Along with other news of the day we were confronted this past week by our Fearless Leader’s post about ChatGTP, an AI platform that strikes fear in the heart of scribblers everywhere, automotive or otherwise. Here is the ghostliest of ghostwriters, one who is not a wretch chained to an ink-stained desk, but exists only in a great swarm of 0’s and 1’s within the Cloud. It requires no salary, no coffeemaker (or coffee breaks), no sandwich at lunch time, no ego-stoking, and is immune from drink as well as detractors in the comments section. It feels no need for hyperbole, reports only the facts, ma’am, at least to the limits of its programming. It likely has no prejudices save those lingering in code written by disgruntled hackers. In other words, it would seem to be the best of most worlds, except for the fact that it may be doomed to regurgitate errors (of which there are legion upon legion) that it combs from internet databases, just like its fleshy counterparts; plus there is the small matter of ChatGTP threatening to deprive thousands of the aforementioned ink-stained scribblers of their livelihood.
Given that I’m reaching the limits of my Curbside Classic tenure (as, barring a winning lottery ticket, I’m running out of COALs to write about), the AI threat is likely not imminent in my own case, but its implications still light a fire within this writers imagination to the point where he’s already plotting the ways and means to forestall approaching doom. Two solutions come to mind: first, bribery. Award a weekly prize drawing to readers of my adventures in consumerism, or if that fails hope for the Singularity within the next few days, an occasion to mind-meld with an AI, a classic illustration of if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.
No matter the appeal of either of these possibilities, some problems present themselves . . . number one, I don’t have the financial means to run a weekly lottery unless I were to scrounge the attic for old mementos like my Hemi Power t-shirt from the sixties, which at this point is likely to be moth-eaten to the point of non-existence. Number two, the Singularity, according to experts, is unlikely to occur with the next two weeks. I suppose this is good news, but on the other hand a resident AI patch in the brain could come in handy when it comes time to find my car keys.
All that aside, I fear I’m left to my own devices in writing this week’s edition of the Scribbler’s Peril, in which we leave the days of yore and venture into the vicinity of the near past, practically contemporary history, although we must recognize that we seem doomed to see the near past in terms of BC (Before Covid) and AC (after Covid). Today’s report only goes back to the decade recently completed, which in this old codger’s view took place only a few weeks ago. We will, in any case, set the wayback machine to 2010, back to the halcyon days before we felt threatened by all Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse on a daily basis.
Constant readers will recall that in our last episode my 2002 Mazda Protégé had fallen victim to the hazard of the uninsured driver. It stands to reason that your friendly insurance company is not particularly thrilled with the news that it gets to replace your car even though in the eyes of the law you, as the insured, are deemed as an unspotted lamb. Needless to say the first item to be skimmed off the top of the payout would be the $500 deductible as the policy fine print dictates when your treasured automobile is T-boned into the embrace of a wrecking yard by an insolvent driver, the ironbound Insurer’s Code (not guidelines) must apply . On the other hand, the aforementioned agency was courteous and prompt enough and soon the check was, as they say, in the mail.
Did we rush out in search of a replacement? We did not, for the simple fact that there was no need as the less-than-stalwart Civic remained in the garage and Linda had accepted short term employment out of the country, so why did we need two cars? Linda’s adventure deserves its own chapter, but that is outside of the parameters of this essay. Suffice to say she spent a good part of a year traveling the world and at times I was permitted to join in. The rest of the time I was driving–and adding oil to–the Civic, collecting more miles than should have been the case, which meant that the CEL would be flashing sooner than expected, the result being an inevitable trip to Tony’s Garage for de-carbonization, per tradition.
Eventually, the time would come when two cars were once again required and so I girded myself up to face the slings and arrows of car buyer’s fortune, only this time I had an ace in the hole. Thinking back to my untrammeled encounter with the staff of the local Mazda dealer during my previous car search, it occurred to me that maybe there was no pressing need to subject myself to the traditional task of slogging across the wastelands of the dealer lots and placing myself at their mercy.
No Guy Smiley from this angle.
Did I perform dedicated and focused research as I had done on my last car-buying spree? I did not. The Protégé had proven itself so reliable and enjoyable, why should I look elsewhere? And so I didn’t. Of course, our old Protégé was now passé as we were already well into the second generation of its successor, the ‘3’. Now, obviously no one at Mazda was paying overtime to its model-naming office, located with its desk and single light bulb somewhere in a Hiroshima broom closet. From then on, Mazda chose to forsake actual names in favor of alphanumeric monikers, a Teutonic-derived affectation that much of the industry followed for a time and many still do. You might blame BMW, Mercedes, and Audi (I certainly do). In any event, the perfectly serviceable nomenclature, ‘Protégé’, was tossed into the dustbin of history, but no one paid much mind as the ‘3’ that came after it was a memorable and competent machine that drew raves from the wretched scribblers (ahem) of the automotive press. They sold like hotcakes and remain popular to this day. As a matter of fact one sits in a driveway across the street as we speak.
All good things must come to an end, though, and by 2010 automotive tradition demanded the introduction of something better and brighter: the result was a face-lifted ‘3’, and I mean literally face-lifted as the Mazda designers drew a happy face on the front clip of the stoic former model, then pretty much called it a day. This simple action resulted in caustic remarks from many of the ink-stained crowd, who fell over themselves to make fun of the result. It looked much too happy, was their consensus. Of course relatively few bothered to notice or comment, then or now, on the proliferation of angry car faces, from pickup trucks to luxury cars, that glower at us from our rear-view mirrors. Was Mazda making a statement by pasting a smile on the kisser of their compact car? Was it a crime to introduce a smiley face into the roid-rage milieu? You would have thought so given the laughter echoing down the halls of the automotive press club.
https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a16581021/2010-mazda-3-s-5-door-sport-instrumented-test/
Car and Driver piled on with the linked review, but even the ISW (Ink-stained Wretch) writing the article had to admit that once he overlooked the 3’s cheerful countenance, he discovered a very good car. I confess I sneaked a peak at their review even though my mind by that point was essentially made up. Being a certified and bonded iconoclast from way back, I was ready to defy conventional wisdom in any case; to me the car looked just fine, and depending on the angle, very handsome indeed. Mazda was working toward the grill shape that would come to adorn its entire line, and though the final aesthetic balance had not been reached, at least it didn’t look like the automotive equivalent of Grumpy Cat . . . and let’s face it, any cheerfulness at this point of time should not be summarily dismissed.
