My new Mazda 3 and Car History
Discussion
I thought it was about time I did one of these threads considering I’ve been on here for a few years...
I started learning to drive aged 17 and bought this beast for my first foray into the motoring world:
It’s a 1995 Nissan Primera 1.6 LX petrol (the LX stands for lacks xtras). It was bought with 92,000 on the clock for the princely sum of £200 and insured for around 9 times that amount.
Over the 18 months I owned it it needed a new starter motor, a full new exhaust, various new tyres and, having established why it was eating tyres so quickly, the replacement of about half of the component parts of the front suspension. It also had a number of electrical gremlins which variously caused the rear electric windows not to work and the electric aerial to do a passable impression of an audience member at the last night of the proms.
However.
Despite this, as well as its somewhat grandad-ish image, I loved it. It took me and a load of my friends to a very muddy music festival, took the GF and I on our first holiday and then our second holiday which saw it do 1800 miles around Scotland in two weeks. It handled far, far, better than it had any right to and wasn't horrendously slow.
Sadly it suffered an undignified demise when the radiator – which I knew to be waving the white flag with all the aplomb of the French military – finally expired on the M6 whilst bringing the GF’s sister and her mates back to the lakes. Having consumed the RAC man’s entire stock of Radweld it managed to limp home and was sold to a local mechanic for £150. Pleasingly he changed the radiator and the clutch and it lives on.
At the time of the Primera’s departure the GF was preparing to start university in Hull, a 400-mile round trip from here in the Lakes. A tidy, practical, reliable and economical car was required for visiting purposes, and the search for the same yielded this:
It’s a Nissan Almera 1.8 Sport petrol which was bought – somewhat accidentally - with 58,000 miles on the clock for £2,500.
I had only gone to drive it to see what the engine was like as I was really after a 5-door example. (Sorry, PH car dealers
) However, having seen that it was in spotless order and been convinced by the GF that a 3-door would be OK I ended up buying it.
It went on to do 3 years of tramping back and forth from the East Riding and never broke down once. It took the GF and I on more holidays, took us to an even muddier music festival, jump started about 7 different cars and assisted the GF in 3 house moves.
The largest bill it ran up was when the air con condenser needed replacing at a cost of about £300. However, it did have a disproportionate number of niggles including a gearstick which would rattle loudly at a certain point during the rev range which, by a happy coincidence, was the point at which the engine sat whilst doing 80mph on the motorway.
Sadly, it made up for its reliability a few weeks ago by developing quite the misfire which the garage couldn’t trace despite the engine management light being on. Some Googling suggested a stretched timing chain and, baulking at the thought of a hefty bill, it was traded in (with an honest description of the problem) for a pittance with 101,000 on the clock.
During the Almera’s palliative period the GF and I had begun the process of buying a house together. Given the impoverishment we knew this would bring we decided to also trade in the GF’s Tigra and get one car between us. The focus was on economy, economy, economy, so therefore the only sensible option was to buy this:
Oops.
It’s a Mazda 3 2.0 Sport (petrol) which we bought for around £4,500 with 46,000 on the clock. It has a full Mazda service history and is pretty much spotless. It has auto lights and wipers, Bose sound system with 6 CD changer, a 6 speed gearbox, cruise control and climate control.
The economy hasn’t been too bad – 35mpg on average – as we don’t do a lot of town driving. We both love it and the cornering and performance are great. It was a bit odd to get used to at first as you go from naught to wide-open-throttle within about an inch of pedal travel, but we’ve had it for about 4 weeks now so everything is getting smoother.
The GF uses it mainly for work so I don’t get to drive it that often – nevertheless I managed to nick it for a hoon over a local fell road this afternoon which is when the pictures were taken. Think I may have scared a few sheep in the process...
Well, that’s it – not the most PH-worthy collection but I am neither powerfully built or a company director so it will have to do.
I started learning to drive aged 17 and bought this beast for my first foray into the motoring world:
It’s a 1995 Nissan Primera 1.6 LX petrol (the LX stands for lacks xtras). It was bought with 92,000 on the clock for the princely sum of £200 and insured for around 9 times that amount.
Over the 18 months I owned it it needed a new starter motor, a full new exhaust, various new tyres and, having established why it was eating tyres so quickly, the replacement of about half of the component parts of the front suspension. It also had a number of electrical gremlins which variously caused the rear electric windows not to work and the electric aerial to do a passable impression of an audience member at the last night of the proms.
However.
