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:

None.

General Comments:

It's a car meant to be driven by the driver.

You chose the way you want to drive it.

City driving with AT is good enough.

Enthusiastic driver finds the tiptronic override function exhilarating!! can go from 0-60km/hr in less than 2 seconds, but must be very sure you know how to shift the gear properly before trying to do so!

Driving persistently with manual override increases FC to about 10.5km/L.

But average decent driving (like most sunny drivers do) will get you close to 12km/L or better (after servicing)