29th Jun 2006, 11:57
I agree, there is no direct comparison between the Honda Fit and the Mazda 3. I merely meant that I started out looking for a Fit (which was completely sold out in every local dealership), and somehow got derailed and wound up test driving a 3 S, and eventually buying the 3S Grand Touring.
I have about 3500 miles on it now, and I still love driving this thing. It gets from 30-34 MPG consistently. I track it on www.brianbauer.org (Shohola, PA is my data).
First oil change at the dealership was $43.00. Ouch.
I had a water leak in my trunk during the recent East coast monsoons. It turned out to be a loose wiring harness boot on the left side of the trunk.
I just added a Starmate Replay Sirius radio, and used the "auxmod" to interface directly with the stock head unit. It worked out pretty well. The Starmate wedges in nicely in the ashtray area. I mounted the antenna forward of the sunroof.
I have some alternator whine, so I ordered a ground loop isolator. Hopefully, that will take care of it.
My clock has lost time a few times. There is a TSB out to correct this.
20th Jul 2006, 07:58
Your post that includes the link for the Mazda fixes or recalls, helped me a lot. I just had my 20,000km service and I told them about my clock going slow. They have ordered a replacement and I won't pay anything. Thanks a lot!
By the way, I paid 159€ (EUROS) for the service and 155€ for the front left fog light. Its glass got broken from a stone while driving on the motorway. I put it myself since they asked 40€ to put it themselves. I don't know if I am paying Finnish prices or Mazda prices, but 155€ is A LOT!
5th Oct 2006, 09:00
Just checking in. I have 13,000 miles on the clock, and still no problems other than the clock losing time. I just completed a 2000 mile trip and the car was very comfortable. Just tackled my first DIY oil change, kind of a pain due to the skid plate and cartridge system, but I got tired of paying the stealership $42 every time. There is an excellent tutorial here:
http://robert.aitchison.org/tiki-page.php?pageName=Mazda3+DIY+Oil+Change
Only have 3 or 4 paint chips so far. I just got a free bottle of touch-up paint in the mail from a local dealer. Figures, I had just bought one.
Anyway, still loving the car... Eyeing that Mazdaspeed 3!
31st Jul 2007, 13:27
Checking in. I now have 32,000+ trouble-free miles on my 3 and still love the car. Nothing mechanically has gone wrong. The winter was hard on the soft paint and I have numerous chips everywhere. I use touch-up paint a lot since many of these chips go through the primer as well. The stock Goodyear Eagle RSA tires are very worn. I only had them rotated once at 7500 miles ($30 charge by the stealership). I will rotate them myself to squeeze more life out of them, but the aluminum rims have seized onto the hubs and they are a bear to remove. I had a 3" screw puncture one and it was very tough to remove. The road salt had gotten between the aluminum and steel and fused the metals together.
The RSAs have also gotten very loud. If you have ever driven a car with a bad wheel bearing that is what they sound like. I will be buying another brand.
That's it. I still do my own oil changes. Check out Autozone. Sometimes they have a special, the last one was 5 qts. of Mobil 5W-20 and a filter for $20.
18th Sep 2007, 12:27
Help me with my 06 Mazda 3. The dealer cannot figure out what is wrong!...It looses power, sometimes when starting, sometimes when riding down the road... as if the accelerator has suddenly been disengaged from the motor... I have had different dealers replace the throttle body... three times!! It still does it, But, after turning it off and on about 4 or 5 times, it will start back as if nothing was wrong... then zoom zoom-away we go. Anyone else with this problem?
19th Sep 2007, 08:30
On the 2006 mazda3 gt acceleration problem. There is a program fix from mazda. My problem then went away.
4th Sep 2008, 22:23
HEY guys, I just got my Mazda 3 GT in a TRUE Red color, excellent looks. I dunno if it's me but I've got like 4 paint chips so far and I've only got 1024 miles on it. I'm sad now, how can I fix these chips?
Nice ride too, very smooth.
18th Sep 2008, 14:16
Congrats on getting the 3. Mine has 58,000 miles on it now and still runs like a Swiss watch. No problems at all.
Get used to the paint chips. The paint is very soft. I just touch them up.
Just noticed that the finish is starting to bubble up on my rims.
Just paid the car off and I'll probably drive it into the ground. Wife refuses to let me trade it in!
21st Oct 2008, 10:43
When you got the sat radio, how did you get the alternator whine to go away? did it completely work?
10th Dec 2008, 08:25
63,000 check in. The car still running great. I'm on my 3rd set of tires, and this time I'll rotate them on schedule. If you don't, the rear inner tread will wear out.
Sat. radio question: I have had Sirius since 2006. My Starmate Replay was bricked by a firmware update, and they sent me a Sportster 5 free of charge. This radio is a lot better. You can customize the background colors to match the red dash lights, and it wedges perfectly in the little cubby under the HVAC controls. To eliminate line noise, I purchased an in-line ground loop isolator from Crutchfield (PAC SNI-1/3.5 Noise Filter) and an AUXMOD basic: http://www.sylfex.com/products/AuxMod/
12th Feb 2009, 13:00
Hello from the Yukon.
I have a 2006 Mazda3 Sport (velocity red!). I love this car.
Every once in a while, my car stereo will stop working, but as the person before said, you just have to turn it off for a while, then later on it will work again. I have close to 74,000 kilometers on my car.
I have a question; my car, while switching from 4 to 5 gear, will jerk forward a bit, it's not always noticeable, but sometimes it can be bit scary, does anyone know what this is?
I live in the Yukon; the roads here can be slick, but this car is amazing on winter roads.
GREAT CAR!!! Her name is Betty Boop. Red exterior, black leather interior. I got my car fully loaded.
Another question, how would a person get the sat. radio?
5th Jun 2006, 14:05
Funny, I was just thinking on the way to work this morning, about how different the Mazda 3's look depending on the color chosen. The color white makes them look extremely plain, but the electric blue makes them look like a teenager's hot rod. I think the titanium gray is, without a doubt, the most elegant color for this car. I've had mine for over a year, and that's the color I chose. Just my opinion, of course, but I get a lot of compliments on the metallic gray look of it. I also saw a champagne sort of color this morning that didn't look half bad. Bottom line: I have never seen any model car vary so significantly in looks as the Mazda 3 does, depending on its color. Interesting.