2014+ Mazda3 annoyances and/or issues

[Google]

I really hate the auto climate control.

When you go into auto mode or even if you select defrost in manual mode, the dang unit ramps up almost immediately to level 3 or higher and the air just jets out of the vents. This is a very huge driving distraction because you have to go back to your settings and lower the fan speed.

The ambient temperature gauge as already mentioned previously takes a long time adjust even in cold weather.

Of course, there's the infotainment system.

 

[nychotxxx]

Huh?

 

[concept]

For certain modes, ramping up the vent air velocity makes sense (as with defrost mode), but yes, this is common with other vehicles' HVAC systems. My 01 Corvette did it and so does my wife's Lexus. Fortunately, the 3's system is a step up, compared to any other Mazda I've owned. In fact, I think it's better than the one in our 06 Lexus.

 

[Google]

That's surprising. This was our first auto climate HVAC system. In the manual versions we had before (in our Mazda3s), was so convenient for us and it was not a distraction like with the auto climate in the 2014. I haven't seen any benefits to having auto climate control either in our 3, but that's just me.

 

[ALafya]

I also did not find much benefit in climate control HVAC, so it was an easy to choice to not get one.

 

[LH451]

I just discovered a grinding noise in my front suspension every time I turn the steering wheel. going to take it to the dealer tomorrow morningand have them check it out.I have a 2014 Mazda 3s

 

[larson701]

We have a 2014 CX5 with the manual HVAC and a 2015 3 with the automatic HVAC. I have no problem with the HVAC controls in either car tho I wished the CX5 would heat up more quickly.

Personally, I could do without the push button start. Twice now, the passenger has walked away with the key fob resulting in an inability to restart the engine later. Or maybe that is a 'shame on me' situation.

Generally, I like the infotainment system. Once, all of the station presets were lost. The USB drive has returned to the first song several times. I am trying to duplicate the problem. A lot of people do not like the tablet display. I do like the display. It is large and readable and may contribute to a lower overall dashline, improving forward vision.

Has anyone been able to improve the useability of the foglights? They seem useless at this time. I do not know if this is due to the reflector design or the H11 halogen bulbs.

 

[hectik1]

My only gripe with my 3 is the soft motor mount. With the manual trans the engine noticeably moves around a bit. Makes it feel a little lazy.

 

[concept]

That's surprising. This was our first auto climate HVAC system. In the manual versions we had before (in our Mazda3s), was so convenient for us and it was not a distraction like with the auto climate in the 2014. I haven't seen any benefits to having auto climate control either in our 3, but that's just me.

To me, it's a set it and forget it convenience. I keep the temp readout at 70-72 and all is good.

 

[ijbrekke]

I test drove the new 3 last summer thinking that it might be a good replacement for my Protege5. I had two major issues with it:

1. Driving the manual, my elbow kept slipping off the center armrest because of the gap left for the handbrake. Because the center armrest is non-adjustable I couldn't fix this.

2. The road noise was very present over less-than-perfect roads. I really dislike this about my Protege5, so I won't be buying another car that has this problem.

This was actually enough to deter me from the car.

 

[GrasshopperCO]

I test drove the new 3 last summer thinking that it might be a good replacement for my Protege5. I had two major issues with it:

1. Driving the manual, my elbow kept slipping off the center armrest because of the gap left for the handbrake. Because the center armrest is non-adjustable I couldn't fix this.

2. The road noise was very present over less-than-perfect roads. I really dislike this about my Protege5, so I won't be buying another car that has this problem.

This was actually enough to deter me from the car.

Those are obviously very valid concerns, but I don't really have the problem with the armrest as you have in my i Sport manual. Most of the time though, I don't rest my arm on the armrest when I'm actually shifting. When I'm cruising in a particular gear (usually in 6th, at highway speeds), I keep my elbow on the driver's side of the armrest and rest my hand on the gear knob.

