My 5-year Mazda3 experience

[thefish]

It's been roughly five years since I got my 3. Here are my random thoughts in no particular order.

1) I really enjoyed the car for the first 1-2 years. After that, I got a bit tired of it. Why? I'm not sure. I think I'm the type of person that likes new cars every couple years.
2) I feel like I paid way too much in service costs (mostly my fault for letting dealers sell me on things I could do myself).
3) The cabin air filter location -- what a joke! Luckily I think the new 3s are better.
4) The standard tires that came with the car were crap, had to replace them after two summers.
5) It's pretty insane that my 5-year old car came with cool features like rain-sensing wipers & heated seats, for such a low cost. There are some luxury brands out there where you need to buy (expensive) premium packages to get similar features.
6) Rust. I haven't seen any yet but I am deathly scared of it. Makes me want to sell the car now before it happens.
7) The car is still fun to drive.
8) I wish the seating in the back was bigger.
9) The mileage was worse than I expected it to be.
10) I see more women driving white 3s than men.
11) I'll probably move on to lease a luxury brand car. Not because I dislike Mazda, but simply because I'm in a totally different financial situation than I was five years ago. The Mazda 3 was great for me during my "just out of school" time.


Thanks for reading.

[JonsMazda]

It's a small fun car.

[greffer31]

It's been roughly five years since I got my 3. Here are my random thoughts in no particular order.

1) I really enjoyed the car for the first 1-2 years. After that, I got a bit tired of it. Why? I'm not sure. I think I'm the type of person that likes new cars every couple years.
2) I feel like I paid way too much in service costs (mostly my fault for letting dealers sell me on things I could do myself).
3) The cabin air filter location -- what a joke! Luckily I think the new 3s are better.
4) The standard tires that came with the car were crap, had to replace them after two summers.
5) It's pretty insane that my 5-year old car came with cool features like rain-sensing wipers & heated seats, for such a low cost. There are some luxury brands out there where you need to buy (expensive) premium packages to get similar features.
6) Rust. I haven't seen any yet but I am deathly scared of it. Makes me want to sell the car now before it happens.
7) The car is still fun to drive.
8) I wish the seating in the back was bigger.
9) The mileage was worse than I expected it to be.
10) I see more women driving white 3s than men.
11) I'll probably move on to lease a luxury brand car. Not because I dislike Mazda, but simply because I'm in a totally different financial situation than I was five years ago. The Mazda 3 was great for me during my "just out of school" time.


Thanks for reading.

I think this is just true for mz3's in general lol and old women to boot. You'd never see a mod on those cars tho

[DouggyD]

thanks for the write up. I am just starting out with my 2013, but seems like your observations are spot on.