Newbie looking for a first car - '06 Mazda3 S, Help!
#1
05-23-2012 | 09:59 PM
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Newbie looking for a first car - '06 Mazda3 S, Help!
Hi all,
I'm looking into purchasing my first car, and I was in pursuit of a Honda Civic. After failing to find a good deal on one, I turned my attention to Mazda3's.
After searching through Autotrader, I found one that seems perfect, a blue '06 Mazda3 S 5 speed with 44,000 miles on it for only $12k. KBB for it is $12.8k. Autocheck for it is completely clean...a score of 90 with one owner and no accidents. It is being sold at a reputable big Honda dealership.
I know next to nothing about these cars...other than that they're powered by 4 cyl. engines, and they get slightly worse gas mileage than Civics. If there's anything else I need to know about these cars before purchasing, please feel free to share!
Is there anything I should inspect for the test drive? It's a 2 hour drive for me to the dealership....so help will be greatly appreciated!
I'm looking into purchasing my first car, and I was in pursuit of a Honda Civic. After failing to find a good deal on one, I turned my attention to Mazda3's.
After searching through Autotrader, I found one that seems perfect, a blue '06 Mazda3 S 5 speed with 44,000 miles on it for only $12k. KBB for it is $12.8k. Autocheck for it is completely clean...a score of 90 with one owner and no accidents. It is being sold at a reputable big Honda dealership.
I know next to nothing about these cars...other than that they're powered by 4 cyl. engines, and they get slightly worse gas mileage than Civics. If there's anything else I need to know about these cars before purchasing, please feel free to share!
Is there anything I should inspect for the test drive? It's a 2 hour drive for me to the dealership....so help will be greatly appreciated!
#2
05-24-2012 | 11:07 PM
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Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1,526
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Wow, an '06 with 44,000 miles......... I have a late build '05 (built in 05/05) with 112,000+ on it. I was going to say that the price seemed a tad high however that's super low mileage.
There weren't a great many changes made between the '05/'06/'07 model years really. Most notably the 2.0 L engine in the 3i model was improved with VVT added, and the 3s ATX received a 5-speed vs the previous 4-speed, however neither of those will affect you at all. '06 was the first year Mazda started (in the US anyway) the touring, grand touring, etc. trim model packages. Prior to that there were a greater number of smaller packages which you could pick and choose from but they ended up just bundling larger amounts of things into the higher trim level. Things like leather and HIDs became available only on the GT trim.
As for things to check. I'd definitely check on the brakes, especially the rears and definitely the inner pad. The 3 tends to burn the rear brakes first, and the inner pad usually wears faster. Check all the motor mounts to see if they're leaking as that's another common issue. There are a number of TSB's that apply to the '06 model so you may want to search for a list of those to see which could apply to the car. Rosenthal Mazda used to have a good list of them but I can't find them on their site at the moment.
The '06 was a pretty good model, and I'm happy with my '05. If you like the way the car drives and you're happy with the price then it sounds good.
There weren't a great many changes made between the '05/'06/'07 model years really. Most notably the 2.0 L engine in the 3i model was improved with VVT added, and the 3s ATX received a 5-speed vs the previous 4-speed, however neither of those will affect you at all. '06 was the first year Mazda started (in the US anyway) the touring, grand touring, etc. trim model packages. Prior to that there were a greater number of smaller packages which you could pick and choose from but they ended up just bundling larger amounts of things into the higher trim level. Things like leather and HIDs became available only on the GT trim.
As for things to check. I'd definitely check on the brakes, especially the rears and definitely the inner pad. The 3 tends to burn the rear brakes first, and the inner pad usually wears faster. Check all the motor mounts to see if they're leaking as that's another common issue. There are a number of TSB's that apply to the '06 model so you may want to search for a list of those to see which could apply to the car. Rosenthal Mazda used to have a good list of them but I can't find them on their site at the moment.
The '06 was a pretty good model, and I'm happy with my '05. If you like the way the car drives and you're happy with the price then it sounds good.
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