumers and exercising choice is the main way to do this. And regarding good news vs. bad news word of mouth, I have told at least as many people about my good experiences at particular garages as my bad ones because that info is more constructive and I remember more recommendations from others about good places than bad ones. Obviously YMMV but dumping on someone because they replaced their own windshield wipers (possibly to avoid a phony brake job) is just plain silly.

84im · « **Reply #103 on:** March 16, 2005, 10:31:58 pm »

Quote: "For the most part I would never visit these sites for fear of being bunched into a group of winers and complainers"
For a beginner you're pretty good at it. And it's 'whiner', unless you meant to call us 'winners'?

ovr50 · « **Reply #104 on:** March 16, 2005, 10:38:55 pm »

Mi5 - what in hell are you talking about, a 40something day old post? All OEM tires are crap so no revolation there.

cosmo · « **Reply #105 on:** March 17, 2005, 07:04:41 am »

Mi5...for the most part I was generalising some things and yes I mentioned wiper blades...the point was that sometimes people come in with things on their cars that have been purchased somewhere else, or serviced somewhere else and expect the dealer to fix what they have replaced or had serviced....and to retort about "anyone who cannot replace there own wiper blades"...there are TONS of people in the world who cannot do this! I'm not gonna make a genaralisation, but you can imagine the types of people.

YES Costco tires can be very good, but realise this...alot of times the reason the tires are cheap is because they are more often than not called "seconds" or the model of tire is due to be dis-contineued, which causes alot of people stress by either balance issues (seconds) or replacing one or two tires to match their dis-contineued tires.

Now I don't want people to get me wrong on this page, I was in a bad mood the day I wrote my original message. For the most part most customers are pretty good, but there are some of you out there whom can be complete JERKS or just plain rude, or stupid....and you saying that someone should make laws to protect the customer is ok, that's in the works. What I would LIKE to see is more power giving to garages to take cars that are UNSAFE off the road. Too many times have i seen a car with no brakes, no rubber, or really unsafe suspension failure drive out the door because people don't have the money, or think we are too expensive, or have a "friend" who can do it for them. A few times my employer has called the ministry, but they simply do not seem to have the time to come 'bust' some person in a car...they seem to concerned with big trucks these days.

Your worried about your money in your wallet... I'm worried about the child seat in the back seat of that unsafe car, or myself for the love of Pete! Imagine how mad you would be if someone who had no brakes (and was told about it) ran into your car!

BTW, not every dealership is bad, I like to think of mine as pretty good...and if you get you car worked on by me, you can be sure your gettign the best

barrie1 · « **Reply #106 on:** March 17, 2005, 05:04:08 pm »

I have found over the years when I have had to report a vehicle that is not roadworthy that a call to the area supervisor of the MTO is the best way to go. They are then obligated to have the car picked up and examined by their staff. Had a neighbour years ago that lost 6 cars in 6 months as they were total death traps. He had 2 small children that he was risking their lives over. The whole neighbourhood kept calling as he was a idiot.

wing · « **Reply #107 on:** March 18, 2005, 09:51:56 pm »

Ovr50, I disagree, a lot of cars are coming with better and better tires these days. It use to be the norm only a few years ago that OEM tires were garbage, but they seem to be getting better with rising car costs.

ovr50 · « **Reply #108 on:** March 18, 2005, 10:08:05 pm »

Maybe on some cars, such as your S2k but (for eg.) Subies still come with the RE92s which are not so hot. My RAV came with a another B'stone that is OK but will upgrade to better tire later (if I still have it). Maybe on upper end vehicles, but generally I would still say that OEM tires are less than you would normally pick for yourself. "Crap" may be too strong a word for them.

barrie1 · « **Reply #109 on:** March 19, 2005, 09:39:26 pm »

Some Cars is I believe the answer as I see alot of differences on certain Car Dealer lots.I have seen all the models at one dealership, Cars and Trucks alike were wearing Firestones one month and then the next walkthru at one month later most had Michelins as the standard issue. Certain performance cars stick to the same brand for many years staight. The New Corvettes as a example always come with Goodyears on them. Not my choice at all for that car but I believe the builders go with who's got the best price for the next xxxx thousand new cars or trucks gets the contract. Some months we win.

baseballguy · « **Reply #110 on:** March 23, 2005, 03:39:53 am »

my mazda's been good. 20000 km and no problems. 575km per tank not bad. 2.0 man. tran. Solid overall. Thank You!

sirAQUAMAN64 · « **Reply #111 on:** March 23, 2005, 09:07:11 am »

Hope it stays that way Baseball :-)

aisha · « **Reply #112 on:** May 28, 2005, 09:25:40 pm »

im so sad now cuz i wanted a mazda 3 for my birthday the car is so sexy!!

sirAQUAMAN64 · « **Reply #113 on:** May 30, 2005, 12:23:22 pm »

Aisha, I'm sure the longer you hold out the better the car has become.

Mazda was pumping them out in '04 and I'm sure many ongoing changes have been made since launch to improve quality.

Wetson · « **Reply #114 on:** June 01, 2005, 01:43:36 pm »

One of my Colleagues has a 04 Mazda 3 Sport and has had no problems with it except for an airbag sensor and I believe that was a recall. It took all of 10 minutes to have it repaired. She's been very happy with it. I almost bought a Mazda 3 but the dorks at Lakeshore Mazda in Toronto kept trying to sell me a 6 so I ended up walking.

cableguy · « **Reply #115 on:** June 19, 2005, 11:16:58 pm »

bought my mazda 3 sport gt march 04. The airbag light of course and the passenger side wiper doesn't wipe well. the horn went but he dealer fixed it no prob. The passenger seat fabric stretched or something and was bunching. The dealer took pictures and sent to hq and fixed it a few weeks later. The service dept has been great here in edmonton. THe car has been great. My wifes mostly drives it and says it seems to be idling low but I never notice it when I drive it. I love driving it. A nice change from my 03 dakota. We are getting about 450 km on a tank. I drive it pretty hard..As i have a heavy foot and enjoy the manual trans. We love the car. Lots of city and highway. We get up to 500 550 on the highway.

ovr50 · « **Reply #116 on:** June 19, 2005, 11:31:56 pm »

Thanks for the report back to us, Cableguy. Gather you're using the Dakota for the cable business and the Mazda3 is a pleasure car.

cableguy · « **Reply #117 on:** June 20, 2005, 09:27:12 pm »

ya i am actually on another thread in the used section looking for info an a replacement for the dakota

the dakota is great but hoping to save some $$ on gas. Love the mazda, very fun to drive

wasabi · « **Reply #118 on:** February 02, 2006, 12:46:49 pm »

Recently just sold my '04 GT Sport. It was my first Mazda (I've always been a honda and bmw guy). Didn't have a single problem with it....think there was a manuf recall, but that was taken care of during one of my oil change services. Had 45K on the clock, and it was rock solid from day one. Service was downtown Mazda - pretty straight up guys.