Mazda 3 2.0d Sport - Any good?

Luxor

Luxor

Luxor

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Thinking about getting one of these if I can negotiate a fair discount from a Mazda/indy dealer. I haven't booked a test drive yet but thinking about this spec for approx £9k on a 57-58 plate. ~15k/20k miles

We've had a Eunos Roadster for 8 years and it's still going strong even though it's a 1990 mk1. Bodywork is remarkable for the age and I'm not sure whether the 3 will be as good to own.

Any Mazda 3 owners out there who could give me a heads up about the car?
 
I got hold one for my sister. It's a 1.6 TS and not a 2.0d but the fundamentals the same. There is absolutely nothing to get excited about whatsoever - its simply a generic hatchback. It's based on the Focus and everyone says it drives nicely but I certainly didn't notice fizz with the way it drove.

Pretty forgettable, very generic but very reliable. It's just... some car for getting from A to B. If thats what you want, its a good bet.
 
I really don't know why you would want to spend £9,000 on one of these when there are so many better turbo diesel hatches to choose from at this budget. The Golf Mk5 2.0 Tdi, Audi A3 2.0 Tdi, and BMW 120d are just a few that spring to mind.

If you are genuinely set on buying one, you should do your research very very carefully because the first generation of the 2.0 MZR-CD engine found in the Mazda 3s and Mazda 6s had a much higher than average prevalence of reliablity problems (even the though the car itself was very reliable). The engine was revised slightly in 2007 but I don't know if that resolved the engine reliability issues. Obviously, you're going to have a potential DPF headache/cost at some point in the car's life if you plan on keeping it for a long time or running it to high mileages.
 
Mazda 3 2.0d Sport - Any good?
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That depends entirely upon what you want from the car.

Are you looking for a tool to get you from A to B reliably, still have a re-assuing 2 years manufacturers warranty remaining, and not go wrong all the time on you ?

This it will do very very well.

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/mazda/mazda-3-2004/?

dont be concerned about the 2.0D engine, there were no real concerns from owners of the Mazda, biggest problem was that the owners simply didnt like the cars very much

http://www.whatcar.com/car-news/jd-power-owner-satisfaction-2009/small-family-cars-11-17/240819

an Audi or Bmw isnt going to offer you anything much over the mazda apart from maybe being better to drive. The mazda is by no means a bad choice.
 
 
MarkDavis said:
http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=57267
http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=57098
http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=62107
http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=60101
http://195.10.244.9/forum/posts/?t=70841
http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=60663
http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=83328
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055621785
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there appears to be a lot of scare mongering

most of the posts on honest john are anecdotal and not backed up by first hand experience. It says it all that the review of the mazda 3 on the honest john website makes no mention of any issues.

There may have been issues with the older engines, but im not seeing any first hand evidence of lots of problems with the newer engines from those links.
 
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MrLOL said:
an Audi or Bmw isnt going to offer you anything much over the mazda apart from maybe being better to drive.
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And better built, with a better interior, more refinement, a better engine, infact just a better car in every possible way with one key exception. It'll be much older and arguably less reliable, which for many is a deal breaker. From this perspective, the Mazda is much better value.

But dont kid yourself its anything other than a dull, middle of the road hatchback.
 
My mum's got an 04 plate 2.0 petrol Sport one. I like it, it's nice, I drive it every now and then. I like the way it looks, although I didn't at first. To be honest though the looks and that it's relatively uncommon compared to focuseseses and so on is all it's really got going for it. It's a nice car and everything but by no means exceptional.

When they move to France, if she offers it to me for decent money I'll take it off them, but it'd only be because it was my mum's car and I know the history from brand new and it'd be cheap - I wouldn't go out of my way to buy one specifically.
 
[TW]Fox;16562788 said:
But dont kid yourself its anything other than a dull, middle of the road hatchback.
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never did.

perhaps i should have worded it slightly differently.

they wont offer anything to you over the 3 if your the type of owner i mentioned at the start of my post.
 
