In keeping with GRM tradition, I am writing this before I've actually taken possession of the car. Or sat in it. Or seen it in person... I've already purchased it though 
Like every car purchase there's a bit of a story behind it. After many years of excellent service, my Celica has finally accumulated enough small issues to justify replacement. It still runs drives and stops. But there is an evap code that comes and goes, the front brakes will need replacement soon, it burns some oil, the AC doesn't blow very cold, I can feel the engine moving around a little every time I shift, etc. Most of all, there is rust on both rockers. While it's hidden by the side-skirts, it would be a very involved repair. So I've decided to part with the car and hopefully someone else will either decide to fix it (unlikely) or the parts will live on in their project.
Also, I no longer really need a small two-door car as my daily. At the time I purchased my Celica my Rx7 was living on jack-stands in my garage. I needed to scratch that itch somehow while fixing my Rx7. These days my Rx7 is my most reliable car.
So with the decision made, I set out to find the replacement car. There were a few candidates but I eventually decided on a Gen 3 Mazda 3 Hatch for the following reasons:
- I like Mazdas, and I think this generation of 3 has aged really well
- Still somewhat sporty with multi-link rear suspension (driving my mum's NC Miata has spoiled me)
- Off the shelf trailer hitches available (for my bike rack)
I was, however, disappointed to find that almost all of the more affordable examples already had rust issues. I know that's how it is with Mazdas, but it's always easier to prevent rust than to remediate. Twice I went to look at cars that were nice in the pictures but then had panel rust when I saw them in person. A third time I went to a dealer with 6+ Gen 3 hatches, all of them rusty. These excursions did present me with the opportunity to test drive differently optioned cars, and I further narrowed down which options I cared about:
- 2.5L is fine with either automatic or manual, but 2.0L would have to be manual to be tolerable for me
- Sunroof was almost a must-have
- Needed the infotainment system with a touch-screen (the other one is not easily upgradeable)
After spending some time on this I realized that I would need to raise my budget a bit to get a clean example, so I did. Even then it was tough to find a clean one that didn't sell quickly (missed out on one by only a business day).
This past Tuesday I saw a Kijiji ad from a smaller dealer advertising a 2014 GT. It was posted that morning and had no photos attached at all, nor any details other than that it only had 130,000km and was an optioned-out 2.5 automatic (I think GT always comes optioned-out but the trim levels on this car confuse me). I called the dealership on my lunch break and the salesperson was kind enough to send me some photos of the chassis:
These are actually photos my dad would take later, as the ones the salesperson sent me were compressed when sent by SMS. But I got plenty of photos and saw nothing concerning in any of them
Minty-fresh. I figured this was an opportunity I had to jump on quickly, but I obviously couldn't leave work in the middle of the day to go look at a car. Conveniently my parents were going to be in the area of the dealership. I asked my dad to inspect the car for any issues and let me know what he found, and if he found the chassis was rust-free then to negotiate on my behalf (and to go up to asking price if necessary). I'd already test-driven an identically specced car (one of the rusty ones I saw) so I knew that I liked the car, plus my dad knows what he's looking for so I trusted him to find any issues.
Turns out the car was as clean as it appeared and I e-signed the purchase agreement from work. The car comes certified and the dealer has excellent reviews, plus both of my parents had a very positive opinion of everyone they dealt with there. They wouldn't budge on price, but I'm very happy with what I get for the price I paid. This car had the one biggest factor I cared most about (a clean chassis) and as a bonus came with the following configuration:
- 2.5L (auto with paddles)
- Sunroof
- Leather seats
- Factory window tint
- Dual zone climate control
- Backup camera
- Heated seats
- Factory weather mats and trunk liner
- Fully optioned infotainment system with nav
- Heads-up display
- Even came with a trailer hitch, exactly as I wanted
I only will probably only ever use about three of those features (sunroof, infotainment, trailer hitch) but getting all of those others is a welcome bonus. And maybe I'm getting old, but while manuals are more fun, I don't mind a decent automatic for my daily. Plus it's easier on my left knee (which all medical professionals seem to agree is in perfect health but continues to have random aches and pains).
