Trans:
I highly recommend going with the 5-speed on this car. First off like shipo noted the fuel mileage and driveability of the MTX will exceed the auto. Second the MTX on the 3 is a wonderful driving experience, wonderfully designed. Third as he noted the early gen. ATX had a number of problems especially with shift shock from 1-2 when the car hadn't warmed up fully. Don't even count the 'manual override' on the ATX.... it isn't a MTX and doesn't even being to replace one. As to your concern about driving a stick in the city that's certainly valid. That said I commute into DC every day to drop my son at school and I wouldn't trade my manual just for that convenience. Not with this transmission anyway. Bottom line it is of course your decision but don't make it until you at least give the MTX a test drive. The price difference is negligible.

Cruise Control:
Don't worry that the MTX doesn't come with cruise control. The US Mz3 has drive by wire cruise so everything is controlled via the computer. You can add cruise to the non-equipped car simply by replacing the audio/cruise controls on the steering wheel and replacing the brake switch. You can either order the parts new or try to find them online somewhere or in a junkyard. If you buy new I think it costs around $150, but don't quote me on that. Check out THIS thread on M3F for details, p/n's discussion, etc.

Year model.
Again I agree with shipo that the '05 is the better buy. They worked out a number of bugs between the two year models. Also you might want to check what the build dates of the two cars are. You could be comparing a late build '05 to an early build '04 (actually built in '03) so the age difference could be much greater than you'd expect. Beyond the age the mileage difference is really quite small so I wouldn't worry too much between those. If you could find any in your price range I'd suggest looking for a '06 3i since in '06 Mazda added VVT to the 2.0L engine which pepped it up a bit and made it a little closer in power to the 2.3 but still providing better gas mileage.

Snow:
Either car will handle fine in the snow with a few caveats. First off I prefer to drive in the snow with the MTX because you can then manually shift up into a higher gear for starting movement. Often in snow/ice you need to upshift to provide lower torque to the wheels and get better control. Well in theory you could go to manual mode the only vehicles I've driven with that mode will override the user setting if it feels it needs to up/down shift. I don't know if the 3 does because honestly I haven't driven the ATX version.

Since you live in an area that gets a lot of snow you would probably be well served by getting a second set of wheels with winter tires on them, and/or getting a set of winter rubber and swapping them out on your existing wheels twice a year. With good winter tires you pretty much won't have a single problem driving in any reasonable amount of snow and will handle better than 4WD/AWD running all season tires. Yes it's more of an expenditure but it makes driving much safer and decreases the chance of you ever getting stuck. If you have the space to store and the money to spend then go for a set of 15" steel wheels with dedicated winter tires.

Dad:
That reasoning to buy an ATX is the biggest lame *** POS cop out excuse I've ever heard. If anything his reasoning should be why everyone else should learn how to drive stick. I think you should buy the MTX just because he said that. If he wants to drive it let him learn. :P

 

^^ Wow! Much better said that I even attempted. Nice job!

 

I saw that, it seemed like it was mainly the 2.3L owners. I haven't seen to much from the 2.0 cars.

 

Good Points, So i take it adding a cruse to the car at a later date wouldn't be hard? ive heard of quotes from other people say they have the dealers add them for around 300 bucks. didn't seem to bad. I do alot of city driving and its like once every 2-3 years i drive maybe 2 hours away to visit friends in a few towns over. I think i can handle that with out curse if i need to. My dad does know how to drive a stick shift (hes the one that taught me on my old truck) but he hates sticks. I guess hes a lazy driver. Ill give the stick a look but right now im not even sure if i can afford the 04 which is 100 dollars cheaper. The prices are already ridiculously low, this dealer puts its lowest price on the cars from the get go, they don't negotiate. Price you see is the price you pay on used cars. We're going to go look at these cars real quick tonight before they close, i don't think ill be able to test drive the stick shift but i can probably have them start it up and see how it runs. Thanks for all the input guys, im taking this forum is biased towards stick shifts lol.

 

I don't know if that's a fair correlation; for the 2004 and 2005 model year (which if I recall correctly encompasses the bulk of the tranny issues) I don't believe there was a significant difference between the transmissions. I'll need to check on this.

Edit: Just did a quick bit of research and it looks like the automatic transmission is the same for both engines for the 2004 and 2005 model year.

 

I'm curious why you're messing around with a dealer at all; for a car of that vintage I don't see any benefit to buying from a dealer, and if you buy from a private party the chances are pretty good you can knock as much as a couple of grand off the purchase price.

Edit: While I wouldn't say this forum is stick shift biased, I certainly am.

 

There really aren't any other mazda 3's for sale in my area. These car Kbb over 10k and they are selling them for around 7.5k. I don't really feel comfortable buying from a private seller. My dad and mom both have gotten screwed pretty bad with buying from a private seller. This mazda dealer does throw in a bunch of extra's: like 3 years of free oil changes, free car washes for life, 6month warranty on battery, tires, brakes, stuff like that, and 10% of car price is given as a discount if you buy another car from them in the future, 7 day money back no questions asked return, 30days return for credit to another vehicle from them. It all comes down to what they will give me a trade on my current vehicle.

 

I have my moments.

AFAIK the only transmission change between the '04 and '05 models was in '05 the 2.3L model received a 5-speed ATX vs. the 4-speed the 3i (and '04 models) had. The 5-speed ATX apparently fixed many of the issues people were having. Again I don't have the ATX so I never kept up as much with those issues.

Not at all. You could even do it yourself. You have to remove the horn/airbag from the steering wheel (it's fine as long as you disconnect the battery and either let it sit or pump the brakes to drain the capacitor power) then just unplug the old switches and plug in the new ones. For the brake switch I believe it's a little above the brake pedal arm and is just a couple of screws to replace. The $300 quote sounds like a dealer adding an aftermarket CC to a car. Most Mazda dealers don't even realize it can be added to the 3 otherwise they'd all offer the upgrade.

Good to know he can drive stick. While I see his point I still think the stick is worth it. Definitely find a time to test drive it as it's a fantastic MTX.

I agree with shipo, I wouldn't say the forum is biased towards sticks, however the people responding to this thread are.

Also he has a point that you may want to look into private sales. You could likely get a '06 or newer for the same price or less. Also I believe once they got to the '06 MY the packages changed around (that's when they added the touring models) and I believe either the side airbags or the ABS became available on the 3i (or more common).

Also another mod to throw in. Assuming either of these cars have power mirrors then you can retrofit heated side mirrors in for less than $100.

 

Both of the cars have power everything, It really comes down to my current budget. Heated seats aren't top priority, i haven't had them in any of my vehicles and i don't really see the need of them. Im not very comfortable working on cars. I do have a few friends that work for beer and a good independent mechanic that would probably do it. It'll most likely be the auto just because of the prices. The car will only be tempary. Most likely 2-3 years, ill be done with college and hopefully get a good job, then i plan on buying a brand new car/truck. If i like the mazda id defiantly consider a brand new one with a stick shift (by then my farther will have no say in it) or id look at a Nissan frontier if i wanted a truck. I do enjoy driving a stick but my father gets the final say because the last car i bought on my own was a complete piece of Crap.

 

I was talking about heated mirrors, not seats. The wiring is there up to the mirror housing, you just have to swap the glass and run about 12" of wire through the housing joint. Super easy.

Heated seats are also doable and can be done for about $75/side. Or you could just do your side. Every winter I decide I want them on my car but never do them.

Some stuff you certainly don't want to tackle without some mechanical know how. Some stuff is just so ridiculously easy it's silly to pay someone to do it.