Quote:
Originally Posted by 1fastredsc
Anyhow this comes from my experience test driving compact cars yesterday. I went out and test drove a mazda 3 5-door and was blow away by the quality and design of the interior on a car that is 18k new. Not only was it fun to drive, being very planted and easy to toss around and point the nose where you want (must be the zoom-zoom  ), but it has a gorgeous interior with very tight gaps, nice materials, and gorgeous layout. Although not in the sports car league, i haven't enjoyed driving a car like that since my 944 that i had years ago. Then i read through various surveys and quality reports and in most cases it ranks up there with corrolas and civics, others it ranks higher. Needless to say, i'm now selling my beetle........... |
You just happened to pick one of the best inexpensive cars out there to start with. My wife really wanted a used 3 series BMW when I tripped across the Mazda 3 in 2005. Having just driven several used BMWs I had the same reaction you did when I drove the Mazda 3. Let's see... used German car with 80K miles for $18K or brand new car that feels very similar for the same money? We have 60K on our 3 and just had our first problem in that the turn signal doesn't cancel on one side. My wife has already said her next car will be another Mazda3.... and I'm still very happy with my Mazda5. Did you drive a 5 speed our automatic?