Also, jumping on this car quickly was a good idea as my dad saw another salesperson pulling up the car's info for a customer when they were leaving the dealership (only a few minutes after I signed).
This car will remain stock, so the only posts I'll make about it will probably be maintenance. I intend to install my dash-cam and at some point do the Android Auto upgrade, but otherwise it will remain materially unchanged. Updates to come once I pick it up
Best looking Mazda 3 gen, imo. Nice find!
No Rx7 updates today; just some more Mazda 3 information and my overall thoughts on the car as a whole.
My Celica sold tonight, which is convenient because between me and the family we were up to 8 cars in the driveway. 7 is about the maximum that we can feasibly shuffle around before things start to get really tight. Despite the fact that I bought the Celica as a daily driver and didn't really do much other than maintain it, I was admittedly a little bit sad to see it drive away. The new owners knew their way around cars, so I'm hoping they get many more years of enjoyment from it.
This evening I took a few minutes to really inspect my new Mazda (what I can see from above anyways) and see if anything needed my attention. To start with, coming from a 39 year old Rx7 and a 20 year old Celica, the features on this car are crazy. The coolest thing is that the steering wheel adjusts in and out instead of just tilt.
Something I find disconcerting is the lack of gauges:
Sure, it has everything you need (one can argue you don't even really need a tach). But the old car driver in me always likes to keep an eye on the coolant gauge and oil pressure. Range is nice I suppose, but I've never understood why the external temperature matters. By the time you get to the car you already know the external temperature, right? Plus I don't know anyone who checks the external temp and then changes in their car. I just don't really see a use-case for that readout.
The little heads-up display is neat. My brother test drove the car and found it distracting, but I kind of like that I don't need to avert my eyes from the road to see my speed. Plus it shows the cruise-control target when active.
One other weird feature is that the engine coolant warning light illuminates in blue when the car is cold. So blue tells you the car is not yet warmed up, then it goes off when the car is warm, and it turns red if the car is getting too hot. Kind of an odd choice to warn you when the car is cold but I guess with no actual gauge they needed some way to indicate that you shouldn't be thrashing the engine.
Factory weather mats front and rear are a nice touch:
The car was detailed before I got it, but as usual "detailed" is synonymous with "Armor-all on everything". So I'm going to gently clean all the plastics and use 303 instead (since it doesn't leave the oily residue). The seats are also genuine leather (at least I think they are) and Armor-all is shiny but not really the right thing to condition them with. See this picture for the shininess:
Even after cleaning with leather cleaner you can see the shininess in the creases:
So it's going to get a few more passes with the cleaner and I'll probably condition it this weekend.
Interestingly the door cards seem to be pleather:
It feels perfectly fine, just something I noticed.
The AC and climate controls work great. Full-auto is kind of neat, although I do miss the simplicity of having three dials for temperature, fan, and vent direction respectively.
The passenger airbag warning light is very distracting. I'm not sure why they feel the need to have that illuminate when nobody is seated in the passenger seat.
The center screen is working fine, although I did notice a slight bloom:
These screens are easily swappable but it doesn't bother me enough to do anything about it.
Moonroof is working well:
Weirdly the moonroof opens with one-touch, but then requires you to manually hold the switch in the close direction until it completely closes. A strange cost-cutting choice.
The center console is sized perfectly for CDs (which I still use on occasion):
This is convenient because the door-cards don't have slots for the CDs. Instead they have this large cupholder type pocket, except angled instead of upright. The rear doors are the same. This is a weird choice since the center console has two cupholders, and there are two in the rear fold-down armrest. Add in the doors (which can really only hold a sealed type of bottle due to the angle, not a fountain drink) and that's 8 total cupholders. I suspect this was done because they couldn't fit a larger pocket with the Bose door speakers. I can still use those pockets for storage, it's just a little odd they chose to do it that way.
