2015 Mazda3

[c2105026]

Hello all,

a fortnight ago I traded the Fiesta on something a bit bigger, faster and luxurious.....

2015 Mazda3 Neo Hatch in Soul Red. Its an auto, as that is all the dealer had in stock. The car was bought as a 4035km old demo fitted with various accessories that were thrown in for nix.

Other cars I considered were the Toyota Corolla and the Hyundai i30. I would have been happy with either of these cars as well, but I got the best deal out of the local mazda dealer. Toyota didn't have any demos in stock and on the new ones couldn't come down in price enough, Hyundai dealer gave me a ridiculous trade in figure on the Fiesta. (to make up for the 'free auto' I am presuming).

The car is fantastic to drive.

 

[elless1]

is it a cvt or conventional auto? I think the corollas are all cvt now.

The new mazda candy red is an awesome colour i reckon. I'll be getting some mixed
up for my next project for sure.

 

[c2105026]

is it a cvt or conventional auto? I think the corollas are all cvt now.

The new mazda candy red is an awesome colour i reckon. I'll be getting some mixed
up for my next project for sure.

I think it is CVT but with separate gears. I did drive the Corolla with its CVT. Mazda was better.

Soul Red is very popular, so popular that it is the only colour in the mazda lineup you pay for. My dealer here has a policy of chucking it in for free (notionally, at least).

 

[sleepa]

Nice buy, I have always liked the Mazda 3 series.

And for what its worth since I get to drive a fair few different new cars, the Mazdas are always one of the best driving cars IMO.
The Hyundai i30 feels uninspiring. Haven't driven a Corolla yet, but if its anything like the Camry...

Anyway, good buy, you made the right choice in my opinion, looks good in that colour too :spot on:

 

[Roota355]

Just thought id add so you are more informed, Mazda don't do a cvt trans for any of their vehicles. The trans is a Skyactive unit which is a standard principle auto trans with some pretty clever technology with the way the convertor is locked etc. Pretty smooth trans and was designed with the stop start technology that the Skyactive engine all have.
Good buy and very reliable car for the tech you get. Enjoy it

 

[elless1]

Fair enough,never really looked it up. I always thought skyactive was the high compression engines
with some odd exhaust manifold i read in a magazine years back. Must be the engine and trans
package.

Ive always wondered how reliable these new cars will be in a few years. All the gizmos and gadgets.
seems like a lot of things are pushed to the limit for the sake of fuel economy and a lot of it
doesnt sound reliable at all.

Things like multiclutch 7spd autos and high fuel pressure systems all running in very fine parameters,
dont think it would take much to rattle the systems in the future as far as something stuffing up.

A lot of the vw range has the dsg gearbox which is actually a good gearbox if
used right and reliable. If theyre used by an everyday driver used to a normal auto
they'll wreck the gearbox just by creeping in traffic as theres no converter.
Pretty interesting. They had a lot of customers wanting warranty of these things
and it all got pretty messy.

I remember i hired a new prado about a year ago and it was flash. Real flash.
So flash infact it had sensors on the doors to unclock it with a light touch and a
7spd auto off memory. Beautiful car and very impressive but the power
was never really "there" as it was hunting gears all the time and when i washed
it the door locks where unlocking themselves because water was runnning over
the sensors.

Cant escape technology though can we.

 

[Roota355]

Your right about the variable compression engine being part of the setup. Mazda design philosophy with Skyactive was to keep it with basic components and improve efficiency where they could without adding generators and batteries etc to improve their efficiency. The trans was part of that design platform.
Even Toyota has signed a partnership with mazda now to help with their engine efficiency of their combustion engines with Mazda taking help with energy design for the future

 

[c2105026]

To update I have already performed its first service. Off a Mazda 3 forum I found a workshop manual that I downloaded. All 10,000 pages of it lol. Just an oil and filter change. The dealer wanted $300, I did it myself for $62 (But had to buy a special allen key to undo the sump plug for $20).

Nothing else to report, due to the continual rain we've had haven't bothered to wash it yet.....