mrflood
05-15-2005, 02:00 AM
Hi Guys, I\'m wondering if anyone could help or give me advice. I love my Mazda 3 but hate the way it drives!
I have a 2004 Mazda3 GT with Manual transmission and it has almost 14k. Ever since I got the car, I noticed that the 160 horsepower engine didn\'t really impress me. It\'s really weird because some days the car drives and shifts better then other days. Most of the time though, I feel like there isn\'t enough power to pull the car. Like there is something weighing me down. I\'ve tried shifting at about 3000rpm to 6000rpm, all with the same result. I especially notice this when shifting from first to second. It\'s like I slow down, for a few seconds while waiting for my second gear to hit it\'s power band. This can\'t be normal because I\'ve driven other Manual transmission cars including my friends Dodge SX 2.0 (Neon) of all cars, and it shifts like butter. I felt like I was driving an aoutomatic transmission while driving his car because of how smooth and powerful the shift changes were.
Another thing is that let\'s say I\'m going about 10-15 km per hour in a parking lot for example, I would expect that once I engage into 1st gear that I can stay in first as long as I maintain a little speed, without having to ride the clutch. Well if I am in 1st, and then let go of the gas for a second or two, and then accelerate quickly again, the car stumbles before it moves...it\'s like it wants more gas or oxygen or something. I have to emphasize that I am no where near the point of stalling at this point; I know the difference. I have noticed this on 2nd gear too (coasting at 20-40km). When you are driving you are not constantly accelerating, so I expect when I kick the gas, the car should speed up without any jerkiness or hesitation. I replicated all the above situations with my cousins Neon and it drove exactly how I would expect a manual transmission car to drive. I\'m really left scratching my head because I feel it\'s one of those problems that the Mazda dealership is going to try to tell me is normal, or that it needs to break in more, or to warm it up longer or whatever. I don\'t recall noticing this when I test drove the Mazda 3, although I was so excited about the way it looked I may not have even noticed.
On top of this, my gas mileage is terrible. I\'m not sure if it\'s related or not. I\'m lucky to get 360KM out of a tank of gas, and I\'m not racing the car or anything. I usually shift at about 3500RPM.
I guess I want to especially hear from other people who drive the Manual Mazda 3, and if you can relate to any of the above situations. Flipseed, I know you work at Avante Mazda, so I\'m hoping you might have some experience with this, and give some insight too. Am I expecting too much out the car?? Do you guys think this issue along with the poor gas milage could be a bad o2 sensor or gas pump. I am not technical when it comes to cars by any means, so if you guys can point me in the right direction, I would really appreciate it.
Thanks.
I have a 2004 Mazda3 GT with Manual transmission and it has almost 14k. Ever since I got the car, I noticed that the 160 horsepower engine didn\'t really impress me. It\'s really weird because some days the car drives and shifts better then other days. Most of the time though, I feel like there isn\'t enough power to pull the car. Like there is something weighing me down. I\'ve tried shifting at about 3000rpm to 6000rpm, all with the same result. I especially notice this when shifting from first to second. It\'s like I slow down, for a few seconds while waiting for my second gear to hit it\'s power band. This can\'t be normal because I\'ve driven other Manual transmission cars including my friends Dodge SX 2.0 (Neon) of all cars, and it shifts like butter. I felt like I was driving an aoutomatic transmission while driving his car because of how smooth and powerful the shift changes were.
Another thing is that let\'s say I\'m going about 10-15 km per hour in a parking lot for example, I would expect that once I engage into 1st gear that I can stay in first as long as I maintain a little speed, without having to ride the clutch. Well if I am in 1st, and then let go of the gas for a second or two, and then accelerate quickly again, the car stumbles before it moves...it\'s like it wants more gas or oxygen or something. I have to emphasize that I am no where near the point of stalling at this point; I know the difference. I have noticed this on 2nd gear too (coasting at 20-40km). When you are driving you are not constantly accelerating, so I expect when I kick the gas, the car should speed up without any jerkiness or hesitation. I replicated all the above situations with my cousins Neon and it drove exactly how I would expect a manual transmission car to drive. I\'m really left scratching my head because I feel it\'s one of those problems that the Mazda dealership is going to try to tell me is normal, or that it needs to break in more, or to warm it up longer or whatever. I don\'t recall noticing this when I test drove the Mazda 3, although I was so excited about the way it looked I may not have even noticed.
On top of this, my gas mileage is terrible. I\'m not sure if it\'s related or not. I\'m lucky to get 360KM out of a tank of gas, and I\'m not racing the car or anything. I usually shift at about 3500RPM.
I guess I want to especially hear from other people who drive the Manual Mazda 3, and if you can relate to any of the above situations. Flipseed, I know you work at Avante Mazda, so I\'m hoping you might have some experience with this, and give some insight too. Am I expecting too much out the car?? Do you guys think this issue along with the poor gas milage could be a bad o2 sensor or gas pump. I am not technical when it comes to cars by any means, so if you guys can point me in the right direction, I would really appreciate it.
Thanks.