A fearsome Mazdaspeed 3, with an even more exaggerated grin.
In any event, I soon e-mailed my connection at the Mazda store, explaining the model I wanted and intimated that I knew the invoice numbers. He quickly responded with a quote $200 over that baseline, which seemed like a reasonable offer, one that didn’t require a further duel to the death for marginal gain. I hitched a ride down to the U District, signed the paperwork, received the tutorial on how to connect to the Mazda’s HAL via Bluetooth, and was soon on my way as the sales staff bid me a fond farewell.
This view became familiar.
The car I drove off the lot was a silver Hatchback Sport, mid-position in the 3 pecking order, although even the base Hatchback remained a few levels above the equivalent base sedan, with 17-inch alloy wheels and 205/50 tires, all the power goodies, air, cruise, driving lights (which I never found a good use for), stereo with CD (remember those?) and assorted other bonuses together with a 2.5 liter, 167 horsepower DOHC four and a (count them!) six-speed manual gearbox. If the Protégé had been a sporting sedan, the 3 Hatchback encroached on sports car territory, a flirtation that would become a full-blown romance once the Mazdaspeed 3 was unleashed on an unsuspecting public. As it was, the 3 had good bones, with all the ingredients that made a VW GTI a thing to covet: precise handling, good steering, wheels at the corners, plenty of grunt when coupled to the six-speed gearbox, together with a soupçon of hatchback-centered practical utility.
No leather in my Sport edition, and better for it.
I quickly found that the luggage compartment was adept at swallowing all kinds of cargo, with the real revelation being that once the rear seats were folded you could stow all manner of Fender amps, speaker cabs, and git-tars, which tended to make gigging life easier, even though the band still had to pack a trailer with the ridiculous amount of equipment it takes to go on stage. My old Willys ambulance (see my COAL #1) often came to mind when I recalled that we could pack all the band’s gear inside, including drooms, with space to spare, including human beings. Gear proliferation makes fools of us all.
The Twin Reverb fits, now can we squeeze in the AC-30?
The overwhelming question at this point must be: what was it like to live with? Initially, the notion of six-speeds tended to be intimidating. After all, I grew up on the farm driving trucks with a three-on-the-tree. What do you need all those gears for, anyway? The simple answer was that you drove the Mazda like you would a normal five-speed equipped car–it’s just that once you merged onto the freeway, you dropped it into sixth, which I treated pretty much as an overdrive. Even then, the 3 was geared pretty low so in sixth you were turning a fairly high 3500 rpms at 75 mph. A higher geared sixth may have been in order, but as it was the gearbox ratios were nicely spaced to take advantage of the available horsepower and torque, plus the gearbox itself was great to use with short throws and nice detents.
A gear for every occasion, no waiting.
The Mazda’s motor was no one’s idea of high-winding rotary, and after all, 2.5 liters is pretty big displacement for a four, but the design had provided for any shortcomings of vibration and the like with a set of balance shafts, the result being a reasonably smooth and tractable engine. And compared to our humble 1.6 Civic, it felt like a Can Am car. The little Mazda scooted along just fine, thank you. Fuel mileage wasn’t stellar, but it wasn’t far off that off our Protégé, and on long trips on the interstate it could return 40 mpg pretty consistently. Average for in-town driving was in the 25 mpg range.
I know the motor is in there somewhere…
Whoever designed the interior may have grown up with an Alfa fetish as the two binnacles containing the speedometer and tachometer seemed to be the work of an Italophile with a penchant for old GTV’s. I couldn’t complain about the featured instruments’ visibility or appearance–at night they featured the old BMW orange lighting–but the only remaining gauge was for fuel level. Call me old fashioned, but I would like to have an idea of what my water temps are before an idiot light tells me it’s too late to do anything about it. And is it too much to ask that an oil pressure gauge be included? Otherwise, I had no issues with the dash and its controls, aside from the usual puzzlement of my g-g-g-generation when faced with new tech: what were all those buttons on the stereo for? I soon learned to ignore them.
Son of Alfa.
As the man said who died while dressing: too many buttons
All first impression tend to be ephemeral, though . . . what was the car like once the new car scent wears off? It turned out that it was very easy to live with, which was a good thing as it would remain with us for nine years and 175,000 miles. The 3 revealed itself as something of a jack of all trades, willing and able to take on many roles, from band truck to urban runabout, from canyon carver to long distance cruiser. The Mazda’s sole shortcoming, as we came to find, turned out to be its limited repertoire when asked to be a trailcrawler. Low aspect ratio tires do not take kindly to forest service roads with their accompanying pot holes whose depths have never been sounded, jagged stones freshly fallen from crumbling rock faces, and tree debris of various dimensions often barring the way. The 3 was willing, but the ground clearance was weak. This problem was addressed by finding friends with rugged AWD’s. Problem solve-ed.
Looks fine, but I never sat back there.
And maintenance costs? They were astoundingly low. I had the oil changed religiously and other fluids topped up as needed, but the years went by and the work invoices remained boringly the same. Nothing else was needed, with the exception of a new set of tires every 45 to 50,000 miles. The engine mounts were replaced around the 100,000 mark, but an extended engine compartment warranty paid for those. The original brakes lasted for . . . I am not making this up . . . 140,000 miles. I know I will be challenged on this figure, but it is god’s honest truth. I do tend to be easy on brakes as I belong to the wee Jackie Stewart School of Careful Driver Input; I took to heart the former World Champ’s advice to keep the driving smooth, plus many of the miles on the 3 turned out to be of the freeway variety due to my daily commute. Still, 140,000 miles on a set of brake pads? Inconceivable, as Vizzini would say.
