consumers review the Mazda 3

Read recent reviews for the Mazda 3

4.4

Overall Consumer Review Rating
for the Mazda 3

Love the car although it has it's minor negatives.

By Mike A written on 05-23-2016

I have had the car for more than 3 weeks and put about 1,200 miles. Here is what I like and dislike: Likes: -Looks. Bought the "gray" which actually looks more like charcoal black. -Decent backseat room. Perfect for my teen kids. -Fuel Economy. Averaging about 33 MPG in mixed city/highway. I like in the suburbs but still deal with lights. Its not stop & go but its not true highway either. -Lots of standard features for the iSport. Rear view camera, bluetooth, voice commands, text reads. -Acceleration. Its quick. (**Update after a year of ownership, it is not quick. Not sure why the acceleration went down or why I said it was quick originally.) -Braking. Maybe because the brakes are brand new but it stops on a dime. -Money factor on leasing. *This is key if you are considering leasing. I researched a lot on this but Mazda offers competitive money factors. It is cheaper for me to lease the Mazda3 than say a Kia Soul although the Soul is cheaper.* -Warranty: Powertrain - 5 yr/60k miles plus 3 yr/36k miles roadside assistance (although I have AAA). -Reliability. Consumer Reports has rated Mazda as one of the most reliable brands. Dislikes: -Road noise. Not sure if it is the tires but the road noise is the worst and loudest. I thought my old 2013 Civic had a lot of road noise but this Mazda3 is load! -Seats a little uncomfortable. -Black interior. Looks nice but in the summer, black dashboard and black seats will make the car an oven. -Second week I made a wide right turn and heard a loud pop underneath the car. Then I started hearing metal hitting each other after hitting bumps. Took it to the dealer. They said everything was fine but did confirm the noise. After 3 hours, they said they needed to contact Mazda (this was on Saturday). Noise went away by Monday. Not sure if they fixed it unknowingly. Gone for now. Hope it does not come back but this is a big concern. -Interior Light brightness. There are only 2 options unless mine is defective. Its either bright or less bright. No in-between. Why? Never seen only 2 choices. *Update (after a year of ownership): Everything I mentioned above still stands except for the acceleration. One other item that I took the car to the dealer was when you hit the brakes hard (at slow speed), the car made a noise as if some metal was loose. Dealer determined the brakes were dirty. They cleaned them and noise went away. No issues besides that. I will update in another year.

Recent Owner, Not a Drop of Buyer's Remorse

By nino scholz written on 02-24-2016

First off, it should be noted i have only owned the car for about 700 miles, so i cannot comment on reliability and such. I can say that there have been no problems so far, and the forums for the mazda 3 are NOT littered with threads about oil consumption and HG issues as some other car forums might be. Lets get the bad out of the way first: My car is the Grand Touring 2.5L 6speed Manual, so it's loaded aside from the tech package (which means no eloop or radar cruise). One of the features i really like on my car is the red light camera warning system, which tells you via voice warning that a red light ticket camera is ahead. It's a great feature, but on at least 2 occasions has gotten stuck, with the lady repeating herself 10-15 times before traffic starts up and finally it clears up. Quite annoying. Also, as with my previous Mazda, the lower door panels scuff easily. That pretty much sums up the negatives I have so far. The Good: First off, the interior on this car is excellent. It has a luxury feel all over and is feature packed. The infotainment works well and is intuitive, and also allows modifications via "tweaks" from the modding community so you can tailor certain things to your liking. Wi-fi functionality is even present, but hidden initially. The leather seats look and feel great, and the dash materials are high end and look great overall. I'm 6'3" and have ample head room up front. The LCD display for the infotainment looks a little out of place, but you quickly get used to it and realize it is in the perfect spot. The BMW inspired infotainment controls are instantly easy to use. The heads up display - it seems like a gimmick until you use it. It displays your speed and next turn for navigation, as well as other info at times. It is very useful on the interstate to keep you aware of your speed. This can be turned off or adjusted. Backup camera works well, blind spot chime can be turned down or off but works well, and the voice control is decent, although i'm still getting the hang of it. There is plenty of storage space, although the door pockets are a bit small and more cup holder than storage. The climate control is easy enough to use, but I personally prefer a simple 3 dial manual layout. Overall, the car allows nice customization through the infotainment center in allowing you to turn off and adjust features to your liking - example - the door locks can be set for "one touch unlocks all doors" or "press once for driver, twice for all". The driving experience is fantastic. You quickly forget this is a compact economy car. The 2.5 has plenty of pep. enough to chirp the wheels and put a big smile on your face. Power is adequate at all RPM's, and impressive when you have the engine in a sweet spot around 3.5K. You'll be pushed back in your seat if you are into that sort of thing. The car handles great. I've taken a country drive in the twisties already and it was all smiles. minimal body roll and confidence inspiring steering feel. The shifter has a very short motion. Initially, it was hard to tell 1st from 3rd, but I quickly got used to it and have not thought about it since. The clutch has a bit of a binary feel, but again, I quickly became accustomed. For casual driving, the car does not drift or require extra attention to stay on track on the interstate. Road noise is acceptable to good. I suspect new tires would help in that department, but it is certainly not an issue for me. Also nice is the fact that the engine does well in just about any rev range for daily driving - it's a bit of an "any gear will do" affair unless you really want to get on it. More than a few times i've found myself cruising around in 4th gear when i should be in 6th, because the car does not get loud or jerky. Even for interstate passing, downshifts are not usually required. There is enough torque in the low range for standard driving maneuvers. So far i'm getting around 30mpg mixed driving, and it seems to be improving with break in. I also do enjoy the car from time to time so my figures are far from optimal. All in all, I would buy another if this was stolen. I took the car on a 34 hour test drive before buying and that feeling has not changed - I love the car and am very happy with my choice. Mazda does make cars that are fun to drive, and they it well.

