Special Edition 3 on the way

[swales]

So it looks like the US is going to be getting a Special Edition 3 available in Jan, I wonder if we\'ll see it up here. Here\'s some details of it:


Just received the 2005 Mazda3 Catalog (USA):

Special Edition: Unique Carbon Gray exterior color; 17\" alloy wheels; side sill extensions; Bose audio system with 7 speakers including powered subwoofer, EQ, and in-dasy 6-disc CD changer; saddle brown or black leather-trimmed seats; heated front seats; rain-sensing wipers; auto-headlights; A/C pollen filter and LED tailights (5-Door) (late availability).



What sticks out for me are the heated seats, A/C pollen filter and the LED tail lights, looks like autoexe won\'t be unique anymore :)

[majic]

well he still might be in canada.. since that verison is us..

so they get canadian faetures and heated seats and call it special.. lol

yuck to brown seats tho!!!

[swales]

so they get canadian faetures and heated seats and call it special.. lol

Basically it\'s the US and Cdn version put together plus the LED lights and Pollen filter from the JDM version. If they would have added the auto-climate it would have been an \"all version\" 3.

It would be better for us up here, because we would get the HID\'s, LED\'s, and heated seats which is better then an upgrade to auto lights/wipers. The upgraded stereo would also be good for someone who doesn\'t plan on an aftermarket upgrade as the Boss systems aren\'t great but better then stock.

[RedRaptor]

The Special Edition package seems cool, although if the leather is anything like the existing Mazda leather then I rather stick with cloth seats, as I am not impressed by the quality of the leather now.

I have to say that Heated Seats and HIDs would be my fav features and the most useful. LED tail lights are a nice touch but its something we could easily add on to our 3s right now if we wanted so its no big deal. A remote trunk release would been nice.

I wonder how much more the Special Edition will cost tho.

[miggiddy]

Do we not have any sort of air filter for our ventilation system? I haven\'t checked the manual.

[swales]

Do we not have any sort of air filter for our ventilation system? I haven\'t checked the manual.

Nope, there\'s no pollen filter on our cars.

[Dr Butcher]

Originally posted by swales



Do we not have any sort of air filter for our ventilation system? I haven\'t checked the manual.

Nope, there\'s no pollen filter on our cars.

Is there any way to make some sort of filter? The guy across the street from me has a habit of getting out the leaf blower after he mows his lawn. It totally sucks to turn on the car and have blades of grass blow in. I\'m pretty cheesed at the lack of any sort of filter....

[RedRaptor]

Dr Butcher,

I ordered one of these on Ebay last week which is a Air Purifier that cleans the air inside the car of Dust, Pollen, Mold, Viruses and Bacteria, odors and any other airborne particles.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=14949&item=5723678 345

I\'ve heard of these Air Purifiers for the house and office but never knew they had ones for automobiles. Of course its not as good as having a A/C Pollen filter but its better than nothing and doesn\'t cost that much.

I should be getting mine sometime this week.

EDIT: The company that sells these units are from Toronto. www.heavenfresh.ca
I emailed them and they said that you can visit their store in Scarborough and purchase them in person.

[miggiddy]

Originally posted by swales



Do we not have any sort of air filter for our ventilation system? I haven\'t checked the manual.

Nope, there\'s no pollen filter on our cars.

Sux!!!! I have really bad allergies during the spring, every little bit helps. Even the Civic has a filter, Mazda cheaped out on that feature :( I would have paid extra for that.

[01AWW18T]

I believe we do have the \"rough in\" for the air pollen filter. I read on M3F that there\'s a cubby hole where the filter goes behind the glove box like in the 6. Also, other parts of the world DO get the air pollen filter, so its just a matter of getting a carbon filter and placing it in the cubby hole behind the glove box.

I\'m more interested in the heated seats, although now that the weather is getting colder, I think the heating system in our 3s is more than sufficient. It gets unbareably hot if I set it to the hottest setting:)

[teambedlam]

Originally posted by Dr Butcher It totally sucks to turn on the car and have blades of grass blow in. I\'m pretty cheesed at the lack of any sort of filter....

I agree. I was actually told when i first looked at the 3 that it had a Hepa Filter on it. I have a hepa air clearer for my apartment. Every few weeks i take it down to my garage, plug it in, put it in my car , give the seats a good beating to stir up the dust and then i turn it on overnight.

It amazes me how much dust can accululate in the car even after a few weeks

[billyfo]

teambedlam, where did you buy that filter/cleaner? thanks

I would rather want the Bose system instead.

[Xenon]

Is that special edition CONFIRMED? or just a rumour?

[miggiddy]

Originally posted by 01AWW18T


I believe we do have the \"rough in\" for the air pollen filter. I read on M3F that there\'s a cubby hole where the filter goes behind the glove box like in the 6. Also, other parts of the world DO get the air pollen filter, so its just a matter of getting a carbon filter and placing it in the cubby hole behind the glove box.

I\'m more interested in the heated seats, although now that the weather is getting colder, I think the heating system in our 3s is more than sufficient. It gets unbareably hot if I set it to the hottest setting:)

Interesting, I\'ll have to investigate. Thanks for the info.

[swales]

Is that special edition CONFIRMED? or just a rumour?

It\'s 100% confirmed. It\'s in the US 2005 Mazda 3 brochure, no word for Canada yet but my guess is it will show up here as a 2005.5 model (around March) like they did with the P5 special edition that was available in the US.

[Xenon]

Damn... i want one...

Trade in :p

[Melenium]

Its kind of funny that they get the heated seats down in the US, yet up here in igloo land we don\'t get it.

It may be worth taking a look at the service manual for the car... or even taking apart some of the centre console trim between the seats. When I did that in my old car, \'lo and behold\' it was prewired for seat heaters-- funny because in the 7 or so years that they made it, only the special edition actually offered them as an option. Go figure...

[Firenze]

I hope a Canadian SE offers xenon lights. I love the way they look.

[bluntman]

2005 Mazda3 Special Edition (.pdf file) (http://www.msprotege.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=30831)

[majic]

damn.. to buy now or wait for the SP23.. if it even makes it to canada..

so for about 1.3K more u get LED tail lights and Xenons.. i think that\'s worth it right there IMO + heated seats and 6CD BOSE system.. hmm dilemnas dilemnas... :)

[///M]

no moonroof and GFX though

the brown leather is really nice IMO

[majic]

Originally posted by autoexe


no moonroof and GFX though

the brown leather is really nice IMO

\'GFX\' is part of the deal 1SP (US version of it - sports package).. and that brown leather is pretty pukey.. but that\'s just my opinion

[bluntman]

I didn\'t see any mention of an auto climate control, but there they are in a couple of photos. :sarc

[Xenon]

The Auto Climate Control is something I wish came with our Canadian Spec Cars.... I would really appreciate it.

[mEtH]

Did anyone else notice that the handbrake is on the wrong side?

I guess they switched over to the left hand drive but forgot the hand-brake! :p
Even the shifter is wrong!

[Xenon]

I think these are Euro-spec pictures.... that would explain the Climate control...

and as for the gearbox and handbrake... Perhaps Mazda makes it like that for Europe? Britain, may I remind you, still drives Left Side, so to save money they swap the wheel over but leave the centre console the way it is?

I donno... just my guess.


By the way, the one shown with black leather interior, The gearshift and handbrake are in the right positions... and that one has NAV.

[wongpres]

The vehicles from that brochure are pre-production prototypes. Several of the pictures are JDM-spec and a few are even flipped horizontally to appear as if the steering wheel is on the left.

Automatic climate controls will NOT be part of the US-spec SP23 trim.