Anything else? Clutch? Nope. Burning oil? Never added a drop between oil changes. Exhaust system? Nary a spot of corrosion there or anywhere else that I could see. Mazda had ditched timing belts in favor of chains on their latest engine line-up, so belt replacement was off the service menu. I believe the serpentine belt was changed at some point after 125,000 miles, but I’d have to look at the receipts to make sure. At some point the rear spoiler on the hatch started to rattle, but I pulled out a rubber plug, tightened up a bolt, and that was that. The rest of the car stayed tight for nine years. Struts, CV boots, nothing else ever gave up the ghost.
Essentially, the 3’s service record, combined with the Protégé’s, put all the other cars I have owned to shame. I’m quite prepared to hear stories of Mazda owners who have had nothing but pain and woe from their cars, and I accept that a sample of two doesn’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world, but my experience may be more than mere anecdotal evidence given that Consumer Reports tends to agree in detail that Mazdas are largely reliable, usually more reliable than many of the marques whose reputations are built on dependability. I am not interested in starting a war of words over which car is blameless and without spot. I do note that my two Mazdas were exceptional cars as far as reliability and durability go.
Those attributes alone would probably be enough to make most car owners into long-term Mazda advocates and I don’t discount that. But for me, there’s another component to my Mazda boosterism: I like the cut of their jib, meaning, I like their corporate sensibility, or in this case, aesthetics. I tend to be a right-brained sort of bloke, i.e. I put a lot of stock in the way things look and feel, whether it be painting, sculpture, architecture, guitars, or the subject before us now, automobiles. Cars are not alone in having a styling component; many consumer objects rely on visual appeal. The automobile does tend to be in class of its own when it comes to harnessing style to sell the goods and this has been the case almost from the beginning. Detroit, in particular, turned styling into an idée fixe, something used to manipulate the consumer. Longer, lower, wider became something of a religion and for a time stylists captured the national imagination. The Italians also took the idea and ran with it, and given their innate sense of style often turned out works stunning in their execution and functionality. Detroit, on the other hand, adopted the idea of annual model change to fill the showrooms. In retrospect, this seemed like a cynical move, but then somehow in the Sixties it resulted in a kind of renaissance, producing timeless designs as beautiful as any in the world.
Of course, it eventually all went to sh*t, and not only for Detroit. Styling seems to go in cycles, and certainly those cycles often depend on the latest fashion. Fashion, though, can be anathema to styling, as was certainly the case during Brougham Era; in less than a decade Detroit styling went from world-class to parochial laughing stock. No other stylists in the world had the least bit of interest in following such nonsense. The Germans, at that point, made an appeal to form-follows-function and you might say eventually righted the ship worldwide before themselves falling victim to fashion in our day. Still, depending on the prevailing winds of style and–let’s face it–fashion, the automotive houses rise and fall, and none seem to be immune. Take Honda, for instance: once the world leader in form-follows-function, they regressed into style-for-style’s sake. Check the 2010 Mazda’s contemporary, the much derided Acura TL, for example, with its can opener beak, bulbous sides and bunker greenhouse. Not to pick on Honda in general or Acura in particular, as even Homer nods, but how did we get from the third and fourth generation Civics to this? However, that is the story writ large in the automotive industry as companies rise and fall on the vision of their stylists.
Aaaack!
What does this have to do with Mazda? Compared to their Japanese brethren Mazdas are, at the moment, the soul of styling restraint and beauty. Toyota has produced some truly horrendous designs in the past decade, some banal, some baroque. They may be coming out of a dark place with products like the latest Prius and Venza, but when you look at the current best-selling RAV-4, you can’t help but feel troubled. Lexus: we won’t even go there. Honda seems to have pulled back from the grotesque as embodied by the previous generation Civic and the woebegotten Clarity, but have retreated into bland and anonymous. Nissans definitely look better than they did (how could they have looked worse?), but we will have to wait for a little consistency. Subaru never seemed interested in styling at all; why else would they have unloaded their curiously homely products on us for decades?
Mazda, on the other hand, seems to care very much about aesthetics–hell, they even actually mention ‘beauty’ in their website paean to their stylists. They seem dead serious about their Kodo design language, and the proof is in the pudding, as they say. Mazdas of the past half decade have been attractive, some have been beautiful; even the CX-5 is more elegant than any mere compact SUV has a right to be. All this could disappear in a fortnight of course, given the unpredictability of the corporate world, but when you combine aesthetics with reliability on the scale of the two Mazdas I’ve described, then I am going to pay attention. And become a loyal member of the Zoom-zoom tribe. But we will continue that tale next week.
In the meantime, check this space for prizes! I’m headed to the attic to find my old Hemi Power t-shirt!
I greatly appreciate your thoughts on Mazda. In 2015 I convinced my parents to purchase a CX-5. Now they are on their fourth Mazda. I myself have owned two. Mazda is often overlooked, and I do not know why. They make great cars. More people would do themselves favors by trying them out.
Their 4th Mazda in 6 years? Admittedly I don’t put a lot of miles on my cars these days but I still have my 2014 Acura wagon, beak and all.
A TSX wagon? Those are another kettle of fish. Beak not so prominent, and I always admired them. Doesn’t Paul N. have one?
I notice there seem to be a lot of Mazdas on the coasts and in urban areas, but they are rare in more rural areas, no doubt a casualty of limited dealerships. No one wants to buy a car when you have to drive a few hours for service. That’s my theory, anyway, maybe unsupported by actual facts.
As I will reveal next week, I replaced the 3 with another Mazda, and we’ve had another four in our immediate family. All have performed well. Maybe someday the word will get out!
I had a real thing going for the original Mazda3 hatch, probably around 2005 or early 06. That car hit all of my brain’s car-receptors. When we were looking for new cars later in 2006 I was lucky to find one in the used car row of a Honda dealer we were at. Then disaster struck – my tall (and getting taller) children were going to have a problem with rear headroom. And that was that.
