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I had my heart set on a 3 ever since I saw one in the mall, but due to finances I ended up with the civic. However, like Gearbox said the 3 is closer in price to the SI, and I like both of those cars equally well, and would probably choose the mazda only for the convenience of having 4 doors.

 
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dre2600

Awesome post, I would buy the 3 after reading it, if I hadn't already bought the 'vic.

 
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i dunno the mazda 3 has some weird looks but the interior makes up for it. good desition though

 
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check this photshop'd mazda 3. in a coupe it would look killer.

 
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Not to cut you dopwn or anything, but you are comparing a civic auto (which is about a second slower in the 1/4 mile than it's manual counter part and has a torque converter with the no tension) to to a power plant with 0.5 Liter more displacement and a manual transmission.

For the civic to atleast stand a chance, compare a apples to apples, not autos to manuals.

 
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As for my choice, I would still take the civic for 2 reasons:

1. Resale value is way higher
2. Reilablity. I've had 3 Mazda's, everyone nickle and dimed me to death after 100K miles.

 
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is mazda 3 a ford or not?

 
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Not directly, but it under Ford supervision and has to go through Ford's upper officals before it hits production.

 
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I just wonder if it uses ford design, ford part or for assembling? therefore Ford reliability?

A dealer told me Mazda 3 is 100% made in Japan, and I really doubted it.

 
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I wouldn't believe anybody if they siad any car was 100% Japan or 100% any country for that matter. I know people from Japan and they all say Mazada's are low level cars in Japan, very unreilable, and they have been bad for many years. Like I siad I have had nothing but problems from Mazda's after 100K miles. I even had an old 323 that needed a new motor after 56K miles. I know I am just one person, but I know many that say the same. Personally I would rather have a Ford than a Mazda.

Also if you look on the certied warranty for a Mazda (I always look at this becasue this says how much the company will stand behind there products) Mazda used cars only need to get a 72% (per intellichoice) to pass, for comparison both Ford and Honda require a 85% passing score. And then only 60% of the Mazda dealer in the US will back up the certified warranty. (granted this is better than say Nissan who doesn't even have a certified program, but then agian I don't drive a Nissan)

Anyway, if you like the way the car is, then check it out, go to the Mazda forums and see what they have to say.

 
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well that sucks it's happened to you but i follow consumer reports somewhat and i'm positive they gave most mazda's decent reliability scores.

 
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Hummm... well the problem with that is that how can you say the Mazda3 is reilable, since it has only been out for a little over a year? Any reputable company I've seen will not give a long term reilablity in that short of time, hence long term. Sure some companies had some before hand the Mazda3 went into production and what not, but in Mazda's defense those where not full production models and may have still had bugs. I am mainly talking about cars with over 100K miles and I am tlaking about Mazda as a company more so than a specific car. And the few people who have gotten a 100K miles on the Mazda3 don't count because they obvioulsy drive lots of highway milage, which is signifgantly easier on the car than a combination of city/highway like I do. Anyway, I would wait for a few years to see how the car is.

I have a general rule of thumb, never buy a new car the first year it is out, wait for all the bugs to be worked out. Look at the Sentra Spec V, Srt-4 and so many other cars that imporved greatly after a couple of years in rpoduction, can you really compare them to when the car first went into production.

 
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true, in fact consumer reeports only has a predicted reliability rating for the mazda 3.

 
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A person from this site had huge problems on a new mazda 6, he is having TSX now.

I am not sure about masda 3 though

 
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Some quick figures from J.D. Power

Mazda 626 -- 2 out of 5 for mechanical dependality
Protege (2000) -- 3 out of five stars for mechanical depenbilty
Mazda Millinia (2000) --3 out of five stars for mechanical depenbilty

For comparison:
2000 Honda Accord -- 4 out of five stars for mechanical depenbilty
2000 Honda Civic --4 out of five
2000 Honda Odyssey -- 5 out of five

I think you can see the trend...

 
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Plus you have to think there is a reason why Honda's have a high resale value, and it's not because they're pretty. It's becasue they can take more of a beating than most cars out there.

