2006 Mazda 3 S Grand Touring from North America - Comments

I just bought the '06 Mazda 3 S Grand Touring. I just LOVE it & You will too. I paid a fair price for it, and I'm not going to complain, cause $100 over Invoice price is great or this car! I love the heated seats during winter time and love the sun/moonroof during summer time. I bought the copper red mica, and it was hard to find! It's a pretty color. Anyway, no problems yet, except every morning when I leave, I feel that the engine kind of gets stuck for 2 seconds then it goes. Is that normal?

I have owned Fords.Chrysler's, and GM cars for many years, but nothing can ever come close in comparison to my 2005 Mazda3 gt.

I have this car for almost a year now and I'm still impressed with the quality, the looks and the performance of the 2.3L motor. the reliability is phenomenal and what every car should be, but are not!

This car turns heads!all comments are positive. buy or lease without fear and treat yourselves with a quality product!

Rene Dumesnil Quebec Canada.

Just in the last week, I've had 4 co-workers stop me to tell me how much they admired my 3s. Two of them came to my desk to tell me they'd seen me park it, so I wasn't even near the car when the compliments flew. I'm tellin' ya, it's a head turner. I have also never experienced this in a car before: it drives like a luxury car, smoothly and gracefully, yet ALSO handles curves with amazing precision and power. A rare combination, as it's usually one or the other. I'm over my Porsche fantasy now that I'm driving this baby.

VeeDub Fan: thanks for the technical info; I thought I'd bought trouble when I read the initial warning, but now that I know the reason I feel better about the replacement cost of this part. I still miss my VW, but I can say that I have definitely found a car that makes my heart sing just as much!

Miss '86 Jetta.

I am the original author of the review. I am sorry that I said that it was a reliable car only a month after I purchased it. Now its been six months and I made 7 hour trips across the state many times. Now I can tell you that the car is reliable and nothing happened to it yet. thank god!

ANOTHER reason to buy this car: yesterday, I stupidly ran out of gas because I ignored the yellow light on the gas gauges for 4 days (my Jetta (see above) used to go for over a week after the needle hit the '0' mark before I ever filled up, so I assumed I had the same safety factor with my 3s). So I looked in the glove box for my insurance company's emergency road service number, and accidentally found the Mazda road assistance brochure. This is the emergency road service that Mazda provides free of charge for the length of the basic warranty (4 years for mine). I never paid much attention to it, but thought, what the heck - I'll give it a try. They were there within 30 minutes, gave me a free gallon of gas, and escorted me to the nearest gas station to make sure I'd be OK. In contrast, the two times I called AAA's road service during the last year of my Jetta's life, I waited for over 3 hours for service. BOTH TIMES. I found out from the tow service operators that AAA pays the tow companies the lowest service amount per incident in my area (Bay Area), which sort of compels the dispatchers to let the AAA customers slide in priority. Obviously, Mazda doesn't lowball their service providers like AAA does. Their road service last night was first class. I would like to add that I have also been extremely well taken care of by the Oakland Mazda dealership, which is quite a contrast to my treatment at the VW dealership a few blocks away. After trying to deal with VW for a year or two, I thought I'd sworn off dealers for good. So not only is the car fabulous, but the company that sells it backs it up 100 percent. I'm a Mazda girl now. No doubt about it.

Yes, every new car regardless of make comes with similar assistance (my Chevy Aveo has the number on a window sticker). It is silly to call AAA because you are "competing" with thousands of other stranded drivers. There are less Mazdas on the road, so you will get better service.

The only negative thing about such towing is that if your car is out of warranty they will only drive you to the dealer and you have to pay dealer prices for any repairs.

True, but the towing service only lasts the length of the basic warranty anyway. After that, it's back to my regular mechanic. Besides, with the reliability ratings on the Mazda 3's, I figure that this will be the only time I use their service. Still, I was treated so much better by Mazda than I ever was by AAA. I have only used AAA twice in my 20-year ownership of my Jetta, and that was two times too many.

I love my 2006 Mazda 3 I touring, my parents purchased this car for me for my 16th birthday, I love it, the power is awesome the engine feels as if it were a V6 but it isn't I have the 2.3l 4 cylinder, the engine also operates very smoothly, the ride is very comfortable. The car pretty much comes already loaded. One package that my parents added on for me was the 6 disc CD changer and the sunroof.