Despite this, as well as its somewhat grandad-ish image, I loved it. It took me and a load of my friends to a very muddy music festival, took the GF and I on our first holiday and then our second holiday which saw it do 1800 miles around Scotland in two weeks. It handled far, far, better than it had any right to and wasn't horrendously slow.
Sadly it suffered an undignified demise when the radiator – which I knew to be waving the white flag with all the aplomb of the French military – finally expired on the M6 whilst bringing the GF’s sister and her mates back to the lakes. Having consumed the RAC man’s entire stock of Radweld it managed to limp home and was sold to a local mechanic for £150. Pleasingly he changed the radiator and the clutch and it lives on.
At the time of the Primera’s departure the GF was preparing to start university in Hull, a 400-mile round trip from here in the Lakes. A tidy, practical, reliable and economical car was required for visiting purposes, and the search for the same yielded this:
It’s a Nissan Almera 1.8 Sport petrol which was bought – somewhat accidentally - with 58,000 miles on the clock for £2,500.
I had only gone to drive it to see what the engine was like as I was really after a 5-door example. (Sorry, PH car dealers
) However, having seen that it was in spotless order and been convinced by the GF that a 3-door would be OK I ended up buying it.It went on to do 3 years of tramping back and forth from the East Riding and never broke down once. It took the GF and I on more holidays, took us to an even muddier music festival, jump started about 7 different cars and assisted the GF in 3 house moves.
The largest bill it ran up was when the air con condenser needed replacing at a cost of about £300. However, it did have a disproportionate number of niggles including a gearstick which would rattle loudly at a certain point during the rev range which, by a happy coincidence, was the point at which the engine sat whilst doing 80mph on the motorway.
Sadly, it made up for its reliability a few weeks ago by developing quite the misfire which the garage couldn’t trace despite the engine management light being on. Some Googling suggested a stretched timing chain and, baulking at the thought of a hefty bill, it was traded in (with an honest description of the problem) for a pittance with 101,000 on the clock.
During the Almera’s palliative period the GF and I had begun the process of buying a house together. Given the impoverishment we knew this would bring we decided to also trade in the GF’s Tigra and get one car between us. The focus was on economy, economy, economy, so therefore the only sensible option was to buy this:
Oops.
It’s a Mazda 3 2.0 Sport (petrol) which we bought for around £4,500 with 46,000 on the clock. It has a full Mazda service history and is pretty much spotless. It has auto lights and wipers, Bose sound system with 6 CD changer, a 6 speed gearbox, cruise control and climate control.
The economy hasn’t been too bad – 35mpg on average – as we don’t do a lot of town driving. We both love it and the cornering and performance are great. It was a bit odd to get used to at first as you go from naught to wide-open-throttle within about an inch of pedal travel, but we’ve had it for about 4 weeks now so everything is getting smoother.
The GF uses it mainly for work so I don’t get to drive it that often – nevertheless I managed to nick it for a hoon over a local fell road this afternoon which is when the pictures were taken. Think I may have scared a few sheep in the process...
Well, that’s it – not the most PH-worthy collection but I am neither powerfully built or a company director so it will have to do.
Finally another one on the forum! Here's mine:
Has about 120k more miles on the clock than yours but still keeps going. You're clearly a much better driver than me though, my average MPG on the last couple of tanks is only 27
Haven't noticed the pedal travel issue on mine, but then again my first car was an astra 1.4 which never moved no matter how much you pushed the accelerator!
Has about 120k more miles on the clock than yours but still keeps going. You're clearly a much better driver than me though, my average MPG on the last couple of tanks is only 27
Haven't noticed the pedal travel issue on mine, but then again my first car was an astra 1.4 which never moved no matter how much you pushed the accelerator!Haha, snap!
That looks in very good nick for the mileage - a good sign for us
I think the throttle thing is partly to do with the Almera being a bit lazy as well. Think I'm just about used to it now. The economy is largely thanks to the GF who seems to be able to drive anything economically - I can't get anywhere near what she gets no matter how hard I try....
That looks in very good nick for the mileage - a good sign for us
I think the throttle thing is partly to do with the Almera being a bit lazy as well. Think I'm just about used to it now.
The economy is largely thanks to the GF who seems to be able to drive anything economically - I can't get anywhere near what she gets no matter how hard I try....barmonkey said:
Haha, snap!
That looks in very good nick for the mileage - a good sign for us
I think the throttle thing is partly to do with the Almera being a bit lazy as well. Think I'm just about used to it now. The economy is largely thanks to the GF who seems to be able to drive anything economically - I can't get anywhere near what she gets no matter how hard I try....