I'm tring to rip on Mazda, I just don't think I would take one over a Honda. Honda's are exceptial in the area of realiabilty and Mazda is about average with manufactures like Ford, Chevy and Nissan.

 
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if i could pick again, i would take a mazda 3 hatch over the civic coupe, i like the look of it a lot better, it has a beefier engine and more room, the stance looks good

relieability wise, if you are going to trade it away for something else down the road, why does it matter? because the dealer will rip you off on the trade in anyway. if everyone in the world buys cars just because of relieability, i don't think anyone will be buying ferraris nor lambos, but they still sell.

and if it does indeed have parts break down, it's covered under warranty in the years you own them, and if you choose to modify your honda, your reliabilty goes down anyway.

if i can pick a old use car, i might consider a honda over a mazda, but talking about new cars, mazda's line is quite exciting, and the mazda 3 looks great

 
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is there a forum specific for the mazda 3?

well at least one is www.mazda3forums.com

 
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I wonder what is the comaprison in autoX between civic and mazda3. In there forum they says protege dominates its class so as mazda 3.

 
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I agree Mazda's line up is better than Honda's right now and I would choose the Mazda too if I where only going to keep it for a few years, but I like my cars to go for 200K miles, so I gues from this it is a personal preforance thing.

 
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I am and am not comapring it directly to my Civic. When I say I don't have to rev the hell out of it to get it to move, thats a comparison with most any Civic. When I say acceleration is smooth and shifter feel is positive thats compared to a lot of other manual transmission cars I've driven in the past.

As for apples to oranges and everyone saying to compare the 3 to the Civic Si (Canadian SiR), price-wise the 3 is closer to the Civic, in fact I paid more for my Civic than for my 3.

 
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Um, you've got things a little mixed up. Mazda belong w. other imports along w. Nissan in quality control. It does -not- compare to Ford, with it's Focus having more recalls than I can count on both hands, nor does it compare w. Chevy, maker of the beloved Cavalier. If you'd actually look at quality surveys you would get a better idea of the true picture of things.

Hondas have a high resale value because of an aura of quality that surrounds them and Toyotas right now. With domestics losing market share, imports are making it up. Mazda has a lower resale value, at least in the US because they don't move many units down there. In Canada, sales of Mazda as a total share of the automobile market are higher.

In all truth, a lot of import prices are exagerated right now and its good to see companies like Nissan and Mazda offering -competition- so that perhaps other import companies (ie: Honda and Toyota) will start becoming competitive themselves insofar as pricing is concerned.

Quality-wise, so far, about 3000km into things, not a single problem. At this point 2 years ago my Civic already had 2 cabin squeeks and a suspension groan from the lower rear control arm when I went over any large bumps, I'm not trashing Honda, but nowadays, quality control around the board is improving, even Hyundai is stepping up to the plate.

 
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Yes, I do admit Honda's engines have to be revved up high due to a lack of torque, where as Mazda's usually don't but, I don't mind that, but then agian that is a preforance thing and changes from perosn to person.

I woudln't quite put Nissan on Mazda's level. Nissan only gets a 62% pass to become a certified car, compared to Mazda's 72%. Nissan is the only major import brand I would consider worse Mazda, maybe you didn't get to read all the stuff from intellichoice I quoted?

If you think it is an aura that is surrounding Honda and Toyota, then okay... That's our opinion. My opinion is that the civic is not worth the money and I would rather spend a 2G more for an Accord LX than Civic EX. An Accord LX is just above 17G and even with the k24 auto, mine is still faster than my old '03 EX manual with i/h/e. I think I would take the Accord over any of the cars here, for that matter the Tc I think is a better car, but I digress. If you think the Mazda3 is the best thing going, go for it, I'll stick to what I have experience with.

 
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I don't think its a preference thing having torque lower in the powerband, I think its more or less universal that people like torque wherever they can get it, the sooner the better.

