i'm looking into getting sometime this year, and i read all the threads about what people didn't like about them. now i wanna hear all the things they love about them.
it is the most fun i have had driving in a long time.
have had it for 1 1/2 years and everytime i get in it feels like it is the first time. I have all the upgrades leather/heated seats.
Took it on a road trip this past weekend around 400 miles up the east cost good roads 70 to 95 miles hour. I call it my baby.
Exterior:
-Sporty, stylish, sexy. I think it's such a good looking car.
-I love that I have little turn signals on the side of the car.
-I think the tail lights have such character
Interior:
-I love that I can change the color of my dash lights
-The MS 3 has red lettering on the dash, on the seats, and lights up my radio when I adjust the volume... It's a little thing, but I like it.
-The bucket seats are sporty and for me, super comfortable.
- The seats lay down and give me soooo much space. I've moved 8 foot PVC pipe - no problem.
General:
-I can floor it and pass all the other cars that are in my way.
-The handling is super tight
-It's got a great purr
-Did I mention how I can tear it up?
-Adding winter tires made my ice skate a snow shoe. Winters and snow haven't been the same since I got sport winter tires. I never thought tires could make such a difference!
Styling, handling and decent power for a naturally aspirated 4 cylinder wagon. Wish I had gotten the Turbo, but then my license may not have survived it.
Very pleasing performance and handling. Plenty of zoom zoom for a daily driver.
External styling. I find the 2012 3's to be much more pleasing to the eye than their competition.
Internal style / quality. The cabin is very pleasing. Nice control layout, good gauge visibility , comfortable and it gives a nice feeling of class without being pretentious.
Satisfying ride. Stiff enough that I don't feel disconnected from the road, smooth enough for an extended highway trip.
Overall, I'm very happy with my 3. I was looking for a small sedan with good fuel economy. Not only does my Mazda meet those criteria, but it's fun to drive and it looks good doing it.
I agree with this man. I deleted a few things that aren't my favorite. I'm also a big fan of what I "think" the engine is going to sound like when I slap a Corksport SRI on it!
Things I love about my 2013 iTouring Skyactive Hatch
- That big grin up front. This car is fun to drive and it knows it
- An A/T that behaves sanely and a Manual mode that obeys your every command (unless you're about to do something *really* stupid)
- Handling: I'm still slowly learning my limits and this car gives me a stable platform to play on
- Power: Not as much as the next tier (ie, MS3) but enough to have fun while at the same time..
- Fuel Econ: Want to hypermile? It has you covered as well
- Instrument Cluster: NO TOUCH SCREENS! I love that everything is still dials and push buttons
- Fun: My fiance tells me that I grin like a loon whenever I get a stretch of open twisty roads in this
VALUE is #1. Responsive. Nimble. Handling. Feedback. It eats up the road and begs for more. Super confidence in wet road control. Sure, responsive braking. 5 speed manual transmission delivers smooth 2.3 liter power with a clutch like butter. The car is built for people who know how to drive and love to do it. Styling and class. People notice that you drive a Mazda. Auto HID headlights. Factory navigation. Sunroof. 6 CD Bose sound. And since it's January hell yeah, heated leather seats. You can't beat it with a stick. Economy. You decide, you can conserve or when you feel like it, let it go and tear it up. This ain't your grandmother's car.
My Father drove a 1981 RX-7, I love and drive a 2006 Mazda3s GT and her name is Sasha
Value, fuel economy, handling (in its class), practicality. Honestly, I really like the 3, hence why my wife and I have owned 3 in the last four years are there are currently two in my driveway.
Handling is impeccable: Steering is tight and responsive.
Weather: Confident highway driving in torrential downpours, have yet to test it in snow though.
Exterior: One of the most attractive cars in my opinion, paint takes wax well and has a noticeably nice sheen that stands out from other jobs. The deep front with black accent sure looks sharp.
Interior: Very appealing with leather or cloth. One of my favorite dashes, glovebox is roomy in the back, center console has holes so you don't have to shut it on your wires if you're charging something. Cupholders on doors are a little small but good for my plastic water bottles I use so many of.
Comfort: Seats 4 very comfortably for such a small sedan. The ride in my opinion is very smooth even when light. And remains stable even with the overweights in the back.
Electronics: Has a nice and unique HUD in the upper dash (mine is like a sexy white, blue, and dark grey crystal display) and I believe the touring has a full color one. (only about 3.5" display). Also the first time I ever loved a stock stereo. Sport model and above have very nice on-wheel controls. Comfortable grip too.
Lighting: I have the stock headlights, and even though they are not a sexy as the HID's, they light up the road better than any vehicle I have ever driven. I give them 5 stars.
It's stupid fun to drive. Handles great and will eat corners if you make it. Interior has a solid design and feels like it too (i.e. that solid "thud" when you close the door).
You're right, it's not a BMW but it sounds a hell of a lot better than my mom's 08 Escape hybrid. Closing the door on that thing sounds like shutting the lid on a tupperware container.
Bought my 3 S-Touring in March. Great body styling along line of F-type Jaguar. Roomy in front. Tons of seat adjustment for long legs. Ergonomics are excellent. Visibility very good. Handles like a real sports car. Brakes are awesome. Paddle shifters and trans respond quickly. Have more than 3,400 miles on it with about 50/50 mix city/highway and fuel log matches car's avg. mpg readout: 30.4. And that's with a bit of "spirited" driving thrown in every week. Couldn't be happier on those points. Don't see many S-Tourings yet here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
There are so many great, thoughtful things about this car, WAY too many to make a comprehensive list, so I'll try to make a nice quick list instead. Here goes:
-Pretty much everything except the things I mentioned in the 'things you DON'T like about the 3' thread.
Down here in Georgia, it's very humid- so much so that your car can be totally covered with dew on a 76-degree morning! With my former car, a Mark IV Golf, the aerodynamics of the car didn't do much to clear the dew off the windows, and in fact only a little bit would blow away, right behind the mirrors, as I gained speed. Of course I never thought that it SHOULD blow away, as it never had on any car I had- but it's a little bothersome, as to get out of my neighbourhood in the morning I have to turn left onto a median-divided street with a lot of traffic- necessitating lowering the right-rear window on particularly dewy days to see if it was safe to leave the gap in the median.
Then I got the 3! The first dewy morning, I noticed that at around 30 mph ALL the dew just magically blew off the car leaving nice clear visibility! What a wonderful surprise; thank you Mazda for designing a car with good strong laminar flow!
It's just a little thing, I know, and probably doesn't mean anything to anybody else in these fora, but I like it.
- Overall design of the exterior of the 1st Gen hatchback..Thats what attarcted me to get one in the first place.
- The rare car color I have!
- The Interior design is a lot nicer than other cars in the same class.
- Like the Peppy Power it has vs. my previous cars.
- A lot of other things too!
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