Looking for my first 3. Found a beauty and would love some guidance.

[sarsbars]

Howdy,

I am a current Protege5 owner looking to upgrade my rusty fenders and sad undercarriage for a (newer to me) Mazda3.

I just went and looked at an '08 black hatchback GT and saw some things that may or may not be concerning. I'm not entirely sure what to look for or expect from a used 3, and was hoping for some input!

According to the carfax the car spent most of its life in Massachusetts so it has seen its fair share of the awful, car destroying salt that goes on the roads in the winter. I live in New Hampshire, so it will continue to see that horrible stuff (which needless to say has pretty much eaten my poor P5).

There is some rust on the passenger side strut top.

Here's a picture underneath.

Is this amount of rust for a New England '08 anything to be concerned about?

When we opened up the hood we saw that the firewall heat shield (cloth like stuff) was fraying. We looked at another '08 that had an intact heat shield. Any idea why this would be like that? (Hopefully not critters!)

Some of this stuff was also hanging underneath the car:

Is this anything worth fussing over?

The car is black, so it has a lot of visible dings and scratches, but the bottom of the hatch has a few horizontal scratches that stretched the whole width of the back. They aren't too deep, but they are pretty obvious. Do you think they'll buff out?

This is the beginning or our search, and we really like this car. I'm really concerned about this car rusting, and I'd like to have it for a while. Is the amount of rust that it has so far anything to be overly concerned about? Is there anything else we should be looking for in terms Mazda3s?

Thanks in advance!

 

[concept]

Unless a used car was garaged and washed/waxed often, it is likely to have lots of visible clear coat scratches. Light-colored cars on the other hand hide those types of scratches very well. When I sold my white MX6 GT (bought in 1997) after 17 years of ownership, it looked far better than much newer cars that had dark paint. I bought my 2014 3 in dark blue because it is always garaged or car-covered but my son parks his car in the street so his next one will be white or silver, if not some other light-color.
That's my advice to you as well. As far as the rust, that looks similar to what my Protege has after spending three years in New York. Hey, you can always buy a rust-free car in CA or Arizona and drive it back as part of a 5 day road trip......

 

[ZealoustheEnder]

Or better yet there is a laser blue 03 P5 here in Florida 5700. I had bought my msp was a beach car. Put up on blocks and cleaned and reproteched the entire under carage also had to unplug all body drain holes and rinse it out. Good luck

 

[sarsbars]

Yea, I get that scratches are inevitable, but the ones on the hatch are big and gross. I was just wondering if anyone thought that they could be cleaned up a bit.

As far as road tripping for a rust free car, I need it by May and we can't get the time off. Otherwise we'd be all over that idea.

If the rust isn't anything too concerning we're considering cleaning up the undercarriage and painting it with POR-15. We're just curious if that amount of rust is typical or not. There's also some rust on one of the tops of the strut towers, but it looks like it's on a piece that is easily replaceable (the thin metal part on top - "sacrificial anode" - has rust on just one side -). Sorry I don't have a picture.

 

[larson701]

The car looks like it has been pressure washed, which damaged the insulation. The scratches look bad enough to require wet sanding prior to polishing. Hopefully the scratches are not into the color coat. The underside of the car looks pressure washed as well. Assuming the rust is on the surface only as shown, I would consider spritzing with a little oil. Coating with POR-15 may make future maintenance very difficult since that stuff is tough. I would be more concerned with cosmetic rust on the body. I loved my P5, except for the rust.

 

[sarsbars]

Ahh, pressure washing makes sense (not to do, but that it could be the culprit). We'd be careful not to POR-15 the bolts, just the metal. Thankfully there wasn't any rust on the body of the car, although there were a few spots on the hood that need to be touched up before they get to that point. I love my P5 too, but the rust got to it so quickly. We're going to be extra cautious with the 3 and trying to prevent rust. We've been looking at a couple other '07s and '08s just to compare and it seems like this one has the cleanest undercarriage so far.

Thanks for your responses by the way!

 

[ZealoustheEnder]

Guys correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't a new sacrificial anode and a ground strap help preserve a care from premature rust.

 

[sarsbars]

I called the dealership today and asked if they'd send pictures of the strut tower tops (I live over an hour and a half away). We are hoping to look at some more '07s and '08s to compare the amount of rust, but I wanted to share these just in case you have any (more) input! Which has all be great by the way

Driver side:

Passenger side:

It looks like this is an easily replaceable part, is that correct?

How bad do the strut towers get in terms of rust? I'm only asking so much because my poor P5 has holes in the strut tower and ventilated floorboards (I used to get a free carpet cleaning every time it rained...). I would hate to go through the same thing again, but this particular Mazda3 is sooo nice.

 

[larson701]

Surface rust. Not a real issue other than cosmetic. Wire brush clean and spray with desired color. Or wirebrush and apply a light coating of oil. This is not uncommon and is generally ignored except by those of us with untreated OCD issues.

 

[sarsbars]

Yea, we're hoping it's nothing deeper, but it looks like it can be easily cleaned up and maintained with the right love and care.

Thanks for calming our rust nerves. We just don't want a repeat of my P5, but I don't have the heart to move away from Mazdas.