Great alternative to the Audi A3

By Andrew in Marin written on 03-08-2016

I stopped buying Japanese cars a while ago. Despite the benefits of reliability and fuel efficiency, the Civic, Corolla and Prius were not fun for me to drive. I then tried a BMW 3 series which was a blast to drive but broke down too much and was expensive to fix. The Passat seemed like a good compromise but still had reliability issues and was expensive at the pump. Why am I telling you all of this? The Mazda 3 grand touring Sedan checks all the boxes for me. It's fun to drive (more so in the city than on the highway) It has a great infotainment system (Bose) and the interior reminded me a lot of the Audi A3 that I was testing (for $10k + more). The interior feels upscale, the acceleration is good and the handing is excellent. It feels much like my Miata from the 90's. My one concern is that I am not getting the advertised MPG which is one of the reasons for choosing this car. I am getting a combined of 28 MPG with modest driving. I had expected more like 33 MPG. The dealer says MPG will improve after 5000 miles (I'm only at 750). That seems like a long break-in time. Has anyone else experienced this? Overall, it's a great car.

Great Ride and Handling

By Mike Horstein written on 07-13-2016

The 3s Grand Touring was an easy choice. It rides and handles beautifully. The steering is quick and precise, and the driver's seat is very comfortable. The transmission shifts are crisp, and are very responsive to accelerator pressure. In addition, the audio system is the best I have experienced, no doubt because of the Bose speakers. When stopped temporarily on a hill, you have 2 seconds to move your foot from brake to accelerator before the car begins to roll. The headlights, taking their cue from the steering wheel, swivel to point in the direction you will be going, rather than where the car is pointing. There are, however, a number of annoyances. The electronics (with the exception of closing the driver's window) are disabled when the ignition is turned off. It requires a separate operation to restore the audio. Three distinct operations are needed to select a station, instead of, for example, simply switching between a pair of AM and FM stations. I would have appreciated all four windows, not just the driver's window, operating with one touch. The numbers on the dash cannot be read in sunlight when wearing sunglasses. The blind spot monitoring is mostly an annoyance, forever warning me not to change lanes while I am doing so safely. The reason is that it only measures distance, and has no knowledge of relative speed. While the BSM feature can be disabled, it cannot be decoupled from the cross-traffic alert, a most desirable feature. To deal with this problem, I have attached a pair of blind-spot mirrors to the side-view mirrors, and rely on this combination to make my decisions. While I am satisfied with the 25 mpg (in primarily city driving), the range is a big disappointment. The manual says that the car has a 13.2 gallon tank; however, it functions as if it had only an 11-gallon tank. Both the gas gauge (an inconsistent discrete device) and the range indicator show no miles left when only 11 gallons are required to fill the tank. So I get no more than 225 miles from a tank of gas. I would much prefer the old needle, which was a true indicator of the gas remaining in the tank. Despite these complaints, I would buy the Mazda 3 again, because it is a pleasure to drive.

