Do all you have this many problems?

Matthew

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CX9, CX5, i8
this is kind of long but its a rant on the crappy Mazda 3 I bought.

I wanted to save money by having a lower car and insurance payment, get better mileage and only pay for reg gas, so I sold my 2 yr old WRX wagon and bought a Mazda 3. I had a WRX sedan for two years before that. I wanted to save money so I could buy a second summer "fun" car.
I dont know if they are ALL like this, but the car I bought is a major POS!
It goes down the road ok with decent power, and it actually handles better than a stock WRX, but the overall quality of the car is a huge dissapointment. I cant believe I ever complained about a rattle here and there in my WRX's. My Mazda 3 has 6 to 8 different rattles, some are always there and some come and go with the temp. Actually I would be happy if it was just a few rattles but the car has a lot of other things that you would not expect in a $20,000 new car.T

he brakes squeal constantly I am afraid I am going to wake my neighbors every morning its so bad. Also Mazda sent out all the Mazda 3s with crappy rear pads that have excessive dusting. After 3-4 days of normal driving the rear wheels are almost black.

The wiper mechanism squeaks with every movement of the arms, and after buying 35.00 worth of new wiper blades for a 1 month old car, it turns out the wipers dont have enough pressure and dont fully clear the windsheild and thats real fun during a Metro Minnesota daily commute in the winter.

The car has a major clunking in the back even with all the privacy covers and trays out of the back of the car.

The doors have a tendency for something heavy in the door to be loose and of course mine has it on the passenger side.

All of these problems showed up in less than a month. Whats funny is that a lot of this stuff is covered by TSB's that the dealer has known about for a year but they sell the cars without fixing the TSB's ( brakes, loose thing in door wipers etc)

In four years I never took my WRX to the dealer for anything except the crusie control TSB.

I am sure I will get some "HaHa's, too bad" for this, but I wrote this post to help educate people about this lousy car and so you can persuade any freinds or family members from buying it.

When I complained about the quality on the Mazda3 forum, one guy said that he has taken his 3 to the dealer 13 times for problems but would still buy another!!!

The Mazda 3 is crap! I am hoping the dealer can fix the 3-4 major things so I can sell this POS, and either buy a 4 grand beater (and then I wont care if its rattley and old), or maybe buy an Impreza 2.5 wagon.

Does the Impreza 2.5 have the same suspension as the WRX?
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=898705

EDIT: s***, now I have to go delete a post somewhere.
 
pretty much most of us here have had some of those issues... and yes all of them are on the TSB list.... not sure what to say i didn't think it was a lot of things to worry about as i had a first model year car... not sure what year he bought but i thought most of these items are now fixed on the 06 model....
 
i dont know where all these problems come from or maybe im not picky enough.
i bought a first year car (and i knew then that i was going for a wild ride) but then i was very impressed cause i only had to take my car out to the dealer 2 times. One for the rear rotors, and this last time for an ac compressor failure. Maybe i was just expecting a lot of problems and having just 2 is awesome or i am just lucky.
i dont know what to say, i think this happens with a lot of cars, there are always a few that are problematic
 
sounds like some guy bitching about a few squeaks and rattles. ive never driven a wrx, so i cant compare it to that, but i did own a p5. i can tell you that the 3 is a much more solid car than the p5 ever was. besides, the few minor squeaks and rattles ive experienced are usually associated with cold weather. the only thing that really bothers me is the brake dust, but even that isnt nearly as bad as the front brakes on the rx-8. (poke)
 
WRX isn't all that reliable. The paint sucks worse than Mazda. The body panels easily dent, especially the aluminum hood. They squeak and rattle too, but they also eat synchros and have some headgasket issues that may not be resolved. Most of these complaints don't get fully covered by the warranty

Plenty of Subie owners have to pay for all the crap wrong with their cars, but they still LOVE them - to a much greater extent than what I've seen here for the 3.

If you want an almost guaranteed trouble-free car, Honda and Toyota await you.
 
"In four years I never took my WRX to the dealer for anything except the crusie control TSB."

Hmmm let me see if I can recall... Note these will not be in any order...All were on a 02 WRX purchased in May 01
2 batteries died and had to be replaced,radiator leaking at seam needed to be replaced,clutch shudder issue nessesitating repl of clutch/pressure plate/bearing, 3 sets of rotors and 2 sets of pads due to warpage,trunk liner frayed needed replacement, radio died needed replacement,FUEL LEAKING from fuel rail due to design flaw was past 36k warranty Subaru denied repair even though it was a known issue with a TSB...Sold car the very next day.....
Any car from any mfg can have issues......
So far my TGM3 has been rock solid......
 
I bought mine last week in August and its a first year car and have had no problems so far. Maybe I haven't driven it enough considering I only have 7,000 miles on it.
 
my fiance just got the purge selenoid valve replaced last week (there is a tsb) on her 05. 2200 miles, the cel came on and it drove weird. the brake dust on the rear is rediculous, but no other problems so far(knock on wood).
 
i got mine 3/29/04, it's a 5dr. in the almost two yrs. reg. maint. & 2 months ago went in to replace a/c blower motor, no other probs. the brake dust i can deal with just wash it off. will replace when they finnaly wear down, but right now i have plenty of pad left...i luv my 3...
 

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