Faults:

None so far.

General Comments:

After an exhaustive search for a quality used car I finally choose a 2004 Mazda 3 si. I bought this car with 45 thousand miles on it, however you would swear it was new. It has everything that a person could possibly want. I prefer a manual transmission however my wife cannot get accustom to them, so the manual feature of automatic transmission is great. This car has great acceleration and handling. The sports package with power moon roof, tinted windows and 2.3 liter engine completes this car perfectly. I use to dread my 45 minute drive to work in my old car, now I look forward to it. I would also like to thank all the people who have posted to this helpful site. It and they were instrumental in helping me find the perfect car.

General Comments:

I have owned my 3 for a little over two years, and I'm still in love with it as much, if not more, than the day I bought it.

I have a little over 24,000 miles on it and have had absolutely no mechanical problems thus far.

Anyone who is considering buying this car should have no reservations doing so. It is such a fun car to drive, and the handling is far superior to any other car I test drove in this category.

I have had numerous compliments on the interior as well as the exterior, with people telling me that it looks like a much more expensive car than what the actual price tag is.

The only (minor) negative comment I have is that the air conditioning doesn't "cool" as well as I think it should. If the temperature outside is under 85 degrees it's great. If it's over that, you have to run it on high all the time. But that may be a problem that has been fixed on the newer models.

General Comments:

2.3 liters and no traction control! Even in the dry, it's easy to get the wheel-spin in 1st gear; in the wet/snow it's hard not to. At the time we bought it, we couldn't get ABS at any price. Of course ESP is not available at all.

It drives well - when going slooowly and in the dry. Stepping on it mid-turn (should be fun in a FWD car) makes me feel like I'd end up tail first in the oncoming lane, and this is what's almost happened in fact. As a result I end up driving slowly, but the fuel economy from the silly 2.3 is still awful.

Looks great inside and out, but still a major disappointment. Wish we'd gotten a Mazda6 instead.

Faults:

When there is lots of snow packed up under the car, I get a low grinding noise when I put the car in reverse with the brake on. This goes away once the car warms up (or the snow falls off).

The car looks great sitting as low as it does, but I find that it's a little too low at times. I really have to be careful when coming in and out of driveways (the bumper likes to rub the road).

In the winter I find that the snow packs up the wheel wells far too quickly. I have to chissel out the snow every morning, and by the time I get to work, it's packed up in there like stone. I have had many other cars, and I have never had one clog up the wheels with snow as bad as this one. Also, because of the narrow clearance between the tires and the inside of the wheel well, when snow gets packed in there, the tires constantly rubb on the snow and make a grinding noise.

General Comments:

I'm not sure where the negative comments are coming from on the interior of the car. When I bought the car in 2004, I test drove Nissan, Toyota, Honda Civic and a few others in the same price range. The Mazda blew all of those cars out of the water in handling, acceleration, comfort and overall luxury aspects. I have the 2.0 version sedan, and I found the interior to be similar in quality to my bosses Mercedes.

I have had the car on long trips over 5000 kms and have had no problems, in fact the ride was great for the whole trip. The engine is very smooth, and at times you can't tell if it is still running (it's so quiet).

I guess if you are used to driving something like a Jag or Benz, then the 3 doesn't compare, but when compared to cars in the same price range, I was blown away by the quality that Mazda put into this car.