I never liked the looks of these as well. They seemed to me to come in a brief period (and one unusual for Mazda) where previously beautiful cars got cartooned-up a bit. Remember the Mazda5 that got the odd side sculpting of blowing breezes or flowing rivers or something? But for the most part, I am right there with you in appreciating Mazda’s design aesthetic.
I don’t understand 6 speed transmissions where the top gear is not a nice tall OD for highway cruising. My 97 Miata had a 5 speed that was great up to maybe 50 mph, but really needed a good OD gear. There had been an optional 6 speed, but the forums all reported that there was no good reason to get one because the top gear didn’t really seem any taller than what was in the 5 speed. Bummer.
I must have not had occasion to haul tall people in the back of my 3; at least I don’t recall complaints, but it is a pretty small car after all, at least by American standards.
We had two of those 5’s, an original and one with the wavy sides, in our immediate family. Both served well until other needs interceded. I’m with you on the 5 Mk. II. Not so much that it was bad looking, just odd. Maybe it hid parking lot dings, but I never noticed!
I would have appreciated a true OD sixth gear, but I understand the logic, I think. For a sports car it made sense as it kept you in the meat of the power band. It’s just that when you had occasion to drive over 80 things got a little busy in the engine bay…
“… a sample of two doesn’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world …”
I know your Mazda is the main topic of this COAL, but it’s hard to focus on that when I am tripping over little golden nuggets like this.
As noted by you and JPC above, the presence of a 6th gear that is not a long-legged overdrive boggles my mind. Logic would imply that anyone opting for a manual transmission in recent times would understand that even slight upgrades on high speed interstates will need a down shift. Or two. Why try to hide that fact?
Your experience with this Mazda does set a standard of some sort, one that might not be possible to reliably reproduce in any make or model. Sometimes things just click; sometimes not.
It seems that maintenance and regular use is one key; a mature driving style is also valuable.
If you just drive a few thousand miles a year (like many Miatas that are second or third vehicles), age will impact the car’s reliability record before extended use does.
As you noted, it also seems Toyota is getting it styling game inline with sanity. The 2023 Prius is not only attractive; it is quite quick!
Anyway… Here’s looking at you kid. .
Thanks, RL!
I’d be interested to drive the latest 3 to see how the gearing is, but they seem to be fairly rare. Wonder if they’ve put in a taller top gear?
I worry about unreasonable expectation with my current Mazda. The 3 is a pretty hard act to follow. So far we’ve made it to 34,000 miles with no issues, but it’s just getting broken in at this stage.
I’ll be interested to see the new Prius in the flesh–a beautiful Prius? That’s a shocking development.
“This could be the start of a beautiful relationship…” : )
I never liked the look of these when they were new, they just looked too angry. However they have grown on me, mostly because the subsequent generation 2014 Mazda 3 looks even worse.
We just bought a Scion tC, and it’s a 6 speed manual. 3rd and 4th gears are very close, only about 500 rpm difference which isn’t very useful. It does rev a bit lower than our 5 speed Focus on the highway, but I’d much rather have a big whopping OD on the top gear, like our Mustang has.
How about the latest 3? I think it looks pretty awesome, but I wonder if you can see out of it? And how about the cargo capacity? Our daughter has the current 3 sedan. I drove it a few weeks ago and its pretty sweet. Auto gearbox, though.
My daughter just got a Scion xB, the second version. Haven’t seen it yet, but she’s coming for Xmas, so I’ll get a look. My other daughter says it looks like a toaster.
Thanks for your best COAL yet! Again, your literary style is wonderful. Put me in a good mood due to smiles and laughs I had reading it.
I heartily concur! And, your tenure at CC does not need to end just because you run out of COALs. There are zillions of worthy topics that we all enjoy, just be sure they are at least a little automotive.
Looking forward to more from you
Merry Christmas!
I’ll third that!
Thanks, Paul. I’ve appreciated the opportunity…
Thank you! I’d be happy to stick around, but it may be dangerous to let me off my leash!
And Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Aw, many thanks! That makes it all worthwhile…
I’ve given some thought to getting a used Mazda 3. A friend in Los Angeles has a 2005 3, and he reports that the air conditioning isn’t really up to the job. How is the a/c in your car? Like you, I’m in the Seattle area, but I’m sure you remember that the temperature here hit 108F in the summer of 2021.
Our Protege’s air con could be a bit iffy if the temps got above 90. I never noticed an issue with the 3. We missed the 108F last year as we were in the Midwest, where it was in the 70’s. Came back to a burned yard, though. Anyway, I think more recent Mazda a/c shouldn’t have a problem.
My stepson had one of these as his just-out-of-college car. It was your COAL’s doppelgänger save for two main differences: His had the 2.0L, and was a 2012 model year, IIRC.
I REALLY like that car, and when they redesigned it going into the next generation, I seriously considered it when I was looking for a commuter car in 2016.
The main reasons that I chose the Civic over the 3 was a) I do actually like the angry angles that everyone seems to despise about the 10th Gen Civic, and b) it came in a Coupe. The latter was the main selling point. Who needs to get into the back seat anyway 😉. Unlike you however, I did ride back there once and found it surprisingly roomy, although being a coupe, my head was brushing the headliner back there a bit.
But I must agree with much of what you say in this fine piece. He moved a few times in this car, and it seemed like the TARDIS once the rear seats were folded down, and would swallow up nearly anything. That 6 speed, with it’s short throws was an absolute delight to drive. Zoom Zoom indeed! It was comfortable, and had decent visibility. Again, I really liked it. And my son got great longevity out of his with minimal maintenance costs. I think he finally traded it away (on a Honda Ridgeline of all things) about a year or so ago. IIRC, his 3 had well north of 140K on the clock.
I agree that Mazda has some great styling. Sadly though, I live in a state that requires two license plates. While I am ok with this generally, on that fine looking Mazda 3 grill, the tag just looks out of place and covers up most of that V. My favorite CUV styling-wise (Did I just say that? – Resistance really is Futile!) is the Mazda CX-5, hands down. In Maryland, with its front license plates, the styling is compromised somewhat, but the CX-5 is bigger, so it doesn’t look as bad with a front tag.
