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I'm currently shopping for a car, and a current gen Mazda 3 hatchback with the 2.5 engine is at the top of my list. Looking around at listings in my area, I see clean 2014 s Grand Touring hatchbacks at about $18.5k at the cheapest. I've got a couple quotes for new 2017 2.5 Touring Hatchbacks at close to $23k. 2015 and 2016 used listings seem way too close in price to the new 2017s to even be worth considering. Is there any compelling reason (read: $5,000 worth) to go for a new 2017 model over a used 2014? I know that the first model year of a new car generation is generally not as reliable as later years, but the reliability data I can find makes the 2014 Mazda 3 look pretty solid. The main complaints are about issues with the infotainment system which have since been resolved with patches. Is there anything I'm missing here, or anything else I should be considering when comparing the 2014 and 2017 model years for the Mazda 3?
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Dec 18, 2016 11:18
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I bought the first facelift (I'm not going to say 2017, this was in September so that's ridiculous) off the lot so I got to hear the new features spiel from the dealer. A lot of stuff is market dependent so may or may not apply where you are. - G-vectoring which makes an extremely subtle difference to how the car corners - HUD is now colour - Parking sensors in the front - Traffic sign recognition - Electric handbrake So nothing particularly noteworthy Aside from that it's the normal facelift stuff, different bumpers and lights, darker coloured wheels, different seats, new steering wheel that sort of stuff
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Dec 18, 2016 19:50
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dissss posted:I bought the first facelift (I'm not going to say 2017, this was in September so that's ridiculous) off the lot so I got to hear the new features spiel from the dealer. A lot of stuff is market dependent so may or may not apply where you are. I know it's dumb but I'm excited about that full color HUD. I've grown so use to the old one I hate driving a car without it.
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Dec 18, 2016 21:00
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Electric handbrake? How is one supposed to perform handbrake turns in the snow with one of those? In other news, I found the first body rust on my '09. Paint chips on the roof.
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Dec 19, 2016 16:09
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MA-Horus posted:Electric handbrake? How is one supposed to perform handbrake turns in the snow with one of those? Or teach new drivers how to hill-start. I was kind of bummed that the '17 mazda3 got a button-brake. Hill-assist works drat well, but my wife still kept taking longer than the 3 seconds hill-assist allows then rolling backwards in a panic.
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Dec 19, 2016 17:56
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MA-Horus posted:How is one supposed to perform handbrake turns in the snow with one of those? Mazda's response to this would likely be "our target market isn't interested in doing handbrake turns in the snow." Remember - they're trying to rebrand themselves as the next Asian luxury marque.
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Dec 19, 2016 18:14
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eddiewalker posted:Or teach new drivers how to hill-start. I was kind of bummed that the '17 mazda3 got a button-brake. Just get her to put the handbrake on, it will release automatically once the car starts moving forward MA-Horus posted:In other news, I found the first body rust on my '09. Paint chips on the roof. I had to have the entire roof repainted on my old 08 and my partners 05 has similar little bits of rust. Annoying.
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Dec 19, 2016 19:55
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Battery is crapping out on me again, took it to interstate, they tested it and said it should just need a good charge. Charged it overnight and reinstalled it, nada. I've had to jump it a lot recently, the main worry this time is that it's affecting my left turn, radio, etc. I'd forgotten power steering is now electric but it's still a bit unnerving. Had a mouse under the hood but only got the hood and firewall insulation. Hoping there's nothing else.
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Dec 23, 2016 20:44
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Did they do the hour long test?
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Dec 23, 2016 21:36
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CharlesM posted:Did they do the hour long test? No just the quick one. I'll likely be taking it back up there so might let them keep it to try it. It's only 3 years old.
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Dec 23, 2016 23:19
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I have a 2005 6 Sport with the Bose system. I'm finally getting motivated enough to investigate a head unit upgrade. I remember reading years and years ago about a USB adapter that plugged into the back of the head unit and let you plug in a computer through USB to play music off of HDD/USB sticks/MP3 players, with the steering wheel controls still functional. I think it was the Car2PC, since that's the only one I've found that specifically mentions wheel controls through USB. XCarLink looks like it's just a storage interface with USB/SD/Aux/BT. I'm not terribly interested in doing any nav or video, just audio. Does anyone have any experience with either or something similar? I'd like to just plug in something like a Raspberry Pi with a 128-256GB SD/SSD, and control the media player through the steering wheel. And the easier for a non-car guy to set up, the better.
