The mileage isn’t great on the Mazdaspeed3, even if you keep your foot out of it. But I only have 1,500 miles on mine, it should improve.
They’re a little hard to find but I don’t think any cars are selling particularly great right now.
I like the Mini, but I think the Mazdaspeed3 looks cool as hell. They’re a more exclusive car, only 5,000 a year are made. And service costs aren’t bad, they have Mazda, Ford, and Volvo parts in them. Made in Japan so build quality is very good.
The Mazdaspeed3 actually limits your torque in the first and second gear to keep you from burning the tires off and reduce torque steer. In third gear and above you get the full 280 ft/lbs of torque. It will even competently pass in 6th gear. Plenty of power.
The Mini is probably “neater” and has quirky charm, the Mazdaspeed3 is faster and like you said, a sleeper so the 5-0 shouldn’t notice you as much.
The Mazdaspeed3 looks good, too. I’ve nothing but good things to say about Mazda, so far I’ve driven a Mazda3 and an MX-5 (Miata), and I haven’t had one problem.
If you’re concerned about reliability, it’s probably best to get the extended warranty. I’ve heard mainly good reviews about MINI customer service - that was for Europe, however. I don’t know what warranty packages are available in your neck of the woods; I know that there is an excellent and really cheap warranty package for the UK, and I think I’ve heard that they implemented that here in Germany this year as well.
For reliability, the Clubman probably isn’t the best choice as BMW haven’t had time to iron out the kinks yet, with the R56 I think they’ve stayed so close to the R53 that this shouldn’t be a larger than usual issue. That, and so far most people who purchased one seem to be reasonably happy.
Oh, and I think I’ve heard that for the R56, the 6 speed is standard…at least the Clubman that I test drove had that, and AFAIK they’re specced out like the R56. I don’t know about manual vs. automatic, though, and things might be different in the US anyhow.
I got mine in 2006, so it looks like I just missed out, eh? Well, such is life.
I have to say, garygnu’s tale of woe certainly fills me with a bit of trepidation. Anyone else have similar stories or advice concerning what one should do when the warranty runs out?
I understand the engine management system in the lower gears. Ford did the same thing only on a simpler level. They had a valve actuated bleedoff that created a 2 stage wastegate. But the Ford 2.3L used a vane meter and batch fired injectors. The modern engine use mass-flow metering and direct sequential injection. What I was looking for was low end manners and the Mazda behaved very well. You could dog the engine at very low rpm and the engine was smooth and responsive. The only thing I didn’t like was the change in the hatch area. They took out the separate floor compartments (which in turn took away the middle shelf). It’s not a deal breaker or anything but I was put off that they left it out. A regular Mazda 3 could be set up so that the rear passengers could open up the deck lid and store or retrieve stuff such as snacks.
Dodge has a similar car with the turbocharged Caliber. It has 280 horse but less torque than the Mazda. The interior is cheaper but they have more little bells and wistles such as an auxilary glove box cooler for pop and a built in 115V outlet. The intercooler is also in front instead of on top of the engine which cleans up the engine compartment. The big mistake Dodge made was putting 19" wheels on it. WTH were they thinking. They had to limit the travel of the suspension to do it and those are expensive tires to replace. Haven’t seen one at the dealers yet so I don’t know how they drive.
Ah, that’s right. My MINI person told me that they were going to discontinue that. (A shame, because it was kinda neat.) I’m guessing they did so because it tended to suffer from catastrophic failure after about 3 years?
I really want a Cooper S, in British racing green. But, what is up with the dealers? I speced the car I wanted on Mini’s website and sent a request to the 6 closest dealers. Three didn’t contact me at all, one has sent several obvious form letter emails that insist I need to see them in person in order to get a price. The other two tried to sell me used ones with completely different equipment (that cost more than the MSRP on the new one I was looking for) and when I didn’t bite, told me that the price was MSRP + document fees for all new Minis. One of them also said that there was exactly one Cooper S with the Sport suspension for sale in the entire US. Is this really the only car that sells for MSRP, or is this just another case of greedy, scumbag dealers?
Don’t know about the Mini-S but the Mazda speed-3 sells for sticker. They’re also restricted to dealerships that meet certain criteria. I had to drive 60 miles to test drive one. Limited edition cars or high demand cars command sticker (or higher) prices. I suggest you spread your net wide in search of your car.
They will sell for less than sticker, but they bitch about it a lot. I guess they know that someone will probably come in and pay MSRP, but with the car market being so slow they couldn’t turn me down, I probably could have done even better.
No, MINIs are in demand enough that MSRP is pretty much the price to get what you want. I’m the organizer for a local MINI group and everyone I know that ordered theirs built to their spec payed MSRP. Those that got “deals” typically either bought used or something off a lot or were otherwise “flexible”.
As for internet inquiries, in my experience and not to do with just MINIs, but dealers don’t put a lot of faith in those as they don’t consider them “serious buyers” in the first place and they don’t get to do their salesman schtick. For instance, in your case you emailed 6 dealerships and obviously were only going to buy from one. It could help if you explicitly state what you want and the price you’ll pay or otherwise indicate you intend to buy from them specifically if they can come up with the right car. Much better response, though, if you print out your specs and show up at a dealership (and endure the salesman).
My husband just got the oil changed in the Mini, and it cost $70. :eek: My Nissan gets the same gas mileage (35mpg) and my oil changes cost $20 at the dealership. Also, paying for premium gas hurts. But he says it’s good in the snow for its size and is really fun to drive.
Another positive is that Minis tend to hold their value. In fact, Motor Trend said:
The picture on that page looks just like ours. Heated leather seats! Sun roof! It’s a good little car and cute as a bug’s ear.
I’m talking about Mazdaspeed3s. Probably the reason that sales person told you they only sell for MSRP is because they didn’t carry the Speed3 and wanted to discourage you from buying elsewhere. Cars aren’t moving real well right now, I got my 08 Speed3 GT for less than MSRP and from reading the Mazda message boards some people did a lot better than me. They’re just a little rare, not every Mazda dealer carries Mazdaspeed vehicles.
Also for any model car, if you can manage to find a new 2007 on the lot you should be able to get a really good deal.
The sales person I talked to was a motorhead who liked turbo’s. We actually talked alot about competitor turbo’s. He didn’t attempt to sell me anything. We talked about markup on other cars and he wasn’t out-to-lunch on the numbers thrown out. My impression was that the speed6 was easier to deal over but I didn’t like the lack of head room in the back. I also like the looks of the 3 better.
But thanks for the info. It’s nice to know there is some wiggle room. If I get serious about buying one I’ll invest some time researching the price. In your researched opinion, what was a good markup (over cost) for the cars.
I’m trying to figure out what to do with my T-bird. If I can get the long block finished with the turbo kit for less than $10K I’d be happy. It’s taking up space in my garage and I don’t have the time to work on it. It would be nice to have a 550-hp sports car that is old-school low maintenance.
My particular dealer normally sold for 1% over “invoice” but not the Mazdaspeed3s. I got mine for $700 under the sticker price (plus tax/title/tags), but others claim to have done better.
for repairs and maintenence, as it’s a BMW. They are very nice and fun cars, but only fairly reliable.