I bought my black Mazda 3 Sport 5-door in Decemeber 2005 and have never regretted my choice for a second. The car has been extremely reliable with no suspension/brake/engine failures whatsoever. I have only had to change a sidelight bulb and an Xenon headlight ballast (quite pricey) in 82,000 miles- I am touching wood saying this! Oh, and the CD changer was replaced under warranty in 2007 as the CD's got jammed!

Pro's: Great driving position and drivers seat comfort- quite possibly one of the best cars around in for behind the wheel comfort, great reliability, lovely styling with the 17" alloys, aero bumpers and the optional mazda sports suspension improves the looks even more- it certainly makes the Audi A3 and VW Golf look utterly bland inside and out- i've always wondered people's fascination with these two models which are also quite unreliable in comparison. Great Xenon auto headlights and attractive rear LED lights, attractive fascia and blue/red ambient lighting inside, very good handling and amazing high speed stability & road holding- no roll, massive glovebox, 4 auto one touch windows and one touch sunroof very useful, a very hard wearing car and after 82,000 miles it feels the same as it did when i bought it 5 years ago. Knowing people who have the current shape Honda Civic the Mazda has much higher build quality- you only have to read the reviews of the Civic to see that whilst it's a great looking car and has many good features it is also has loads of problems unlike the Mazda.

Con's: original Bridgestone tyres give too much road noise- changed to Kumho Ecsta Sport KU31- 25% quieter and better ride and handling, engine noisy when worked hard i.e. over 5000 rpm, steering could do with being a touch more responsive, passenger front seat is too high- needs height adjustment if you are over 6 ft 2, no illuminated vanity mirrors- a little short on luxury features in general, interior lighting a tad dim, quite high road tax at £235 per year as emissions are 195c02. Alloys look great but are badly designed- they keep corroding within a year of being replaced!

Overall a great car, the pro's definitely out weigh the con's. If Mazda did the new shape Mazda 3 with the option of Xenon headlights for the 'Sport grade' and an electric sunroof I'd buy another one tomorrow. But they don't, plus the new shape seems smaller inside and slightly less substantial and cheaper inside- none of the nice piano black interior fittings or pop up sat nav system- nice features of the old model.

Underated car and well worth a look.

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