[sirhk100]

Hey guys, as you can tell by my post count I'm new to this forum. I was looking to spend under $10K on a used car because I wanted something I could have paid off within a year. I was actually looking at used Lexus IS300's. Then an old college room mate told me to check out the Mazda 3. After test driving numerous of both models I finally realized I actually liked everything about the mazda 3 hatchback better then the IS300. Granted, I never did find a manual IS300 which I was dead set on manual trans but those things are virtually impossible to find! So when driving the 3 manual back to back with the auto IS300 I realized the power difference wasn't really much seat of the pants. The mazda was cheaper and well once I convinced myself mentally that not buying a Lexus because I actually liked the mazda better I was good with it.

So... All that said... Here's pics of the car I should be picking up this weekend.

The car has 86K on it and is $7500. It's the 2.3 non turbo which is cool with me. I want something that's reliable and gets good milage more then something to race with. I have a dirt bike and a truck to get the speed demon urges dealt with.

The price is considerably less then any other car out there. I'm actually just paying off the remainder of the owners loan straight to the bank. He purchased it new.

It is lowered a little and that had me worried that it was possibly driven hard. Looking underneath, no signs of scraping or slamming ditches. I popped the hood... I'm VERY mechanicaly inclined. No hardware had signs of ever being removed as if the engine had been modded and put back to stock. The owner said he'd seen one around town dropped and really liked the look so he did his. That's the only mod this car has.


Sooooo... All that said, I'm going to look it over really close one last time before buying and take it on one more test drive. Anything known issues I should look for on these cars? Any known quirks I should be checking out?

I did a search before posting this with a couple different key words cause I'm sure this has been asked a million times already but I came up empty with the search results.

Thanks!
Khris

Oh and just for comparison, this is my other home built project/toy that it'll be sharing the driveway with... Kinda opposite end of the spectrum! LOL

 

[danielj]

Welcome to the forum.

Mazda3 hatch vs. IS 300. An interesting comparison! They're so different.

There is nothing significant to look for with regards to recurring issues. Some may mention the passenger motor mount but overall not very common and cheap and easy to fix.

Good luck with the final transaction and again, welcome.

 

[sirhk100]

Interesting... I'll do a search on the motor mount deal. If it's just a matter or replacing one that's something I can easily handle myself and wouldn't worry about it affecting my decision on the car.

I know huh on the IS vs Mazda. I honestly had never even noticed the mazdas. I've always loved the IS300 though since they came out and since used ones were falling in my price range I was looking at those. Then like I said, I was told to check out the mazda's and well yeah, pretty cool little car although not comparible really at all.

What kind of life span are people seeing with these cars? I'm hoping this thing will be relatively maintenance free for at least another 5 years under normal driving conditions. Let's put it this way, I've owned a Civic I ran until 250K, and Accord that went till 300K and right now a POS chevy Monte Carlo that just feels cheap and I don't like that's got 172K on it. All of which either still run cause I know the owners that I sold to or ran great when I sold the vehicles. Point being, I maintain my cars and if they want to last they will... Are these 200K+ mileage cars without major rebuilds typicaly?

 

[icspots]

Man, what's with everyone buying used strato blues here recently? :thinking: :lol: Honestly though, great color. I wonder if the previous owner was a member on here?

Anyway make sure you get both keys when you get the car (reason in the stickied thread at the top about 3 keys). Beyond that there really aren't too many quirks in the '05. The AC isn't the best in the world, but really tinting the windows and using a sunshade help a lot with that.

Congrats and welcome.

 

[sirhk100]

Oh, that's interesting to know about the AC considering I live in Las Vegas! LOL

I read the thread on the keys last night. Interesting for sure...

I was also looking at a light grayish/dark silver color'd one but honestly I just think the blue "pops" more. This blue one has 10K more miles on it but is also $2500 cheaper then the greyish one! LOL SOLD!!!

I'll ask him when I meet him at the bank on Sat if he's on this forum.

 

[icspots]

For the AC I found between the tint and a windshield screen (when parked) it helped a lot. Beyond that if you keep it on face until it's cooled down it helps as anything in combination with the feet will divert air into the back seat. If even that doesn't cut it check out the "max AC mod" by billm.