Thanks for all the kind comments..here are some responses to the questions asked
Very nice. Love Mazda cars, how is the mileage so far compare to the 626?
I've only been through one tank so far and did about 500kms pretty much all stop and go. The 626 was a 4cyl and was incredible on gas..I remember doing Toronto - Ottawa - Montreal on one tank at about *cough*125kph avg *cough*. The 3 is geared alot better than the Protege so should do pretty well except for the fact that it's about 10% heavier.
Congrats on the new car and choosing Mazda. Where are you winter tires though? When is the CD-Mazda meet.
Winters for the 3 are on their way. I have Graspics on the Protege and they're fine. The 3 will have the Hankoon Ice Bear. In the GTA I don't really sweat having winters but often take trips to Quebec city and the eastern townships where they're definitely needed.
Might we ask WHY & WHAT they did or didn't do..NOSEY BASTARDS...enquiring MINDS!! want to KNOW....
SHORT VERSION: They jerked me around about the delivery date while I was paying for a daily rental and watching the bill rise + flubbed the pdi.
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LONG VERSION -- (Get a coffee)..
As our second car had died suddenly, we were renting a daily driver until the new car would arrive. I made it clear when negotiating that the deal depended on quick delivery as every day was costing us money. I had them check GTA inventory and they said 3 were available with the colour/options I wanted and that they would call me the next day to tell me when I could pick it up. As a safeguard I put a clause in the contract stipulating delivery within 7 days.
They never called the next day. They called several days later to tell me to choose another colour... I declined and they called back a few hours later to say one was available out of town and how nice they were being to absorb the shipping cost. I responded that if they were losing money on the deal we might as well just kill it and I'd go buy a car off another dealer's lot (this dealership had no manual trannies at all). The manager then mentioned that the shipping cost was only $150. They assured me that the car would be delivered on time.
I got a call back the next day saying they had no clue when the car would arrive..(remember that I'm paying for a daily rental for each day they delay delivery..cost already over $300 at this point) so the manager and I agree to kill the deal. He calls me back the next morning and I ask to get my deposit back..he denies that we had agreed to kill the deal and assures me the car will arrive on time even though it hasn't been picked up yet by the carrier (by the way, the name of the carrier has has quoted has changed twice already in the same conversation). This promise was pretty much physically impossible given the distance.
I get a msg on my phone the next day from another manager asking me to call him back. I phone and get voicemail so I make sure to leave a detailed description of everything that has transpired so far and that it is costing me $$ out of pocket to wait for the car. He calls back and explains that he has no clue when the car will arrive and that the other manager hadn't explained any of this to him. At that point I'd had enough and gave him an earful (totally out of character for me). This second manager called back later to say that he would arrange a loaner until the car arrived. I found this to be fair as it was the out of pocket expenses that were bothering me..well that other sales manager was bothering me too

but all I wanted was the car at this point.
The car arrived 9 days after I picked up the loaner. I went to the dealership to pick up the car which I was told was ready to go. I arrived to find that one option I had take hadn't been added to the car + there was a dent and paint scratch on the door that the guy who did the $500 (??) PDI inspection had missed. There was also a round patch on the roof full of small grey streaks that looked like hairs. The pdi guy claimed this was a problem with the wax and didn't add it to the pdi inspection form. He rubbed the #$% out of that section with his cloth to no avail. I told him I wouldn't take the car unless it was on the form so he added it. I probably should had left the car to have it worked on but had returned the rental... As an aside, the guy's English was pretty sketchy and he regularily interchanged the word "gas" with "fluid" when explianing basic maintenance procedures.
I get home and take a quick look through the TSBs on the 3 and find one that describes paint etching caused by industrial pollution that looks like small grey streaks on dark paint and details how to work on it..valid during pdi only.
I'm really looking forward to working with them to get this resolved given what has already transpired.
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