08 Mazda 3

I know some of you guys own them and just wanted to comment on my impressions. How have they been for reliability?

Thanks,

Jay in MA

The car is nice, much nicer than the 9th generation Corolla.

The one that I drive is now 4 years old and has 60,000 miles on it.

So far it has had only one repair: The engine blew up at 40,000 miles after a botched oil change.

The oil shop messed up the oil cartridge canister which caused it to fall off during driving, rendering the engine a 400 lb block of aluminum.

Mazda refused to pay for it, however the oil change shop's insurance company did.

My advice to you is that if you buy a Mazda3 with the 2.3L engine, never take it anywhere but the Mazda dealer for service, they have a special tool that will not damage the canister during an oil change.

Another thing about this car is that it goes through tires like no other. So far the car is on its fifth set of tires. The Goodyears on it are high performance, meaning very soft and they wear quickly. The brakes also go fast, I need new ones right now for all four wheels and the dealer wants 1500 to replace them. I don't trust anyone else to work on the car after the engine fiasco.

Other drawbacks to the car include poor fuel economy (don't even expect to get anywhere near the EPA number) and a very harsh ride that only gets harsher with time.

If you can live with the ride, low fuel economy and expensive maintenance that pretty much must be done at a dealer, then it is a great car.

I really do mean that, I enjoy mine despite the Mazda dealer only service and higher that average cost of ownership.

What's an oil cartridge cannister?

Most cars have a spin on oil filter that contains a filter element and canister in one piece. The entire part is disposable.

Mazda3 with the 2.3L engine have a cartridge oil filter instead of a spin on filter. The cartridge needs something to protect it and allow oil to flow through it, thus the cartridge canister. The cartridge is disposable, the canister is not.

The canister requires a special tool to remove it without damaging it. Should it become damaged it can shoot off under the car's normal oil pressure and then cause all the oil to evacuate the engine, rendering it seized in about 4 seconds after the oil pressure light comes on.

Not the world's best design, but it is what the car has, so if you want a Mazda3 with the 2.3L engine (the only one you should consider, the 2.0L Mazda3 is not fun to drive), you just have to resign yourself to dealer maintenance.

Mazda 3 is a favourite with testers here, however if you live in a place where roads are of poor quality, you really must take one for a drive. Unlike the corolla the mazda3 suspension is of coherent design and performance, but the ride is quite firm. Generally mazda refinement is not in same league as toyota. You will find handling is better, but 9th gen corolla is just as fast, uses less fuel, performs better in a crash, and would be a bit more reliable. Mazda reliability is good, but the first lot of 3s that came to australia had a habit of breaking engine mounts with violent results.

Had I actually thought about by purchase back in '05 I may have got a 3 instead. Only thing is I was able to get a $3500 discount on the corolla that was unavailable on the mazda, due to its popularity.

I don't know what Mazda3 you get in Australia, but in the US our Mazda3 with the 2.3L engine is almost 3 seconds faster from 0-60 than a 9th generation Corolla. Another thing is that the Mazda3 stops much faster thanks to its much larger 4 wheel disc brakes. While the Corolla is a safer car, it is very difficult to find a 9th generation Corolla in the states with ABS and side airbags. Virtually every Mazda3 has both of these features and with side airbags, the 3 is every bit as safe as the Corolla.

I can not argue your fuel economy issue. The 9th generation Corolla got 38 mpg while the Mazda3 with the 2.3L was lucky to get 32 mpg.