The As Yet Un-named Mazda 3

StevenRB45 said:

Car rolled over 60k today which means I've had it for 24k miles. Little bored so thought I'd work out what it cost me in that time.

Purchase price £8400 - one Suzuki swift
Insurance x 3 years = £1110
24000 miles of vpower = £3240
Brakes and tyres = £600
Road tax = £435
Servicing = £850

So...£14,635 for 3 years use including the service it's having this month and the tax that's due in september.

On the flipside it's still worth between 4 and 4.5k so about 10 grand all told.

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Its frightening when you look at it like that. I worked out earlier this month that I've lost about £8.5-£9k just in depreciation on the Prius over 3 years - although I've put 55k miles on it in that time.

Most Easterly Pandas said:

Its frightening when you look at it like that. I worked out earlier this month that I've lost about £8.5-£9k just in depreciation on the Prius over 3 years - although I've put 55k miles on it in that time.

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It is and it isn't, the Citroen has cost about 11k in the same time not including fuel so it's about comparable despite doing 10k more miles and being a petrol not a diesel it's fairly reasonable.

I did skew the numbers in my favour by buying 3 year old though if it had been new all the other costs would have been the same but deprecation would have been 8 not 3.5 grand.

So it's had the biggest service it'll ever have to quote the tech..guess they don't see many 12 year old cars then!

My wallet is 475 quid lighter, which breaks down as service 350, mot 35, suspension parts 35 quid each (tie rod and drop link...booo! 1st broken part.)

Only thing to come back, one alloy is very slightly bent on the inner edge but not enough to be bothered about. Same corner as broken droplink..so I'm guessing a pothole too far!

3 years today since I picked it up.

Any sign of changing it? Or you going to keep it going?

JimbbobW1977 said:

Any sign of changing it? Or you going to keep it going?

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Don't really see any point at the moment. The plan always was to have it 5-8 years or however long it'll run reliably for.

In terms of feeling out of date it's not off the pace to whats on sale now in terms of ride and handling, and being naturally aspirated with hydraulic steering it would be hard to get something that drives like it. I'm Sure on something newer the NVH would be slightly better and it would have a huge touchscreen so the cars behind could see my text messages/sat nav destination. Otherwise cars haven't really moved on other than the inclusion of a bunch of active safety stuff I don't particularly care about.

I'm the same really: I don't think cars have progressed usefully since mine was made. The real world economy gains are marginal, and as you say, they're stuffed with nanny devices I'm not bothered about having. I have all the creature comforts I could possibly want in my current car, so all the guff they put in them now is completely unnecessary.

I'm not anti-technology I just want it to add something. I get why esp is a good thing even though I've never had to rely on it in my car. But when it starts to become a substitute for paying attention I don't think it's a good idea.

When the OHs new car arrives it will have a mirror link and a touch screen with dab so will see how I get on with it. If it's any good I might get head unit with similar features to bring it up to date. Given how often I follow sat nav off my phone it would probably make sense also 2013 ones had that as standard so it actually looks reasonable.

I don't mind technology upto a point, but I think it gets a bit silly these days.

puntofan01 said:

I don't mind technology upto a point, but I think it gets a bit silly these days.

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I don't know tbh. I'm not a fan of big touch screen systems that do everything (don't like taking my eyes off the road). But I like my voice command phone, Bluetooth streaming, esp, climate control, cruise control, auto lights and wipers e.t.c. e.t.c. I use it all and it does make the car an easier and more relaxing place to spend time. But I don't want it to literally drive for me.

It's why I like this car and it would be hard to replace, if you need to plough a groove in 5 hours of motorway you engage top gear, set the cruise, put your foot on the foot rest and stream your music collection in climate controlled comfort. It is possible to just steer it for 100s of miles while listening to your music.

But If you decide you actually want to drive it it's fun, it isn't fast in the 0-60 sense but for a modern car it revs out great, gearbox is modelled off an mx5 so flick of the wrist, great brakes it's a strengthened sportier version of what is regarded to be one the best handling family cars ever made (focus 2). Basically it will do the day to day grind without any fuss at all, is reliable, never puts you out or needs any allowances. But will destroy a backroad if you decide that's what you want to do.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a complete technophobe: I do enjoy the spec of my Grande Eleganza. Occasionally, the Bluetooth has been handy, I love having 1500 songs in the glovebox, (and my memory stick is only half full! [emoji6]) I'm always thankful for the automatic dual zone climate, electric mirrors and electric lumbar adjustment, and I do like having my rear parking sensors.