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Dec 29, 2016 02:57
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I don't know of any device that directly interfaces with a Mazda stereo as you described, but you may be thinking of a Sylfex Auxmod. From 2003-2013 Mazda had a unified stereo platform across all models that included an expansion module that allowed devices like a tape deck, minidisc player (Japanese market only), CD changer, and in later years satellite radio to be added. The Auxmod takes advantage of this and emulates a tape deck to play audio from a 1/8" stereo input.
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Dec 29, 2016 03:08
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The MiniDisc was available in the U.S. as an accessory...There was also a 40GB hard drive thing that I can't remember the exact name of. It was also in some VWs. There was a USB controller and I think it used the CD changer interface thus it was limited to 99 tracks. It would just read off a USB storage device. No idea what they have currently. I would like to know if somebody has information on interfacing with the media port to get metadata on the screen. It is possible, but nobody has publicly released how to do it.
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Dec 29, 2016 03:57
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Anyone have experience with a second generation 3 with the skyactiv 2.0 and an automatic? Wife's '05 6 got rear ended and totaled out, I've been been eying a '13 3 that's been languishing on the lot at a Nissan dealer as a replacement. Asking under $10k, one owner with 35,000 on the clock. Any issues with the early skyactivs that I should be aware of?
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Jan 6, 2017 20:10
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I picked up a spin-on oil filter conversion kit for my 1st gen MS3. Reading through the guides, and from what I can make out in what is quite possibly the worst FSM I've used, I've determined the following: 1) In simplest terms, you "just" drain the oil 2) Remove the top bolt that connects the oil filter housing to the oil cooler 3) Remove the 4 bolts fastening the cartridge filter housing to the engine block 4) Put on new gasket on the engine-block facing part of the spin-on housing. Possibly use some RTV of some sort just to stick the metal gasket to the housing? 5) Reattach 4 bolts through the filter housing to the engine block. 6) Re-use existing oil cooler o-ring (one definitely didn't come with my kit and i have only found one or two people even mention it. 7) Fasten oil filter cooler to filter housing. 8) Complete oil change. I'm planning on tackling this this weekend. My concerns are: 1) Should I be concerned at all about the oil cooler unit or the o-ring that seals it to the filter housing? Since no one on the other Mazda forums mentions draining the coolant or anything of the sort to remove the cooler, I take it that's not necessary. 2) I couldn't find torque specs for the filter housing to the engine block, but it sounds like it's hard to even access all of the bolts, so any points on how tight to fasten these? 3) How do I determine my new approximate oil capacity? The filter that came with the kit is: LF05-14-302B. It sounds like it will still use ~6 qts. Some people say you can use the filter for the Mazda b3000 oil filter from 1994-2008 model years which will increase oil capacity a bit more. Am I missing anything?
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Jan 14, 2017 11:22
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I did the conversion when I had mine. It wasn't a huge deal. The hardest part was getting the top bolt loose for the oil cooler. I either used a stubby wrench, or a really long and awkward set of extensions to crack it loose from above, I don't remember. Clearance sucked. Otherwise it was fine. No need to drain coolant. I reused the gasket, and oil capacity was the same IIRC. I only did it so I could use a sandwich plate for oil pressure and temp sensors. Otherwise I wouldn't have bothered. The cartridge filter never bothered me much. opengl fucked around with this message at 14:50 on Jan 14, 2017 |
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Jan 14, 2017 14:47
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I just made a deal to buy another MS6 with a blown motor. Body looks fantastic so I'll be swapping the good exterior stuff to my car. Looks like it has a flow master exhaust so that will also go on mine.