While I'm also somewhat annoyed by the road noise, I'm fairly convinced it has more to do with the tires than anything. I don't think sound dampening is a priority in this car either, but I let it slide because the car is lighter than most, if not all, cars in the class. I'm not sure what trim level you drove, but I'm pretty sure the i Sport (and is there still an i SV?) comes on Bridgestones and the Touring and Grand Touring (i and s) come on Yokohamas. Or it may be that 3s manufactured at the new Mexico plant (like mine was) come with Bridgestones and the ones made in Japan come from Yokohamas. That may be a more plausible explanation, come to think of it. I really don't know for sure. Anyway, I do know both are designed as eco-friendly, fuel-efficient tires, with low rolling resistance as the priority rather than grip or low road noise.

I'm sorry those things kept you from getting the new 3, because I absolutely love it over the 2 I traded in for it. Maybe a CX-5 would be a better fit? Food for thought. Hopefully you find a suitable replacement for your Protege.

 

[concept]

...some quieter cars and comments:

Toyota Corolla or Camry: Reliable, but not sporty
Ford Focus: Sportier than Toyotas, but not reliable
VW Golf: Sporty, but not as reliable

The other choices are not very quiet, so there is no advantage to choosing one over a Mazda.

 

[ijbrekke]

Those are obviously very valid concerns, but I don't really have the problem with the armrest as you have in my i Sport manual. Most of the time though, I don't rest my arm on the armrest when I'm actually shifting. When I'm cruising in a particular gear (usually in 6th, at highway speeds), I keep my elbow on the driver's side of the armrest and rest my hand on the gear knob.

While I'm also somewhat annoyed by the road noise, I'm fairly convinced it has more to do with the tires than anything. I don't think sound dampening is a priority in this car either, but I let it slide because the car is lighter than most, if not all, cars in the class. I'm not sure what trim level you drove, but I'm pretty sure the i Sport (and is there still an i SV?) comes on Bridgestones and the Touring and Grand Touring (i and s) come on Yokohamas. Or it may be that 3s manufactured at the new Mexico plant (like mine was) come with Bridgestones and the ones made in Japan come from Yokohamas. That may be a more plausible explanation, come to think of it. I really don't know for sure. Anyway, I do know both are designed as eco-friendly, fuel-efficient tires, with low rolling resistance as the priority rather than grip or low road noise.

I'm sorry those things kept you from getting the new 3, because I absolutely love it over the 2 I traded in for it. Maybe a CX-5 would be a better fit? Food for thought. Hopefully you find a suitable replacement for your Protege.

Thanks for the comments. I'm definitely not an SUV guy, so no CX-5 for me. I'm firmly in the sport wagon crowd, which is why I ended up in the Pro5 in the first place. The options are, unfortunately, pretty limited in America, but I try to drive all of the cars that can loosely fit into this category that I could theoretically afford.

Armrest: I rest my elbow on the center armrest between shifts, so it was simply a habit that carried over to the test drive. I'm sure I could adapt over time, but the lack of adjustable armrest on all trim levels felt like an oversight/cost cutting move. It was just a first impression on my part, but not a good one. Totally a personal preference thing.

Tires: I switched to Continental DWS tires on my Pro5 and it made a very dramatic difference in road noise, so I'm sure you are correct. I drove an i Sport (it's all they had in a manual on the lot) so it must have been the Bridgestones. Regardless, if I'm shelling out thousands of dollars for a brand new car I don't want to ALSO pay hundreds more to swap the tires right away. Mazdas have more road noise across their lineup, so it's a brand-wide issue compared to everyone else. They are also lighter and more fun to drive...I understand these things are correlated. It's kind of a goldilocks problem in relation to personal preference.

I'm sure I wouldn't have noticed road noise as much if I wasn't listening for the problem, but having owned the Pro5 for nearly 5 years now (which is a LOUD car) it is one of my main complaints. I would definitely sacrifice 50-75 lbs for reduced road noise overall. This may be something to address with the aftermarket.

