The As Yet Un-named Mazda 3

JimbbobW1977 said:

Looks similar to my tail pipe, and mine sounds quite throaty for a diesel. You need to clean it up with a bit of Brasso

View attachment 144226

Click to expand...

You'll have a turbo so pipe diameter is generally bigger the better as back pressure is a bad thing once the gases have spun the compressor...I don't have a turbo which is why I find the bore of the pipe a bit odd.

And yeah metal polish is on my list of things to buy after payday/after it comes back from mazda investigating the rattle next week.

3 has gone for a little while, and I have this BEAST!




It has 4 electric windows, aircon, drls, ipod connection, remote central locking, stop start, an eco gauge with change up light. None of which can distract from the fact it appears they've bench marked the mk3 panda as their goal and missed by several miles. Seriously this would actually cost more than I paid for the mazda...I cannot think of a single reason you'd buy it, any small car you'd care to mention must be better so I can only assume it'd be the only car you'd seen and you have a pathological aversion to second hand cars.

Well apparently it's been traced to the rear discs, or at least they heard a noise (which the tech described as very loud), disassembled the rear brakes, cleaned them up and it apparently no longer does it.

We shall see tomorrow when I pick it up apparently I'm having a tech along as a passenger to check its gone. Surprised as I had it pegged as coming from in front of me in the cabin but if it's fixed its fixed.

Nope...

StevenRB45 said:

Does the prius have an aero tray underneath by any chance?

Click to expand...

Yes mate, all in the name of aerodynamics

StevenRB45 said:

3 has gone for a little while, and I have this BEAST!

Click to expand...

There was me thinking what is it, so I checked and got a massive WTF moment! Do the front and rear plates match

Most Easterly Pandas said:

Yes mate, all in the name of aerodynamics

Click to expand...

3 has one as a well

Most Easterly Pandas said:

There was me thinking what is it, so I checked and got a massive WTF moment! Do the front and rear plates match

View attachment 144502

Click to expand...

It's a moments like this i'm glad all the police round here care about is speeding...had it 3 days passed 2 police cars it's not even on askmid..


Oh and it's a mitsubishi mirage...it's a blast from the past in that it's like driving an uno.

Edit: Good news at least the mazda has had it's dash dismantled and reassembled with all possible contact points and bits that might rattle coated in padded tape so I should have it back tomorrow.

StevenRB45 said:

It's a moments like this i'm glad all the police round here care about is speeding...had it 3 days passed 2 police cars it's not even on askmid..

Click to expand...

You still got it? Be interested if the rear plate is the same and the tax disk.

Most Easterly Pandas said:

You still got it? Be interested if the rear plate is the same and the tax disk.

Click to expand...

I have and both plates match...however tax disc is NJ14BVS, which is on MID. Suppose I'll let them now when I give it back!

Wish I'd known that last few days would have been past every speed camera in the area at full belt...

That's the one.

What would we do without tax disks..... Oh wait

Well it's back, it's no better or worse than it is was however i'd much rather occasionally have a rattle than drive a mitsubishi mirage ever ever again.

Did it's first proper long distance this weekend alton towers and back a total of about 420 miles once commuting to the hotel and trips a for pizza was taken into account.
It did brilliantly barely noticed 3 up plus luggage except on the odd steep hill on the little country roads that had me in 2nd gear. Otherwise ride quality and stopping power didn't really change which is big difference to the swift which was a horror fully loaded.
Engine pulls well on the cruise control, I did an awful lot of acceleration between 50 to 70 due to the widening works on the A1. Also returned an impressive (for an older gen none turbo petrol) 44.6 mpg, which I'm very surprised be as I wasn't hypermiling and mazda quotes 43.5 for the car.
I noticed or rather my companions noticed lots of good little touches round the cabin, theres a cable run from inside the centre cubby where the aux in and 2nd power point are so you can close the lid and the wires aren't nipped, it has a seperate dash power point for sat nav. The door pocket holders can fit big drinks cups the centre console ones are perfect for cans and small bottles. Rear arm rest has can holders too.