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Jan 14, 2017 19:37
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I did my serpentine belt and the spin on conversion this weekend. It all went pretty smoothly, but I did have to buy a very short 15mm box-end wrench in order to get the oil cooler bolt off. Other than that, it wasn't too bad. Was it worth the effort? Probably not, but I've been tempted to get oil pressure and temperature gauges for a while now, so this is one step closer.
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Jan 17, 2017 07:59
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In 250k miles worth of home oil changes on my '07 6, I never changed the crush washer. First change outside of my dealer maintenance package on my '14 3, I reused the plain silver flat washer and it's weeping out enough oil to leave a puddle. I torque to 30ftlbs initially, and when I noticed the leak yesterday I loosened enough to confirm it's not cross threaded then retorqued. Still leaking. Do I really need to replace that washer every time?
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Jan 17, 2017 16:12
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So anyone with a '14+ with the infotainment and an Android phone (maybe too specific), is there anything you've done to make sure when you start your car and your phone reconnects, that you don't have to go back into your phone to start audio again? Sometimes it happens for me, but it seems completely random, and I can't figure out what the hell make it work or not work. I love the infotainment for the most part, this just drives me nuts sometimes.
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Jan 18, 2017 00:52
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My '15 Mazda 3 usually starts the audio off my phone just fine, but it has an annoying tendency to randomly stop using the Pandora app in the car and revert to running it through Bluetooth. I think I had a couple of service bulletins performed on my car that involved updates to the infotainment software for whatever reason, so maybe there's an SB out there that solves the issue.
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Jan 18, 2017 02:29
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My 2016 3 rarely starts off the audio again, and when it does it usually starts playing a podcast in BeyondPod even when I was recently listening to music in Spotify or GPM. I put this down to the phone rather than the car though as I get the same behaviour with other cars (and Bluetooth speakers etc). The phone will respond to 'Ok Google, play <band> in Spotify' so I usually just do that. Question: several times now the nav system has got stuck on 'Loading Navigation' with a spinning dial. Ejecting and reinserting the SD card fixes it but that's a pain in the arse. Anyone else had that happen?
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Jan 18, 2017 21:34
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Infotainment Bluetooth is basically flawless with iOS. Pandora seems to have quit supporting the infotainment app on iOS. I can live without thumbing songs up and down on the touchscreen, though.
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Jan 18, 2017 22:48
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So, has anyone else had problems with disentigrating wiring insulation in the first gen 6's headlights? Literally every wire is 40% insulation, 60% bare copper wiring. And both high beam buckets are loose and flopping around in it also. Not sure if I should hate mazda, the previous owner or whoever loving replaced these headlight assemblies with non foglight ones despite the loving car coming with fog lights in the first place.  Might wire this poo poo up enough to get the little parking lights working, then run the fog lights so it controls a fuckoff lightbar hidden in the bottom part of the grill. Better than paying $200 each.
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Jan 19, 2017 05:00
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Battery saga continues, charging does nothing now (was working some a week or two ago). So dead after jump power steering was kaput and lights were dim. Drove 30 mins highway and sat for 2-ish hours, so dead the locks won't work. Drove another 30 highway (now check engine light is on) and the lights were dimming when slowing or turning at the end. Going to the shop in the morning and hoping the battery's just poo poo itself early. Once this is all sorted I'll be buying a minder, I'm so tired of it working (think I have it fixed) then suddenly not again.
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Jan 24, 2017 05:47
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If your alternator wasn't already dead it probably is now.
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Jan 24, 2017 07:07
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Does anybody know what the bulb type for the ash tray in a first gen Mazda 3 might be? edit: Supposedly it's a 74. Guess I'll find out soon. Kia Soul Enthusias fucked around with this message at 09:04 on Jan 24, 2017 |
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Jan 24, 2017 08:05
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Geoj posted:If your alternator wasn't already dead it probably is now. Yeah I guess taking the Interstate guy's advice was a bad idea, should've just replaced the battery? Guess that would've saved me for a bit longer? Battery is shot, at least, I'm guessing, but waiting to see what the shop says. They use AC Delco, said they're better than Interstate these days, but I should have refund credit with Interstate so I'm not sure which way to go there. Edit: apparently Interstate is garbage now and nobody even carries them, so I guess I'm going to skip the refund/credit so they can keep troubleshooting (atmosphere sensor). Alternator seems to be fine. REMEMBER SPONGE MONKEYS fucked around with this message at 19:45 on Jan 24, 2017 |
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Jan 24, 2017 15:33
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Pretty much all batteries are made by one of three manufacturers so there isn't much difference between brands anymore. In addition Interstate generally is well regarded by AI regulars. A dead battery will kill an otherwise good alternator, and vice-versa; at the very least have a charging system test done after replacing the battery.
