[Bogie]

I was wondering for all of you that have seen, driven, own a MZ3, what was more important to you. The exterior style or the interior style. I always notice a car by its exterior but the interior is what makes or breaks the car everytime.

 

[SayNoToRice]

You cant look at the exterior all the time but you are gonna see the interior all the time.

 

[cowtown]

To me the interior is the most important element of a vehicle as far as style and functionality. The exterior must be good but if the car has a really good interior it can make up for a little less than awesome exterior.

 

[ZoominPoet]

Interior is definitely more important. That is where you spend 95% of your time car-wise (other 5% I stand outside ogling how 'sexy' my MZ3 is...haha). Comfort within the interior has to be important. The rest is for self-gratification.

 

[vaBooM]

Definately interior.

But thats not saying the exterior isnt important. What if a Toyota Pruis had a interior feel of a Cadillac..

Would you drive it then?

 

[funkyfreshmonke]

def interior but if you've got the total package like the 3 has...haha..no argument there..

 

[SyChO]

Yes and no for the interior...

Think about it this way, the Aztek has a pretty good "interior" but you wouldn't see anyone on this forum even thinking of getting that car/suv/box on wheels... My 2 cents!


I voted Exterior.

But its really 50/50 for me.

 

[SyChO]

Kinda weird, 127 people viewed this post, yet only 17 voted... oh well!

 

[cowtown]

Probably have to be regged to vote. We have lurkers here!

 

[lmp180psu]

I haven't voted yet because I am still on the fence. I agree that you experience the interior about 95% of the time, but if you had a Lexus type interior with an Aztek exterior I wouldn't want to own that car for a minute. It is all about balance ( the MZ3 has it). Same goes for the Accord; I like the interior a lot, but I can't get over the exterior( the coupe is better).

 

[phreakanature]

tough choice. I chose interior, but I wouldn't want to plant my ass in an ugly car that has a nice interior.

 

[king chile]

i went exterior.. call me a shallow bitch i don't care, to me it's the most attractive thing about a car. I agree that interior is important, but as long as it's comfy and functional i'm happy. personally, when i see a really nice car (say in a parking lot or something) and i go to check it out closer it's because of it's lines and shape, not the interior.

 

[chickmod]

interior is very important, but the exterior is what catches my eye, and makes me look at the interior. however, i will choose interior.

 

[king chile]

interior is very important, but the exterior is what catches my eye, and makes me look at the interior. however, i will choose interior.

:huh:

 

[zaimon]

I leaned toward the interior, although both aspects are weighted almost equally. You just don't have to live with the exterior when you're driving the car. That said, a beautiful interior that is poorly designed and has no efficiency/ergonomics would devalue the car greatly in my eyes.

 

[LeeLee]

I believe both are important, along with reliability/quality, and drivetrain.

For example, the Accord Sedan has excellent reliability/quality, great interior, and an adequate drivetrain. But the exterior is ugly. So no sale.

The Civic has excellent reliability/quality, good interior, okay exterior after the update, but an inadequate drivetrain. No sale.

Mazda3 has very good expected reliabilit, good quality from what I can tell, excellent interior, adequate drivetrain, and excellent exterior. Sold!

Everything else being equal, I would be willing to trade-off exterior a bit more than interior, because you have to live with the interior every minute of driving.

 

[04M3S]

I drove a Civic EX, Civic Si, CorollaS and a Sentra SE-R (non-SpecV) before deciding on the 3.

I cast my vote for interior, as the inside of the 3 is so much richer feeling than any of the others. It seems that Mazda pulled out all the stops on this one, nice rich looking textured materials, nice use of metallic and carbon fibre accents. Just an overall nice presentation.

BUT, I test drove the 3 first, and I will tell you, I barely remember anything but pulling into the Mazda lot, and seeing 4 brand new MZ3s on the lot, the EXTERIOR is what sold the car to me. The others, while looking nice, didn't come close to the sophistication and execution of the 3's.

 

[bknauss]

I went through basically the same car choices as 04M3S (Corolla S, Civic EX, SE-R, and Altima). Altima was eliminated early because of costs, SE-R was just too small and felt cheap, and my girlfriend has a Civic EX along with everyone else in the world. I also eliminated the Civic EX because the Corolla S had the same or better options, numbers, etc at basically the same price point. I was actually going to go pay for the Corolla S tomorrow, but then saw someone on a Corolla message board complaining about a couple things and saying they were going to trade in for a Mazda3. This was on Saturday morning and I went to check it out in the afternoon and fell in love with the interior and exterior design. Although the interiors were different in both cars, they impressed me somewhat equally. It might be that the interior is so new to me, but I'm definitely not used to the location of everything yet. As far as exterior, I hated the S! It looks like the car has a 12" lift and has 5" wheels to go with it. Overall cheesy. And even with the S body kit, the car looks too high off the road. And I also hate spoilers. After spending about 10-15 hours researching the Mazda3, I decided it was a wise decision to spend an extra $500 above the Corolla S and get the Mazda3 S. After negotiating for a couple days, I went and paid for the car tonight (Tuesday). For roughly $500 more, the M3S KILLS the Corolla in just about every way. Mazda as a company is much easier to deal with also. Toyota's college incentive requires you to finance while Mazda just asks that you prove you're graduating within 2 years from a 4 year school (or some other options).

Enough of that long winded story!

 

[M3-GT]

both are important but even though you could be sitting in a beautiful interior, if the car exterior styling is fugly, I wouldn't drive it down the street....so exterior at the end is what would finalize my decision.

 

[04M3S]

I forgot to mention, I have been lucky enough to have a CorollaS rental for the last week (see airbag thread).

While it is a nice enough car, it still feels (interior) like a "compact" car. The 3 feels like it has moved the bar up a notch. I think the fit/finish/materials are more on par with a $25-35k vehicle. It reminds me a lot (fit/finish/materials) of my buddies Acura RSX Type R.