Complete utter trash. Lemon of lemons with every stealership you go-to with a ms3, their eyes say it all. . cha-ching $ / $ Yes this was a fun car to drive, surprising good gas mileage initially, but they were hit or miss vehicles. There's literally msforum thread called Zoom Zoom Boom, and talks at great length contemplating the prone and common failures with the cars. Some would eat through multiple turbos, transmissions, engines, some caught fire, some had engine mounts break with the car parked in the garage and engine hits the floor because some idiot engineer thought it's a good idea to put a good size 2.3 engine with only3 engine mounts. The rear one would fail causing the side 2 to create a pendulum swinging motion. Here's my long story short.

Bought brand new 2010 speed3 with 6 miles on the car. Jm1bl1h45a1***** and at 460 miles, I had begun having transmission problems. Dealer replicated problem, rebuild on the transmission after disassembly and inspection. I didn't quite comprehend the severity of this situation then, because I got the car back after 3 weeks happy , i t drove great again, no popping out of 2nd gear. Before the first year ended im starting car from leaving class, and plume of thick white smoke. Get car towed to same dealership , they replace the turbo. Had the balls to ask me for recipts for oil changes, all 2 in 7000 miles.. I abliged. 5w30 Castrol. Now I'm terrified to drive the car. The transmission was rebuild, turbo had excessive shaft play in a matter of months, and even though I owned the car outright I thought to myself, I'll just build it faster than it could break. Go after all the common areas, engine mounts, frequently service it, it'll be good right? Nope. I had about 2 good years with the car and was stage 2 fully, pro tuned, enjoying the car FINALLY. IT cost 24k brand new after taxes, base model, no extras. If anyone paid more than $26k they had the tech package aka fully loaded, and there were no other options available in North America. It was an additional $2500~. But by the end of year 2 I had gone through tires, brakes, a full exhaust, tuner, ecu controller, intake, upgraded engine mounts, new intercooler, conservative tune, not to mention upgraded suspect fuel system everyone says if u don't get a hpfp (upgraded internals) then you're zzbooming. Many did. But I didn't have common problems nooooooo. I had the kinds of issues that one I pray never has. Moved across country, new dealership, they're were practicing driving sales in the service lane "autonews" and I didn't know it then, but i was about to get hustled. Hard... They did a oil filter change, told me I needed new brakes when mine were just done about 10k miles before moving. Same with tires which they wouldn't rotate, stating I was at the final tread wear indicators measuring 3mm all around. Impossible. I drove it hard but I'd been babying it because I was scared to break the fuckin thing. Changed transmission fluid 3x in 60k miles, oil every 2500-3500, no more. , Sometimes more. Coolant was done before I left, everything. I trusted that one or two shops that worked on the car before I moved and they did right by me. But this shop was unsupervised, going through changes, new ownership,

If you like a car to get out of the way of the slowdogs, then this is it. The 264 HP turbo charged Inline 4 cylinder engine Is ashock when you put the right foot down. The Turbo has some noticeable Lag (the time from the petal hits the floor to the time the car Bolts forward hard) I'm sure this time could be dialed in a little tighter.. 1st. gear is only for putting the car in motion you need to immediately need to hit 2nd or it's over reved the engine, 2nd gear is where you really notice the pull and pulling away from other cars, Then a Quick shift to 3rd and it hits harder and you see the cars behind you in your rear view mirror really stop dropping back. Does it have speed you ask?? I have had mine to 135 and it got there quick and still had 6th gear to go and that was a uphill run. The speedometer says 180MPH, Will it do it, I doubt it but believe me I'll try again when the time and road's are right. The steering is so quick and precise it's learning to drive all over again, It will straighten out the corners! My test track was Kingsberry grade going from Carson Valley to Lake tahoe. Lots of steep, sharp unforgiving mountainous road curves for 11 miles and raising from about 4500FT. to 7400FT. I spent 2-1/2 hours pretty much hitting the Sierra Nevada high elevation mountain roads from 25MPH to 85MPH, Faster in the straights. So all in all, my test trip was from Carson Valley up Kingsberry Grade, around Lake Tahoe And down Monitor pass coming out again 30 or so miles from my starting point. IThe interior is convertable, Albiet I'm a short guy of 5'4" and 29" inseams in the legs. This car is designed for a fairly tall I'd say 6ft. person down to my heighth. Headroom is great and even the biggest around person can get into the car fairly easy because the front doos open really wide. I'm guessing my salesman @ 250 to 275, He opened the door and slid right in, he even commented on his size and the ease of entry...
Now the minuses. Not too many!

