I have no personal experience with the IS300. I say the IS300 is a great car but in my opinion it is past its prime. The new 250, 350 is far superior and the gas mileage is a deal breaker. For me its all about the driving experience. The Mazda 3 hatch provides a good unique look, is reliable and a great drive. I just can't express how good my 3 has been. My wife is really picky about cars and she likes my 3 better then my TSX. Again this is my opinion so to give you a better feel check out tsx forum and the tsx forum on acurazine. Finally check out the mazda3forums.

Good luck

 

The IS300 has been a good car to me. I switched from a c230 since I needed a beater car for college. The gas mileage is not excellent but it's not exactly horrible either. I love the interior (even though it looks slightly dated compared to the TSX interior) and the ride is great on the highway. The car has some go when you want to push it. I also looked at TSX's with the Navi but I wanted something RWD. Let me know if you have any particular questions about the IS300.

Also, if the paint is the only thing holding you back from the TSX and it's a good deal, then you should get it. That is easily correctable with a paint correction for around $300. Check out autopia.org, it's a detailing forum and they restore paint like this all the time back to show room condition using professional buffers and polishes.

Edit: I would also suggest a 2005+ C230 Sedan if you can up your budget a couple grand. Recently, I've seen a few around for $12-13k which is a steal for that kind of car in my opinion. I loved that car and it was actually pretty reliable since it was the facelift year. Not the fastest, but smooth and very good gas mileage.

 

Right now, I own both ! I also have driven a TSX.

The Mazda 3 I have is a 2007 hatchback, grand touring, which has nice features, including leather and heated seats, bi-xeon headlights, moonroof and bose sound system with a 6 disc CD changer. I really love it as a DD, has 160hp, handles well and gets great gas mileage, and again only requires 87 octane. My only issue, is the automatic, it just hesitates, which can be annoying, no problem if you get the stick..

I just love my IS300 more, even in stock form, it is more nimble and the inline six gives you the nice seat of the pants feeling, and of course there is the RWD...

As for the TSX, it is nice, I really like the handling, the way the gauges look and the interior, I actually prefer the 1st gen to the 2nd( same with the IS btw..) They also look really good lowered with a nice set of wheels, but you will not get much power from bolt on's.

So if you are keeping your nice SC, I would choose the 3 first if you are just looking for a dd( with no mods), then the TSX and last is the IS.

If you are keeping SC, but will mod the dd, TSX, IS, then 3

If you are replacing the SC, IS300 hands down !! Then the TSX and 3

Photo of my happy pair..

 

The SC is sold so I will be replacing it! I am looking at a 2001 with 83/k on it on Saturday. Black/Black with stock chrome 17's. Priced at 10.5k. Probably a little high but it is clean clean!

 

Bought my 03 5-speed for about the same price, with roughly the same milage. The price is fair. Especially if the car is clean. Just be prepared to do the timing belt if it hasn't been done yet (book says 90k).

Personally, I think it's a better buy than the TSX, overall. For me, primarily, it's the RWD (and 5-speed, which the 01 doesn't offer), Lexus fit and finish, and you don't see one at every stop light.

The Mazda 3 is a really great car, but it's really in a whole different category from the TSX or IS-300. So it's kinda apples-to-oranges. We looked at them when we bought the wife's Imprezza. Very peppy, and fun car to drive. The Subie just suited our needs better.