Might have yet another Honda

[crazymikey]

The rear windsheild wiper doesn't do a good enough job?




maybe its a sedan/coupe difference?

It's mostly in the rain or in the winter when it makes such a big deal.

The way the snow blows up on the rear of the car due to the airflow, it covers the tail lights and hatch. Almost every time you stop, you need to wipe the snow off the lights so you don't get rear ended, and the rear wiper is constantly on wiping off the snow and crap that likes to settle on the rear window. At the same time, I need to dig through about 6" of snow on the bumper so that I can open my hatch.

I find the 3 hatch has pretty bad blind spots, as I've had to narrowly avoid some lane change sideswipes. I got those little round convex mirrors that stick on your side mirrors and they help such much for lane changes, that since I put them on, I haven't had issues changing lanes or backing up with the car.

All round visibility in the Civic coupe I thought was great.


And yes, rust. Both rear doors, along the seam under the door panel are rotten. Both rear fender lips are surface rusted, and where the quarter panel meets the bumper is beginning to rust. I have heard so many complaints of rust on 04-05 Mazdas, that Mazda even repaired some of them under warranty, or as a manufacturer defect. I inquired at the dealer and they laughed in my face.

rexload, I have had my Mazda for sale for over 6 months and I have had 1 serious offer. I owe $11k on the car and a guy came to me with $9500 cash. I couldn't come up with the other $1500 to pay off the loan, so I couldn't sell him the car with a lien on it. On a good day, my car is worth $7-8k in the private market. With my higher miles (near 87k miles), it's a hard market because there are so many 3's out there for sale with low miles and low prices, so why would someone choose mine when there are so many more out there? I do not, and will not have the cash saved up any time soon to pay off any difference that I owe, which will be greater than $2500.

I can't get an SI because insurance will be higher and I'll be over budget. With the way payments and insurance are going to be with the 07 EX, I am already pushing towards the top of my monthly vehicle budget.

deev, good that you brought up your knee hitting the console in the 3. Mine does too, and it's really annoying, I think it's part of the problem that gives me the cramped feeling inside.

[King James]

I dont know what you consider too much for insurance....but I was 21...with 3 tickets with a brand new 08 si....and I was only paying 240 a month for insurance when I was in Alberta....I was also used to Ontarios insurance where I was paying 200 for the cb before I left so that was cheap

Id highly suggest the si....Again I get your mind seems to be made up....but the si is soooooo much better than the regular civic....I can find sis all day long for 16-18 grand

I will say if you really dont want to pay a bit more for the si....dont even think of test driving one....When I bought mine I was only slightly considering getting a new car...and was thinking of a lower trim civic or a fit....drove the si more just cuz I wanted to see the k20....then couldnt go back to anything else.

[crazymikey]

Oh don't get me wrong, an SI would be the absolute tits, but my insurance is only going up to $103/mo on the 07 EX for full coverage from $101/mo on the Mazda.

The EX is a nice car. It's local. I don't want to be making 4 hour round trips to Calgary to buy a car and deal with a dealership. This 07 black EX fits my bill of what I want. 4 doors, 4 cylinders, 5 speed, black, tint, reliable, great on gas, practical car, comfortable and nice to drive.

I don't think I'd be finding a Civic SI in the $13-15k range out here unless it's miled out. They had a black 02 Civic SI 3 door hatch at the Honda dealer for 10k with 97k KM on it. I called about insurance on that and they wanted $190/mo for it.

Also on that note, I can't get dealer financing on anything older than 05-06, and I do not have a line of credit to buy a car on.

['93CB7Ex]

But hey, I can always do an engine swap lol.

[turbomaxx]

I agree with James... If you don't get an Si, I feel like I'll be reading this all over again in 6 months where your wanting the Si... Why not just look for an si? You could surely find one reasonably close and in your price range.

[crazymikey]

Maybe because I don't need a sporty, flashy, racy daily driver and the extra cost associated with an SI is totally not worth another 50hp, some sporty seats and some flashy body accents, and the red flag insurance.

I would rather have the cushy, more luxurious version for every day booting around town and long trips. If I really wanted an SI, I'd get a coupe instead.

