RainaES350

iTrader: (1)

All good stuff :

http://editorial.autos.msn.com/blogs...cid=autos_5274

igzy

Good article, thanks for sharing! It is so bizarre how they declare some brands to be the best overall and yet they don't show up as winners in any of the categories, e.g. Mazda. Kudos to other winners!

My Mazda3 ownership was quite sour and I would never recommend one to anyone: had it repainted 3 times under 5-year warranty for rust (plus once outside warranty), replaced rear shock, body ECU, reprogrammed it for shifting issues (talking about flare problems here :P), and gas mileage was at par with my ES now, and yet it was put in the same context as Lexus.........

LexBob2

What year is your Mazda? We've had just the opposite experience with our 2011 Mazda3. Both my wife and I feel it's the best small daily driver we've had and would buy another. In fact, I have my eye on the 2014 model. The warranty expired on 1/8/14 and the car was never back to the dealer for any warranty or service bulletin work during the 3 year period. Just routine maintenance.

Just another point of view as I know no car is immune from problems..

igzy

It was an '04 GT 2.3L and most problems started in the 5th year of ownership at the end of the warranty. Perhaps cause we are in snow central and get extra salt that it corroded fast, but other problems were purely parts quality used. I did note that many replacement parts were made in China and I suspect were made there for production too.

Just about two weeks ago, I replaced on my sister-in-law's '05 Mazda3 broken rear shock mount. She drove over a speed-bump and it broke and shock was only held on by the bolt at the bottom. Same happened to my brother's '05 about a month ago. The repair was so-so easy and mount was cheap, but have you ever heard of something like this happen on any other car?? Just google Mazda3 rear shock mount broken and you'll get the idea...

I do agree that the drive was amazing and best in class for sure, we still long for it!