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The As Yet Un-named Mazda 3

Introduction

Well it's here my Mazda 3 Takuya 1.6 petrol, 36k on the clock, 61 plate. It needs a name!











Woo discs all round, and 17s as Standard



Loving the interior, fronts nice with heated sports seats, plastics do get more japanese as you go further back



Cruise (finally) and built in phone



6 CD Changer, with bluetooth phone and streaming, also dual zone climate



Loving it so far, ride is firm but not harsh, doesn't feel as slow as I feared it might, though have to watch speed as its deceptive after the swift.
I like the 3 - I looked at the 6 Estates, however wanted the new one and it was out of my price range!

Sitting underneath that 3 is a Ford Focus..

They aren't cheap new definitely, even at 3 years old its still not exactly pocket change, at least they are one of the slowest depreciating mainstream hatchbacks so if I keep it nice it shouldn't depreciate too hard.

I was aware of the Focus connection however my dad has had an 05 Focus 2 from new and its been very good and if you're gonna base your car on something best to start with the best in class. Differs in key ways obviously 1st of all Mazdas own engine, which is good and bad as it has a timing chain but 98 ron is recommended (not that it bothers me I ran the old car on 98). Also unlike a 1.6 Focus it gets proper brakes all round and standard DSC and TC. Finally unlike most "Japanese" cars you see it is built in Japan and has the J Vin number to prove it.
 
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I love the exterior, but feel the dash design lets it down personally. For me just looks like they've tried too hard? Although perhaps its a cabin that grows on you over time?

Has it keyless entry like the Swift did?

Heated seats, nice, my Prius has them, in the month I've had it I've already used them once or twice on the cooler mornings we've had over the last week or so. Will really pay dividends in the winter :slayer:
 
I love the exterior, but feel the dash design lets it down personally. For me just looks like they've tried too hard? Although perhaps its a cabin that grows on you over time?

Has it keyless entry like the Swift did?

Heated seats, nice, my Prius has them, in the month I've had it I've already used them once or twice on the cooler mornings we've had over the last week or so. Will really pay dividends in the winter :slayer:

You haven't seen it at night yet, if you think it's trying too hard now....main thing is it's well screwed together, so no rattles. The stereo is a bit over designed for ease of use but i'm sure it'll come with familiarity.

No keyless on this one, the takuya is based on the TS + jazzy bits, needs to be a TS2 or above but the TS2 has 16 inch wheels and no bodykit and other than keyless it has everything you could ever need.

We'll see if I see the benefits of heated seats, would imagine they'd be nice and warm after scraping ice off the window.
 
It's does appear to be Mazda own petrol your right.

I know the MK2 Mondeo used Mazda derived petrol engines the 1.8 2.0 2.3 2.5 and 3.0.

I have the PSA 2.0 diesel - very good engine, as used in some Fiat commercial vans.
 
It's does appear to be Mazda own petrol your right.

I know the MK2 Mondeo used Mazda derived petrol engines the 1.8 2.0 2.3 2.5 and 3.0.

I have the PSA 2.0 diesel - very good engine, as used in some Fiat commercial vans.

The 3 gets either the 1560cc HDI (as fitted to seemingly every car built for the last 10 years that doesn't have fiat or vag lineage) or the 2.2 HDI in the top one as fitted to big PSA stuff like the C5 e.t.c.
 
oh, alright,
LOTUS - as it's white + a big thing in Japan..;)


not a fan of anything Japanese ( vehicle wise):(

thought that being part of FORD group - the motor choice would be VERY predictable.. apparently not..!! :)

charlie

Japanese rock...who else would put tamper proof stickers on every panel even the front bumper with the vin on? Also who else would light the centre console cubby with a single blue led in the roof...door pulls are backlit in blue as well wtf??

It definitely has it's share of odd. I'd never looked at them till i saw this one so definitely still learning.
 
The door pulls, centre cubby,roof, door bins, footwell are lit up in the Focus with a choice of 8 colours..

Bear in mind this is not a car that lists over 20k, it's the equivalent of a zetec not a titanium/titanium x. The higher spec ones have all the footwell lighting business etc.

Also i'm pretty sure in 2011 you couldn't have got that in a focus, ambient lighting was introduced on the new models.
 
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I have a long long tradition of crap car names. So far it's been tea party, the Red October, silver bullet and shifty (covers 10 years). I dunno for some reason I like Martha although its already called Snowflake on fuelly.
 
On the subject of strangeness...some cars have a washer warning some don't...this fits into the second category however and I **** you not it has a dipstick for washer fluid level.

WTF?
 
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