Pro5 is still going relatively strong, so no huge rush to replace. My short list is currently:

-Mazda 3
-Mazda 6 (I wish they would bring the wagon over)
-GTI (reliability scares me)
-Golf Sportwagen (whenever it is released)

 

[ijbrekke]

...some quieter cars and comments:

Toyota Corolla or Camry: Reliable, but not sporty
Ford Focus: Sportier than Toyotas, but not reliable
VW Golf: Sporty, but not as reliable

The other choices are not very quiet, so there is no advantage to choosing one over a Mazda.

Agreed on all counts, which is why I have yet to purchase something newer. I'm excited to try the refreshed 2016 Mazda 6 (which supposedly has better NVH) and the Golf Sportwagen whenever they are released.

 

[meeus]

A few:

1. Uncomfortable driver seat profile (for me, wife is OK)
2. No way to turn on the rear cabin light without the front one
3. Bose sounds meh (what do you expect...)
4. Little interior storage (doors???)

In summary - great car with somewhat questionable ergonomics.

 

[rarosa787]

Has anyone been able to improve the useability of the foglights? They seem useless at this time. I do not know if this is due to the reflector design or the H11 halogen bulbs.

I'm on the same boat as you. I feel that the stock fog lights are pretty wimpy at the moment and don't make significant impact in visibility. I'm trying to find the bulb size so that I can swap it out for HIDs or LEDs. See if that will improve it.

 

[stjohans]

2014 Mazda3 GS Sport

1. The back up camera is a dirt magnet and is unusable in anything but dry weather because it gets covered in muck and cant see out of it, would be nice if the rear hatch window sprayer also sprayed off the camera.
2. Road noise (Although my Nokian Hakkapellita 8 Studded Tires don't exactly help)
3. The manual climate control is somewhat difficult to adjust... the transition from hot to cold is fairly abrupt so on mild days i find myself adjusting it back and forth one or two notches every 5-10 minutes.

 

[concept]

I'm on the same boat as you. I feel that the stock fog lights are pretty wimpy at the moment and don't make significant impact in visibility. I'm trying to find the bulb size so that I can swap it out for HIDs or LEDs. See if that will improve it.

In heavy fog, brighter fog lights can make visibility, worse, not better. I have super-bright fog lights in my MX5 and had to tone them down by applying multiple layers of translucent plastic sheet over them. The blue tint matches my blue chrome Enkei Racing wheels, but police tend to frown upon blue lighting......

 

[Google]

i am surprised nobody mentioned the smaller side mirrors. i can see why Mazda has blind spot warning system in their tech package. it's almost a must.

the hi-beam is not very high at all. fog lights are typical OEM fog lights - poor.

new issues recently surfaced is the stinky smell when starting up in the morning. it's not your typical exhaust smell and it's not the gas either as we use the same gasoline in our older mazda3 and never ran into this issue until the car matured to age 9. dealer says no error codes generated (duh).

we noticed the driver's air vent temperature is colder at the same temperature setting than the right when dual mode is enabled.

the lack of trunk room and cable in the way inside the roof of the trunk.

 

[hetfield]

I'm coming from a '99 Ford, so a lot of complaints I'm seeing are actually improvement from what I'm coming from, like the side mirrors. I'd say there's 33% or more real estate to the mirror on my 3. I've only had the car for a few days so I haven't adjusted completely yet, but right now my biggest complaint is the lack of any type of DIN-compatible space for the radio. I'm also finding the placement of the buttons/levers for the release of the hood, trunk, and gas door to be annoying. That area isn't well lit and they're all in the same area so I'm finding myself hitting the wrong one. Maybe when I learn their positions without having to look it won't be so bad. I'd much prefer the trunk release to be on the door with the window switches, but I'll admit this is better than my old car and my wife's car where the trunk/gas door releases are on the floor next to the seat where they get packed with rocks and road salt. Yuck.