yet another test drive...

[majic]

this looks like the place most suited for a little test drive/overview (for the new ones to the board and ones looking for a 3)

ok.. so here\'s my story.. went to burlington mazda.. i waited a few minutes and someone asked if i needed help.. i said i was looking for some information about the 3.. this old sales guy (white haired.. limping eastern euro) pointed at a younger sales guy and said he\'s available.. but he wasn\'t.. so the old guy took me.. i asked for the brochure.. right there and then i realized all this guy wanted was my money and didn\'t care about the customer (nor even knew the mazda3s well) he asked what i was looking for and i told him a 5 speed mazda3 Sport GT.. he said.. sedan or the hatch.. i said sport GT.. he said.. GT .. sedan or hatch? i was like WTF? anwyay.. finally figured i was talking about the hatch.. so he grabs his book and looks through some pages and says

him: so hatch GT.. with everything right?
me: no.. no sunroof and no leathers
h: hmm.. oh twenty one and a half... $21485..
m: ok
h: oh and if you talk to me nice.. i will give you the \'05 for the price of \'04
m: yay :sarc.. all i said was.. \"ooh ok\"
h: and you knwo why.. b/c all out 04s are sold out..

man .. all he was after was money!! i wanted to b*tch slap him right there..

m: can i get a test drive
h: ooh of course.. how ar eyou gonna buy without trying
m: ok.. can i test it now?
h: yes.. can i have your licence..
m: ok..

10min later comes out - i heard him greeting a couple saying.. oh i will be with you in a moment.. oh well he turned me over to some younger guy who seemed to be the \'car getter\' he shows me the car and then says alright go ahead.. i\'m like.. d00de.. this is AT.. i wanted 5MT.. someone screwed up.. oh well i was going on a test drive alone soon soon ;)

so he brought around a fully loaded 3 hatch GT (sun and leathers) .. i took it for a ride along North service road (slower but windey) and the QEW and back up on south service raod.. in about 30-40 min i stalled 1ce :D - i guess i won\'t have to borrow my buddy\'s prelude to learn.. lol..

anyway.. the results..
o the auto wipers were so so.. i couldn\'t get them going and then couldn\'t stop them :p maybe i need to RTFM heh..
o the radio was a bit flat.. but that was fixed with the treble/mid/bass settings that were totally out of whack.. i had to turn the radio off to concentrate on shifting ;)
o the leathers.. omg.. sux0rs.. i was sliding in them like crazy even in the slowest of turns.. i dunno.. just my opininion and i\'m glad i tried a leather car b/c now definately not getting them
o shifter.. i wish there was a defined shift pattern (metal slots) b/c a few times i wasn\'t sure if it was going into 3rd or 5th .. i guess it\'ll come with practice..
o i am so happy that it doesn\'t have the door lock knobs on top of the door (like the accord) so that they do not pinch your arm when you press down on them..
o the arm rest could be a little bit higher (middle console) but since i\'m gonan be shifting a lot.. i won\'t be resting that much
o the RS-As were surprisingly decent when it came to traction and braking.. the coditions of the road today were sunny with wet patches (puddles and moist pavement) but they seemed to do pretty alright.. and i slammed the brakes a few times
o can\'t think of anything else.. and overall thumbs up!!!
o oh.. rearview mirror.. man that thing is TINY!!!

can\'t wait for mine!!!

this review has been brought you by the letter M and the number 3 :D

[dredd2099]

nice review mr majic
so when u getting ur ride?

on another note
i think most cars goin out tday have really small rearview mirrors
guess it saves them money to do so

:)

[mEtH]

Man you are just hurting yourself :p So whens it going down?

On another note...
Well i\'d rather have the small mirror then one I saw in an older mercedes, it must of been like 16 INCHES WIDE!

[Xenon]

Originally posted by majic
o oh.. rearview mirror.. man that thing is TINY!!!

I agree, it is smaller than most cars... but driving my hatch, the rear window is still 100% visible in the rearview. If it were any begger I\'d be looking at the pillars on the side.

IMHO, I think the rearview mirror size is perfect for the car. A bigger mirror would only show me the walls on the side. It would have to be much larger (out of proportion) if I were to recieve any additional benefit (such as being able to see my blind spot) from it.

The situation in the 3 sedan may be different, since the hatch has an additional window on both sides vs. the sedan.

[car_demon]

I had this in my intro in the General Lounge section but I thought I would share my Protege 5 transition testdrive to the M3\'s with a cut and paste of my post.

