Poorly made, drives well
Clutch burnt out at 18,000 miles.
Stock tires bad. Told by dealer all stock tires are bad.
Handles and drives well. Dashboard layout good. Comfortable.
Be wary of 17" alloy wheels on i Touring model, as they cost over $200 per wheel to replace the tires.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 3rd June, 2011
One word, Blistering!
None as yet, only had it 6 days so wasn't expecting any!
Having decided to take the plunge back into owning a quick car, the wife put the blockers on me getting another 3000GT; not enough room in the back was the cry, as well as her dislike for older cars.
After a bit of research, I settled upon the all new 2010 model Mazda 3 MPS. A lot of MPS owners prefer the gen1 model to the new one, but I have to say I quite like it. The spec level is very good, and for the money I paid, 20k straight with a bit of haggling and a generous 1k allowance paid by Mazda, quite a bargain.
I am still running the engine in, but have to say the mid range pull on this car is nothing short of phenomenal, only had it 6 days and have seen off an Impreza WRX / Boxster S / Audi S3. I wasn't gonna mention the Civic Type R that tried and failed miserably; I really hate those cars and hate the owners even more, pieces of crap.
The MPS is a very underrated car; the ride can be a bit harsh, that is my only gripe so far.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 29th December, 2009
Doesn't it bother you that your fuel costs are similar, if not more than that of V8 muscle car owner. Granted you can take corners better, but this is a high compression turbo paired with a high compression engine. This thing will cost more to run in the long run.
Go ahead and bash Civics all you want; when Mazda won't honour your warranty once your tranny grenades, you'll understand why I'd rather drive Honda. LOL.
29.3 mpg (combined) for the Mazda - hardly V8 muscle car territory. The Civic gets 31 mpg, but it does have nearly 60bhp less. Also, the MPS has been around since 2007 and I've not heard of any major transmission problems.
Stop badmouthing each other. It makes both sides look bad when he baits Honda owners, and you go shooting back. Some people hate Hondas, let them have their opinion. I don't like Hondas personally, but that's my opinion and I'm not going to go around saying that I hate them or their owners suck. Just don't take the bait. I think the MS3 is a great car but the review was kind of botched at the end with that comment, I agree.
I own a 2009 MPS and it's now covered 138,000 miles.. I cover roughly 40k a year, and I drive it hard! I'm still on the original clutch that it was built with. So the transmission is perfectly reliable, and I've often got 30+ MPG easily on the motorway as long as I stay below 90mph...
Good car, let down by low build quality
Car was delivered with one loud noise from the dashboard and another from the passenger seatbelt.
The dashboard noise was a faulty clip.
Loud noise from the right backend of the car. Was a loose plaque.
Another noise from the interior lights on the roof of the car, not solved yet.
Passenger door trim fixing plastic broke while closing the door.
Loud windnoise from right back glass of the car when going 120 km/h or faster.
The car is amazing to drive and I love the styling. I bought it after test-driving a VW Golf, and I also found the Mazda to have much sharper handling.
However, the build quality is far inferior. The amount of noises that the car had (and has) is a good indication of this, specially considering that the car has 4000km.
Also dealers don't seen to know what they are doing. Dealer took 1 month to solve the dashboard and seatbelt noises.
The paint job very thin, having already a good amount of paint chips on the bonnet.
Hope that other Mazda 3 owners are luckier than me.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 20th November, 2009
9th Jan 2010, 17:55
No need to badmouth the Civic, which is a perfectly good car, and then generalise that you hate the owners as well, it detracts from your own review to be honest.