Have to say goodbye to my 3. 2006 2.0 touring with a stick is toast. Wife parked the car at the top of the drive the other night because I had the truck and boat blocking the driveway. When I got up I asked " Honey where did you park the Mazda last night?".
Out front. Well it is either stolen or in the neighbors bedroom. I looked over the hill and it up agnaist there house. They were out of town. I started and backed the car up. There house is stucco and I think it has a tall foundation because the stucco had a small dent and
some grey paint onit and that is all. The car hit at a 45 degree angle and only slid agniast the house for and inch or so after impact. Can you say instant stop. When I got to the car the e-brake was on at least half way and the door was locked but the car was in nuetral.
I could pull up more on the hand brake but she had it set pretty well. Not sure if she left in in gear like she should have.

The 3. Front bumber and hood toast along with both front quarter panels and the passanger door will not open. The whole front end is pushed 2 inches to the right. You can not see the left frame rail as it is buried. The right rail is bent to the right at least 3 inches at the very front. The top right motor mount is not even touching the engine. I pulled off the front bumber and got out the wheel well liners and skirts that where rubbing and tripped the front tray so the wind would not blow it down. I drove pretty straight but you could tell the cluch and tranny we not aliegned right. Plastic rubs on bumbs and the suspension now seems way to soft. Looked like a trashed rally car coming down the road. I drove it to the body shop but they would not let it leave after seeing the motor mount. Esurance has said it is total. No it is about the cost and if i want to keep it( sell to buddies body shop- would not have a salvaged title) or part it out or the Insurance Co. sells it to a salvage yard.

I think the 3 could have been going 30 MPH at the bottom of the hill. It was twisted really good. Would have been much worse if any of the airbags where armed and went off . I have all good air bags on the car so the value will actually be higher. Overall the 3 was a great car. I drove it very hard and it never got under 30 MPH even in town. Got 35 all the time ont he road running 80 to 90 MPH. From what I can tell the 2.3 littre just sucks a lot more gas and for what 8 HP? Not a good trade off in my book. The 5 speed really matches the cars power very well. The auto was a total dog, even the wife hated the loaner with an auto and she complained about the stick at first. Preminision? My only complaint is the wheel hope of the front tires when they spin. Cars needs better front struts or something. I would by the car again but am holding off for now as I am swwitching jobs and have 2 other cars already. We will miss the 3. I will get another or a diesel Jetta or Passat when the time comes.

 

Sorry to hear about your car, like you said it sounds like she didn't leave it in gear.... but at least you know it should be. I don't understand the people who refuse to leave MTX cars in gear just because the e-brake is on.

 

What a scary title to this subject. But, I found myself having to look anyway. Damn. I should not have looked.
I have this ladder hanging up in my garage on the side of the wall. There it has sat for 1 year since I put it up there. Never stirring, never moving. Now I hide my M3 in the garage (Kids with bikes in neibourhood) and the ladder just does not look so secure. Looks like it will fall off the wall and land on my hood. Scratch my new blue paint. That's it. I am going to Canadian Tire to buy some hooks. Borrow my neibours stud finder and hang that thing up properly. I can't lose anymore sleep.

Too bad about your car dude.[:'(]

 

LET US ALL BOW OUR HEADS AND REMEMBER THE MAZDA 3 - WE WILL NOT FORGET YOU GIRL -

On a more serious note, at least there were no injuries and insurance is covering .

 

Lucky she was not driving the truck. 4 Ton dodge would have been inside the house, concrete wall or not. I think that once the brakes cooled the brakes shrunk and released. I have had a truck come out of gear too. I was just behind th boat washing it and walked away and I heard the gear jump and trailer jack knifed bending the bumper on an old truck but it could have hit the house or worse went off the cliff. 180ft to the beach! That would have made the news. E-Brake was set but would not hold the boat and trailer on the hill/driveway. I blocked the tires after that but have stopped with the new Dodge truck. But in Granny Low and e-Brake.A buddy may want to fix the 3 because it would still have a good title. I will see what both offer. Insurance will just deduct the salvage value they would have gotten.

What really gets me this is the 4th car a women has wrech in my driveway. Wife hit a rock with Honda while dating which scratched the rocker panel. GF hit the same rock with my 95 Mark VIII. Same GF rolled my 95 FireHawk backwards catching the door on the rock wall bending it back. She even was nice of enough to call me on vacation to tell me about it. She is no longer around. I have turned around a 30' boat and trailer and my 25 enclosed snowmobile trailer for 15 years only nicked a mirror casing with the extended mirrors. At least it was the 3 and not the truck or the 350SLK. Motor has 20K and the interior and rear half and 3 doors are in good shape. Plus wheels and tires. I might just part it out on E-bay. My old snowmobile was worth 3 times the price as whole when sold a part at a time. Anyone need any parts. Could be fun to run at the fair in the demo derby too.

 

Women can be trouble ... cars can be trouble ...combined ... huge trouble.

Re: your comments about the 2.0 versus the 2.3. The 2.3 delivers substantially more torque than the 2.0 - that's the reason to buy it. Most performance enthusiastdrivers would Ithink agreethat torque matters more than HP. Having said this, I bought the 2.0, feeling it delivers (for me) more than enough performance, with better MPG.

 

aslo, there is an after market mount that stops the wheel hop.

 

Whohas the mount. I posted and searched for a solution and did not hear anything. I knew it had to be a pretty simple. I bouhgt the 3 for mileage but also wanted it to be as sporty as possible. The 2.0 with 5 speed never got less then 30 and mostly 35 MPG run hard.
I could run with anything. It needed the wheel hope taken care of better tires and a bit stiff suspension and it is good to go. More torque for miles of 22? Ill pass. My z06 got that and it has torque.
If you want to do engine mods for a lot less money you can make the 2.0 out perform the 2.3 less factory warranty. The 2.0 also likes a turbo and the juice better then the 2.3 also. But if that is what you want get the 3 Speed. I am tempted to test drive one but I might cave in. We have 2006 MB SLK350 that gets 28 on the road running hard 80 to 90. The 3 is fun and get great mileage. If I want 25 MPG I will buy another new vette. Can get almost 30 on the road and never under 20 in town. Z06 would dip to 18 or 19 when rodding in in town. All 6 speeds of course. Maybe another 3 in our future. They need a Diesel. I drove a Mazda wagon with a 5 speed and turbo diesel in Italy at it was not bad. US version would need more torque but mileage would be killer.

 

redvette ... Thanks for the entertainment. As Tommy Lasorda famously said, never let the facts stand in the way of a good story.

 

why is it important to leave the car in gear when u park it, does it realy provide any benifits?