Speaking of odd, the center console comes with this little insert:
It slides forward and back so you can access the CDs, or lifts out entirely. It has a little pass-through for a cable, which I assume is to leave a phone charging inside of it. But then why is the pass through on the side of the phone instead of the bottom?
I found some space in the spare tire to fit my emergency supplies. Jumper cables and ratchet straps are usually my go-to. I used to keep a tire-slime kit and a rubber traction grip, but couldn't find a convenient place for them. I've never used them before anyways.
While in there I noticed a small crack in the plastic inside of the hatch:
Not something I'm going to worry about. If I hear anything rattling I'll remove the plastic and JB Weld the back of it, but everything seems pretty secure so I'd rather not risk damaging it further for no reason.
Here's the one dent in the rear bumper (disclosed by the dealer and photographed for me before I purchased):
3 stage paint never looks right with a touch-up pen, so I'm leaving it as-is. It's not very noticeable.
Speaking of touch-up pens, I did find a tiny tiny spot of rust that my dad missed, right at the driver's door sill trim:
Fortunately it's still very small. I'll strip that back and treat it sometime soon.
One thing I like about this car is that it handles really well. The electric power steer is pretty communicative (although not as much as a hydraulic rack), and the multi-link rear suspension really keeps this car planted. My brother has a 2nd gen Mazda 3 with the trailing arm rear, and it doesn't feel quite as confident through the corners. It came with Pirelli P-Zero, about which I have a pretty positive opinion so far:
And other than adding my Parks Canada pass to the rear-view mirror, that was it for the night:
In the next couple weeks (particularly once the warranty from the dealer is up) I want to start systematically checking every area. I have no maintenance records in the glovebox, so I don't know when any of the fluids were last done (other than oil at the dealer) nor the spark plugs. The serpentine belt has been changed but everything else will be thoroughly inspected, documented, and then dealt with one-by-one. There are no symptoms of anything amiss, it's mostly just for peace of mind.
Until next time
When we left off I had said that I had a blown driver's side front door speaker. I searched and it turns out this is a common issue. The speaker itself isn't actually blown, but a piece at the back separates from the metal frame and then it starts to rattle. Here's what you see when you take the door apart:
This thing is absurdly big. 9" driver, and apparently (although I didn't test it) it handles from the bass all the way up to 500+ hZ. For reference, here is my hand:
Thinking about it I guess that only works as a frame of reference if you've seen my hands. Oh well.
The speaker comes out really easily. Four bolts and one connector:
Looking at the back you can see the issue immediately:
The metal starts to rust around the back of the frame and then the paint lifts away, taking the plastic back piece with it. I cleaned and sanded it as best I could, then reinstalled the plastic piece with construction adhesive:
Finished product:
Let me tell you, that thing is ON there. I wasn't sure how strong the construction adhesive was until I tried it, but man does it grip. I'm not worried about this coming loose anytime soon.
Since I had the door apart I added some sound-deadening:
And also took the opportunity to spray grease in all of the crevices to prepare for winter:
Conveniently the previous owners have had the spray done before. You can see the opening for one of the body plugs on the left of the photo.
Lastly, I replaced a lot of the broken door clips with new ones from Amazon:
And then I did the remaining doors the same way. The passenger front speaker was only delaminating a little bit, but I used the adhesive just the same. The rear doors just received a cursory inspection and then everything got sound-deadening.
I also did sound-deadening in the hatch floor area and rear wheel wells. If anyone is doing a similar project, don't use Kilmat. I found that the Noico stuff on the doors reduced ringing a lot, meanwhile the Kilmat I used in the rear was not as effective. In fact, I read some really compelling testing data on Resonix's website that makes me want to try them for my next project.
With the door speakers fixed, the sound in this car is a lot better. I did have to replace the 3.5" dash speakers with a set of Pioneers (the treble on the stock ones was awful) but I'm now reasonably happy with it. The bass is a bit muddy, but the 9" door drivers are 1 ohm and also not strictly sub-woofers. So I would need to find 9" full-range drivers (or other size with an adapter), replace the stock amp with a new one (that would have to have minimum 8 channels + DSP so I can tune it), add a sub somewhere else, etc. That is not a project I want to tackle anytime soon.
