S
someguy
Guest
do you like yours?
K
Kristian K
Guest
Absolutely. I've got one in now discontinued Phantom Blue. And I bought it WITHOUT a test drive. I don't regret it 
The chassis and brakes are excellent, stability in the corners is amazing, but the sportiness doesn't come at the price of comfort - 8 hours with a few short breaks is not a problem, the car doesn't feel hard as Germans.
Ergonomics at the wheel is perfect, I find everything where it's supposed to be, layout is clean and logical. I still think the car looks stunning, very fast just standing still.
So far anybody who drove the car from 5.3 to 6.4 feet tall found a comfortable position. You can sit four people like me (6.1) in it and still travel in comfort.
Safety - my car has 8 airbags, ABS with all supporting systems, Traction Control, Dynamic stability control (excellent when it gets icy or wet or during emergency avoidance manouvers as I found out personally). Should you want to race, you can always switch them off, but they kick only when really, really necessary anyway, so they don't spoil the drive.
I like the practicality of a hatch, the trunk is much more accessible for anything, plus, with rear seats down, you'd get a small wagon - 22inch mountain bike fits in, I also did some shopping at IKEA and can confirm that a 5 feet (150cm) long box will fit in. My brother, somehow, managed to pack in 3 LCD monitors (22-24 inch), a 32 inch TV, PowerMac G5 (most of it was boxed), two roof bike-racks, some luggage and his girlfriend.
As for the reliability, the car (bought in January 2007) has now about 12K miles. So far, no problems, no weird noises or glitches whatsoever. I don't expect any since the Mazda3 is officially the most reliable car available in Europe (that's according to German TUV, the largest industrial quality body in the world - they gather service data from around 9 million cars in Germany (10K minimum from each model) and do 160 point checks.
http://www.tuvamerica.com/tuvnews/hotnews/pressdetail.cfm?id=1391
http://www.themotorreport.com.au/3562/mazda2-and-mazda3-dominate-german-reliability-survey/
Euro Mazda3 is the same car as US Mazda3, they're made in the same factory in Japan so there pretty much no differecens (sans the engines displacement).
I think you'd be satisfied. Take your time, do a test drive. I'd go for the Touring or Grand Touring trim (US specs), I think TCS and DSC systems are worth the premium over the base model.
The chassis and brakes are excellent, stability in the corners is amazing, but the sportiness doesn't come at the price of comfort - 8 hours with a few short breaks is not a problem, the car doesn't feel hard as Germans.
Ergonomics at the wheel is perfect, I find everything where it's supposed to be, layout is clean and logical. I still think the car looks stunning, very fast just standing still.
So far anybody who drove the car from 5.3 to 6.4 feet tall found a comfortable position. You can sit four people like me (6.1) in it and still travel in comfort.
Safety - my car has 8 airbags, ABS with all supporting systems, Traction Control, Dynamic stability control (excellent when it gets icy or wet or during emergency avoidance manouvers as I found out personally). Should you want to race, you can always switch them off, but they kick only when really, really necessary anyway, so they don't spoil the drive.
I like the practicality of a hatch, the trunk is much more accessible for anything, plus, with rear seats down, you'd get a small wagon - 22inch mountain bike fits in, I also did some shopping at IKEA and can confirm that a 5 feet (150cm) long box will fit in. My brother, somehow, managed to pack in 3 LCD monitors (22-24 inch), a 32 inch TV, PowerMac G5 (most of it was boxed), two roof bike-racks, some luggage and his girlfriend.
As for the reliability, the car (bought in January 2007) has now about 12K miles. So far, no problems, no weird noises or glitches whatsoever. I don't expect any since the Mazda3 is officially the most reliable car available in Europe (that's according to German TUV, the largest industrial quality body in the world - they gather service data from around 9 million cars in Germany (10K minimum from each model) and do 160 point checks.
http://www.tuvamerica.com/tuvnews/hotnews/pressdetail.cfm?id=1391
http://www.themotorreport.com.au/3562/mazda2-and-mazda3-dominate-german-reliability-survey/
Euro Mazda3 is the same car as US Mazda3, they're made in the same factory in Japan so there pretty much no differecens (sans the engines displacement).
I think you'd be satisfied. Take your time, do a test drive. I'd go for the Touring or Grand Touring trim (US specs), I think TCS and DSC systems are worth the premium over the base model.