Mazda 3 2008

SarahSassy

Has anyone experience of the Mazda 3. Am looking at an 08 one.

bazz26

No personal experience but anything I have read about them has been good. They have been around since 2004 so any major issues would have highlighted by now.

They use the Ford Focus chassis which means they are nice to drive, being a Mazda they are also very reliable and well built. Saloon is the nicest looking in my opinion, 1.4 litre engine is a bit underpowered so try and get the 1.6 litre with the Touring trim. This has electric windows all round, air conditioning, alloy wheels and stereo controls on the steering wheel.

pburns

Have one in the family, it's a 08. Great to drive apart from rather numb steering but you'd need to be a bit of a petrolhead to find this as a fault.

The 1.6 diesel saloon would be the pick of the range if buying post July. Hatchback can also look good with right colour & alloys.

Reliability wise - won't get many problems with a Mazda...

Shaunie306

absolutely brilliant car they are used in mondello for the race school 1.6 models are nimble and quick also very comfortable and tech-savvy

CharlieCroker

bazz26 wrote: »

They use the Ford Focus chassis which means they are nice to drive, being a Mazda they are also very reliable and well built.

They actually use a shortened version of the Mazda 6 floorpan, which is still a good thing.
I sell them and have large amounts of 04-07 3's being traded in for new ones so the owners must be happy with them.

alias no.9

CharlieCroker wrote: »

They actually use a shortened version of the Mazda 6 floorpan, which is still a good thing.
I sell them and have large amounts of 04-07 3's being traded in for new ones so the owners must be happy with them.

You may sell them but Bazz is right on this one, they use the same chassis as the mkII focus and the volvo c30/s40/v50, which is a development of the mkI focus chassis.

bazz26

CharlieCroker wrote: »

They actually use a shortened version of the Mazda 6 floorpan, which is still a good thing.
I sell them and have large amounts of 04-07 3's being traded in for new ones so the owners must be happy with them.

It's pretty common knowledge that the Mazda 3, Ford Focus and Volvo C30/S40/V50 all share the same platform and some engines, diesel for example with a Peugeot/Citroen unit. The Mazda 6 platform is different.

Also the Focus chassis is one of the best enginered chassis' in it's class and the PSA diesels are very good so the Mazda 3 gains the best from both worlds.

E92

As others have said, the 3 and the 6 do not share the same chassis. The 3 has the Ford C1 platform,while the 6(both the old one and the new one) uses the CD3 platfrom which was developed by Mazda. The Mondeo uses the Ford EUCD platform and is completely unrelated to either version of the Mazda6(a couple of the engines are common to both, namely some of the petrol engines in the Mondeo which are straight out of a Mazda), but that's it.

pburns

CharlieCroker wrote: »

I sell them and have large amounts of 04-07 3's being traded in ...

Sorry to hijack the thread but can I ask a question from someone who might know?

Have Mazda any plans to import the Sport or Sport SE in diesel format any time soon? The highest spec in diesel at the moment is Exec SE which isn't great...

SarahSassy

Thanks all!!! Hate to fullfill the stereotype but I am a girly girl who knows nothing about chassis' and horsepower etc... I think its the 1.4 petrol hatchback.... And the colour is black Anyway, have an expert coming with me.... Will have a look on Friday and decide then..