Bought a 2016 Mazda3 several years ago at Hendrick in SC. It had 30k miles on it when I bought it.
It has performed flawlessly, fun to drive and incredible gas mileage. I see about 40 mpg on the
highway and 35 or so running errands. When we picked up the car, the dealer installed a new battery.
Info readout says 35.5 mpg overall during the life of the car up to the current time. Now, 4 years later and 50k more miles,
I think I may have to replace the battery. The dealer installed a NAPA 7535 battery when we bought the car.
I checked the manual and it says to go with an I-ELOOP type battery. The 7535 is not an I-ELOOP battery.
I am a car guy, had my own shop at one time, been racing SCCA for 40 plus years, race an RX7 now.
I know cars. I am confused by the need for an expensive I-ELOOP battery when the non-I-ELOOP type has been
performing quite well. Not sure the extra $200 is money well spent? Your input is appreciated!

 

Just a heads up for other Mazda 3 drivers with an I-ELOOP system, our cars have a special E85 Mazda battery and replacement for such a battery is around the $350 - $450 price range. I didn't know this or that you can only buy this battery for our vehicles with the system until I had to drop a total of $485.00 today to replace the battery.