Yeah, everyone who's sat in it never believes me when I tell them the mileage, so yours should have a good few left in yours! I don't know how anyone gets near the book MPG figures on these cars, even driving sensibly I can't get the same figures as your girlfriend does.That looks in very good nick for the mileage - a good sign for us
I think the throttle thing is partly to do with the Almera being a bit lazy as well. Think I'm just about used to it now.
The economy is largely thanks to the GF who seems to be able to drive anything economically - I can't get anywhere near what she gets no matter how hard I try....Well this is wierd. My first car was a black primera Sri saloon. Same year same engine, just black, saloon and sporty lookig, killed that and bought one exactly the same as yours, lx hatchback but in a light blue,
Killed that and bought a almera sport+ 3 door in silver! Killed that and bought a black sport+ in black but the diesel.
So now I have an mx5.
And to make it a bit weirder, I live in hull and travel the the lakes area weekly for uni!
Primera p10s have awesome handling!
Killed that and bought a almera sport+ 3 door in silver! Killed that and bought a black sport+ in black but the diesel.
So now I have an mx5.
And to make it a bit weirder, I live in hull and travel the the lakes area weekly for uni!
Primera p10s have awesome handling!
supraboy said:
Well this is wierd. My first car was a black primera Sri saloon. Same year same engine, just black, saloon and sporty lookig, killed that and bought one exactly the same as yours, lx hatchback but in a light blue,
Killed that and bought a almera sport+ 3 door in silver! Killed that and bought a black sport+ in black but the diesel.
So now I have an mx5.
And to make it a bit weirder, I live in hull and travel the the lakes area weekly for uni!
Primera p10s have awesome handling!
Now that is odd... Killed that and bought a almera sport+ 3 door in silver! Killed that and bought a black sport+ in black but the diesel.
So now I have an mx5.
And to make it a bit weirder, I live in hull and travel the the lakes area weekly for uni!
Primera p10s have awesome handling!
Is the M62 still as horrendous roadwork-wise?I was given the idea for the Primera by my uncle who ran a 1.6 SRi like yours and then swapped it for a 2.0 SE. He's a bit of a petrolhead and was more than willing to give them a thrashing and demonstrate how they could take corners. At the time my dad had just traded his Proton 1.5 GLS for a poverty spec Scenic 1.6 so with that as a yardstick the Primera may as well have been a Porsche to the 14 year-old me.
My uncle then managed to find my P10 for me - a bloke who he worked with had inherited another car and was planning on scrapping it. He had seen it a few times in the car park and thought it would be a bargain, so armed with only the colour, price and engine size and having never seen the car myself I told him I would have it.
I have to say I still miss it - largely because of the memories associated with it but also the handling which was frequently put to the test on the twisty roads round here. When it expired I looked at some P11 GTs but the insurance quotes were astronomical. I also - briefly - considered it again when the Almera expired.
One day...
It's easing lol, but still makes what has been a 2 hour journey before more like 3 at rush hours
I'm always on the lookout for a p10 egt saloon, prefer the shape of the p10 myself, but would take a p11 gt tomorrow. Struggling with insurance though so can't get one yet, but you can buy them for under £700!
I'm always on the lookout for a p10 egt saloon, prefer the shape of the p10 myself, but would take a p11 gt tomorrow. Struggling with insurance though so can't get one yet, but you can buy them for under £700!
I very nearly bought a 2.0 Sport model but the MPG vs. performance is shocking, I was in a Celica 190 at the time and it was going to be a swap, but I was getting better MPG and far more performance from the Toyota, whilst paying less tax, it made absolutely no sense!
Lovely car though, lots of toys inside and the one I looked at had the full leather and Bose, nice place to be. But expensive on the go-go juice!
Lovely car though, lots of toys inside and the one I looked at had the full leather and Bose, nice place to be. But expensive on the go-go juice!
Bump...
Have owned the Mazda for two months now and everything has been going well. Or at least it was until I turned out for work this morning and discovered this:
Thanks to what I presume is some drunken pillock I've got to fork out my £400 excess and will lose 2 of my 4 years no claims.
Police have had a look and managed to get a bit of a shoe print off one of the doors but I doubt if they'll get anyone. The OH and I haven't upset anyone so the current theory is that it was someone who had perhaps had an argument with their GF and decided to vent their anger on the nearest object.
Whatever the reason it's pretty gutting as the car was in great nick and we haven't had it five minutes. Happy Christmas to us
Have owned the Mazda for two months now and everything has been going well. Or at least it was until I turned out for work this morning and discovered this:
Thanks to what I presume is some drunken pillock I've got to fork out my £400 excess and will lose 2 of my 4 years no claims.