That and it's quiet and smooth riding and the seats didn't give me back ache and the cross winds barely phased it.

Sounds like you are pleased with it.

JimbbobW1977 said:

Sounds like you are pleased with it.

Click to expand...

Other than the odd rattle is everything I was hoping it would be so yeah. Also the OHs DS3 has arrived and it doesn't feel like the poor relation so I'm happy with that as I thought it might feel a bit crap against a brand new car. That and I'm happy I stuck with petrol, the DS3 has the same 1.6 diesel as the mazda gets and the only way you could confuse it for a petrol is if you have no mechanical feeling and severe hearing damage.

The road surfaces are so poor now in this country and councils seem intent on resurfacing roads with that horrible rough stones surface I think the vast majority of cars rattle now.

My other halfs A3 rattles, I was in a new Superb recently that rattled, a legacy courtesy car I had once had a terrible rattle in the dash - I could go on.

My Focus does as well on bad surfaces.

JimbbobW1977 said:

The road surfaces are so poor now in this country and councils seem intent on resurfacing roads with that horrible rough stones surface I think the vast majority of cars rattle now.

My other halfs A3 rattles, I was in a new Superb recently that rattled, a legacy courtesy car I had once had a terrible rattle in the dash - I could go on.

My Focus does as well on bad surfaces.

Click to expand...

Definitely, the 3 has fewer Rattles than the brand new citroen it just has one very specific rattle, the aforementioned rattle whilst turning left on a ridged surface, downhill at speed that only seems to happen on two corners and lead to me having that pos mitsubishi. I've not heard that for 2 weeks though so fingers crossed...

In a steady state cruise on a rough road no rattles to speak of other than stuff in the boot. It's an interesting comparison to my dads Focus ghia which is on the same platform but riding on smaller wheels. Focus hits bumps harder and is softer in the bends but there is 4 years of development between the 2 cars with the ford being an early mk2.

It's a shame the 3 never sells better than it does as it is a good car and the new one is brilliant.

It's just that most people think the Golf is the best thing ever. Sure they have showroom appeal but the latest model has a lot of cost cutting - torsion beam rear suspension? Reliability questionable and dealers poor.

JimbbobW1977 said:

It's a shame the 3 never sells better than it does as it is a good car and the new one is brilliant.

It's just that most people think the Golf is the best thing ever. Sure they have showroom appeal but the latest model has a lot of cost cutting - torsion beam rear suspension? Reliability questionable and dealers poor.

Click to expand...

The 3s problem is that it is never on anyone's short list. It wasn't on mine despite the fact my main requirements were anything with 5 doors that isn't an astra, focus or golf. I went to the dealer to look at an FN Civic. That didn't float my boat so I was leaving walked past threes without a second glance (a black, a red and a gunmetal one) before stopping in front of my current car and saying to my OH "nice looking car that, what do you think?" If they hadn't had a white one in i'd not have stopped walking. Chances are I'd still be driving the suzuki.

My opinion of vag rather mirrors yours, although in my opinion 90% of the showroom appeal comes from expensive options which I find an annoying way of doing business. There's a company near me has base spec golf 7 diesels as company cars, never have you seen a sadder looking car for 17k..

I drove past a new Passat Blue Motion earlier sat their with its plastic wheel trims, probably with that awful VW 1.6 tdi engine in it as well - an engines that's very noisy and rough.

JimbbobW1977 said:

I drove past a new Passat Blue Motion earlier sat their with its plastic wheel trims, probably with that awful VW 1.6 tdi engine in it as well - an engines that's very noisy and rough.

Click to expand...

I read a few years ago that the new eco diesels had to sound like a bag hammers it's the only way to get the CO2 levels down. They had started using several small fuel injection pulses instead of one big one to reduce the clatter of the injection system diesels suffer from. However it increases the tail pipe emissions so its the 1st thing to go when a manufacturer goes chasing numbers.