I am likely picking up a well loved and maintained 2006 5spd Mazda3 sedan for around $2k.
I see that they have rear wheel well rust issues like, well, anything japanese it seems. Whatever. This one is reasonably clean. Beats my Subaru that has fist-size holes in each one.
This has the earlier 2.0 - found lots of positive reviews of the 2.3 but less info on the 2.0...any common issues? Any reason to run away?
The transmission can be a little sketchy with big miles. (200K+) Other than that, I know of 3 with over 200K miles and it's just been minor stuff and engine mounts. The 2.0L not as much but the 2.3L liked to eat engine mounts.
The rust contributes to rear upper shock mount failures, which I've seen a surprising amount of.
some minor things are a pain to change like the driver side headlight bulb and the cabin filter.
I'm not sure if it goes across the platform to the Mazda 5 but my 5 goes through rear shocks. Ymmv.
Mazdas seem to rust in a truly special way. I'm a big fan of Mazda, I really wish this wasn't the case. I do not think it is fair to characterize it as a "Japanese" thing. Non-scientific observation suggests Honda/Toyota are as good or better than domestics. For a $2k car, rust issues may not matter to you. IMO it's a big deal if you own a car where you care about the appearance or resale value.
When I said 'japanese' I was thinking of Subaru and Mazda, but we had a '94 Accord and '91 Camry that did the same dang thing on both rear wheels.
Thanks for the input everyone.
Now to sell my trusty Subaru. 285,000 miles, you can see through each rear fender, yet I had three guys fighting to give me $2k for it within minutes of posting the ad. Boy did I underprice that one.
If you find a 3 from the south where rust is a non-issue, is there a preventative measure to prevent the fender rust from happening?
Snrub wrote: Non-scientific observation suggests Honda/Toyota are as good or better than domestics.
My non-scientific observations suggest otherwise.
ProDarwin wrote: If you find a 3 from the south where rust is a non-issue, is there a preventative measure to prevent the fender rust from happening?
Disassemble car, dip in heavy, waxy oil coating, allow coating to dry. Remove excess, then reassemble car. 
Ok, that might be a slight exaggeration, but thoroughly coating the areas that are rust prone so moisture can't get trapped against the metal is really the only way. Sometimes this is tough to do when the rust starts from the back side of a panel that isn't easily accessed.
In reply to ProDarwin:
Modern undercoating seems to do pretty well; early 3s I've seen that got a yearly Krown or Fluid Film or Corrosion Free treatment did quite well as long as the lube jockeys that did the job didn't drill a bunch of new holes into the car to do so.
After that, any problems start when you get hit on the rear quarter panel in a parking lot or catch a lot of dirt/grit that sands away the paint.
Of course there are compromises. It's quite unpleasant to work underneath the car afterward.
Go where the rust isn't. Sorry to harp, but I really don't understand the tolerance for that evil stuff.
In reply to aw614: AMEN!!!
aw614 wrote: some minor things are a pain to change like the driver side headlight bulb and the cabin filter.
After pulling the battery, intake tract and mutilating my hand, my wifes Vibe has trained me for this. Ditto for when i changed the cabin filter, dropped gunk down into the fan and had to listen to it chirping for a few months until i just pulled and replaced the whole thing.
Stupid modern cars.
If they're anything like 323s, which are terminally prone to rear shock mount rust, what I did was take off rear suspension, bead-blast and POR-15 everything that could be salvaged. Earlier Proteges leaked badly through the taillights, which contributed to rear rust issues. Took out the taillamps, dried them out in the oven and replaced gaskets with big, thick squishy ones from Rock Auto. So far, no moisture.
We just sold my wifes' 2005 Mazda3i (2.0l automatic) to a coworker as his son's first car. It had 200k on it and the only things I had done to it since we got it @ 30k was to rear control arm bushings. It's sort of like a BMW, the rear trailing arm has a "hinge" bushing at the front that can wear out.. I think i did it @ 160k? It was definitely bubbling around the rear quarter.
Other than that, they're an excellent car. I haven't figured out the whole "they go through shocks" thing.. The ones in her car lasted ~100-120k, and they were as bad as any camary/accord/etc at that mileage, except that the chassis is responsive enough on the 3 to notice.
