The manual says no towing auto or manual Mazda3 four down. Is this because of the transaxle design or lack of testing on Mazda's part? Anybody have a clue?

 

ITS NOT RECOMMEND TO TOW ANYTHING - IF YOU ARE GOING TO TOW ANYTHING CHECK THE HITCH COMPANY FOR RECOMMENDATIONS THERE MAY BE A TRANSAXLE COOLER AVAILABLE.

 

I'm looking for the same answer. Have you learned anything since posting this?

 

I installed a Draw-tite class II hitchon mine a while back foroccassional towing. My wife and I towed a smallU-Haul from Pa back to Texas, and I have rented small machinery for working around the yard.
It can be done, but it's obviously not the best thing for the car. Mileage on the 1600 mile trip hovered around 15 and starts were more difficult and harder on the clutch.
Clearly Mazda is trying to protect themselves from warranty claims caused by towing damage and I'm sure that alone voided any warranty on mine for any related damage, oe wear.

 

This was not the original poster's question, or mine.

The question is about towing the 3, not about what the 3 can tow. It needs to be towed flat, on all four wheels, asa dinghy.

Anyone with any info on that?

 

if you tow, it is recommended to at least get the front tires off of the ground. otherwise, it could cause damage to the transaxle. four down is a bad idea if you do it for long distances, but if you are only taking it a few miles, it should be alright

 

There are many vehicles that can be towed safely with all four down (see Dinghy Guides at the bottom of this link:
http://www.motorhomemagazine.com)

For those that aren't four-wheel towable from the factory, there are many that can be safely and easily modified to be towed with all four down (see list at this link: http://www.remcotowing.com/towing_vehicle_charts.asp).

However, the Mazda 3, as well as most other newer Mazdas, are not on either list, so I'd hoped to find out if there were other resources for modifications, or at least find out if anyone knew what prevented these cars from being towable with a pure manual transmission in neutral.

 

After resarching towing a 2004 Mazda 3 with standard trans with Mazda Canada, Blue Ox and Remco I've come up with the following ;

Mazda Canada says front wheels up... IE Tow Dolly only.

I called Remco and they say no problem 4 wheels down. They say Mazda has not done the research and thus taken the safe route by stating front wheels up. Remco sell base plates for the Mazda 3. Remco noted pretty well all cars with standard trans can be towed 4 wheels down. They sounded quite confident that there is no problem towing a Mazda 3 with standard trans.

Blue Ox also sells base plates and tow bars for the Mazda 3. They have detailed step by step instructions with photos on how to install the BX 2520 base plate for a Mazda 3. Very informative

Both Remco and Blue Ox are experts re tow vehicles. I have decided to go with towing my Mazda 3 behind my R/V . ( We also have a 2007 Hyndai Santa Fe 2wd standard which is approved by all the popular websites but it weighs 1000 lbs more)

hope this helps

 

Love your car and just drive it.

 

UPDATE

I have now towed my Mazda 3, 4 wheels down, about 2000 miles with no problems. Installing the Blue Ox baseplate was straight forward thanks to the excellent instructions (online) from Blue Ox. I also installed the US Gear Unified tow brake. In all a positive experience, works great !