With regards to my test drive of the sportback 3 I was impressed. Currently I\'m a driver of the P5 slightly modified with H&R 1.3\" drop allround, axel exhaust and intake; I immediately noticed the cabin space all around me was decent. Another 6foot passenger up front did not interfere with the shifter while they were sitting.

Whether it was a combonations of the 17\" rim/tires,better tuned OEM suspension and more rigid and longer chasis; the car felt \'sure footed and husky\'. This test drive was 2 days ago with still enough crap on the ground up here in the GTA(Brampton), but I would love to take her to the Forks of the Credit Road & Caledon twisties to see her manage the transitions. I encourage some of you to join some of the TPC/WRC cruises to really see how your car transition in better dry weather.

From what I could do, with the nervous salesman beside me, I noticed the most important thing. The 5speed calibration of the shifter and clutch was FRIGGIN AWESOME. I\'m a very picky and perfectionist type manual driver since I was formally taught by a British Driving Instructor 16yrs ago.

The P5 has to be modulated with conviction, purpose and desire to be smooth in the first 2 gears where most find it jerky and rubberbandish type launching from a standstill or creep. The M3 was more forgiving and graceful even if I hadn\'t established the proper shift points below, within and above the optimum powerband or point. This could be contributed to the \'V-tech\' or whatever Mazda calls it applying the appropriate torque, valve lifting, rpms etc technobable in the camshafts(blah, blah) The meatiness of the shifterknob and steering wheel was amazing. I did move off spiritedly shifting at a higher RPM as road conditions would allow and everything engaged like a knife through butter and without jerkiness. Evem downshifts were mellow.

I must admit this ranks up there with HONDA/ACURA, BMW manual trannies by which most auto enthusiast and writers say are top notch. I\'m currently reading up on your \'double cone synchronizer engineering feature. Whatever it does or improve WORKS AWESOME.

I didn\'t mess around with any of the electrical features as I was just concentrating on the driving and handling aspect which was the most important. I will book another test drive on a sunny and dry day and scare the crap outta the salesrep. Oh yeah.., the brakes got nice bite and the ABS kicked in adequately on the lightly snowy and slippery road conditions.

I hope your club members invest in winter steelies and rubber; We know that there is no such thing as an All-Season Tire only a compromise tire in our climate. I would definitely invest in steelies at least 2 rim sizes lower for cost effectiveness.

Oh yeah, and 160hp with V-tech compared to my 130 is damn noticable!
:D

[bubba1983]

cam-phasing, not cam-changing, lol now..hows that for WHOREING!

[car_demon]

Enough big Bub! My Dad just picked up a GS Sedan with Power Package and the fake sportmode ****.
I just backed it in and out of the driveway to take out my 5spd p5 outta the garage. I\'m gonna take it to the F.O.T.C. Rd. and Caledon twisties this weekend to test this thing out. I wanna see how sporty that sport mode is.., I better read up on how to use it though.

What a fawked AUTO TRANSMISSIONS TRANSFER GEAR SELECTOR? I was weaving in and out to get from Park to Drive and then hitting sport mode by accident.

Will update you guys later.

Moderator (Xenon) Edit: Post edited for profanity as per Forum Guidelines (http://torontomazda3.com/forum/read.php?TID=1388).

[Xenon]

Originally posted by car_demon


Enough big Bub! My Dad just picked up a GS Sedan with Power Package and the fake sportmode ****.
I just backed it in and out of the driveway to take out my 5spd p5 outta the garage. I\'m gonna take it to the F.O.T.C. Rd. and Caledon twisties this weekend to test this thing out. I wanna see how sporty that sport mode is.., I better read up on how to use it though.

What a fawked AUTO TRANSMISSIONS TRANSFER GEAR SELECTOR? I was weaving in and out to get from Park to Drive and then hitting sport mode by accident.

Will update you guys later.

You just have to get used to it. And with all due respect, many of our members have an AT and have found no problems with it. your opinion is welcomed, but choose your words a bit better in the future.

[car_demon]

And with all due respect, many of our members have an AT and have found no problems with it. your opinion is welcomed, but choose your words a bit better in the future.

Not meant to offend. Just a hardcore Manual driver for years, I was free-flow-freestyle typing from off the head about the experience.

Sorry! my bad language too. What is the ratio here on this board of AT to MT anyways? My other board had MT at around 75%. I haven\'t really taken her out for a good boot yet but I will update you guys to what I think...if that is welcomed? I\'ll do it politely.:)

[chaser]

Originally posted by car_demon
What is the ratio here on this board of AT to MT anyways? My other board had MT at around 75%.

you may get some idea from here (http://www.torontomazda3.com/forum/read.php?TID=640) ;)