Used Mazda Mazda3 for sale near Lithonia, GA under $15,000

I bought this car brand new in 2012. Paid 17k. Worth every penny. It has 63k miles onit right now. Have never done anything other than change the oil and filter. It runs like it is expected. Slow and easy. You won't win no races with it. But it gets my wife to work with no issues. { 5 miles} Rain or snow. We have taken it on several road trips. Including a couple 1000 plus mile trips. Running wide open the whole way. It has no problem. I am a big guy. Very un comfy in most cars. But this I fall right into it and am able to climb back out with ease. The interior is cloth. Its starting to fade. But still no tears or wear marks. Theres nothing fancy about this car. But my wife loves it.

I only dealt with salespeople on phone. He was prompt at responding to my phone calls and answering my questions.

I purchased this car with just under 117K miles in late 2023 and wrote my first review after just 1,000 miles. Currently, it has 141K, so this is more of an ownership review than just first impressions. I haven't done much other than regular maintenance (oil changes, brakes, etc.) although I have replaced the exhaust. It always starts and returns excellent fuel economy. I get about 32 in the city and 42 on the highway, with an overall average of 36. For a small car it is stable but also has very agile handling. My only gripe is that it is very, very slow. It takes anywhere from 8 to 10 seconds to get to 60 MPH and can be scary at times when you really need to step on it and there's barely any power until 4000 RPM, but it's the sacrifice you'll need to make to get those high fuel economy figures. The Mazda3 is a great alternative to a Civic or a Corolla, while also offering a manual transmission on every trim and many available features. On the GT trim you can even get blindspot monitors and adaptive headlights!

I saw a car online that caught my eye that was listed through Grand Motorcars. When I read the reviews I was reluctant to even take a look much less actually make a purchase. Well I stopped in and the car was great. A bit older than I wanted but in great shape with low mileage at a good price. Marcus was the salesperson and Ivory the sales manager. I was able to get the car for what KBB and online sources suggested I should. The only downside was once I had check in hand it took longer thant expected to complete the paperwork. The actual signing took 15-20 minutes but the wait was 1.5 hours, maybe it was a busy day. That's why I gave 4/5 stars. Most cars listed in their inventory are luxury/performance and priced at mid to high 5 figures, and above. I purchased one of the lowest priced vehicles but they didn't treat me as if I was cheap.

I haven't owned a 4 cylinder in a long time. I had a turbo 5 Volvo, a 6 cylinder accord, and a Mercedes c300 6 as my last three cars, then before that I owned a last model year RSX (2006, I wouldn't count the new ones) for a long time so that's the closest comparison to this. I think the RSX felt a bit more sporty (I didn't have the Type S), but as for power they're a pretty close match, and I bet the Mazda 3 would smoke it off the line with it's torque heavy engine. I think the RSX looked more sporty too, it had probably a more mature styling to it that I appreciate now even more than I did when I owned one, but I will say every time I look at my Mazda 3 I like it more and more. I've seen a thousand of these on the road and never had a strong opinion on them, but my girl in red keeps growing on me, and when I take the dog out for walks I circle the car and look it over and understand it more and more. I have a 2018 fully loaded GT, and the interior is mostly it's strongest positive. The facelifted w204 is easily the nicest looking interior I've ever been in, and the accord maybe the most comfortable, but this is incredibly close to the accord in terms of comfort and only lacking in slightly worse seats and less room. The seats are great though, but the 2012 accords were some of the best I've say in. The fake leather has a great balance of firm and give to it, and what's even better is the whole interior is wrapped in a similar nice synthetic material that's a joy to be wrapped in. I've never owned a car where my arms are supported on both sides in such a comfortable manner. I'm 6'1 so I keep my seat low but I feel like I have a good deal of room, in fact, I test drove a 2023 (gen 4) Mazda 3 that was an incredible price, about $800 off from my 2018 and even less miles but the new interior design is nowhere close to as good as what we get in the gen 3. You have almost no room to spread your legs out in the newer models and that's a deal breaker for me. The one major weakness of the 2018's interior is the tablet on top of the dash looks hideous. I think I mentioned earlier my model is fully loaded, and I mean it. But what's that mean, a premium sound system, some exterior trim pieces tacked on? Nope, here we have some genuinely cool features. Adaptive headlights that turn with the wheel, a heads up display that's projected on a piece of clear plastic that raises up when you start the engine and can show speed, road signs, blind spot info, next GPS heading, etc. We have automatic windshield wipers, adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, a great Bose sound system, paddle shifters. My car has more bells and whistles than my wife's high trim 2023 Tuscon. I really love my little Mazda, and I'm hoping to take it down some back roads to see if I can enjoy the driving part as much as some others do, as I've mostly spent time on the highway or in stop and go so far. This was a purchase I was unsure of 3 days ago when I made it, but every couple waking hours something pulls me to that car, whether to drive it or just to sit in it. I know now I've made a great choice.