Need Some Advice on a Mazda 3 .... PLEASE HELP

J

jatt2life

Member

:

Lexus, ES300

• Feb 12, 2013

• #1

Hey guys how are you ... I'm looking into buying a 2004 Mazda 3 for the wiffy .. The car im looking at has 103,000 miles on it. It is automatic. Now my question is how reliable are those cars ? or should i look into different years cause these had to many problems? How are the transmission on these? Also what you guys think is a fair price to pay for this ? I'm buying it from a private seller ...



here are some pics of it

 

Last edited: Feb 14, 2013

J

jatt2life

Member

:

Lexus, ES300

• Feb 12, 2013

• #2

My other options are

2002 Toyota Solara I4 117k ...

2001 Infiniti I30T 106k ....

2002 Nissan Xterra 115k ...

1998 Honda Accord I4 117k ....

 

Last edited: Feb 15, 2013

hellhound014

:

mazda 3 s touring

• Feb 12, 2013

• #3

hmmmm, out of all those, i'd think the mazda would be your best bet. i've never owned a first gen mazda but my best friend did, and we drove that thing to almost 300k miles before it gave us problems that we couldn't afford to fix. not to mention it is the newest and least amount of miles. and i dont really know of any stock problems that every mazda has, so that has to be a good sign.

 

J

jatt2life

Member

:

Lexus, ES300

• Feb 12, 2013

• #4

^ thanks for reply ..

what about there tranny ? i heard they are like glass and they go abd quick or is that only the mazda 6 ? .. Also Fair price to pay for this ? Im assuming its a base model .. and it clean carfax .. minor marks on the bumper nothing to serious ..

so far i was reading into threads such as this one

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?86325-Common-problems-with-the-Mazda-3

 

hellhound014

:

mazda 3 s touring

• Feb 13, 2013

• #5

i hear the only time the tranny becomes any kinds of problem is when you start doing noticeable power upgrades. but as a daily driver the tranny should be fine for a while.
base model and not too many defects and from a private party, i'd aim for around $5k +/- $500

 

F

fam

Member

:

10 Mazda5 GT AT, 10 Mazda3S GB GT 6SPD

• Feb 13, 2013

• #6

My opinion if I were in your shoes (take it for what its worth): I wouldnt have a problem buying if the owner took care of it...The gheto side mirror plates and all the little mods he's done would make me worried that he thugged it out and gave it hell...however these mods can also mean he loved it and took care of it. I'd ask about all maintenance and hopefully he has some documents, see if he "knows his sheot"...if he seems like an idiot i'd honestly look elsewhere.

 

J

jatt2life

Member

:

Lexus, ES300

• Feb 13, 2013

• #7

Thanks guys .. Going to go look at it Thursday.

And as far as mods .. yeah i saw little ricey things he did lol .. but im just hopping everything checks out so i can finally be done with searching for a car lol. Only thing is our budget isn't much because her car was impacted by the hurricane we got in NY, and she really needs a reliable car for work/school. I'm hopping in year or 2 we can get her a nice car but as for now just need a clean daily.

 

J

jatt2life

Member

:

Lexus, ES300

• Feb 14, 2013

• #8

nvm car was a pos.. lol .. tranny was slippin .. ..

 

hellhound014

:

mazda 3 s touring

• Feb 15, 2013

• #9

damn, must have driven it like a tard

 

G

GoBackToSleep

Member

:

2012 Mazda 3i Touring 6MT in graphite mica

• Feb 15, 2013

• #10

Those infernal automatic transmissions... hahaha.

 

J

jatt2life

Member

:

Lexus, ES300

• Feb 15, 2013

• #11

lol yeah mazda was really in bad shape . as soon i hit gas didnt want to move ... and when it changed gears it was horrible .. ended up buying the I30T .. great condition .. loving it lol.. thanks everyone for your help