so i took my week or so old 2007 3i for its second road trip yesterday, i went to orange county (1.5 hrs from home)then to la (45 mins from oc.) on the way to la i got caught up in some rush hour traffic on the 101. when the 110 exit came up i there was no traffic, so i was likeill just make a little detour anddrove towards the exit.. thatswhen i got some issues.. i shifted from2nd to 3rd then stepped on the clutch to go into 4th and when i started to pull my foot back off the clutch,i noticed there was no pedal under my foot!! i started to panic and pulled the stick into neutral and tried to push the clutch which wasstuck tothe floor. after a few kicks (while coasting towards the 110 on ramp) the clutch popped back up, and i thought great its fine ill just go on my way and go to la. so i pressed my clutch, shifted, and when i put some gas on it, i wasnt moving!! it would finally engage at higher rpms around 5500 or 6500 but accelerated very slowly. at the bottom of the on ramp i pulled over to the side because there was traffic going up hill andi knew i wasnt going anywhere.. called mazda roadside and the towed me to a dealership in glendale around 630pm. service was closed and so was the rentals. so i hadto call up my cousin to pick me up 2 hours from home.. and im still dealing with the dealership over there, theyre a bunch of morons they looked like they have never seena mazda before..ANYWAYS, my question is what do you think happened to my car!? its my first stick that i drive everyday, and i would day i am a fair or averagemanual driver. i only have 646 miles on it. could i have burnt out the clutch already!? or could it be a factory thing.

HELP!!i dont want to have to spend that much replacing the clutch after a week.

 

yeah it sounds a little bit like you burned up the clutch already. the reason that it wouldn't engage until higher rpms is because the gears mesh up at certain rpms with the motor. the car wouldn't accelerate because the engine and transmission were not meeting up at all. this may not be all your fault though. there is a chance that someone at the dealership ragged on the clutch a little too hard, but the bulk of the problem was your driving.

 

maybe all the rush hour traffic??
by any chance did you smell a foul smell at all??
cuz clutches smell really bad when they get burnt... and they linger around for quite some time (15 minutes)

but it still seems weird that your clutch was toast after just a week....

 

when i popped the hood, i got did a get a burning smell but not a clutch burning smell.. it was more of a hot engine with hot rubber and plastic smell (im sure the rubber and plastic smell is cuz of the fact its a new car tho).
ive been getting that smell since i got it.. i was supposed to bring it into the dealership the day after it went out on me.

 

that smell may be normal... its the coating and whatnot on the exhaust and cat from the factory

 

There are really only two options it seems:

(1) The clutch is gone, or
(2) You simply boiled the clutch hydraulic fluid

Has the car been driven since it had a chance to cool off? I had my Camaro clutch stick to the floor one time drag racing (the one time it got really hot) and once it cooled down it was ok. I have also abused the clutch in my 85 Toy truck offroad and got it sohot it wouldn't engage, but the pedal was fine and it was fine once it cooled off.

The clutch is the best bet. I would love to ride with you and see how you drive, that might tell the tale. Both my wife and her sister know how to drive manuals, but her sister won't ever drive a car I maintain and my wife has been doing excellent with a little additional instruction in the MS3 (her car). My dad hammered me when I was learning how to drive, while their parents just handed them the keys and let them figure it out.

 

the same thing happened to my car at 2000 miles.
except it was from a drive-thru car wash (with the underbody spray service)

did u just wash the car? if not. then yea. ur clutch is gone. a replacement should cost $300-500