Hello Mazda 3 owners,
New member to this forum, although I've spent quite a bit of time on other auto forums, and found them to be a terrific source of info and help. I've posted this question because my daughter is car shopping, and the Mazda 3i (2.0) is at the top of her list. I don't know very much about this make, but did see them using a timing chain instead of a belt. Having worried about the effect of failed timing belts in other cars, and also changing a couple myself, a chain puts it at the top of my list too . We're probably looking at a 2010-2012 with low mileage (20-30K). Possibly an '09, or maybe even a new 2012 if the price is right.
I'm seeing the 2010 and later as being Mazda 3 Gen #2. I did some searches, and nothing jumped out as a big problem with these vehicles, which makes me believe everyone is generally happy about their choice. So is there anything about the 3i that we should be concerned about? Any issues specific to one year, or are any optional items weak or not worth having? Has anyone encountered warranty issues? Is changing your own oil ok with Mazda, relative to the warrany? Thanks in advance for any feedback!

 

Nothing significant has cropped up with them yet, apart from a thermostat problem in the 2012 range. In your part of the world, do new Mazda's come with 3 yrs/ 100,000kms (60,000 mls) warranty? If so second owners are still covered.

 

An increasing coolant leak in her high-mileage Civic made it more urgent to change vehicles. This Civic has been a great car, but she has very long trips to make coming back here to visit, and needs something without a lot of likely impending problems. So we pulled the trigger on a 2011 3i with 37K miles. She got her moon roof, I got my timing chain, so everyone is happy . Must have been a decent price, because 2 buyers showed up during the transaction visably upset because the car had been sold. There is a 7/100K warranty on the drivetrain, which makes me feel a lot better about buying a previously leased vehicle with no written oil change history. Now I'm still trying to find out if there are any possible warranty issues on engines having owner oil/filter changes. It's probably just an old geezer thing, but the only one I trust 100% is me. But if Mazda doesn't support owner oil changes, I'll have her take it to a full service shop - more expensive than Iffy Lube, but much more likely to be done correctly.