Jonathan,

I'm kinda curious about the pricing you received from the dealers between the Mazda3 and the Fit, during your negotiations. Did Honda come down on the price aggressively? As I mentioned, Mazda came down all the way (including with my trade-in) to actually beat the Fit in terms of price (and they gave me 0% interest payments til I pay it off).

I was looking at the Sport Fit (Blackberry Pearl) and was 99.9999% sure that I was going to buy it this year, then Mazda just stepped right in and beat the price (out the door). Honda wouldn't do ANYTHING for me.

So at basically 17K flat, I drove out with a 2008 Mazda 3 I Touring, while it was a little more than that for the Sport Fit (out the door), so that's what ultimately made the decision for me (in addition to the M3 being a more powerful car, etc).

But I'll agree, I really enjoyed test driving the Fit.

 

Those are Mazda's basically and yes they are good. A friend has one (a '99) and it's still going strong although she says even when new it was a coarser running car than her 200k old accord.

But the original Escorts made by Ford are a different matter. Those cars were total junk as many friends bought them. Timing belts snapped at 29k, warped heads, bad transmissions and the worst part was Ford did not stand behind them. I tried to warn my friends after seeing one friend's die the day after he bought it (timing belt), but they continued to suckered in by the price. 12 years later my Corrola still ran find when I gave it to a friend. And it was still running when she got a new car, long after those Escorts had raced to the junkyard. Yes Ford is a better company now, but they did not stand behind the cars they suckered my friends into buying..yet they and the American auto companies (along with JD power etc) wonder why people won't start buying them again.

 

Bit late but I'll chime in too. Never test drove a Mazda 3, but I sat in one and for some reason my knees were hitting the center console right at the funny bone. The seat was all the way back and I'm only 5' 8". :confused:

I crossed the Mazda 3 off the list after that. That was kind of strange, maybe there was something wrong with the seat, but it's all good because I got the Fit. :D

 

its a common issue, so its not just you.

 

We used to own a Mazda3, it was mainly my wife's car. In comparison, I think we'd both choose the Fit (and I'm not a huge Honda fan). The 3's backseat was cramped, and the front seat didn't offer much more room either. The gas mileage isn't that bad (we got 32mpg several times), it's a pretty torquey motor, has lots of trunk, and handles very well. And we had the Grand Touring, so that had the rain sensing wipers, heated leather seats, 6-disc changer...very well equipped car. Having said all that, the Fit was just more fun and practical. The car feels quicker (although on paper slower), handle far better, definitely has more seating room, and ofcourse economy is greater in practically every category. If we get another 3, it's going to be a MazdaSpeed. As far as I know, Mazda dealers have more room to play on the price of Mazda3 compared to a Fit, so you won't see a lot of haggle room on a new Fit.

And just to be clear, Ford owns stock in Mazda, and does have decision making power in what does and does not get made but does not build or design Mazda's cars; if you've been following recent automotive news, you'll know that Mazda makes and designs it's own cars. You don't find Ford engineers running around the Mazda design studios. Mazda is unique in the automotive industry as being a major player, but still relying on it's owners and tuners to test and design cars, because they have a generally small budget. (The ethanol 450-hp 3-rotor in the Furai was credited to Racing Beat, a longtime rotary tuner). Ford generally steals from Mazda's part bin, less the other way around. Mazda is probably the most grassroots auto-maker out there and is dedicated to it's enthusiasts.

 

I used to work for a mazda dealership and the profit margin on the GT with leather interior was only about 1600-1700$ CAD and the Fit sport would be around 1300-1400$ CAD so there is not a huge difference and room to bring the price down that much. If you add accessories then it's much easier to get a better deal as the markup on those is insane.

as for parts sharing the 2.3L engine is a ford block but everything else is mazda so it's a pretty good engine. the mazdaspeed 3's engine is all mazda.

 

I find the interior of the 3 to be very large. I am 6' and I can be comfortable in both the front seats and back seats, very good head room.

 

Yea, that's why I was confused. Maybe my legs just happen to be the right length (or wrong length) where the console hits my funny bone when I lean it sideways.