On the maintenance front, I have no records for this car. It runs great and seems well taken care of but it's better to be proactive. I started with spark plugs:
All of the ones I pulled out seemed okay. They looked to be original. Replaced them with NGK rutheniums:
Should be good for awhile. I know modern cars only need these every 100k kms or so, but I will probably end up replacing them sooner out of habit.
Next I had planned to do coolant and ATF. However my closest dealership was out of FL-22 and Type FZ ATF last week, so it was a waste of a 45 minute drive (one way). This week I called to ensure they had both (and was told that they did), drove up on Saturday morning, then it turns out they were already out of FL-22 again.
The parts guy was really apologetic and kindly gave me a discount on the ATF. Apparently Mazda is changing suppliers for their fluids. It's not a big deal but it does mean another trip will be in my future. I decided to do the ATF today anyways and put my car over our oil-change pit:
I'd never changed transmission fluid on an automatic car so I was a little bit nervous. I've read a lot of horror stories of people changing the fluid and then having a transmission failure shortly after. I have also heard of shops that either don't recommend changing it or sometimes refuse because they have too many people claiming that it damaged their transmission.
The more I read about it, the more I became convinced that this was actually due to neglectful owners and selection bias. People rarely remember to change their car's fluids outside of the engine oil (and sometimes not even that!). They forget that brake fluid should be changed every 3 years, coolant every 5 years, ATF every 100,000km or so, etc. The first time most people even think about their transmission is the time it starts shifting hard, clunking, or otherwise behaving strangely.
Of course by that point it's already damaged internally, but they change the fluid thinking that will "fix it" and then it fails shortly after and they blame the fluid change rather than hundreds of thousands of km on old fluid. So I made up my mind that changing it was a good idea.
I've learned the hard way to always make sure you can fill the transmission before you can drain it. So I started out by finding the dipstick / fill port. Can you see it?
There it is:
I did have to remove the two 10mm bolts holding the intake tube in for access, then use three extensions to actually reach the bolt holding the dipstick in. Then I struggled for about 10 minutes trying to actually get the dipstick to pop out before finally succeeding:
I observed two things:
- The fluid looks fine (subjective of course, but there is nothing obviously wrong I mean)
- The fluid has been changed before, as Mazda Type FZ fluid is a pale blue colour
The colour of the ATF doesn't actually indicate whether it was suitable for the application. It could be that this fluid meets Mazda's requirements. But for the small increase in cost I'm glad I picked up the OEM fluid for this job.
The drain plug is easily accessible with the skid plate removed:
You can see some surface rust on the subframes. I scraped that away with a steel brush and hit it with rust paint, then sprayed the creeping rust spray inside of all the drain holes.
I drained all the fluid out:
I saw nothing concerning. The drain plug was also clean and free of any metal shavings.
Then I filled with OEM fluid:
There's no "after" pictures. I'm not really sure what I would even take a picture of.
I wasn't sure how much to add, so I ended up adding one container at a time as I was measuring the fluid I drained out. Once I added the exact amount I had taken out, I added about 100mL to account for fluid lost. The dipstick was supposed to be measured with the fluid at 50C, but my ELM327 didn't want to connect today. So I started the car and idled it, then cycled the shifter a few times slowly. Then I measured with the car warmed up and the fluid was right between the two lines.
After that I went for a test drive and I felt no difference at all. This is exactly what I'd hoped for. I might have felt slightly quicker shifts when using the paddles but I think that's mostly my imagination.
Speaking of which I've noticed something interesting about the paddles (or rather my perception of them). Most of my drives in this car are about 2 minutes long (to and from work), so rarely do I really push the engine at all. Most of the time the car happily shifts at 2000rpm and I don't even think about it.
