Pros + Cons

quicksliver · Post by **quicksliver** » December 31st, 2004, 5:12 pm

I also have 2 friends that have MX3's and 1 co-work that has an MX3 and ALL of them have ~%90 of the problems i do! Mine is the worst...but theres is not far behind at all.

fry_81 · Post by **fry_81** » December 31st, 2004, 5:38 pm

your or beat their a-- with bat.[/quote]
ahahaha! lol

well said lol

Guest · Post by **Guest** » December 31st, 2004, 9:58 pm

quicksliver wrote:If you ask me the MX-3 GS is a piece of s---. Here is what i have had to replace on it since i got the car back in Jan 2002.

- ALL Wheel Bearings
- ALL Calipers
- ALL Struts
- BOTH Lower Ball Joints
- Goes through oil like a mofo
- Front Valve cover gaskets
- Fuel Filter
- CamShaft Friction Gear (Very Pricey)
- Thermastat (2 times)
- Battery (2 times)
- Spark Plugs/Wires
- BOTH CV Axles (driver side 3 times, passenger side twice)
- CatBack Exhaust (2 times now)
- my gas tank release handle is screwed beyond belive
- my cruise control accel button doesnt work anymroe
- ALL the locks on the car are just f---in' screwed.
- Front Driver Side marker light flickers all the time
- GSLip on the bumper is split in two

I can't belive i have not had to replace the ditsy or alternator yet!!

Did you take your car into a mechanic everytime you had a problem with it? I dont know how they do things up in Canada but here in the US mechanics have been known to screw with people. The more they get people to pay for their car problems the more money they get on their salary.
Infact, some have been known to put used parts in cars so they could sell the new parts you gave them to put on your car for money.

bubbaflaat · Post by **bubbaflaat** » January 2nd, 2005, 12:20 am

Yeah mechanics can very easily screw people who are ignorant. You definatly got a lemon my friend.

hgallegos915 · Post by **hgallegos915** » January 2nd, 2005, 2:12 am

hmm well its not exactly a piece of s--- if you ask me. Of course like everything you have to mantain. According to the mechanics I need all 4 struts..and you know what I know enough to know that It only needs one. I bought my car for 1000 with a new engine. I love it. Then when I tought I could not love it more. I went to get it aligned just for the hell of it and WOAH .. I must say the tune up was a bit pricey and I did it myself..but its worth every penny. If it breaks down as you say..you got yourself a lemon, and if you keep driving that car burning oil its only gonna burn more oil and wear out more. It takes money to take care of cars, cant just get on and drive. Also these cars are pretty good looking considering most are 13 years old .

bmwm3guy · Post by **bmwm3guy** » January 2nd, 2005, 12:05 pm

quicksliver wrote:MX-3 GS is a piece of s---.

Im with ya bro, Ive replaced all that and more... I actually chuckled when I saw that u and I have had virtually the same problems.

My 2500$ car has turned into a 10,000$ car. And its STILL not running this morning

quicksliver · Post by **quicksliver** » January 2nd, 2005, 5:42 pm

Belive me, i maintin this car. It's always got fresh spark plugs / spark plug wires / Air Filter / Wheels Balanced / Cap & Rotor / O2 Sensors / Valvoine HighMileage Oil / Premium oil filters / fuel injector cleaner / coolant flushes / Battery / tranny fluid changes / etc. Im' on top of all that crap!

Ps. What are you talking about when you said that you took it in to get aligned and WHOAH. What is the WHOAH about, what problem(s) did it solve?

quicksliver · Post by **quicksliver** » January 2nd, 2005, 5:53 pm

In addition to my above post im going to break down the things i have had to replace, and find out if it's preventable.

ALL Wheel Bearings - All of them...COME'ON. Hell i have 3 friends that all have over 250,000km's and have yet to replace 1 bearing.

ALL Calipers - Again, ALL of them seizeing. How am i supposed to prevent this? Sure i can take the car in every year and pay for 2-3 hours of labour while this take my brakes apart to lube everything up. Who does this? OH WAIT NO ONE!!!

ALL Struts - Ok, i'll give you this one. Car has 220,000km's on it...they are due.

BOTH Lower Ball Joints - They are sealed ball joints, no grease nipple. BOTH of them gone!! Huh.

Goes through oil like a mofo - WAYYYYYYY to man people on mx-3.com have this problem. Not very preventable if you ask me....

Front Valve cover gaskets - Again, a crap load of people here have this same problem.

Fuel Filter - Maintenance

CamShaft Friction Gear (Very Pricey) - It's a well knowen weak spot on the mx-3, along with the pully tensioner thingi.

Thermastat (2 times) - Again, i have heard a lot of complaints about peoples thermastat spring thing sticking....

Battery (2 times) - Maintenance. Depending on local climate/weather/accessories in car/etc.

Spark Plugs/Wires - Maintenance.