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Jan 24, 2017 21:42
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Exhaust replacement has become critical. No more waiting for a blown car and stealing it's exhaust. About to pull the trigger on a Magnaflow catback because the price on them is killer right now.
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Feb 21, 2017 05:30
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Speaking of replacing things, has anyone done a wheel bearing replacement on a 1st (-ish, early 2009) gen 3? Would this be something that a relative newbie can do? I did a rear shock replacement and that was really easy but to be honest that's about the extent of my automotive repair experience other than topping up fluids.
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Feb 21, 2017 14:42
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~33,500 mi on my '13 MS3 and the service department said they had to replace my rear brake pads and rotate my rotors. I feel like that's pretty early.
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Feb 21, 2017 17:33
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The MS3 is known for consumables.
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Feb 21, 2017 17:40
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Martytoof posted:Speaking of replacing things, has anyone done a wheel bearing replacement on a 1st (-ish, early 2009) gen 3? Would this be something that a relative newbie can do? I did a rear shock replacement and that was really easy but to be honest that's about the extent of my automotive repair experience other than topping up fluids. Front or rear wheel bearing? Front is 5-6/10, rear is 3-4/10 on scale of difficulty. The front requires extracting the spindle from the car, which will require removing all brake hardware, popping out the ball joint on the bottom, tie rod on the side, axle nut and halfshaft from the hub and then drive the spindle off of the strut. At this point you'll want to find an auto or machine shop with a press and have them press the old bearing out and the new bearing back in - technically possible to do yourself with a vice, large sockets and BFH but if all you've ever done is a rear shock I'd pay someone to do it for you, labor shouldn't cost more than $50 and that would be on the high side. Rear bearing is substantially easier - wheel off, remove all brake hardware and then the bearing assembly is bolted into the suspension arm from behind with four bolts - no pressing required if you buy a bearing and hub assembly. Remove four bolts, pop old bearing/hub assembly out, installation is reverse of removal.
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Feb 21, 2017 17:46
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Ah yeah, it's front. I think I'll pass since I don't really want to do all that work in the cold in my parents' driveway. Thanks though!
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Feb 21, 2017 18:52
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When my MS3 ate a front wheel bearing, the stub axle seized in the bearing badly enough that two different shops couldn't press it apart. Turned into a new spindle, halfshaft, hub, and bearing 
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Feb 21, 2017 23:21
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What is the best online resource for late model OEM parts?
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Feb 22, 2017 04:48
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Aexo posted:~33,500 mi on my '13 MS3 and the service department said they had to replace my rear brake pads and rotate my rotors. I feel like that's pretty early. My '13 MS3 is at ~49,000 miles, I'm still on the factory pads with a decent bit of life left in them all around and I am not gentle with my car. That sounds really premature to me.
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Feb 22, 2017 05:08
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astrollinthepork posted:What is the best online resource for late model OEM parts? If you need general parts, try rockauto. If you need oddball parts like license plate light assemblies where no direct aftermarket replacements exist, I've been using http://www.jimellismazdaparts.com to get the part numbers which can be used to get stuff from ebay or a local mazda dealership.
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Feb 22, 2017 06:03
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| # ? May 10, 2024 01:37 |
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Yes I mean dealer exclusive parts like the little lever for my armrest or the drat keyhole cover for my driver's door. I want a place like bikebandit.com but for mazdas. Avoiding ebay and dealers is primary. Also those $80 switchblade keys are counterfeit right? My DEALER wanted $350.
astrollinthepork fucked around with this message at 06:14 on Feb 22, 2017 |
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Feb 22, 2017 06:10
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