Discussion
Afternoon Gents 
I'm toying with the idea of binning my poxy rail season ticket and dropping the money into a replacement for the other halves 306 HDI which i will use to drive the 20 odd miles daily into London instead. My reasoning being at least this way i have something at the end of the year for my money. I am basing this on buying a car for 10/12k and keeping for approximately 3 years. My annual season ticket comes close to 4k.
I'm finding myself drawn to the Mazda 3 MPS Aero, the main draw being Japanese (think reliability), and secondly being a bit of a sleeper.
What’s the general consensus on these? Will be doing a fair few motorway miles visiting relatives with impending baby so the thought of having cruise control and some straight-line grunt is appealing. What’s the interior spec like? Plenty of toys and nice seats etc? Most importantly doe they have ISO Fix and whats the boot space like for a pram?
Any info is appreciated
Cheers
Steve
I'm toying with the idea of binning my poxy rail season ticket and dropping the money into a replacement for the other halves 306 HDI which i will use to drive the 20 odd miles daily into London instead. My reasoning being at least this way i have something at the end of the year for my money. I am basing this on buying a car for 10/12k and keeping for approximately 3 years. My annual season ticket comes close to 4k.
I'm finding myself drawn to the Mazda 3 MPS Aero, the main draw being Japanese (think reliability), and secondly being a bit of a sleeper.
What’s the general consensus on these? Will be doing a fair few motorway miles visiting relatives with impending baby so the thought of having cruise control and some straight-line grunt is appealing. What’s the interior spec like? Plenty of toys and nice seats etc? Most importantly doe they have ISO Fix and whats the boot space like for a pram?
Any info is appreciated
Cheers
Steve
Edited by J-Tuner on Tuesday 31st August 15:15
Dont have a 3 MPS but have a CX7 which has the same motor.
Lovely engine. Not great fuel consumption and service intervals are a little close together. No service light so it's 10K intervals I think.
The engine is very tunable - mine is still under warranty, but when that expires I am considering getting some more BHP out of it. This can be done with ease.
It's not been without problems. It needed a new Turbo - very long deliver time from Mazda who had to give me a hire car. Its a common fault with some of the Turbo units. The revised turbo the fitted has better oil ways which apparently sorts the problem.
I think the 3 MPS is a great idea. Doesn't look that much, very few people know what they are and you get decnet performance..
Probably not as good as an ST or VXR - but there will be much better qualified folks along in a moment I guess to tell you about that.
Lovely engine. Not great fuel consumption and service intervals are a little close together. No service light so it's 10K intervals I think.
The engine is very tunable - mine is still under warranty, but when that expires I am considering getting some more BHP out of it. This can be done with ease.
It's not been without problems. It needed a new Turbo - very long deliver time from Mazda who had to give me a hire car. Its a common fault with some of the Turbo units. The revised turbo the fitted has better oil ways which apparently sorts the problem.
I think the 3 MPS is a great idea. Doesn't look that much, very few people know what they are and you get decnet performance..
Probably not as good as an ST or VXR - but there will be much better qualified folks along in a moment I guess to tell you about that.
Cheers for the feedback so far
I've been actually doing this journey more often than not for the last 2-3 months as a test for the long term. Jct8 M1 all the way down into north london - its dead most days past Watford. It takes me 15 mins longer - which is worth it for the long term gain of having a better set of wheels.
Re. Focus ST - i can see your logic there although my personal preference is to go against the grain a bit where i can. The prospect of having an ST on my drive doesn't quite do anything for me - i think this is in part to the slightly chav image it has around my area. Also i've had appalling customer service from my local Ford dealership back when i bought a Fiesta Zetec S many moons ago.
I've been actually doing this journey more often than not for the last 2-3 months as a test for the long term. Jct8 M1 all the way down into north london - its dead most days past Watford. It takes me 15 mins longer - which is worth it for the long term gain of having a better set of wheels.
Re. Focus ST - i can see your logic there although my personal preference is to go against the grain a bit where i can. The prospect of having an ST on my drive doesn't quite do anything for me - i think this is in part to the slightly chav image it has around my area. Also i've had appalling customer service from my local Ford dealership back when i bought a Fiesta Zetec S many moons ago.
wildcat45 said:
Dont have a 3 MPS but have a CX7 which has the same motor.
