Quote:
Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy
Troy, interesting comments. Care to expand on it? I'm surprised by the rattles as the older ones seem to wear well. Is the tire wear a suspension setting issue that can be fixed with alignment?
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I can't speak for Troy, but with the Mazda we own ('05 3 5-door), I've had to replace the tires once a year due to the aggressive degree of negative camper employed in the factory suspension settings. To the various techs I've talked to (indy and dealerships) it is what it is and there is no remedy.
What really irritates me is the way everything on this car rusts, clips and various hardware in the engine bay but especially the B-pillars, a result of an environmentally friendly paint process employed on this generation. Sure, I live in a climate that's not the best on any vehicle, but the car is kept religiously clean year round. We have a game now that whenever we see a 3 we try to guess how advanced the rust bubbling is on the b-pillars. Mazda NA took care of several claims to this issue only in Canada, not in the US.
I'm sure (hope?) the newer generations have rid themselves of these issues by now, but I find the newer 3s a (laughable) step way back in styling, and there are plenty of used mid-size cars that gain my attention over the new 6 anyway.