Two Weeks In

By sarge79usaf@yahoo.com written on 03-05-2016

I have always knew I would end up getting a Mazda3. I went from a 2003 Audi A4 1.8T Quattro that I purchased brand new, to this 2016 Mazda3 2.0. Other than losing all wheel drive and the peppiness of my modified Audi, this automobile is quite an upgrade for me. First off, there is instant power to the wheels, instead of waiting for the turbo to kick in at 3k RPMs. The cabin interior is quite nice, even though I went from leather to cloth. I at first scoffed the side impact avoidance system I went along with, but it actually helps with the slight blind spots this car has; however, the side impact indicators stay on a little too long after I am well past the mouth breather lingering in the passing lane... The entertainment system/Bluetooth connectivity is great and the sound is as well, even though I didn't go with the Bose premium sound. A little weird not having a CD player, but I guess they are a little dated now anyways. As I mentioned the Bluetooth connectivity is a no brainer, so no CD player needed at all for someone with an iPhone/Droid/or any other Bluetooth enabled device. The ride is smooth and handles corners extremely well, as well as the plethora of potholes the wonderful D.C. area has to offer. Speaking of potholes... I took this to New York and this Mazda3 handled their potholes as well like a champ. Overall, I am happy with this purchase, but a little dismayed at how much it would cost just to get the SD card for the GPS. I'll just stick with my cellphone.

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Buying a used Mazda 3 in San Diego, CA

Save up to $300 on over 474 used Mazda 3's for sale across 548 dealers near San Diego, California. Edmunds has over 4,664,405 cheap new and used car, truck, and SUV listings, available in the following submodel types: Sedan and Hatchback. The Mazda 3 is available in model years ranging from 2018 to 2004, with prices ranging from 3,475 to 27,488 and mileage ranging from 0 to 432,888. Mazda 3s in your area are available in the following trim types including (but not limited to) the following: i Sport, s Grand Touring and s The nearest dealership is John Hine Mazda, approximately 0.789 miles away with 54 used Mazda 3's in stock. The highest rated dealer in your area with a used Mazda 3 for sale is John Hine Mazda, with an average user rating of 5 and 54 used Mazda 3's in stock.

Options and features available on used Mazda 3's available near San Diego typically include:

Features: Fold Flat Rear Seats , Rear Bench Seats , Audio and cruise controls on steering wheel , Aux Audio Inputs , Tire Pressure Warning , Stability Control , Trip Computer , Bluetooth , USB Inputs , Post-collision safety system , Alarm , Back-up camera , Blind Spot Monitoring , Keyless Entry/Start , Auto Climate Control , Multi-Zone Climate Control , Sunroof/Moonroof , Heated seats , Power Driver Seat , Navigation , Automatic Emergency Braking , Pre-collision safety system , Upgraded Stereo , Leather Seats , Upgraded Headlights , Heads up display , Upgraded Engine , Adaptive Cruise Control , Lane Departure Warning , Parking sensors .

Engine/Mechanics: 4 cylinders .

Transmission: Automatic , Manual .

Fuel Type: regular unleaded .

Drivetrain: front wheel drive .

Edmunds offers users detailed expert ratings and reviews, pricing, consumer reviews, features and specs, interior and exterior vehicle pictures and videos, as well as special offers, gas cards, and other perks. Find your perfect used Mazda 3 at edmunds.com.

Used Mazda 3 for Sale in San Diego, CA

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$6,999^*

$6,490^*

$3,475^*

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consumers review the Mazda 3

consumers review the Mazda 3

Buying a used Mazda 3 in San Diego, CA

More Used Mazda 3 Vehicles in San Diego, CA

Used Mazda 3 for Sale in San Diego, CA

$12,490*

$15,990*

$13,777*

$9,599*

$13,990*

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$6,999*

$6,490*

$3,475*

$13,861*

$11,899*

$8,995*

$7,000*

$21,995*

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consumers review the Mazda 3

consumers review the Mazda 3

Buying a used Mazda 3 in San Diego, CA

More Used Mazda 3 Vehicles in San Diego, CA

$12,490^*

$15,990^*

$13,777^*

$9,599^*

$13,990^*

$6,999^*

$6,490^*

$3,475^*

$13,861^*

$11,899^*

$8,995^*

$7,000^*

$21,995^*

$10,491^*

$14,850^*