[haveaniceday]

Hello all,
I have been following this site for a few weeks now, and find the forum to be very informative.

Rigth now, I am ready to buy a Mazda3, but I am concern about the ease and cost of maintanence for Mazda.

1. How easy it is to change your own oil? Do you have to jack up your car?
2. Is it true that Mazda recommend 5w-20? This is hard to find. Will using 5w-30 oil void
the warranty?
3. What about the transmission fluid, does it required some kind of funky oil too?
4. Opinons on the parts and workmanship of the car?
5. One last question, what is the cost of the rear spoiler for the sedan? Can I ordered it and
have the dealer installed it later.

Thanks,

 

[SBTanMan]

Ok, to answer your questions in order--
I can't speak for changing the oil personally, I can only speak to what I've seen, and there is a good thread about not getting the right oil filter put in by some lube place, and it's basically totalled the car. At least for the first year, I'm definitely coughing up the extra cash to have a dealership service my car. Mazda does recommend 5w-20 oil, and it's getting more common as more Ford cars require it, but this again is why I'm just having a dealer do the oil changes. I don't know the answer on the transmission fluid, but odds are it's Dexron, or something similarly expensive. As for the workmanship of the car, aside from a flimsy feeling volume knob on the radio, the whole car feels very solid and well-built. When I'm driving a bumpy road, there's no rattles, no itchy noises from the trim, etc. For cost on the spoiler, go to this website for a reasonable price http://www.mazdastuff.com

 

[fearturtle44]

Not sure about 1-4 but #5, you will need to specify which spoiler as you can get the lip or the bigger one. The spoiler is a DIO (dealer installed option). Dealer can probably get cheaper than you and you might be able to get "free" when buying your car if they are willing to negotiate.

Kevin

 

[chickmod]

mazda does recommend 5w-20-it's on the oil cap. I managed to find it, so it's not that hard to find. Check out the maintenance and care section (which is where this thread will prolly move to) to see if there's any info on the oil.

 

[LeeLee]

I like Mobile brand oil and I haven't been able to find any 5W20 but I'll keep looking. The manual recommends this weight and I am reluctant to use 5W30 in its place even though it may not cause anything problems since it doesn't get that cold here in VA.

 

[dinu01]

How about Maintenance and Care for this one?

 

[raitchison]

Mobil1 is not available in 5w20 and who knows when it will be.

Motorcraft is supposedly a synthetic blend, who knows what Mazda dealers use, it could be Motocraft or something else.

I'm torn on the whole 5w20 thing. in 2001 Ford when to 5w20 for pretty much all of their cars & trucks (including Mazda) regardless of whether or not any changes were made to the engine. So my 2000 Focus specced 5w30 but a 2001 Focus with the exact same engine somehow required 5w20. IMO the push to 5w20 was to eek out a fractional improvement in MPG for Ford's CAFE numbers AT THE EXPENSE of engine wear as most engines were designed for 5w30 or even 10w30. I ran 10w30 or 5w30 Mobil1 in the Focus depending on the season (5w30 in the winter). That's what I also run in my wifes MPV, which being a 2001 specifies 5w20 regardless of being designed in the early 90s for 5w30.

Now unlike the 1980s design Zetec in the Focus the engine in the 3 is an entirely new design, engineered in the late 1990s and entering service in 2001. The much thinner oil might be not only acceptable but maybe even ideal for the tighter tolderances of the engine.

Strickly from a legality/warranty standpoint (I'm not a lawyer), your not going to void your warranty al long as you use a motor oil that meets the service grade called for (API SL) which most oils (including all weights of Mobil1) exceed.

Personally, I'm not sure what I'm going to run. Likely either Motocraft 5w20 or Mobil1 5w30. If Mobil1 comes out in 5w20 I'll probably use that.

 

[speedman]

5w-20

pennzoil and castrol both make 5w-20, i've purchased castrol 5w-20 for my mazda truck at wal-mart. (saw some at pep boyz too).

 

[funkyfreshmonke]

speedman can u put ure location in ure profile please?

 

[dinu01]

Here in Toronto it's cheaper to change the oil at Mazda than at a Quick Lube type of place by $2-3...

 

[lexterminator]

Mobil 1 are making a 0w20 oil. This is the grade that Mobil recommends for cars using 5w20.