I also enjoy how it's a comfy little cruiser when I want it to be, and whilst it won't take corners as quickly as your Mazda, it is damned good fun to sling around on a fast, twisty road.

However, I personally feel that things like keyless starting and electronic parking brakes are just pointless gimmicks. I also don't agree with all the connectivity of the latest cars. Hands free phone can be useful, and I can understand the appeal of DAB, but I don't think that voice to text message functions should be allowed. And downloadable apps: what's that about?! It's a car, not a tablet computer!! I certainly don't want the self parking that is starting to become available on superminis these days!

Pre-winter tidy up done..

It's interesting comparing this with the new C3, with the old DS3 they both attempted to be sporty, the Mazda beat the DS3 to death. They both had similar levels of grip, but to achieve that the DS3 sacrificed every thing in terms of comfort..and had a terrible gearbox and no steering feel..and a diesel engine.

The C3 comes at it from a totally different direction and shares many of the ds3s faults but crucially sacrifices it in the name if comfort. When you're driving a sofa ragged edge characteristics disappear into the background somewhere behind easy mid range torque and good phone integration.

So what am I saying? Well I suppose that the Mazda has 90% of the comfort but 150% of the tactile pleasure on a good road on the right day. However it's harder work than the Citroen pretty much at all times due to that. The Citroen isolates you from the job of driving and there are times when that's great..but it's just unsatisfying when you want to play with it a bit. This car is something that bumbles around OK, it's a little bit firm at speeds under 40 and suffers a little road roar but has the ability to be genuinely good on a back road in way the Citroen (even with DS3 iron blocks for springs) can't get near.

First proper disappointment with this...

Now Mazda 3 gen 1s are known for tin worm..notorious in fact around the rear arches. But this is a gen 2 and it was meant to be fixed..

I had noticed mine was a bit rough up there if you pushed the lining felt back (I clean this area every time it gets washed)..assumed it was sprayed on rust proofing but I'd seen a few orange streaks so stuck a thin camera in the arch..



Not rust proofing..just rust, it's going in on monday to be looked at by mazda, they'll take some photos measure the paint depth see if I have the basis for a warranty claim.

Not going to lie, very disappointed indeed as i'd hoped to keep this for many years. I'm expecting to get knocked back as I don't have any holes and the metal is solid so far..but it's fairly obvious where it's going, the inner skin is rotting.

It's not going to affect it really for a long time but it'll look tatty..which ain't great. Plan is possibly to drop it into a bodyshop and get it sanded back and covered in underseal but have a feeling moisture is between the skins of the arch so would be pointless exercise.

Having shown some gratuitous grot shots...I should point out on a walk past it still looks like this...


Got no idea how long it'll take to rot through...tbf i'd imagine a few years, guess I'm looking for a new car before then.

What age is it now? It is a little disappointing for it to go quickly

6.5 years, so not Citroenesque rusty door skins after 6 months...but annoying and about 2-3 years early.

It's up to Mazda UK once it's been looked at to see what happens. Not sure what the future is for it, I don't really want to buy another car, it's a very good car don't know what I would replace it with.

But if I keep it there's a good chance it'll look rather tatty by 8-9 years old. There's a lot of rusty gen 1s about they still keep going I just don't particularly like owning a rusty car.

The mk1 Mazda 6 rusts very badly too. I've seen several with bad rear arches, and once, someone was banger racing a 6, and it looked like the back of the sill had dissolved!

What age is it now? It is a little disappointing for it to go quickly

JimbbobW1977 said:

What age is it now? It is a little disappointing for it to go quickly

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6.5 years.

StevenRB45 said:

6.5 years.

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I don’t know why that posted the question twice!! Hopefully it will be covered under the paint warranty - but you watch they will try to not cover it with - you haven’t had your annual paint inspection sir, or your car hasn’t been serviced with us sir.. etc