I am looking into a 2006 Mazda car myself. I currently have a six-speed 2003 Hyundai Tiburon, but I am sick of it due to its lack of practicality, air-conditioning, and ridiculously low value although it's a fantastic car. Also, did I forget to mention high miles and no warranty?

Well, I was cruising around to different dealerships today, and after Kia offered me a rip-off price for a 2006 Spectra 5 after advertising some supposed sale locally for weeks, I hopped over to a local dealer. I opted to test-drive a fully-loaded 2006 Mazda 3 S hatchback with the five-speed transmission, heated leather seats, and sunroof, and I fell in love! The car shifts so easily, rides so smooth, and comes with countless options.

Since I am a UPS employee, and I can get my price below invoice, I believe I will get a good deal from Mazda. Unfortunately, I owe $14,000 on the Tiburon (modifications from previous owner including supercharger, intake, exhaust, short-shifter... but I could care less anymore) and the Mazda dealers are STILL highly cooperative. They're trying to get me into a new Mazda, given my situation, for under $500 a month!

After seeing my possibilities with the 3 S Grand Touring hatchback, I recalled that there was a $4000 or so factory rebate on the 6 I Sport and I asked for the dealers to look into a fully-loaded five-speed 6 I Sport hatchback for me to see what deal I can strike a deal with that.

Including my UPS S-Plan discount for the Ford Motor Company, what should I do here? Should I stick with the awesome 3 or upgrade in size to get the 6 I Sport hatchback for a thousand or so cheaper than the fully-loaded 3? I need suggestions for I should be purchasing the vehicle in a couple days.

Get the 3s. It looks better, and it's rated as more reliable than the 6, according to both Consumer Reports and various mechanics I've spoken to. I own a 2005 3s, and I'm totally nuts about it after driving it for over a year. I'm the one who owned the Jetta GLI for 20+ years, and I never thought I'd love a car that much again. But, man, what a ride this 3s is. I also get compliments on it AT LEAST every other day. I still can't believe I own it. It's a fantasy car.

I just purchased the Mazda 3 GT and love the car. I got the Bose/electronic sunroof option. Has anyone tried to play mp3s

on the CD changer/player? I tried and it will not play them no matter how I burn the cds. I thought the CD player did MP3s since I was told the Bose part of this option is only the receiver and speakers. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I too cannot get MP3s to play on the 6 disc with Bose package. I was told it was an MP3 6 disc changer. Anyone have any insight on this? Been trying all day to find an answer.

Sadly, the 6-CD BOSE package does not play MP3's. There is a factory single CD option that will play MP3's though. I believe that it is a $400 part.

There are other ways to play your mp3's though.

There is an "auxmod" that adds a 3.5mm mini-stereo aux input jack to the back of the factory head unit. I just added it myself for my Sirius radio. Piece of cake.

http://www.sylfex.com/products/AuxMod/

There is an aftermarket iPod interface that uses the oem steering wheel controls:

http://www.mazda3forums.com/index.php?topic=34982.0.

The same company also sells a USB interface so you can listen to your mp3's from a memory card.

I own a black 2006 Mazda3 Grand Touring sedan and absolutely LOVE this car!

My daily commute is 90+ miles/day in Bay Area traffic and I have had ZERO problems, now 54,000 miles on it.

I've owned Hondas my whole life and wondered about reliability, but I'm convinced this is a worthwhile purchase over the Civic and Corolla in its class, with a much sportier look.

All the extra features are GREAT: Heated leather seats, auto lights/wipers, stereo buttons on the wheel, temp readings both interior/exterior, Bose speakers, Sirius radio, 6-CD changer, telescopic wheel, and beautiful red panel lights that look like a BMW interior!

Only thing is the functions are not "intuitive" and takes some time to learn your knobs and dials.

The ride is smooth with zippy pick up in the 5-speed (zoom zoom!).

I agree that it's better made for shorter people (I'm 5'1) and my right knee sometimes hits the panel, but easily adjusted with the seat lever. I also replaced my tires at 50k with Yokohamas, an even nicer ride.

My only other complaint is the body can get a "ding" easily if someone opens their door next to you, so park carefully away from other cars!

Other than that, I highly recommend the Mazda3... TRUST ME you will love this car too! ZOOM ZOOM.