I got in the EX, and I was greeted by a very comfortable interior, a nice, clean, sleek looking car that isn't a cop magnet, and a car with very good driving characteristics, and a car that is capable of performing all my year round driving duties.

Sure an, SI would be cool, but is it really necessary? That's like everyone jumping on me for saying if I bought a Mazdaspeed3 in the first place, I'd have been so much happier and would love it so much I wouldn't be wanting to get rid of it.

I'm building the Accord to be low and a cruiser. It won't ever be daily driven. It's just going to be my fun car that has a rough ride, a loud exhaust and stereo and commands attention both good and bad wherever it goes.

Even with the car in a state like that, I think I would be more comfortable driving that every day than the Mazda. There are few other vehicles, such as my mother's 2001 Kia Sportage, which I'm actually tired and sore from driving afterwards, and the Mazda is one of those cars.

[Clean_4th gen]

I hear you man, thats how I felt when I got the Versa...I could've gotten an SL(loaded model) with sunroof, power locks/windows, alloys, fogs, etc. but do I need those features? Not really, all I need is a reliable ride with A/C, and radio. I'll get a project eventually.

Whats the update on getting the Civic?

[crazymikey]

eh, got the credit stuff back and I can't really do anything. Interest is only going to drop 2% and they want a couple thousand down, so it makes absolutely no sense to go ahead with it.

I'm just going to wait I guess, and stick it out with the Mazda for a little while longer. Not like there's anything wrong with it. The banks want atleast 6 months of current employment, so I have to wait til July before I can even look into doing anything.

[stretch JDM]

look on the bright side bro , there has to be some one who wants the mazda . have you put it up for sale and tried to publicly display it ? I have found that when you want to sell a car its all about location. Good luck man , i hope all goes well with the sell .

[Clean_4th gen]

Not bad, July is around the corner. And like you said...the Mazda is fine so you're good.

[crazymikey]

look on the bright side bro , there has to be some one who wants the mazda . have you put it up for sale and tried to publicly display it ? I have found that when you want to sell a car its all about location. Good luck man , i hope all goes well with the sell .

No point. I owe $11k on it. Private sale is worth $6-8k. I can't come up with the other $2000+ out of pocket to pay it off.

I had a kid offer me $9500 cash and I couldn't sell it to him because I couldn't get the other $1500 to pay it off.

[crazymikey]

Got around to doing some maintenance on the Mazda. My front brakes were shot. Original rotors, pads had nothing left, so I did my front brakes last week.

The Puge Valve Solenoid is a very common issue with these cars. It goes bad and causes a crappy idle, laggy acceleration and hard starts after refueling. The dumb part is, it took me 5 minutes to replace it, but it's a dealer only part and I had to pay $142 for it.

However, after a 30 minute test drive with the new solenoid, my car idles fine, has no more acceleration lag and it's so much more responsive and drives way better. I cleared my CEL with my scanner and it hasn't come back yet. I thought originally it was my CAI setting it off, but I'm pretty sure it was this stupid little solenoid.

I'm due for an oil change in about 1000km, and should probably do a coolant flush sometime as well, as well as replace my serpentine belt. I'll check my plugs, but I replaced them at 125 000km and I'm just shy of 139k now, so they're probably still okay for a while longer.

Otherwise, all is good in the Mazda, so I'll just keep on rockin with it. Might look into repainting or powdercoating my rims, as the paint I did on them last year is chipping pretty damn bad. I'd rather spend about $200-300 powdercoating them, than buying some new wheels for it, cuz I really like these stock 17s, plus my tires were brand new just before I bought it.

The only way I'm going to get rid of the Mazda is on a trade in, so I'm not even going to bother advertising it privately.

[Clean_4th gen]

Good job on getting that stuff done. It's crazy how we try to trade our cars in, doesnt work out, then we go back to working on our old/older cars(happened to me after crashing the Versa).

[HondaB18]

mike, have you tried to refinance your loan through another company or bank? i'm not sure how credit bureaus work in canada or whether or not your work history is sufficient but worth a shot. that way you can upgrade later to a better car