A few days ago on a longer drive I put it in Sport mode, and the car is noticeably quicker. It drives a lot more like an older car (or rather it shifts in the same way I would shift an older car), shifting at about 3750rpm and not shifting into 6th as soon as possible like it normally does. Fun, but honestly I like normal mode enough that I generally don't worry about Sport mode. Particularly since I get average 30+ MPG in normal mode, even with my really short trips.
Which brings me to the paddles - has anyone else noticed that they make the car feel slower? Obviously they don't actually make the car slower. But when you shift in a manual car you feel that instant "click" and then you're in the next gear. With the paddles, you feel the instant "click" in the paddle and then it takes about 1s until you're in the next gear. It isn't shifting any slower than normal, but it feels a lot slower since you're manually telling it when to shift and then feeling the delay.
My dad has noticed the same thing in his car. I think the paddles might feel faster for someone who doesn't actually drive manual, but for someone who does they seem to be kind of counter-intuitive. They still work to hold a particular gear in manual mode when needed, but I never use them for fun.
With the ATF changed I just need to do the coolant and then brake fluid (which I will combine with winter-tire installation later this month) and I'll be 100% up to date on maintenance. But there was one modification I wanted to do for my own convenience.
When I purchased my Mazda 3, one of the features I was set on getting was the infotainment screen. Normally this isn't the sort of thing I would care about, but I knew that the infotainment screen could have one of these installed:
An Android Auto kit that doesn't require swapping the head unit. Complete OEM appearance and all. The hub I picked up is a little different than the one pictured here; mine has a USB-C connection and a fast-charger.
Android Auto wasn't even something I thought about until I used it in a rental car on a trip I took recently. I'm sure I'm late to the party on this, but it's a game-changer. Way smoother and more convenient than any OEM nav system I've used, plus you can natively use a music app of your choice (in my case Poweramp). I recently picked up this kit and finally decided to install it.
This kit requires software version 70 or higher, and mine was already up to date:
I think there might be a newer version but I can't think of a compelling reason to upgrade. So I'm leaving it as-is. Pulling out the screen, there's a small single-din-esque box behind it:
I put the screen aside and then pulled the center console apart:
It's weird, everything on this car is held together with clips. You just firmly pull and it comes off without tools. Meanwhile nothing rattles at all. Kind of impressive.
The shifter trim lifts up, and then the little plate that sits in front of it pops out as well:
There's a lot of wasted space there. I was wondering why this car has no good place to put coins or anything, and this seems like an opportune location. Maybe I'll make something in the future. Then the old hub pops out of the center console:
And the new one pops in. I forgot to take a photo and it's a cold and dark now, so I'm not going back out there. It looks almost exactly like the one in the picture above anyways.
The new hub requires two new cables. One replaces an original cable, the other is a new cable entirely. I'm not sure why the previous cable needed replacement but if I had to guess I'd say it's probably a USB 2.0 cable and the new hub might need USB 3.0.
Weirdly the two new cables come bare, and then they also include these foam strips that you're supposed to use to wrap the cables so they don't rattle. But again, both cables are required. So I'm not sure why they don't just wrap them for you from the factory rather than adding this and having you do it manually. Here's what I ended up with:
I ran out at the end, and I also wasn't confident about the little foam strips staying in place at the ends. So wherever a foam strip ended and another began I decided to add some anti-rattle tape I had around. Ran the new cables from the hub up behind the dash to the head unit:
I used the included zip-ties to secure it every few inches, and I bundled up the excess under the flat panel in front of the shifter. You can see what I mean about all the extra space. I'm thinking I might put a wireless-charger under here.
And with that, I plugged my phone in and it just works:
One thing I should have thought about before this project though is that these exist:
https://www.caraudiocoho.com/product...riantsId=10728
The 3GB ram / 32GB model is $339 USD, which sounds like a lot. But the hub was $100 CAD, a wireless Android Auto adapter will be another $75 or so. For an additional $150 I could have had a much cleaner solution which seems to include the stock Mazda firmware (not sure how they managed that) as well as a 10" HD screen.
I don't think I'm going to worry about upgrading anytime soon, but I might have done things differently if I knew that. Overall I'm really happy with the performance of this hub so far.