Police have had a look and managed to get a bit of a shoe print off one of the doors but I doubt if they'll get anyone. The OH and I haven't upset anyone so the current theory is that it was someone who had perhaps had an argument with their GF and decided to vent their anger on the nearest object.
Whatever the reason it's pretty gutting as the car was in great nick and we haven't had it five minutes. Happy Christmas to us
I've had 2 of these cars:
In Sept 2009 I was making some real adjustments to my financial position (lets just leave it at that) and sold the wifes Toyota Verso (neither of us ever liked it anyway) for £13k in favour of an £800 Almera 1.8SE Auto with only 70k sat on it (ebay) on a W plate. It was rotten inside and out when I got it and covered in war wounds but it cleaned up beautifully. We ran it for 18 months and 20k miles without a squeak. It went like stink too - its only downside was the comical fuel consumption. Sold in April 2011 for £600. I must say I thoroughly enjoyed owning this shed - I could park it anywhere too without having to worry about picking up dents etc - very liberating.
In Feb of this year I bought a new 1.6 Mazda 3 Auto (in the Middle East) for my daily commute. It's a bit of an odd one - off the line its feels like the most underpowered car I have ever driven, but once it gets up to motorway speed it becomes all frisky. It handles beautifully and is very well screwed together. 20k kilometers so far with no fuss. Seems promising.
In Sept 2009 I was making some real adjustments to my financial position (lets just leave it at that) and sold the wifes Toyota Verso (neither of us ever liked it anyway) for £13k in favour of an £800 Almera 1.8SE Auto with only 70k sat on it (ebay) on a W plate. It was rotten inside and out when I got it and covered in war wounds but it cleaned up beautifully. We ran it for 18 months and 20k miles without a squeak. It went like stink too - its only downside was the comical fuel consumption. Sold in April 2011 for £600. I must say I thoroughly enjoyed owning this shed - I could park it anywhere too without having to worry about picking up dents etc - very liberating.
In Feb of this year I bought a new 1.6 Mazda 3 Auto (in the Middle East) for my daily commute. It's a bit of an odd one - off the line its feels like the most underpowered car I have ever driven, but once it gets up to motorway speed it becomes all frisky. It handles beautifully and is very well screwed together. 20k kilometers so far with no fuss. Seems promising.
If its just the doors I would take that to a body shop first and see what they an do. You may be able to save your NBC and a claim. I had worst damage along the whole side done including respray on that side I te car and that was on an MPV for £900. You might viable together at sorted for the cost of your exces.
Front Door £90
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2003-2008-Mazda-3-osf-do...
Back Door £80
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2003-2008-Mazda-3-osr-do...
Then say £150 to get them both painted still under your £400 excess
These two may even be the right colour anyway...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MAZDA-3-2003-2008-model-...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MAZDA-3-2003-2008-model-...
£170 for the pair
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2003-2008-Mazda-3-osf-do...
Back Door £80
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2003-2008-Mazda-3-osr-do...
Then say £150 to get them both painted still under your £400 excess
These two may even be the right colour anyway...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MAZDA-3-2003-2008-model-...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MAZDA-3-2003-2008-model-...
£170 for the pair
Thanks all - unfortunately I've already reported it to my insurers however looking at the documents they sent me today it looks like I can change my mind about claiming if I wish. Will probably have a word with the bodyshop when it goes in and see what they think.
I'm 99% sure the rear door will need replacing as you can get your fingers in the shutline and it's noisy (as if the window is open) whilst driving. The front door we might get away with but I'm not sure. TBH the photo doesn't quite do justice to the damage.
Ross - the pics were indeed taken on Corney, I don't work at Sellafield however the OH works in Egremont and uses the car to get there so you may well have seen her in it. The previous owner was local as well so you might have seen it about with him.
The only change since the pics were taken is that it now carries my private plate (ends in JCK) - I have a PH sticker here waiting to go on but haven't got round to it yet. If you see us about give us a wave
I'm 99% sure the rear door will need replacing as you can get your fingers in the shutline and it's noisy (as if the window is open) whilst driving. The front door we might get away with but I'm not sure. TBH the photo doesn't quite do justice to the damage.
Ross - the pics were indeed taken on Corney, I don't work at Sellafield however the OH works in Egremont and uses the car to get there so you may well have seen her in it. The previous owner was local as well so you might have seen it about with him.
The only change since the pics were taken is that it now carries my private plate (ends in JCK) - I have a PH sticker here waiting to go on but haven't got round to it yet. If you see us about give us a wave
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