2007 Mazda Mazda3 consumer reviews

This car has good gas mileage. It has plenty of leg room in front and adequate in back for a compact car. The Mazda 3 also is fun to drive with plenty of acceleration.

I was in the market for a reliable car for a short commute (2 miles) to work. I could've made do with my poorly aging '73 Ford LTD (which I have stubbornly clung to for 14 years), but I wanted something sort of fun and not painful to look at, so I was keeping one eye on the local buy-here-pay-here places. You know, the kinda shady jobs that also do title and payday loans? Initially I thought a '13 or newer V6 Mustang 6-speed or perhaps a gently used 350Z might land in my lap, and I was hoping against all odds of a low-mile Pontiac GTO (preferably with the 6.0 and manual) would cross my path. After a couple fruitless excursions and one painfully disappointing test drive of an '06 350Z, I saw a little blue Mazda3 S crouched in the corner of a small car lot. It was late, and the lot was closed, so I got a ride over the next morning to check it out. They were more than happy to let me take the car for the afternoon. Now, I was expecting a very likely a repo or auction find, and it was indeed the latter, thankfully. The car's exterior was very straight other than a slightly wonky bumper skin where it attaches to the right fender. Light scratches. Otherwise, no major dents or gouges. The interior was really VERY nice, detailed well, but had obviously been cared for. No tears, nothing broken. It was equipped with 6-disc CD changer, premium audio, aux port and 12v powerlet in the console, variable timing 2.3L, and the 5-speed auto with manual mode. It also had the power moonroof! And it had 162,000 miles. No way. No way this car had rolled 162k. My wife's 2016 Forester doesn't look a whole lot better. This car had obviously been driven a lot of highway, and garaged when it wasn't. And a VIN search revealed a little unicorn: a well-maintained (by the original dealer) one-owner car. Only downside was it was from Utah, which could mean rust, but it had passed emissions every year. Once I had the keys in my hand I ripped around all afternoon in the little hatch. I've been in automotive service for 15 years, and have had the distinct privilege of seeing how cars age. Provided my memory wasn't suffering from Mandela effect, it seemed the first gen 3 had held up well. Maybe not as popular in my area as the nauseatingly ubiquitous American offerings like the Focus, Neon, or Cobalt (one of which I owned from 2006 to 2010, the first brand-new car I ever bought), but it certainly seemed to resist the ravages of time better in those I had dealt with. Around the time I was driving the aforementioned Cobalt LS, a friend had 2008 Mazda 3 Sport sedan, which he had loved before moving on to a Subaru BRZ. With his valued input, I was already swayed toward the car. I did not expect perfection. Not at 162k and ten years on the road. But what I got was so painfully good that I still can't believe it. Throttle response was fantastic, handling still crisp. The transmission seemed a bit harsh, but for a sporty car it wasn't bad. It was still fairly quiet inside, which I basically don't expect from entry level sport compacts at all. and EVERYTHING WORKED except for a couple small gremlins. I discovered in my test drive the left rear hub was getting a little noise--it probably had another 50k in it easy, but I was looking for leverage. Both rear tires were unevenly work and setting up quite a howl at 60 mph. No problem; I work in a tire shop. Battery was getting on. Trans fluid looked less red and more brown. Left front power window switch didn't work. Washer fluid reservoir was broken, very likely from the impact that broke a couple clips on that scattywompus front bumper. I went in with this and made my offer, $1200 below what they had it marked. With a cashier's check in hand, they were hard pressed to refuse, and I drove home in it late that afternoon. I have since dealt with the minor issues and also discovered the upper motor mount was shot, which I learned was a common problems. I've driven it 6,000 miles and enjoy it immensely. Despite its age, it's a fantastic little car and I would not hesitate to visit Mazda's product line again in the future.

It's a good, cheap car to have for commuting or locally. Lacks power for hills, but has good gas mileage. Repairs are relatively cheap and so far few between

It has been extremely reliable and fun to drive. I have had it for about 7 years and have relatively few issues. Gas mileage is decent

This car has a beautiful exterior and interior design. The break light design was the best for this year. I have owned mine for the past 115 K miles and not had to fix or replace much in the past 10 years that I've owned it. The only draw back to this car is the breaks don't always feel as solid and easy to stop with as other cars. I wouldn't say it's a problem just an observation after having driven other cars. It's the best looking economy version of any of the major car companies out there. I would totally buy another newer model.

loved my Generation one mazda 3. Car will run with no problem well after 150,000 miles. Will buy another mazda in the future. Also a very fun car it is quick not fast and sounds great. fun to mod.

It is an all around good looking car that I am not embarrassed to drive, and it performs as well as it looks!

I love my Mazda3 hatchback. It's got a lot of space for such a small car, and has a ton of pep to it. It's surprisingly quick for the engine it has, and is so much fun to drive.

Great car, very reliable and never let me down. Bought a used one from Germany and been using it ever since. Only thing I had to touch on it was the consumables, filters, oil, normal stuff. Definitely would recommend it to a friend.

I've owned this Mazda 3 with the Grand Touring trim for nearly a year. I got it used as a higher mileage car (116k). I love it! Reasonably priced when compared to comparable used cars, and it's quite a bit nicer than the last car I owned which I got for nearly the same price, an Audi A4. This several features usually relegated to luxury cars (and features unseen on my Audi) like automatic HID headlights, heated seats, leather seats with great bolstering, and a fantastic paint job (midnight purple). The steering is surprisingly responsive for a eight year old car, the throttle response is sharp enough that even I can heal-toe around corners which is always a blast! It's not particular powerful (not that I was expecting much from a 2.3l, 4 cyl, naturally aspirated engine) but is light enough that it is still a blast to drive fast! My only complaint about performance is related to the under-steer, which these cars are known to have. Since there's no turbo on the normal 3 they could have definitely pulled the engine closer to the center of the car, reducing the under-steer. But that's getting pretty darn picky! For what it is, I couldn't ask for anything more, except perhaps better reliability. Now for the bad. I got this car with some of the maintenance records and it looks like the struts have been replaced several times already, and now they've gone out again. Not too major, especially since this is a repair I can do myself, but they should probably last longer than they have been. I think I'll be installing aftermarket parts in the hopes they are a bit more reliable. I do not drive this car too hard, or that often, so the fact that new shocks went out on me after only a year is disappointing. The electrical ballast for the HID (aka xenon) headlamps went out as well, which is annoying because the bulbs should have gone well before the ballast, as both were original. The dealer will charge you a lot, and the part is not easy to find on your own. Not to mention if you have the HID headlamps you'll have to remove the bumper just to change the bulb (on the passenger side anyway, it might not be the case for the driver side), so if you have a shop do the replacement you'll be spending extra because it takes a while to get it on and off. Now for the truly ugly. The engine. IF YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT BUYING THIS CAR, HAVE A MAZDA DEALER CHECK FOR A ROD BEARING KNOCK. I think this is Mazda's best kept dark secret. I did lots of research on this before buying this car, and I didn't find any complaints about engine issues. A couple weeks ago I noticed some engine knocking even though this car has been taken care of very well. I took it in and found that one of the rod bearings is starting to fail. This means that you have to replace the engine, or completely disassemble and rebuild it. Once I found out what the problem is I started searching specifically for rod bearing knocks in Mazda 3's. I've found multiple reports of people experiencing the exact same maintenance issues I've had. Many even had it completely fail and ended up throwing parts though the block, damaging the car even more. Most of the reports I've found had this happen between 80k and 120k miles. Unless you want to replace an engine, please make sure your Mazda is not experiencing any engine knock from someone who knows what to listen for.