1994 Mazda MX3 V6 1.8
Faults:
Driver seat has started jiggling. other than this, it is perfectly reliable. BTW, there has been some tapping noise going on, specially heard while low revs, said by Mazda that this is normal for this engine. Power window button stucks and doesn't work often.
General Comments:
It is such a brilliant car really. I think 1.8 is really enough if you wanna optimise performance and fuel economy. But there has been one thing on my mind about the engine and wanna share with you. It would have been absolutely a bomb if they/Mazda had applied their miller cycle tech to this engine like in Xedos 9. Then we would get around 170 hp with the almost same fuel consumption, crazy hey:) I would be willing to pay a little bit extra for that. I agree with some reviews that the gear ratio between 4 and 5 is very close, there should have been broader gap so that we would be able to cruise at 2000rpm around 100 km/h... Other than this, the car is flawless to me and sounds evergreen,like the 1.gen mx5. Style is timeless for this coupe as much more new other brands' coupes look rubbish beside eunos 30x. They simply don't have his refinement.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 28th August, 2006
15th Sep 2008, 21:29
That noise coming from the motor means the front head is starving the cams of oil, and is about to grenade the motor. Avoid any cars with odd engine noises, otherwise you'll be up for a $3000 repair bill.