For the Mazda 3, according to the manual, there is no break in period. It states no break in needed. Here is what it says actually:

No special break-in is necessary, but a few
precautions in the first 1,000 km (600
miles) may add to the performance,
economy, and life of your Mazda.

l Don't race the engine.

l Don't maintain one constant speed,
either slow or fast, for a long period of
time.

l Don't drive constantly at full-throttle or
high engine rpm for extended periods
of time.

l Avoid unnecessary hard stops.

 

Ive been told a lot of different break-in period miles (mostly on forums) first it was 1,000 then it was 3,000 next 5,000 then 7,000 (odd that they keep increasing by 2,000), today my buddy told me its 10,000 (but then again he drives a 95 accord) so i dont know i think ill go with 5,000 since i already have 7019mi. on it , but unfortunatly i do race in it where i live i do have to maintain i certian speed for a long time, but i do take good care of it (on the inside atleast), btw mzd3_stratblu sorry to thread jack.

 

with older cars there was an engine break in period, but normally it was 500 or 1000 miles, those other numbers are way high that you listed Tracker. but since it is inthe manual, black and white, no break in period, that is what I am going with. I was doing 80mph on the freeway the night I took my car home, have not slowed down since. But i change my oil every 3k miles and do the recommended services per Mazda.

 

since i push my car a lot hard then i should, should i change my oil earlier?. Those #'s i listed were break-in suggestions i heard form other people and other forums, so i did not really know, but my friend said i should have a certain amount of miles before i do anything like turbo my car (thats after i do engine re-work and after my warrenty runs out)

 

I just go by the 3k mile mark for changing oil, thats when the dealer recommends it, thats how I have always done it. After i dropped my re-built motor into my Beretta years ago, there was a 500 mile break in period, when i got my Hyundai in 1996, it was the same, but I guess it just depends on the manufacturer and personal preference. As for doing turbo, i would just wait till the warranty expires for that. If you do it now, it will void the warranty anyway, that is the only part that i know of, that automatically voids the warranty when installed.

 

I have about 14k miles on my 04 auto. I didnt have any change in the sluggishness until I did the ground modification. There was NO break In period. It ran the same from the time I bougth (it which had 3 miles on it) to the time I changed the ground which was about a month ago at 13,500 miles. The after market intake and muffler did add horses but never changed the sluggishness I always had. All this break in stuff is garbage when it comes to this Mazda. The biggest change I experienced was doing the ground modification. And I am a big skeptic. But this really helped....

 

i actually have a little over 14K miles on my '06 atx, and i notice that it is a little slow off the start, but when going to thru the gears not really sluggish, but it could use more "oomph" to it get going. I partially scraped off the paint under the ground wire, but didnt really notice a difference, I think i will do more and see what happens, if it works like everyone else says, I might have to up the size of the wire itself to a 0 gauge.

 

well you could say that if you really punch it, the 2nd gear is a little weak for atx with sport shift

 

Capernicus.. ..So the poor transmission performance if from a faulty ground?

I am very unhappy with my 5-speed automatic.

1. First gear seem to short

2. Second seems to tall and stumbles poorly (perhaps due to first being to short)

3. The car goes into 5th to early and labors the engine as it does not seem to know when to go back to fourth. Although I would rather not use manual mode, I find it necessary to gear the car down to fourth on small hills to help the engine.

I owned an Altima with a great Automatic transmission and a Talon with a great Manual. I don't so much enjoy the poor automatic transmission with cheesy manual mode. It's not so useful without the H pattern as you have to continually remember what gear you maybe in.

Sadly, the automatic transmission in my cumbersome chevy mini-van gives me better performance.[8D]

 

I only have a little experience w/this myself as I've always been a stick-shift driver, but I agree. Remember though that Mazda and all manufacturer's are under the gun to produce cars w/increasingly better and better fuel mileage. That's probably the reason it shifts so early.
And no rev-matching makes for slow and sloppy downshifts in MM too.
I love your comment about the "cheesy" manual mode. I drove a 6i for a few days and that's pretty much how I felt about it too... and you get to pay another $950 for the privilege!!