1st gear is a little too low, It's like driving a 5 ton farm truck that you need that "Granny Gear" to get moving.
The turbo causes pull to the left when under heavy acceleration. I know Turbos do this but this one almost got me in trouble on one sharp curve when I accelerated hard to pull the car through the corner.
Although I love the the crisp quick steering It's going to take a little driving time to get used to it going down the freeway. It's like you think to change lanes and you're there quick.. Now this isn't actually a minus but to the normal guy that hasn't driven anything with abrupt steering it's going to be a retraining session to get it down.

I find the center console arm rest is a worthless item for my size. it's so far back that My elbow can't reach it. For a 6ft. person with your seat set back would be no problem.
The adjustable steering wheel (tilt and telescopic) just doesn't seem to come toward the driver enough when your legs are in a comfortable place.
I don't know if it's a being short thing or not I found my right leg hitting the center console while cruising at speed.(pushing the seat back would aleviate that problem but then the steering wheel does not go back far enough)

Let's see. In summary, This car should NOT be able to be sold for under $30,000. The emenities are just beyond that price range.. (And the U.S. Automakers wonder why we are turning to the Foreign market for our vehicles!)
If you want a nice comfortable ride, Go somewhere else! If you don't mind a "little" exterior noise sneeking into the interior,Go somewhere else!

BUT! If you're like me and crave power under your foot,If you like to play occasionally on curvy back country or Mountain roads
If you want to listen to a stereo system with 242 Watts of power Driving Ten(Yes I said TEN) Bose speakers and all controls at your finger tips on the steering wheel, "along with your Phone that comes through the speakers" If you want a car that people will turn their heads at and is a lady grabber, If you want the Adrenaline rush and pure driving fun, If you like a custom interior from the factory, If you like not having a car key (only a small device in your pocket,) If you have kids that need a large rear seat area,If you like performance along with 25 MPg,
If you like sitting low to the ground and just itching to let er rip,

Then to you all,,, This fits the bill, and at a low cost..

If this is your first car, your last car or somwhere in between you in no way can't go wrong with this Mazdaspeed3. Yes there's faster, there's more comfortable. But at a much higher output from your wallet.

I guess you could say I really like my Speed3 and I would agree with you with a smile on my face :-).

POWER! NOISE! Handling is okay...I'm still use to rear wheel drive.

Rubbery shifter.

I just took delivery of a Taska Ford Mazda Superspeed3. What makes it Super are the dealer installed mods from the Taska Performance Division...always topshelf in all they do, including this mica black ms3! 325 hp, 400 ft/lbs of tourque make this an incredibly outragious but still adequately civilized rocket. Youve read all he glorious reviews, now imagine a ms3 with these power numbers!

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I own a Mazda Miata well.

Handling. I've managed to miss a lot of very close calls in this vehicle.

Known issue with the design of the back braking system: they wear more quickly than the front and often have brake dust showing long before the front. Odd situation when it's a front wheel drive car. That being said, they've fixed the style of the brake pads for subsequent years.

Flooring on the passenger side likes to come up. It's a known issue with the first make of the 3, and has been resolved in subesequent years as well.

I bought my 3 in 2004, after my old vehicle met a tragic end. I have never been happier with a vehicle! I have had very little to no trouble with my car (aside from a stupid known issue with the floor peeling up on the passenger side).

It handles phenominally, and as my friends like to say "she's zippy". For a little 4 cylinder sedan, it really does have a lot of pick up and go. If asked, I would recommend this vehicle to anyone that enjoys driving.

If I had to sum up my feelings about the 3 in one word - FUN.