Lovely engine. Not great fuel consumption and service intervals are a little close together. No service light so it's 10K intervals I think.
The engine is very tunable - mine is still under warranty, but when that expires I am considering getting some more BHP out of it. This can be done with ease.
It's not been without problems. It needed a new Turbo - very long deliver time from Mazda who had to give me a hire car. Its a common fault with some of the Turbo units. The revised turbo the fitted has better oil ways which apparently sorts the problem.
I think the 3 MPS is a great idea. Doesn't look that much, very few people know what they are and you get decnet performance..
Probably not as good as an ST or VXR - but there will be much better qualified folks along in a moment I guess to tell you about that.
I really wanted the CX-7, in a way I wish I went for it instead of the Leon Cupra.Lovely engine. Not great fuel consumption and service intervals are a little close together. No service light so it's 10K intervals I think.
The engine is very tunable - mine is still under warranty, but when that expires I am considering getting some more BHP out of it. This can be done with ease.
It's not been without problems. It needed a new Turbo - very long deliver time from Mazda who had to give me a hire car. Its a common fault with some of the Turbo units. The revised turbo the fitted has better oil ways which apparently sorts the problem.
I think the 3 MPS is a great idea. Doesn't look that much, very few people know what they are and you get decnet performance..
Probably not as good as an ST or VXR - but there will be much better qualified folks along in a moment I guess to tell you about that.
The spares availability scared me slightly seeing as it would be our only car.
I was also put off by the bad fuel consumption figures, in the end it struggled to better 24mpg on super
J-Tuner said:
Re. Focus ST - i can see your logic there although my personal preference is to go against the grain a bit where i can. The prospect of having an ST on my drive doesn't quite do anything for me - i think this is in part to the slightly chav image it has around my area. Also i've had appalling customer service from my local Ford dealership back when i bought a Fiesta Zetec S many moons ago.
Fair enough. Over here, Ford dealers ARE Mazda dealers. Apart from a few small Mazda dealers (the type that have a 6 parked in a front room and two grotty 121s in the yard), the rest share a dealership with Ford. Same mechanics, same sales, same customer service.HellDiver said:
Fair enough. Over here, Ford dealers ARE Mazda dealers. Apart from a few small Mazda dealers (the type that have a 6 parked in a front room and two grotty 121s in the yard), the rest share a dealership with Ford. Same mechanics, same sales, same customer service.
Yeah i am aware Ford and Mazda (parts also) are more often than not one and the same. I won't be taking any of my cars back to this particular dealership however. I'd rather service them myself!Edited by J-Tuner on Tuesday 31st August 15:22
wildcat45 said:
The engine is very tunable - mine is still under warranty, but when that expires I am considering getting some more BHP out of it. This can be done with ease.
Can you expand on this please? When I looked at getting one a couple of years ago, there was nobody offering remaps or anything.wildcat45 said:
Dont have a 3 MPS but have a CX7 which has the same motor.
Lovely engine. Not great fuel consumption and service intervals are a little close together. No service light so it's 10K intervals I think.
I'm also owner of a CX7 since a year, the engine has been down-tuned about 10 bhp compared to the MPS, but is still quite quick, especially for such heavy car.Lovely engine. Not great fuel consumption and service intervals are a little close together. No service light so it's 10K intervals I think.
Considering the MPS is much lighter then the cx7 it is probably very quick!
Also Mazda has become a reliable brand, I hadn't had any problems yet.
J-Tuner said:
Are there any large diesel engine variants of the mazda 3 worth looking at if MPG is a issue?
Mazda fit their 2.2 diesel to the 3 Sport. 185hp pre-remap. Edited by J-Tuner on Tuesday 31st August 15:19
The smaller diesels are the same boat-anchor PSA/Ford/BMW 1.6 lump as seen in Pug/Citroen/Ford/Mini...
Edited by HellDiver on Tuesday 31st August 15:36
Some good noises coming from the PH collective, along with a few cautionary pointers... the prospect of a 2.2 diesel version as a sensible choice (perhaps with the aero kit !?) sounds really tempting also though it has to be said. The best of both worlds in terms of MPG and motorway grunt?
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