So he's finally ditching his 96 200SX and getting something new. He wants to spend under $20k and really wants something that handles good and has decent power. We narrowed it down to a Scion TC and the Mazda 3 but he ended up falling in love with this Black Mazda 3S sedan at the dealer that had the 17" wheel upgrade and lip spoiler and it looked like a little Beemer and he was hooked. Going to get one today hopefully.......all he wants is the 3S with the standard 5 speed and just the sport package upgrade for the 17's and the lip spoiler and it comes in at under $18k which is a great price. Those are fun little cars and the interior is every bit as sweet as a V-dub which I hold to be the best econo-interior in the biz. I think he made a good choice.....now I'm trying to convince him to get this body kit

 

my roommate has a 3s and they are really cool cars. i really like small four doors and these are probably one of the coolest out there right now, IMO.

 

I like the Mazda3. If I had extra cash for a daily driver, that would be the car. As far as econoboxes go, that is probably the best looking one out there. I don't like the body kit, kinda makes it look more like a pi$$ed off Scion TC.

 

I like the 3's too, but not "feeling" that accolade kit

 

Me too

 

My sister was going to buy a mazda 3. She test drove it and hated it.

 

just got back from test driving it at lunch. What a sweet little car. It handles way better than I expected. I hung it in 3rd gear on a highway onramp that circled back on itself and it stuck good with little body roll. The power from the 2.3L was good too. Plenty of scootin' around power for the street. It was nice and quite inside too. The seats have up and down adjustments too which I like and the steering wheel is both height and telescoping adjustable. Comes standard with stereo and cruise controls on the steering wheel too. A lot of car for $18k. He's picking his up on Saturday if they can find what he wants in the region in an '05 model....otherwise he's gonna order one that day instead.

Great little car.....the Mazdaspeed version should be fun as hell !!!!

 

Why didn't he look at the Ralliart?

 

he did actually but like the interior and the looks of the 3 much better and the performance isn't that much different. I guess it didn't help that there was an EVO next to the Ralliart we looked at

 

Nice. Tell your bro good work. Friend of mine just bought one and he couldn't be happier. I love the interior on those things too, very nice fit'n'finish especially the gauges.

 

Not much difference in performance?

 

hey i made the same decision when i bought my Mazda 3. Im not disappointed one bit. I get compliments everyday about how nice it is, and the ladies love it! haha heres a pic of mine

 

they have the exact same horsepower and just about the same suspension and both have front and rear stabilizer bars and such. So yeah, basically no difference actually.

 

But the Ralliart has more aftermarket support I'm sure.

 

maybe but he's not really into mods so that's not really an issue for him.