The 2.0l is no star, but it's go enough power to max out the 125mph governor. The transmission is tuned quite well, I never really felt the need to use the manual control part of it. I changed the fluid as often as I do any other auto (60-80k-ish) and it was still shifting fine when we sold it.
It sounds like this one may need shocks but they have been on it for 150k miles.
Picking it up this afternoon.
Nice little car. Base model with manual everything. No cruise, but it has steering wheel volume controls. Whoopie?
Speed3 exhaust on it is a little droney but it drives and rides nice. Some cupping of the LF and LR tire, I would assume it needs shocks as they are at least 110k miles old and therefore probably original. Unless some bushing is a common wear item on these.
Silly 18" wheels. If anyone has a set of mazda3 16" or 17" ones and wants to trade for speed6 18's, I'm all for it.
I have a set of 15" steel wheels available for cheap that should fit it if you are interested.
15x6 et45 5x114.3 I used them on my protege but the prior owner had an early Mazda 3 iirc.
Coincidentally, I was next to a Mazda 3 in traffic on the way to work this morning and I noticed it had pretty severe rust in the bottom of the door. These days, even in Minnesota, it's a little unusual to see a late model car with that much rust on it.
moxnix wrote: I have a set of 15" steel wheels available for cheap that should fit it if you are interested. 15x6 et45 5x114.3 I used them on my protege but the prior owner had an early Mazda 3 iirc.
I'm pretty sure that 15s won't clear the brake calipers, making 16s the smallest wheel that can be used.
WildScotsRacing wrote:moxnix wrote: I have a set of 15" steel wheels available for cheap that should fit it if you are interested. 15x6 et45 5x114.3 I used them on my protege but the prior owner had an early Mazda 3 iirc.I'm pretty sure that 15s won't clear the brake calipers, making 16s the smallest wheel that can be used.
15's fit first gen 2.0L cars. The 2.3L cars had bigger brakes.
In reply to moxnix / WildScotsRacing:
You're both correct. I appreciate the offer and 15's WOULD fit except the PO put speed3 calipers & rotors up front so supposedly 16's are the smallest I can get away with now.
How bad can $34 rockauto front struts and $18 rear shocks be? Anyone used SenSen brand dampers?
I am thinking since it has lowering springs that I'll keep, I should probably get OEM equivalent quality. They lasted long enough. Monroes are $200/set or I could pick up OEM stuff from mazdaspeed for $330 if I go run two autocrosses first (or claim I am somehow using the parts on an STS Miata...riiiight) but that's still more than I want to spend.
RedGT wrote: In reply to moxnix / WildScotsRacing: You're both correct. I appreciate the offer and 15's WOULD fit except the PO put speed3 calipers & rotors up front so supposedly 16's are the smallest I can get away with now. How bad can $34 rockauto front struts and $18 rear shocks be? I am thinking since it has lowering springs that I'll keep, I should probably get OEM equivalent quality. They lasted long enough.
AFAIK, 16s are really tight to the speed3 brakes, so some may fit, some may not (depending on the wheel). 17s definitely will fit well.
If it's got lowering springs, they're likely stiffer than stock. Which means you don't want stock replacement struts, it'll always be a bit bouncy. I'd see what a set of Koni yellows (or STR.Ts if you're feeling cheap) would cost. That would be a better riding / functioning setup in the end.
It really does ride satisfactorily. No bounce. But it runs out of travel and whacks the bump stops occasionally. No worse than my Miata does, takes a VERY big dip at speed to do it. Seller lives near one of our autocross sites so the 1.5 hour drive home was a nice comparison since I have driven that route a hundred times before.
STR.T's are $450. I think I'd do OEM for another 100k miles before I do that.
The Mazda3 OEM shocks and struts appear to have a short service life and I'm surprised to hear that anyone got 100K miles out of them. My original Mazda3 front struts didn't make it to 40,000 miles before failing spectacularly. The KYB struts and shocks are a popular choice on the Mazda3 forums and is what I went with for my car.
Also, I have the Speed3 rotors and brake calipers retrofitted onto my car and agree with rslifkin that 16's could be iffy. The OEM 17's fit fine but, I'd definitely test fit the 16's before buying if at all possible.
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