Overall in this Reliability study, Mazda3 got "above avg" rating for '04 and '05 models and "much better than average" for all newer models. Of all categories, the only one that got below average was paint for '04MY. All other categories and model years received average or better rating...
One thing that puzzles me is that they posted their 1/4 mile results for '08 models as following:
2.0 4-sp AT 17.4 sec @ 83
2.0 5-sp MT 16.8 sec @ 85
2.3 5-sp AT 17.4 sec @ 82
2.3 4-sp AT 17.9 sec @ 79
Is this because of trim and options so the 2.3L models weigh more and are hence slower?