I don’t think they originally offered the 2.0L in the 2010 Hatchback, or I would have taken a look at it. I noticed the 2.0’s when they were introduced as they had a single exhaust rather than the 2.5’s dual system. I imagine your stepson’s gas mileage was somewhat better than mine.
I’ll have to try a Civic coupe’s back seat sometime. Honda does a good job with space utilization, it’s true.
Looking at the current generation 3 it’s hard to imagine that its cargo carrying capacity can be anything near to the first two of the breed. It makes up for it in looks, though… I’m sure the Ridgeline can haul even more!
Yes, the CX-5 isn’t affected so much by license plate placement, although it seems like most of the photos online show European plates, which look better. Not sure why the US (and Canada) stick with the squarish plates. I remember when the German export plates were oval, although that’s probably dating me.
Mazda fan here as well. I find it hard to formulate a comment since your writing is preemptive of meaningful things that I could squeeze from either side of my brain. I owned and loved my ’86 323 hatchback (and wrote a COAL about it). I also thoroughly enjoyed a ’98 Protege 5 speed I bought for my sons as their 1st car. The 323 was almost as reliable as your 3 and the Protege was a bit too old when purchased. Nonetheless it did it’s job well and gave me the opportunity to turn wrenches.
As far as styling goes I liked the 323 best, followed by the 1st gen Protege that mimicked the Baby Benz 190 so well. The rounded out generation of Protege we has I liked the least and the 3 was darling again.
Thanks for your COAL series! They were all enjoyable reads.
Many thanks, Wolfgang!
I’ll check out your 323 COAL. I wish I’d hopped on board the Mazda train sooner as I could likely have avoided some automotive grief given the older Mazdas seemed very reliable, too. All the 323’s and Proteges weren’t bad looking cars, alright. We’ll hope the next generation 3’s uphold tradition. Our daughter has a current 3 sedan and I think it’s a very handsome car.
Bravo Steven! I’ll join in the chorus of the usual suspects by saying that your writing pleases tremendously. Do keep writing. There’s room here on CC for articles by those with a never-ceasing stream of cars as well as those who currently own no car at all, and everything in-between.
I share your curiosity as to why Mazdas (aside from the Miata) have never really broken big here in the US. They’ve put forth a pretty steady stream of interesting cars and even what I once considered the best minivan going; and they even have what arguably could be called halo cars. But for some reason none of that has really garnered the attention that I think these cars deserve. I’m sure that others here with deeper knowledge of the industry can illuminate some of this apparent mystery…
I agree about the “too many buttons” on the audio system. That’s what I too have always felt when I’ve picked up one of these from the rental counter. Just poorly organized as well. I don’t actually agree with your comment about the lack of gauges. Maybe I feel different in an older car, but to me things like oil temperature and coolant temperature gauges are just clutter in a modern car. Mostly cars nowadays can now give you a textual or audible warning of conditions that need your attention. The way gauges are set up when they do exist, they really don’t tell you any more than the old “idiot light” would.
Arguably, the situation with analog gauges is similar to manual transmissions. The computer can “do it better” than the human (in the case of gauges, the computer can warn you of conditions better than many people can be responsible for watching a gauge). So I can see why manufacturers just decide to eliminate the gauge and let the car take care of telling you what you need to know in a less interpretative manner.
Thanks for your kind words, Jeff. The pressure’s on, but I’ll try to keep finding some interesting subjects.
I’ve probably read most of the theories about Mazda’s uphill climb in the U.S. Aside from the rust issue of former days, I think it largely comes down to exposure, advertising resources, and a dearth of dealerships in many parts of the country. It’s not a problem in our neck of the woods as we have at least four within reasonable driving distance, but there just aren’t many in large swathes of the country. On the other hand, it seems like they’re on a good trajectory although it’s sad that it only happened when the attention switched to SUV’s. At least the Miata is still with us.
I’ll take to heart your observations on gauges in modern cars, although I do have to say that in our current Mazda you can toggle between screens in one of the dials and a temp gauge is very much present, along with an MPG dial, which I seldom look at. No oil pressure, though. The current Entertainment system has its detractors, but once you learn it, it works fine. I do miss having the old standard radio dials, though. There certainly aren’t too many buttons in newer Mazdas, though–things are kept minimal for aesthetics sake.
And we do have an automatic in our latest Mazda and I have to say that it works seamlessly and always seems to be in the right gear. If not, a touch of the toe does the trick. It’s our first automatic in twenty years and it took some getting used to, but it’s nice not to have to worry about burning out the clutch on the hills in downtown Seattle …
I am reasonably sure the temperature gauge in the 3 before this one is a faux gauge: It will rise in a generally credible manner until it reaches normal operating temperature, and then it doesn’t move at all, even the normal fluctuations one would expect (like when you can hear the fans kick in). I haven’t confirmed this, but its behavior suggests that it would NOT actually provide the rate-of-change information one would expect from a coolant temperature gauge. In that respect, I guess it wouldn’t be a great loss, although one does miss actual informative gauges.
I’ll have to take a closer look at the temp gauge in my current Mazda; the right hand pod toggles between several mode and a temperature gauge is featured in some of those. I suspect it’s as you say, a faux gauge, which is something I hadn’t considered before . . . brave new world, eh?
I thought they all are like that, in relative modern history.
As to an oil pressure gauge, that seems quite anachronistic. Why would that eve be useful, in a modern car?
Odd as it may seem, I’m quite good with idiot lights. Who watches engine gauges in a modern cars? Just tell me (loud and clear) if something is actually amiss.
(Holds up hand). Me!! I like to see what’s going on. It’s probably a result of Road & Track overdosing when I was an impressionable youth. All those old sports cars had that vast array of gauges, the more the better, or so the conventional wisdom and/or propaganda of the time went. And I did grow up in an era when you watched the temperature and oil pressure gauges, sometimes because the old farm truck you were driving was always on the verge of a breakdown. And I did have that experience with a Jaguar XJ-6 when I lost the coolant and warped the cylinder head. Trauma is a stern tutor . . .
