Question to Owners...=)

[tiger8191]

Well long story short...

I have been in the market for a new car. I was a few hours away from picking up my Sunlight Silver MSP but our mortgage broker said we would lose about $15,000 off our pre-approval amount for a new home. Since home comes first I had to cancel. =(

Well we finally found a house and close on it 2/17/04 so I am back in the market for a new car since we have everything set up and have an approved mortgage. Sadly 2 weeks ago my local Mazda dealer sold his last MSP.

So I test drove the Mz3s last night. I really like the style (seadn btw) and the ammenities compared to it's competition (Jetta/Corolla/Civic) I really liked the test drive. Just curious about some things. I didn't get a lot of drive time in it.

I found the 1st gear nice and torquey. 2nd gear seemed rather sluggish though. Nothing to bad. 3rd gear was a blast. I felt the true power of this engine sits in 3rd gear. Was it my imagination or do you find this gear to be the "funnest"?

I did a search before creating this topic so I won't go into my opinions on the clutch. For the car I had it was soft and it seemed to engage pretty high. But I have read others saying it was engaging more towards the floor. What do you think.

Thanks for reading.

 

[Dre]

I agree, 3rd gear is definitely the funnest. It's the case with most vehicles in my opinion, including my motorcycle.

As for the clutch. mine engages on the higher side I suppose. It is rather soft and it takes a bit of getting used to at first. I have roughly 4,000kms on my 3 right now and I've gotten used to it and enjoy it a lot.

 

[rpc180]

Engages high. Also there's talk of gas pedal lag (though I came from an Auto Acura, so this was no change to me).

3rd gear is the best! Its right in the torque range for anything between 40 and 80mph.

 

[Macadonious]

Well long story short...

I have been in the market for a new car. I was a few hours away from picking up my Sunlight Silver MSP but our mortgage broker said we would lose about $15,000 off our pre-approval amount for a new home. Since home comes first I had to cancel. =(

Well we finally found a house and close on it 2/17/04 so I am back in the market for a new car since we have everything set up and have an approved mortgage. Sadly 2 weeks ago my local Mazda dealer sold his last MSP.

So I test drove the Mz3s last night. I really like the style (seadn btw) and the ammenities compared to it's competition (Jetta/Corolla/Civic) I really liked the test drive. Just curious about some things. I didn't get a lot of drive time in it.

I found the 1st gear nice and torquey. 2nd gear seemed rather sluggish though. Nothing to bad. 3rd gear was a blast. I felt the true power of this engine sits in 3rd gear. Was it my imagination or do you find this gear to be the "funnest"?

I did a search before creating this topic so I won't go into my opinions on the clutch. For the car I had it was soft and it seemed to engage pretty high. But I have read others saying it was engaging more towards the floor. What do you think.

Thanks for reading.

A question for you, how did you close on a house on Febuary 17 when it is January? Do you mean that you WILL be closing on the house Febuary?

Just a FYI, not to be an ass, but there is no such word as "funnest". Maybe you ment most fun.

As far as the gearing goes, I agree with you 100%. The first gear is torquey, the 2nd is a slug and 3rd has the Mazda's "ZOOM ZOOM".

 

[sxates]

I would suggest you bring up this new car idea with your loan officer--adding $15k to your long term debt when you're trying to buy a house can mess some things up--even if you've already been approved for the loan. Would hate to see you lose your house just cause you didn't wait a month for the new car...

 

[tiger8191]

Heh, yeah, we close on the 17th.

That is why I put "funnest" in quotes. Poor attempt at humor writing I guess.

=)


The money is all set up and I would not buy the Mazda till mid Feb, because as you hinted at, it would suck to lose the house. =P