Faults:

17 inch alloy rims - stock tires (Goodyear) are no good in the rain or snow, have very little tread life (30,000 km) and are very expensive to replace ($300/tire). They do look great though.

Faulty airbag sensor, replaced under warranty.

Door trim fell off rear passenger and driver door twice (first time replaced under warranty, second time it was blamed on driver error???)

Leaking windshield washer fluid reservoir - patched with silicone under warranty.

Driver seats squeaks badly.

Front driver window makes a creaking noise when opened and then closed from around the half way mark.

Continuous rattling from the rear of the car and the front dash board - dealer said nothing was wrong.

Rear pads and rotors replaced at 70km (a little soon if you ask me and the dealer charged way too much and scratched my car in 4 places). scratches not repaired.

Check engine light - not covered under warranty.

Big problems with the cracked plastic skid plate and stripped screws under the car... fell off on the road in the winter.

Front pads and rotors gone at 100km...why so different than the rear pads?

Clutch burnt at 102km (again really low if you ask me) I asked the dealership to look into my clutch/transmission as I noticed a lag in the shifting so I wanted it looked at. Dealer told me the drove it and found nothing. checked the odometer only to find out they hadn't driven at all (reading was the same). 13 days later, clutch gone, only 102,000 km on my car. Mazda wanted $1600 for the job, I got it done for $1100 with parts that have a lifetime warranty.

Road trip in eastern Canada, car wouldn't start and I was in an area with no cell signal, had to hitchhike into the next town to a pay phone to call CAA. Tow truck came out... starter on its way out. was able to boost the car with battery.

Slave cylinder clip cracked, clutch fluid drained out onto the floor of a ferry. had to be towed off the ferry.

Latest problem, my stereo gets all fuzzy (Static) when the rear wiper blade cleans the window.

General Comments:

I bought my Mazda 3 in Oct 2005 used with 23,000 kms on it. The tires that come on the sport model look great and handle on dry pavement well, but are crap in the rain and snow and the tread life is crap. Bought snows for the winter. Problem solved.

Very fun and sporty car to drive, great in the city when you're close to reliable service and towing, absolutely unreliable for road trips or any roads other than smooth pavement.

Handles very well, great choice of colours, roomy interior and great controls/dash.

Although, with all the problems I've had with the car and the company, I'll never buy Mazda again.

Faults:

Wind slammed my drivers door shut HARD and subsequently caused the door switch to become inop; in short: the car thinks the drivers door is always open. NOT a fault of the manufacturer.

General Comments:

Absolutely amazing car. Purchased in May 2006 for $12,000 with 55,000 miles on it. Perfect purchase! Has every factory option (including HIDs) except for power seats and navigation. Who cares! Experiencing that power seats always break in the worst positions, manual seats are fine. As for the nav, I bought a Tom-Tom instead which means that I get a nice cell phone cradle where the OEM nav controls would be.

I really don't know where to begin on this car. It is simply awesome.

Performance:

-Quick acceleration.

-Superb amount of power left in reserve when driving on the highway; this lets you get around that 18 wheeler without any problems.

-I added an aftermarket cold air intake which allows for an increased amount of acceleration (gives that extra boost others have written about, although the stock acceleration didn't disappoint me too much), and an increase in gas mileage! (35+ hwy)

Handling and ride:

-Handles like a sports car should, but allows for enjoyable driving.

-Crisp handling on turns lets the driver enjoy twisting roads, yet the car allows enough give for comfortable city driving.

-Overall ride comfort is about a 7/10, can be rough/noisy, but it mostly depends on the tires. The car is built fairly tight so there is very little noise inside the cabin (again, tires can play a part in this).

Exterior:

-Overall slick design with a wide opening rear hatch.

-I changed out the stock radio antenna for a short stubby one, still get crystal clear reception.

-The stock 17-inch alloys are are very nice feature on this car.

-Stock HIDs do a great job of lighting the way home.

Interior:

-Leather seats are very nice and VERY durable, they can be a bit firm on longer trips (5+ hours).

-CAVERNOUS glove box!!! You can fit another car in there almost! More than ample room for anything you would ever need to put in there.

-Four cup holders in the front (two in the center console one in each door), and two in each rear door are nice for drinks and storage.

-Dual stage center console storage is nice to keep your nicknacks, and the lower level is fairly cavernous as well.

-The change dish area was the perfect place for me to install an XM Commander. The door can be shut when I'm out of the car so it can't be seen.

-The radio has a great "smart" system that adjusts volume for speed, and has a really neat lighting effect.

-In dash 6 disc changer is great instead of having one under the seat somewhere.

-Rear center seatbelt is an ingenious "stowaway" design. Works well when you need it and is out of the way when you don't!

-Cargo area has an independent light operated by the hatch position, but can be manually overridden which is nice for a drive in movie!

Cargo area can swallow just about anything you can throw at it, especially if you lay the rear seats down! The mat is nice when you are storing things with the rear seats up.

-Under the cargo area is a storage area for misc. maintenance items (I keep cleaning items there) and below that is the spare tire which will scream SPARE with a very loud voice if you ever need to use it haha.

-On either side of the cargo area there are access panels that allow access to the tail lights for SUPER EASY replacement, the jack is also located in the left panel. These access panels are also on the inside of the hatch for access to the reverse lights.

-The only drawback is the amount of space for the rear seat passengers. They can be cramped if the frontseaters are scooted too far back.

Economy:

-Car gets great gas mileage

-As mentioned before, the aftermarket cold air intake allows for a 35+/mpg on the highway, and an impressive ~28/mpg in the city. The mileage was very respectable before the intake though.

It seems like this car was truly built around the driver. I have no true complaints about this car. After a year and a half and 35,000 miles (done very economically may I add) I still love my quick little car. As you can see, no one else has given it a bad review on this site, and I guarantee there is reason enough!