Talk to me about Mk1 Mazda 3s

Cookeh · 28 Oct 2015 at 22:14

Hi guys,

Looking at getting a first car, leaning towards a Mazda 3 atm - my £2k budget gets me something like an 06 1.6 TS2.

What should I be looking out for? Any common faults or failures (and at what kinda mileage?)? Any ideas about what kind of things produce big bills and how to avoid them?

Cheers guys,
Cookeh

TheVoice · 29 Oct 2015 at 00:14

I've had my 2007 2.0 Sport hatch for almost two years now. No issues to report really, it's been very reliable. Corrosion seems to be a bit of an issue, especially on the alloy wheels.

My folks have a 2008 1.6 Tamura or Takara or something, no major troubles with it either as far as I know, although for a car with immaculate paint when they got it 15 months ago it's picked up some nasty scratches and dents since.

Howard · 29 Oct 2015 at 07:42

It's a nicer overall car than the mk2 Focus, but they do like to rust.

[TW]Fox · 29 Oct 2015 at 08:27

My sister has one, got it at 5 years old. It rusted like mad, always seemed to need hundreds of quid spending at each MOT despite the purchase being because it was Japanese and would 'just work' and drove a bit like a mattress. The interior was also fairly awful even by medium sized hatchback standards.

It was also glacially slow.

Cookeh · 29 Oct 2015 at 09:21

That's interesting, I hadn't heard of the rust issue. I had, however, read that it was meant to be one of the more dynamic and engaging hatches to drive? Glacially slow I can expect, a claimed 0-62 of 11.0 seconds is far from quick, but better than the 14-16 secs that I learned to drive in

Nasher · 29 Oct 2015 at 09:24

My mk3 MX-5 was the same. By the time I came to sell it (only 4 years old) the under side was basically welded together by rust. When I took it for a wheel alignment they had to drill some of the bolts out because they just wouldn't move.

Seems to be an issue on many Japanese cars, I don't think they rust proof them that well. Even the GT86/BRZ has rust issues :/

TheVoice · 29 Oct 2015 at 09:39

Cookeh said:
That's interesting, I hadn't heard of the rust issue. I had, however, read that it was meant to be one of the more dynamic and engaging hatches to drive? Glacially slow I can expect, a claimed 0-62 of 11.0 seconds is far from quick, but better than the 14-16 secs that I learned to drive in

I have no complaints in that area, if anything I find mine a bit stiff for the mostly city driving I do now although you can largely blame the terrible Aberdeen roads for that. The 1.6 doesn't feel too slow, obviously noticeably slower than my 2.0 but it's inline with the competition and if you're not used to anything quicker, I can't see it being a problem.

Vipernet · 29 Oct 2015 at 10:33

Rust rust and more rust. Apart from that they are good cars. Wouldn't buy a second hand now though to be honest.

Cookeh · 29 Oct 2015 at 15:56

how common/bad is the rust issue? Aside from on here I cant see much on owners forums about it? Main issue there seems to be piston slapping but thats supposedly quite rare. There was some talk of rusty arches on the 2004/5 models but that was apparently fixed under recall?

Why would you not consider them second hand? Other cars I'm looking at are similar age Corollas, Almeras and C4s - what would you consider?

Vipernet · 29 Oct 2015 at 16:17

I was certainly advised by my mechanic not to get one when I was looking for the wife as pretty much all the ones he had in were rust buckets. Infact I know my mate's one ended up in the scrappies after he was quoted £700 to redo the sills and outriggers.

I ended up getting a Corolla T-Sport for the wife which has been totally bomb proof so far and even I enjoy driving it.

[TW]Fox · 29 Oct 2015 at 17:02

Vipernet said:
Rust rust and more rust. Apart from that they are good cars. Wouldn't buy a second hand now though to be honest.

Honestly I couldn't really find anything about it that would qualify it as a 'good car'. It didn't need to handle amazingly, be quick etc but it did need to be no hassle and it really wasn't.

It didn't seem to do anything well except sit at traffic lights idle where the engine was totally silent, I really liked that about it.

TheVoice · 29 Oct 2015 at 23:58

Cookeh said:
how common/bad is the rust issue? Aside from on here I cant see much on owners forums about it? Main issue there seems to be piston slapping but thats supposedly quite rare. There was some talk of rusty arches on the 2004/5 models but that was apparently fixed under recall?

The rust issue exists, it doesn't mean every car out there is rusting away although some posts here would lead you to believe otherwise. The important thing is that if you go to look at one, you know what to check for.

For £2k there's not going to be a huge amount of difference between the 3, Focus, Astra or whatever so it's worth keeping your options open.