I get that, in old cars (including old Jags). I was referring to modern cars, where the odds of oil pressure dropping is one in a million. And if it did, a sudden red warning light is much more likely to be noticed than the gauge.
And since “fake” temperature gauges have been essentially universal for several decades, I feel the same about them. When a cheap plastic tee I had installed in the Promaster’s heater hoses for the hot water heater broke, I certainly did not notice until the warning light came on in the temp gauge, as I don’t watch that gauge. But by that time, steam was coming out the hood, so that was just as effective. 🙂
In retrospect, I’m lucky that I didn’t warp a head in the Pentastar V6. That would have been expensive, all because of a cheap plastic fitting (replaced by a very sturdy galvanized steel one).
We cross-shopped this with the few other available hatchbacks available in 2015 (used market) after wearing out a 1996 VW Golf. Beyond the hatchback form factor, the other criteria included a manual transmission which really limited options…especially if one was looking for something that still had some life in it. Seemed that the choices fell somewhere between lightly used to worn out. After eliminating the Focus/Fiesta due to some form factor issue (seat headrest) and another Golf (unavailable and still nursing a chip on my shoulder against VoA related to my parent’s 2001 Passat), what was left was a 3 and an Astra.
What I recall from both was a similarity in styling and function which I would call “unpretentious DeathStar chic,” with the emphasis on unpretentious. Putting aside some buttons and their cryptic explanatory acronyms and hieroglyphics, there were remarkably few bells and whistles. Indeed, any fussiness in buttons seemed aimed at improving function rather than adding functions. Both even had red dashboard lighting sans temperature gauge…so that’s one less thing to worry about. Yet, both vehicles felt solid and well planted. Sober. Neither felt cheap.
Even with my good experiences with a very used 1985 626, we ended up with the Astra for a variety of ~idiosyncratic reasons…reverse was up to the left rather than down to the right (allows for easier rocking the car out of a snow drift, right?), modestly higher road clearance (less likely to get stuck in said snow drift), somewhat tidier dimensions, less anthropomorphic grill, an even more rudimentary information pod (amber LCD) and gas tank filler spout on the passenger side (because where else should it be?). My wife still mentions the 3 wistfully from time to time. I still regret not tracking down a Saab. So it goes.
Generally, the Astra has, it seems, provided similar service as the white 3 we were considering might have. 5th gear is too short. Same brakes after 130+K. No unscheduled maintenance, with exception of a damaged CV boot. Regardless, the 3 will never be able to match the Astra in filler spout placement.
Hmm…my niece bought a Saturn Astra new (not that she’s a hatchback fan, unlike me, but her friend was into Saturn for some reason, and (not sure why she ended up with the Astra rather than the sedan, but….she no longer has it).
As I mentioned I’m a hatchback fan (for the last 41 years they’ve been my only car) and my current ’00 Golf is getting a bit long in the tooth, I bought it new (only have owned 5 cars in almost 50 years of driving) but a replacement for the Golf has me in a bit of a quandry….except that Mazda still makes the 3 in a hatch, so that’s likely what I’ll end up getting. I’d get another Golf, but they don’t sell them new (except for the GTi…and I had an ’86, I consider myself outside the target audience for one). Civic or Toyota hatch? Maybe, but I don’t really want a CVT, but my next car will have to be an automatic of some type (no one else in my family can drive my car, which is bad as you get older as infirmities make it a good idea at times).
I prefer your generation 3 hatchback, but they stopped making them in 2013, and they weren’t all that common it seems where I live (the sedan was much more common). Ideal for me would be a 2012-2013 Hatch, cloth seats, automatic, in a light color but not too many miles on it…those years have the Skyactiv motor which I’d like.
I’m not really a fan of crossovers, which the marketers seem to be directing people like me into by eliminating hatchbacks…but I might have to go that way if I don’t buy something fairly soon. I’m already in denial, I’ve had 2 pretty expensive repairs on my Golf (power steering rack, also the shift cable mechanism went bad) such that I might otherwise have gone ahead and bought something else by now, but I really like my current car and there’s no obvious choice of ones available now …basically my current car but an automatic and a bit newer than 22 years is what I’m looking for.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I know these aren’t stunning (unlike my ’78 Scirocco I bought in 1981 was in my eyes) but for for what I’m looking for in a car, they’re mighty attractive nonetheless.
Two Astras in one day–a record!
Our 3 was a year or two before the Skyactiv, but our current Mazda has it. Can’t say I notice a great deal of difference–they’re both 2.5L. The big difference is the new one has cylinder deactivation, which left me a bit worried, but they seem to holding up well and the whole thing is pretty seamless in operation. Can’t say I notice it at all. Longevity is a concern, though. We’ll see how it goes.
The current 3 Hatchback seems to be a different animal than the first two of the series, but I haven’t been in one to compare dimensions (and carrying capacity). They really are lookers, though. I know there was a controversy for years about the Golf and 3 and which was superior, but it seemed to be largely a matter of taste. On the other hand, as far as reliability, it doesn’t seem like much of a contest.
Good luck with your search for a Golf replacement. Crossovers definitely rule the roost at the moment, and who knows when and if that will change? Maybe electric cars will bring us more variety.
Glad to have some insight on the Astra–I’ve seen very few of them and was always intrigued . . . a real Euro hatchback, after all. I always admired the styling. Interesting that the Astra and the 3 were so closely matched. Glad to know that it has held up, too. Bodes well for Stellantis, I imagine!
I will note that our current Mazda has the fuel filler on the opposite side from the 3, so that’s one change you’ll be happy to know!
Was thinking about Saabs tonight when we drove by a Saab specialty shop. Our daughter just got rid of her 22 year old 9-3, and it will be missed.
