Mazda 3 - Buying experience

It varies with the area. Edmunds factors in the zip code if I recall. Try plugging the cars specs and looking at the "True Market Value." Bring it to the dealership. Let them know you have it by casually laying it somewhere. It's a starting point.

I bought my 3 about four weeks ago in So Cal. Stock is crazy here. We're 2 hours away from the biggest Mazda import center, yet no cars. Still, I paid about a grand less than invoice. Got the 3.4 financing too. Not a horrible deal. Decent car, lots of good points, a few bad.

Wheel locks. :)

That's a grand over invoice by the way.

don't know about your area, but Mazda3 is a hot item in Canada. Last Thursday the Toronto Star ran an article about new car sales for the first six months of the year here in Canada. Mazda3 came in second, just behind the slumping Honda Civic, as the most popular new car. Looks like a sellers market for the Mazda3. see

I have some good sites for you:

Dealers usually don't offer real discounts until the end of model year, or if the model is selling poorly, or if the economy is on the downswing.

#2 and #3 are not happening this year, but #1 should occur soon.

Shop around instead of looking for something special from a dealer. I was quoted $400 more for the same model/options at one dealer than at another. Provide evidence that you've done your homework and most dealers won't even try the hard sell.

-John

My passenger door rattles severely. Afterward I found it's a common complaint. I wish the dealer would have saved my time and fixed it before I drove it off the lot. There are other rattles, but overall it's pretty quiet for its class.

I'd pick the MZ6 seats over the MZ3. (Maybe even the MZ6 over the MZ3 depending on options. They're not priced dramatically different)

The dash. Of the RX8, MZ6, and MZ3 integrated dashes, this one is the silliest. It's the love child of Battlestar Gallactica and Knight Rider. I joke with my wife and make swooshing sounds when I change the radio station (dash lights up left to right). She says, "Michael, don't touch me there." Minor complaint. My wife is more fun to look at than the dash anyway.

The radio is nearly inseperable from the dash without much gnashing of teeth and weeping. This would be okay if Mazda offered more radio options. Even an aux input would make my day. Satellite would have been nice.

There are some other oddities in the dash. The LCD's right hand display doesn't work in the North American release. (I think). It has the ambient temp and environment display. It's left mysteriously unpowered. It would otherwise show lcd fan blades, numerical temp displays, and other stuff there. It's just a bitter reminder of what I *could* have had if I lived in Japan.

Most of the complaints are modification limits. Who buys a economy car just to throw a few thousand dollars more into it? So I question my own complaints. The seats still feel like an old sofa tho. And yes, zoom zoom applies. The car is a lot of fun to drive.

Judging by the number of rice rockets I see on the highway quite a few people do. I've seen as many as 5-10 in a few minutes on some stretches of busy urban freeways.

Are Mazdas best described as econo cars or 'sport compacts'? Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Lexus, etc. all sell cars in the same size class, but none are econo cars. Econo for the luxury segment, perhaps.

I'd call the Korean and US cars in the same size class econo cars. Try a Chevy Cavalier for a shock about how low GM has gone--we got one for a rental that was extremely crude and nearly falling apart. A Mazda feels like a tight luxury car in comparison.

Mazda sells to frugal buyers and sport buyers. The Protege has had a cult following for quite a while.

-John

What do you mean, "has gone"? I had a Cavalier rental many years ago, and they were falling apart then too. Nowadays, apparently, you are at least able to lock the door with the key. Chalk one up for GM.

Leon ;)

What's the point? Why not be direct about it? Why not tell them something like: 'I know what the invoice is. I'm offering invoice + $500. Take or leave it'.

Agreed. Don't mess with a car salesman or waste his time, you'll only incite him to retaliate...and he's professionally trained to screw you. The world needs less BS, not more.

As a buyer, you only have two weapons: knowledge and your feet. OK, maybe that's three...