MrLOL said:
most of the posts on honest john are anecdotal and not backed up by first hand experience.
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Huh? Most of those reports are from owners. I'm surprised that you're prepared to be so glib about stating that there are no problems with Mazda diesel engines and encourage the OP to spend £9,000 when:-

1) there are so many reports contrary to your glib statements
2) you have no experience of the engine in question
3) its a turbo diesel, common rail, direct injection engine and we all know the increased frequency of turbo/injector/fuel pump/DPF issues of such engines, compared to their N/A petrol counterparts at high mileages.
 
PardonTheWait said:
My mum's got an 04 plate 2.0 petrol Sport one. I like it, it's nice, I drive it every now and then. I like the way it looks, although I didn't at first.
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I think the looks are quite a strong point. Even the first examples are still reasonably fresh and modern and have features many similar cars dont, such as projector headlights etc.
 
[TW]Fox;16562836 said:
I think the looks are quite a strong point. Even the first examples are still reasonably fresh and modern and have features many similar cars dont, such as projector headlights etc.
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Yep. I think my mum's one still looks great 6 years on. The lights are bright as buggery as well, very good. Her one looks way better than the standard ones, the different bumpers, grille and wheels really set it off. It's in the gunmetal colour. Looks really nice, much better than a Focus imo, but that might just be because you see less of them.

Not a big fan of the lexus style lights on the back but they're not too offensive. I just think they look a bit aftermarket, a bit bolted on.

Oh the seats are crap as well. Not uncomfortable, but for a semi-sporty model they're pants, nowhere near enough of a bolster. Very flat.
 
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Well for one thing I'm not feeling the 'zoom zoom' from these responses. ;) I'll give one a test drive anyway and see what impression it gives.

To be honest we are likely to be keeping it for a while and reliability is important to us so thanks for the links.
 
i had a 2.0 petrol sport, its not bad good spec with lots of things you have to pay for on other cars as standard, in 3 years I had it nothing ever went wrong with it, wish I could say the same about my focus ST
 
Ok - Drove the Mazda didn't rate it that much really.

After a test drive at a large franchised dealership I went for a well looked after 55Reg E90 - 320i ES with FSH, 50k on the clock It's not got the most powerful engine in the world but it seemed to handle really well. I couldn't get a babysitter for my three year old lad, but he was a big fan of the looks.

As long as I don't get shafted with servicing costs then it will work out well. There is a local tame garage, so hopefully things will be ok :)

I also didn't realise they come with conti run flat tyres though and only realised when there was no spare in the boot. How do people find the ride with these over the long run?
 
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Wow, thats quite a step up from looking at a Mazda3. I assume you did your homework into the potential out of warranty costs of one of these and were happy with that?

Not sure I'd ever recommend a 320i, it's really not a fantastic engine at all. I found it lacking in power - which is fine - but then this lack of power was not rewarded by any sort of amazing fuel economy, which is less than fine. The ES model is also a very, very poor specification indeed.

All in all a bit of a suprising choice - if you decided you wanted a BMW then great - but a little less impulse buying would have seen you in a far better car for your money, the ES is the absolute bottom of the range model.

The ride on the ES with Runflats isn't that bad, really, as they are small wheels with big sidewall. The issue is replacement costs, you'll find them to be quite expensive - budget £400 fitted for a set of 4 half decent ones.
 
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Howdy Fox,

My thoughts were the same about the warranty, and due to the risk negotiated a 12 month warranty as part of the sale with the dealership

Hopefully this will identify any glaring problems, although it seemed to be rock solid when I drove it though.

Re the engine - Fair comment indeed, but felt to have 'enough' power for me. Pulled well off the line and sweetly ran along at 70mph. I'm loving 6 gears too :). Seem to remember the MPG hovering around 38 on the dash but it's very rural round there though.

Just got to wait a week now before picking it up to sort out some minor dings and an alloy rub.

Got to say I'm more excited about buying this than the volvo last time round... ;)
 
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