I know there aren't a ton of members out there yet with '10's but I'm looking for opinions on road noise. I replaced my '07 GT with a '10 when the old car went off lease. I am extremely disappointed in the new car as it seems a lot noisier than the old one.

I've only put 2500 miles on it but it seems like it is road/tire noise not really wind noise. The salesman was telling me about how they've stiffened the body structure and stuff this year, so I am wondering if that is why the noise is more noticeable.

My car came with Yokohama Avid S34 tires and I went so far as to trade those in today on a set of Kumho Ecsta ASX. I had put the same Kumho's on my '07 when the stock Badyears wore out and was very pleased with them. I thought about Michelins but decided to go with something I already knew plus they are cheaper.

I've only driven a few miles so far on the Kumhos, but initial impressions are that the tires didn't really help the issue much. The Kumho's do seem a bit quieter and smoother riding but really not a great difference.

Any '10 owners out there have any opinions on this, and extra points to you if you owned the last generation 3 for comparison...........

 

I usually have my stereo blasting too loud to ever notice road noise in general lol. Even in my girlfriend's 626.

From what I think I can remember, in my '08, I couldn't tell the difference between the Toyos that came with the car and the Michelins I put on later.

 

ive never had road noise when my car was stock, im surprised to see that people are confused as to why their brand new new gen car is having all these problems i mean i know why they expect it to be perfect but the 1st year of a new gen car has the most problems always. Anyway a stiffer chassis is not going to cause road noise, what will cause more road noise is loosely put together body parts or poorly designed (2010 3), but then again no car is the same as the one that came from the same assembly line, id say get an exhaust or better tires i recommend dunlop sp signatures (cant remember if they made noise until they wore in or not)

 

I notice more noise from the engine than anything else in my 2010 GT sedan. When cruising at 3,000 RPM, it's louder than I thought it would be. But road noise is pretty low on mine, in my opinion.

 

Thanks for all the input. I guess the bottom line with excess noise (either from the tires or engine) is lack of sound insulation; provided someone has not modified the exhaust system.

I think Mazda likes to sell the zoom-zoom thing so they give the 3 a pronounced exhaust note (compared to a Civic for example). I'm ok with that.

But, I don't think that part of being sporty means that you should hear the tires so much even at low speeds. One part of me wants to go through the efforts of pulling the carpet around the wheelwells and see if I can add some insulation. My car is a hatch and typically those are noisier than sedans by nature. But, mine has both a cargo mat PLUS the cargo tray on top of that, so that should muffle a lot of noise from the hatch area.

The other part of me says to hell with it, live with the car for a year and say goodbye. Da Wife has mandated the one year retention period, so we will see.

 

should get an 06 next, and what do you mean an exhaust note??? its more like a someone trying to whistle but cant

 

I have a 2010 Mazda 3 5-door (hatchback) that I've had for a little over 1 month. It's a top-of-the-line model with about 1150 miles on it. It too am very surprised at how noisy it can be on certain road surfaces. My vehicle has the Bose sound system with that "Audio Pilot" noise compensation thing that's supposed to offset unwanted ambient sound, but I don't think it does a thing. During my normal commute, I travel on 2 different highways and there are stretches of both highways that are very smooth and don't produce much in the way of road noise. However, there are stretches of highway that are rougher and driving from the smooth on to the rougher road surface produces a roar by comparison. I don't think it's much worse with the hatch-back because a friend has a 2010 Mazda 3 sedan that isn't much quieter. Granted, he doesn't have the GT version and as such doesn't have 17" wheels. I think that if he did, his car would be as noisy as mine. Unfortunately, the test-drive loop the salesman took us on was relatively smooth and we (my wife and I) didn't experience too much in the way of excessive road noise. Ultimately, like you, I'll have to keep my car for at least a year before my wife will let me see about selling it. That and the fact that it depreciated $5,000 when we drove it off the lot. I can only blame my self for not insisting on a longer, more thorough test drive. Now if they could only fix my vibration issue with my car, I'd be a lot happier (but that's a whole other story).

 

Rob, I think we pretty much have identical cars. I agree--- I don't think the Audio Pilot does squat. On the same topic, they added a subwoofer this year and I don't think the system sounds that great. My '07 had some handy storage bins under the back floor which for '10 are gone because of the sub. I'd rather have the storage, or a sub that pounds some bass.

Like you, I did test drive a '10 but not too far, I was coming out of an identical '07 so on first experiences the new one acted pretty much like the old one. My fault on that.

Also like you, I agree the road noise varies greatly depending on the road surface. That is true in all cars, however anything other than smooth, new pavement raises the roar we've experienced (which is NOT true for all cars.) In my area the primary road is closed for construction and the detour route has some normal blacktop road but it is a bit on the rougher side. The noise experienced at low speeds (30mph or so) is unbelieveable. I know the 3 is not an expensive car but it IS expensive enough especially in GT trim that it should be far better.

I ordered my car in June, had to wait 3 months for factory order. So maybe I can convince the wife that the "one year" clock started running in June instead of September when the car arrived. June isn't that far away. Maybe some nice jewelry will help my case..............????

 

Wow, we're definitely on the same page when it comes to our experiences with our cars so far (with the exception of my vibration issue). I've never been a fan of Bose and it was definitely one of the things I didn't like about the car, but it certainly wasn't a reason not to buy it. I just wish I would have taken a longer test drive. I may have noticed some of the things that are so problematic and annoying about the car. The sticker price on my car was somewhere around $26,300 or so and I certainly would have expected better than I've experienced so far. And to think I chose the Mazda 3 over the Acura TSX. It ultimately came down to price and I didn't want to have another high monthly payment, especially since I just started a new job. The Mazda just seemed like the right combination of price, gadgets and quality. BTW, what kind of fuel economy are you getting? I've averaging 23-24 MPG with about 60/40 highway/city driving and the service manager tells me that I shouldn't expect it to improve until around 10k miles or so.

Rob

 

I just bought a new 2010 MazdaSpeed 3, 6 speed manual, so I've been reading through your posts about vibration at speed and the road noise issues. I have about 1200 miles on my car so far, I've had no problems with vibration, and road noise to me doesn't count, I'm used to driving stripped out race cars... road noise... doesn't bother me This car seems whisper quiet compared to my E30 BMW 325es ITA race car. (It's noisy compared to a G35...)

I know the turbo car does have different wheels, they are 18s, I'm just offering up my experience hoping that it can help you in any way. I get about 25mpg average, it's just been a pretty nice car for the price so far. I've noticed quite a bit of turbo lag shifting gears, probably more than in any other turbo car I've ever driven.

Other than that, no vibration at any speed.

I hope you can figure out what the problem is, and I would be interested to know the solution if you ever get it figured out. I share your frustration with dealerships, they just aren't any fun to work with. It's like pulling teeth to get anything out of those guys.