mazda 3... great car

[brenx]

Originally Posted by LethalLeigh

Mazda have really turned around in the past 5 or so years. Their styling and dynamics have leapt forward. I'm not a big fan of the hatch styling of the 3 though, the C-pillar is far too big.

I drove my aunty's 2003 323 though and the handling really turned me off. It felt really nervous to me but I guess that's in comparison to my then daily driver Falcon. I'm trying to convince my girlfriend's dad to buy a 6 MPS over a Honda Accord V6 too.

It's that frontend I stated in my prior post ;) I have the same model and the front end seems to go out of allignment pretty easy. The stock suspension allows for too much body roll too. Oh well it is a comfortable runabout that seats 5 adults quite well. I can fit more in my Astina than my EL :

[4Vman]

I bought the good wife a Mazda 3 Maxx Sport sedan, an absolutely awesome car, can't fault it! Best small japanese car on the market.

[buickman]

Originally Posted by kcbworth

personally prefer the focus than the mazda 3. don't like the look of the mazda 3 that much, and when i parked my focus next to a 3 the other day it was pretty obvious the the focus looked better. there's a heap of them going round tho hey :s

You might prefer the Focus but the Mazda is selling the 3 in greater numbers & in the end thats what counts to car companies.

Originally Posted by RPO83

If anything the Focus is a Mazda based car as Mazda had a little more to do than Ford and Volvo in the development of the C1 platform.

Obviously something is lacking on behalf of the Focus, whether its a design issue or a pricing issue it seems that the car is moderately unpopular even in the current small car boom. If it wasn't for the Focus, Ford would have been right on Holden's toes if not surpassing them in sales.

When I ordered my Focus LX in late July last year I the car wasn't delivered until 1st December. Apparently Ford in the past few months have only just started to been able to meet demand hence I've seen the Focus add has been on the tele more.

Comparing the 3 against the Focus, the Focus looks rather boring inside, using cheaper quality parts and slapped together. I just wish there was a ICC in there like in the BA. Even just MP3 support like with the Sony deck sold in the UK.

Focus ride/handling is a bit more guided than the 3, with electrohydrolic steering (power steering pump is driven with a variable electric motor) makes steering really effortless in carparks but more heavy at speed. This also helps the revability of the engine.

[naddis01]

The Mazda 3 is a great car. My girlfriend bought her hatch back in 2004 and she loves it. I love the look of the hatch. At first I would have got the sedan, but now I think it looks great. The sedan looks a little more conservative I think, but still looks great.
The reason the 3 outsells the focus - Looks. Just my opinion

[RSgerry]

We have ordered an SP23 hatch in blue with leather and Bose speakers. It is a great car to drive and very well put together. Was the 4th best selling car in Australia last month behind Commodore, Falcon and Corolla. When you consider how many of tehse would have been fleet and rental cars, that makes the Mazdas sales quite impressive. I think the reason they are selling better than the Focus is because they seem to have a lot more features than the Ford. I wanted a premium sound system, and it isnt even an option on the Focus. I cant wait for the car as it was ordered in february.

[bobski]

Can't comment on anything other than the SP23 as I didn't bother with the lower spec models (My car buying mantra is buy the best spec of any given model). I had an SP23 hatch for about 8 months before I sold it - the missus didn't like the manual (it wasn't hard to convince her we needed an XR6T for towing ).

Fantastic car though - craps all over the falcon in build and finish - and was far better than any other hatch that I test drove at the time. The only hatch that I haven't tested is the new golf which wasn't available at the time. By all reports, its a better car than the mazda 3s of similar spec - but also somewhat more expensive.

The only real problem I can recall was that over coarse surfaces it was a bit noisy - some sound supression in the wheel arches and firewall would do it a great deal of good.

But lets see - SP23 handles bloody well for a front driver, has plenty of poke, good economy, cheap to insure, less than $30k, loaded with features and its built and finished very well. And best of all IMO, when you get up it, a bloody hoot to drive. It *should* be a winner!