BOTH CV Axles (driver side 3 times, passenger side twice) - This is bs, nuff' said.

CatBack Exhaust (2 times now) - Maintenance. Depending on local climate/weather/car washes/etc.

my gas tank release handle is screwed beyond belive - Design flaw. Why put it by your f---in' feet wear all kinds of salt n' s--- will end up.

my cruise control accel button doesnt work anymroe - Curise control screws up on a lot of cars.

ALL the locks on the car are just f---in' screwed - Design Flaw. Again, a CRAP LOAD of you guys out there have this same problem.

Front Driver Side marker light flickers all the time - Fluke.

GSLip on the bumper is split in two - Design flaw.

papa roached · Post by **papa roached** » January 2nd, 2005, 6:03 pm

some of that also depends on the person that had it before you and the ones before them, if they drove the piss out of it and didnt take care of it, s--- breaks, some of that stuff the issues have been found to be the cheap off brand stuff, im on MX-3 #3 and i have not had any issues out of any of the 3

mitmaks · Post by **mitmaks** » January 2nd, 2005, 6:34 pm

so why do you keep your mx3 if its pos?

quicksliver · Post by **quicksliver** » January 2nd, 2005, 10:44 pm

mitmaks wrote:so why do you keep your mx3 if its pos?

Because i keep thinking that i have replaced so much s---, that now nothing much more can go that shouldn't be going anytime soon. And for the record, EVERY SINGLE part that is in my car is a Mazda part. I don't buy aftermarket crap, even though im starting to consider it....since im' have ZERO luck with mazda s---.

Kokiriwave · Post by **Kokiriwave** » January 3rd, 2005, 5:29 pm

its a pos, because its not well maintained.....some people on this board have crazy setups on their cars and look incredible......but its because their cars are well maintained.....

for example, my mx-3 was lady driven for the last 11 years.....that meas, never launched, coming from a complete stop in 2nd gear....NEVER pushed over 70mph....Then i got the car....I've launched, gone over 120mph, my front tires are completely worn out, and they were brand new last summer....and the clutch is given me probelms.....its not the car, its the driver.....its all about how you maintain your car, not about how much money you put into it.

my .02

Gro Harlem · Post by **Gro Harlem** » January 4th, 2005, 7:53 am

parts are cheap & plentiful...wtf are you guys talking about.

since the car shares its suspension/brakes & unibody with the escort/protege/323 the parts are really cheap for those parts.

the fact it shares drivetrains with the probe gt/mx6 and protege/323 also drives down the price of all of those parts.

They are easy to find in junkyards making interior panels & other weird oddball parts easy to find.

Only part I have a hard time finding is the cargo cover....impossible to get from the yard without it being thrown on the muddy ground, cracked in half

masonholmes · Post by **masonholmes** » January 4th, 2005, 8:28 am

Quicksilver, I would advise you and your co-workers not buying any more Mazda's/parts from the junkyard, or wherever you seem to get yours, lol. That and/or find a mechanic that doesn't screw you over. Sorry your car blows, but I doubt many other people have had to replace that much stuff. For instance, I'm @ 160,000 miles and have only HAD to replace one wheel bearing, one distributor, one radiator, one automatic transmission, and both CV's. (a tranny line broke on a long trip, that's normal of an old car living in snow territory - my fault I didn't keep an eye on the lines) All the rest of the stuff replaced was normal prevenative matienence. I did just drop a used 2.5, new struts and rotors in, but that was out of choice, not necessity. A sidenote, for anybody with/getting an automatic MX-3/MX-6/Probe/323, you do NEED to get an aftermarket transmission cooler. If this is done and normal fluid/filter changes are kept up with, (and you don't let a line get old and crack, haha), your tranny should last you a long long time - even if driven hard. (but not stupidly, lol)

Nd4SpdSe · Post by **Nd4SpdSe** » January 4th, 2005, 10:37 am

PROS: Great handeling, farily quick with stock v6. More than fast enough with a 2.5 v6 upgrade (DE and ZE alike). Unique styling (although one person i talked to called it a cheap Porsche 928), Cheap on insurance. Most people are amazed that they have a v6 option, as well and how tight it fits in there. 4x100 "Honda" Bolt Pattern

CONS: People calling it a girls car (but that can be a good thing

). Cramped engine bay. Some parts are expensive. Not alot of aftermarket.

I've as well have never been stranded with my MX-3 (except for the time where i didn't connect the battery properly) I think the most i've spent on repairs was in 2003, it was about $1000 for the whole year, which included both axles, 1 wheel bearing, all 4 brakes and rotors (wear and tear, so these dont really count). But 2004, i only needed a thermostat, e-brake cable and some wiper blades. This year, i know i need new brake and gas lines, new gas tank, new tires (put them off last year cause i didnt want to get new tires when i was planning on getting new rims as well)