I've read a number of quality surveys, including the one you referenced. I don't really get the whole idea of a passing score, but I don't think its indicative of quality, you said Ford and Mazda had similar passing scores and yet, obviously, Ford quality is much worse than Mazdas. Quality surveys aside, as they do differ widely, though tend to group imports and domestics with a wide disparity between them, this is the 3rd Mazda I've had experience w. The first one being a 1991 929 that got over 360,000km before being stolen, most recently a 1999 Millenia w. somewhere around 160,000km and still no problems (barring a vent that jammed, though I think thats because someone jammed something into the vent...) and the 3, which I can't really comment on because it only has 3000km. Personal experiences I find can differ widely, I've heard of people who have had problems with any brand of car and people who have had nothing but good experiences.

I don't know why you suddenly started talking about the Accord, as its in a different class. I suppose, ultimately (and this of course is my opinion) I'm just trying to say that for the money the best thing around right now is the 3, in this particular class of car. I won't be forcing my opinions on others, I just like for everyone to have their facts straight.

 
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That's your opinion and I respect that. Don't get me wrong, the 3 isn't a BAD car or anything and I know people who have good experiences. I even know someone who had 4 bad BMW's in a row (I think their shop wasn't using the right oil or something though)

I mentioned the Accord becasue when I bought my civic I waqs torn between an Accord LX and the civic EX, the Accord was only 2G more, so I know the car is in a different class and all that, but in my little world, I don't care what class a car is in, I want the best bang for my buck and if I can get a far better car for 2G more, I would do it. Unfortunatly, I didn't then, but I do have an Accord now. So my point is that I think the Accord is well worth the extra 2G over a civic simply becasue it ride so much nicer and has twice the quailty of the civic, but that's my opinion.

If you want to talk about class though, okay. I actuall wouldn't buy anouther civic, maybe an 8th generation that is suppose to have the K18 or K20 in it or osmething like that, but that hasn't com out yet, so it's not fair. AS of today, I would take the Tc, just because there are factory upgrades and the fit and finish seems realy good, but I have yet to drive one long term or talk to anyone about it, so I'm not going to go raving about it. But I just am not sure about the Mazda quality as I've been bitten to many times.

 
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I believe in SEDAN world you are right...too bad mazda3 does not make coupe.

 
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By class I just meant medium-size sedan vs compact car. If I'm in the market for a sporty sedan, chances are I won't want to walk away w. a Buick even if the price is like.

Frankly, I like the tC a lot myself too and if we had Scion up here in Canada I'd probably have gotten one instead of the 3, but, as the pecs on the 2 seem very much alike and I enjoy the interior of the Mazda a bit more, I opted for it vs anything else, including Toyota offerings like the Matrix *shudder* or Corolla XRS (don't feel revvy).

I can understand what you mean about the quality thing though, I had one shyte VW about 3 or 4 years ago and I'll never go near VW ever again. Even though they're new Golfs look absolutely amazing, that one bad car soured me on the whole nameplate.

 
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the mazda three is based off of the new volvo s40 platform. the 3 handles good but no matter what you're always going to feal the added weight in the corners. plus for the added cost of the 3 you coud put a nice suspension on the vic. ive driven the new 3 and the scion tc, IMO both are just to big and heavy, compared to a civic which is feals lighter and more nimble. obviously the tc and the 3 have hte civic beat in options and both have fancier interiors, but some how i like the simplicity of the civic, inside and out.

 
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If you think this civic is light, try driving a EG civic... You'll think the 7thgen is huge...

 
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Mm, increased weight seems to have afflicted every car since 1990. My g/f's 95 Civic is lighter than a 96 and a 96 is lighter than our Civics. As manufacturers add more and more ammenities weight will increase. Personally though, things like larger displacement and more sound insulation to lower NVH I like. I find my 3 a lot less buzzy above 80km/h w. road noise reduced a good deal, when its idling half the time you couldn't even tell the engine is on. Handling wise, though I haven't had a chance to really toss it into the corners, I think it can really hold it's own.

I was watching a video of the 3 doing some open-course racing, specifically Showroom Stock C, where in the straights the 3 loses a bit of ground to 2 Civic Si's, but in the corners it just -eats- them. Jim Daniels later got 2nd place in the race after a 'controversial keyhole incident'. The vid is actually really good: http://www.jimdaniels.com/albums/vid...sFull04SSC.wmv

(though later off, owing to the fact that the Civic was running out of compliance and Jim would take 1st...)