Test Drove the MS3

[matsuda]

I and my family have owned several Mazdas so I'm speaking from experience, no blinders here. You really haven't answered the question though. You seem to have lots of faith in surveys yet you took your hard earned money and put it down on one. Why?

It's kind of obvious that I must really like the MS3 if I spent my hard earned cash, right? I like hatches, I like turbo motors, etc.

As I said previously, I can deal with most of the quality issues.

I don't necessary put so much faith in surveys but I don't believe that JD Power randomly assigned the scores either.

I know it is the nature of some people not to accept any criticism of something that they like, so it's normal that some Mazda owners will not believe any survey that says that their cars are less than excellent.

 

[matsuda]

What I find amusing is people who want to pay little or nothing for a car but expect a top notch interior, no rattles and speed. Sorry, ain't gonna happen.

I have no doubt that the QA/QC folks at Mazda would strongly disagree with you. I'm sure that interior rattles in any car that rolls off their assembly line is unacceptable to them.

One important aspect of quality is attention to detail.

 

[Betelgeuse]

I have no doubt that the QA/QC folks at Mazda would strongly disagree with you. I'm sure that interior rattles in any car that rolls off their assembly line is unacceptable to them.

Well I'm not sure about that. Test drive most cars and usually there are no rattles. Over time they develop on some, at least that's my experience. I also know that visiting any other forum that are dedicated to cars in this price range would reveal many members complaining about similar rattles. When I bought my car it had 6 miles on it, so if the the engineers did any long term testing, looking for rattles, they rolled my odo back (which I seriously doubt).

One important aspect of quality is attention to detail.

And one important fact you seem to be forgetting is that you get what you pay for.

 

[Betelgeuse]

It's kind of obvious that I must really like the MS3 if I spent my hard earned cash, right? I like hatches, I like turbo motors, etc.

As I said previously, I can deal with most of the quality issues.

I don't necessary put so much faith in surveys but I don't believe that JD Power randomly assigned the scores either.

Never said they did, but what's a major problem to one person might be a minor annoyance to another. So without seeing the raw data, it's hard to draw any meaningful conclusions.

I know it is the nature of some people not to accept any criticism of something that they like, so it's normal that some Mazda owners will not believe any survey that says that their cars are less than excellent.

I put a little more faith in personal experience than surveys, that's all. And forums like these only reinforce the fact that many people enjoy sweating over the small stuff.

 

[bast525]

Definately unbiased here. I have NO loyalty whatsoever to any brand/model of car. I've owned import and domestic, classics, musclecars, old Datsun's... Honda's Toyota's Chevy's Ford's and Dodge's.... I have loved most of them except for the few lemon's I've had.

I like any car that is fun to drive, and like practical fun to drive cars even more. The Civic Si that I bought my wife, MS3 I currently own and SRT-4 that I traded for it all rank very high on the list as far as favorite cars I've owned. They all have/have had their little issues, nothing major really, but mostly are/were great cars overall and very fun.

I'll give any brand a chance if it offered something fun, quick, and within my price range.

 

[Barney]

I've put 400000 miles on 3 Integras. Owned some some of the best muscle cars money could buy. Well at least before they started selling at just stupid amounts of money to buy a classic piece and put it in a garage. Owned a genuine 70 Buick GSX Stage 1 455, 86 Grand National, among others. My second car is well modded 94 Z28 6 speed with 174000 miles that puts 340 the the rear wheels. I've had many small and big block Chevrolets on my engine stand in the past, but the MS3 engine is amazing with the amount of torque it puts out at low RPM's for a four banger. Plus get's 30 MPG, I love this car. I'm 45 and have had my right foot into some of the best from the last 30 years and this car just gets better every time I drive it.

 

[Willspeed]

VW FTL... I hate the new GTIs.... but thats me. Plus VW is not that reliable look it up the info on that if you have to especially all the issues with the new DSG tranny thats supposed to be so bad ass, I know 3 people just around here that have had to get new ones.

 

[Stamperman]

I love to drive VW's but after driving them for many years I'd had enough of their shoddy reliability and at least around here, bad dealerships.

I'm on my thrid Mazda, an 04 3, traded for my 07MS3 and my wifes 5. No real problems with any of them so far. They aren't as nice inside as the new VW's, but I think that's a fair trade when you look at the better reliabiltiy numbers. The last time I checked the JD power reports VW was third from last on the bottom end of the list and consumer reports had 3 of their cars in the their list of the 5 most unreliable cars sold in the US. I really wish they could get their problems solved as I love the cars and would buy another if (I wanted a R32 soooooo bad) if I thought it would be reliable and I could get decent service from the dealer(s).

Just as a FYI, here is a partial list of VW's I have owned.
89 Jetta
84 Scirocco (owned for 15 years, was my auto-x car)
84 Scirocco - Beater
82 Rabbit GTI
86 16V Scirocco
92 Coraddo (best unreliable car ever!)
89 Jetta "Blueberry"
85 Scirocco
78 Scirocco