Another Mazda fan here. I had an ’05 3, purchased with wifely approval as she said I needed a reliable car. The ’85 323-clone Ford Laser had given good service until it started getting random attacks of the staggers (eventually traced to faulty ignition module) which left me stranded over the other side of the state more than once – but by then it was 25 years old. I’d always loved the look of the 3 so I didn’t consider anything else. I found a lightly-used 3 in colour in the next town, and put many happy kilometres on it. Not an ounce (gram?) of mechanical trouble, though it did look a bit out of place at the farm supplies loading up with the odd bale of nesting straw. Although spacious, there didn’t seem to be as much room under the hatch as with the ’85 model. Or maybe it was the shape of the hatch opening.
I always felt it needed a sixth gear; interesting that your six-speed had the same gearing issue.
I admit I never tried hauling hay in our Mazda 3! And I thought I’d carried just about everything back there. BTW, always like that electric blue color.
It really seems that with six speeds you could afford a pretty high 6th, but as I mentioned above, I can see the rationale. It was seldom an issue as you can’t drive above 80 much in the Seattle metro area, but for long trips it would have been nice to have a relaxed top gear.
Peter, you have a 2.0L, yes? With the bigger engines, the gearing is a bit taller; the 2.0L runs about 20 mph/1,000 rpm in top, where with the 2.3 and 2.5 engines, it’s more like 23 mph/1,000 rpm. That’s still not outstandingly tall, but it’s at least a tad less busy. The bigger engines also have balance shafts (not sure the 2.0L does), which makes them feel less fussy at higher cruising RPM.
Yes, my Maxx Sport was the 2.0 litre. That translated to base engine, but good suspension and bodykit, and 16″ alloys instead of 17s like the bigger-engined cars. My adult son, who did the online searching, kept helpfully finding turbos or SP23s, but I told him I didn’t realistically need that much car; while more power would be nice, I was concerned they might have been thrashed. Living 25km out of town, there was a lot of open highway driving to and from work. The engine did feel busy at 100km/h, and once when distracted I mistakenly reached for a non-existent next gear – the kind of mistake you only make once!
Interesting about the gearing. In our other cars (2.6 and 3.5) a highway cruise was 2400-2500rpm, compared to the 3000-ish in the Mazda. The resulting engine noise, while not unpleasant, probably helped save my licence.
I found myself trying to shift into 6th when driving our Civic in the interstate, not because the engine sounded too busy (it was turning fewer revs than the Mazda at 75 mph) but because I was accustomed to having 6 gears . . .
Interesting information. I have to say that our 3 never seemed overstressed, even approaching 100 mph, which didn’t happen often. Only when you looked at the tach did you realize the revs it was turning…
I have a 2005 with the 2.3L engine and five-speed, which is mostly pretty reasonably geared. There’s a wide gap between first and second that can be annoying, but the upper gears are decently spaced. Fifth is geared for roughly 3,100 rpm at 70 mph, which is an acceptable compromise. It could certainly pull a taller top gear, but I don’t find myself constantly looking for one the way I did with the Prelude, which was geared for 3,200 rpm at 60 mph.
I have a 2013 3 with the 2.0 non skyactiv MZR motor with 5 speed auto. 60 MPH reads about 2100, 65 reads 2300, 75 reads 2900 RPM. Much taller gearing with this engine on my car.
I agree Mazda is a hidden gem, even when it was controlled by Ford. Too many people have the mentality that if it doesn’t have a T or H on the front, then it is not worth looking at.
I’ve mentioned before that Ford may miss Mazda more than vice versa. Mazda has managed quite well on its own, but certainly it’s a worry for the future with the huge investment required to transition to electric, although Mazda does have that partnership with Toyota. I see Mazda is about to introduce the CX-90 as a plug-in hybrid. Don’t know if that’s all Toyota tech with Mazda tweaks or more of an in-house project. It will be interesting to see.
I’m not saying that Mazda is only good with Ford’s backing. I’m saying the opposite. They seem to be doing fine with or without Ford.
Also most people will never consider a Mazda because it is not branded as a Toyota or Honda. It may share some parts with Toyotas, but unless it has a big T on the front, it will be largely ignored.
It does seem amazing that a small company can do so well with its own resources, but I suppose I’m attracted to the underdog nature of Mazda. It’s an interesting corporate culture…
Being Mazda’s #1 fan I am glad your 3 has turned out so well as they almost always do. My wife’s 2018 is at 80,000 miles, regular oil changed, and that is it. When I get back from the Philippines in early January, and she stays an extra two weeks, the car gets a new set of tires. I’ll take a look at the brakes then but 140,000 is nothing. Awhile back I told of my Focus having 185,000 miles on them and still not really needing to be changed out. I weekly check out local ads for any Mazda 323, 626 (88-92), and Protege sticks for sale in decent shape to acquire. Unfortunately it seems the only Mazdas in that age range are Miatas and B2000 out my way.
I like your handle, tbm3fan!. Nice to see you wear your heart on your sleeve. Glad your ’18 is continuing the 3 tradition. I missed your story about the Focus with 185,000 miles on a set of brakes. They’re apparently making some amazing pads these days. I recall when our Ford Aerostar was lucky to get 15,000 on a set of front pads.
Older (pre 2000) Mazdas are rare here, as well, again with the exception of the Miata and the B2000. I did see a pristine Protege the same vintage as our old one just last week, though, so there are some out there. But if I were looking for an older Mazda it would be a Miata anyway, and there’s no shortage of them. I keep eyeing that space in my garage and dreaming…
Ack, a 2dr 87 626 stick just showed up north of me by 40 miles in the mid-100,000 miles, in great shape, but I leave for the Philippines tomorrow and can’t look. Just my luck…
As always, great writing and a good tale. I’ve owned one Honda and one Nissan, many Toyotas but never a Mazda. Though we came close to getting a Miata five years ago, and did once rent a 3 of your vintage about ten years ago. As for your experience with these Mazdas, they seem like Great Little Cars. Sorry, couldn’t resist 😀.
GLC–that takes us back, doesn’t it? Most of it’s a blur, but I recall the first GLC as being a standard OHV and RWD Japanese car of the era, and then the next generation was introduced and it was completely new and cutting edge OHC and FWD The automotive press was stunned and marveled how they did it.
Thanks for this Steven – I concur. Mazda has always been a strong contender among the Japanese car makers here in Austria and to me the reason is that it builds the most “European” Japanese cars, styling- and handling-wise. I have the next model 3 from yours and, after 7 years of ownership, have no intention to replace it. That’s not how I planned it – my expectation was to change to the next gen after 3-4 years but then we had C___D, war and inflation and it simply makes no sense given the car’s (knock on wood) reliability and my very low yearly mileage. Plus, it has the best seat in the house (I have a bad back, and the Mazda’s seat is the only one I can sit in for 8 hours without pain, and that includes an all-singing, all-dancing orthopedic office chair I bought when we started working remote). It is not perfect: road noise is in my view too high for the class and 165 JIS bhp (really 155 DIN PS) is not enough for a vehicle weighing 1340 kg / 3000 lb – we only got the 2L engine here unfortunately. I also agree with the comments about 6th being too short for a country in which 80 MPH seems to be the average cruising speed on the Autobahn (and much more if you cross the border obviously). I’m sure that gearing is the reason why fuel consumption (33 MPG in practical terms for me) is not as good as it should be on paper. But those are not reasons enough to get rid of the car. Also, the hatchback configuration is very useful – I recently had to transport 22 cu.ft. of chopped wood for heating and it all managed to fit in the car (without damage!), I used it to move from Vienna to my (then) new flat and it happily carried bits for my other (old) car in it from time to time. Expenses so far have been basic servicing (at the dealer, first because of the warranty conditions and now because one day I’ll sell it and it DOES make a difference if you have full service history) and a new set of alloy wheels and winter tires (long due after 7 years), but that’s it.
Here it is last summer, waiting for a Danube ferry.
The 2.3 and 2.5 engines aren’t that much more powerful than the 2.0L Skyactiv engine, but the extra torque helps, even with taller gearing. It costs in fuel consumption, though, especially around town.
Good to hear that the next generation 3 maintained many of the previous 3’s good qualities (including hauling ability). Not so good to hear that they didn’t install a 6th gear more suited for high speed cruising.
We were in Austria in September (the Innsbruck area) and I enjoyed seeing all the cars we are denied in the US. I was also surprised to see so many Mazdas. I think it’s a good observation to say that Mazda is the most European of the Japanese manufacturers, and they do seem to target that market. My German isn’t very good, but I do okay with Italian and picked up the September Quattroruote magazine when we were there. I see that Honda sells four models in Italy while Mazda sells seven, pretty much the entire range except for the CX-9 and CX-50 which seem to be North America focused. Subaru essentially sells three, but I didn’t see a single Subaru in Austria, Italy or Germany. Meanwhile, as I say, Mazdas were fairly common. Oh, And Nissan sells three models. Toyota sells nine, so Mazda is closer to Toyota in its Euro-market coverage than the other Japanese builders.
Anyway, thanks for giving us the Austrian perspective and insights. Hope your 3 lives long and prospers!
Honda and Subaru are dead in the water here, Honda because of its ever more Gundam styling and certain reliability issues and Subaru because of its image as the car for “people who live somewhere in the mountains and need off-road capabilities” – but nobody else. Time will only tell whether the new and more conservative Civic will be able to return Honda to its previous self. Toyota also went through a “weird” period but this generation RAV4 and the new Yaris which appears to have hit the target helped it to get back into its natural place (not so much Lexus, but then this is Audi’s, BMW’s and MB’s home turf really). Nissan does generate sales but offers only those models which appeal to the geriatric set, so will not be a place I’d be visiting anytime soon:) Mazda seems to always have understood what buyers want here and hence its success.
Oh and today my car seems to have repaired itself (try that, VW) after the auto start errr, started playing up. One shopping trip and it was gone without a trace…
One more Mazda fan chiming in here. They have always seemed to be the Japanese marque that pays the most attention to driving appeal even in their most mainstream products. Combine that with their current styling language and long-standing good reliabilityand you have an a absolute winner in my book, I hope it leads to more sales so they can keep making Miatas and maybe bring back an RX.
After having two Mazdas at the same time, I’m currently down to none and regretting that very much!
This tracks with my experience, apart form rust and the MZR turbo engine in the CX-7 and Mazdaspeed 3 (sigh) Mazdas are stone reliable, My CX-5 has only needed fluids and wear items in 5 1/2 years compared to my in-law’s Audi Q3 which needed several warranty jobs and a $1000 intake cleaning (walnut shell blasting the carbon off the valve stems and ports).
Of equal importance Mazda carries the flame of “driver’s car” that BMW has largely dropped. Even the hulking crossovers feel taught, nimble, and agile with eager engines. Heck even the old B2200 pickups felt sporty. I value “eager” because that was the key difference between 1st and 2nd generation HOnda Accords. The original was light and low enough geared that it would give you all available power right there, where the much higher geared and slightly heavier 2nd gen was “you want to accelerate? OK let me gather my thoughts and get off the couch”.
Late again to the party, but I had to say this was very well written and a fun read. Have a 2013 Mazda 3 ISV sedan, base model 2.0 non skyactiv port injected engine with 5 speed automatic. Bought from original owner, the dealership he bought it from is a five minute walk from my house. I checked its service history, it has 103k miles currently. At 70k it had a rear wheel bearing replaced, and had a 30k full service done years ago. It had a new battery and tires when I bought it May 2021.
I replaced downstream oxygen sensor to cure check engine light. It always had regular engine oil changes. Transmission fluid was black but not burnt smelling, I did 2 drain and refills, will do a third later this year. It shifts perfectly, oddly Mazda doesn’t recommend fluid services on this transmission. I used genuine Mazda fluid. I changed plugs and leaking valve cover gasket, and changed all filters. Brake pads are original and still about 40%. This year I’ll change coolant (100k 10 year service according to Mazda), also will get brake fluid change. Only other repair needed is rear sway bar links, little rattle on driveways and speed bumps. I have the links, there on the to do list. With any luck, this car should be good to go for many miles.