Used 2008 Mazda MAZDA3 s Sport for Sale near Prescott, AZ

I LOVE HER TO DEATH The whole car is very soul driven, this is not an ordinary car, you buy this car because you love this car. Shifting the gears is such a soothing feeling. Racing away from the lights gets your heart pounding. Flying around on back roads is very settling, this car corners exceptionally. The interior is great, especially when you put the time in to keep it clean, and the exterior looks great from all angles. I sometimes just stop and admire her beauty for a couple minutes. Even when you red line her and push top speed around on highways, i still can get 28 to 20 mpg, great car! SO MUCH FUN! LOVE HER

Excellent style and gas mileage. great handling and control. Roomy, and has ipod connection from those long road trips. Lumbar support. the AC work excellent. Fun to drive!!!

The performance is good for the class of the car, the gas mileage is great, I really like the styling of the car, it's got a good look to it. It's a little bit expensive for what's in it. This car is so much fun to drive, it's worth it. The interior is very well done. The seats are comfortable,It's roomy enough for four people, and the trunk space is quite impressive. It's an easy car to upgrade, both audio and performance wise.

It was a stylish economy sedan, the best of its class, way ahead of its competition. it ran nicely but the suspension was firm for a small car like this. A reliable car, convenient and economic. the interior space was little to accomodate a family and the boot space was terrible.

When in the market for a small car with big fun, you can't go wrong with a Mazda3. That's a big proclamation for sure, but it's also perfectly true in the case of Mazda's "compact" Mazda3. The 3 has been around for a few years, replacing the successful Mazda Protegé, but with a totally new style in 2004. The body style falls into (then) current Japanese styling cues, looking like a smaller version of the luxury Lexus IS-300 wagon. With smooth planes, sharp creases and rounded forms, the Mazda3 is a standout in the way it looks, as well as the way it drives and handles. The Mazda3 came in 2 body-styles (4-door sedan and 5-door hatchback or wagon) and with 3 different trim levels - the i-series (sedan only) and the S (Sport) trim for both the sedan and 5-door models, and the top- of-the-line MazdaSpeed3 hatchback only. In later years, other trim levels were added, including the Touring and Grand Touring trim levels, adding more equipment with each tier. Every year, the Mazda3 (and the related - and more powerful - MazdaSpeed3) gained small, subtle changes. 2008.5 (a Spring release) was no different. Initially, the Mazda3 was only available (in the US, anyway) with black cloth or leather interiors in the "S" or Sport level trims. But the new model offered a new interior color choice - Black Sand. This changed the color for the seat and door panel trim to a light beige tone, with color- stitching in some areas. Some of the dash & console trim was changed from a matte silver tone to a glossy "Piano Black" trim. The sporty cloth bucket seats hold you in place, with a great degree of adjustability. The driver's seat has controls for forward and back and to recline but also can raise (or lower) and increase the lumbar support with a few movements of the appropriate levers. The seats are well bolstered to hold you in place (along with the grippy fabric) and yet they never feel tight or confining. The rear seats include a fold-down armrest with cup-holders as well as a 60/40 split back for carrying larger or longer items in the rear cargo area and still allowing you to carry a passenger back there, as well. And a great feature is that the center shoulder belt can be tucked away into the headliner, so that it's not in the way when carrying those big items. Driving the Mazda3 is more fun than most economical compacts, with plenty of "oomph" to get you going. The 5 speed "automatic manual" transmission allows for driving fun or ease. Move the selector down to "D" and the car drives like any other automatic transmission. shifting up or down smoothly and quickly. Slip the lever over to the "M" setting, and you can control the shift points - up or down - allowing you more control and more spirited performance. The transmission works nearly flawlessly. Every once in a while, the computer doesn't register the "upshift" of the level when in "M" mode, leaving the transmission in the gear you were in, rather than the gear you want to be in. Unlike other transmissions of this type, you MUST shift the lever (and the gear), as the transmission will not. Forget you're in "M" mode and you can redline to your heart's delight and your transmissions detriment. The shift lever is topped with a leather wrapped & satin finished knob - meaty and easy to hold on to. The engine is one of Mazda's best, a large 2.3 liter 4 cylinder engine, rated as a PZEV (Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle) in California. With a decent amount of horses and torque released by the fuel injection, the car never seems to lag or be at a loss for power. Sure, you won't be eating 911s and Testarossas for breakfast (or lunch or dinner) but the Mazda3 can make a tasty snack out of much of the competition. The downside of this power can be seen in the gas mileage, rated at 29 EPA on the highway. Of course, driving with a heavy right food and the air conditioning on will drop those numbers into the middle 20-MPG range ... and occasionally a tad lower. The Mazda 3 is also a very safe car to drive, with a load of safety features as standard. The "S" trim level includes 4 wheel anti-lock disc brakes, and a plethora of airbags. Part of the 1/2 year change included the addition of side curtain airbags, running from the A-Pillar to the C-Pillar along the tops of the windows, as well as dual front and side impact air bags. The three spoke steering wheel also houses controls for the cruise control and auxiliary controls for the audio system, all within a leather-wrapped steering rim. The levers on either side of the wheel control the lights, turn signals, and front & rear wiper controls. The thick rim is leather wrapped and easy to grasp and hold onto when you're having fun on the twisty roads you will love to find in this sporty and powerful little hatchback. The steering column adjusts up and down (tilt) and also telescopes the wheel some, allowing for just about any driver to get a comfortable driving position and still have a great view of the gauge cluster. Those gauges are easy to read, sitting in 3 deep "tunnels" with a load of information. Dead center is the large speedometer with a 140 MPH top end. To the left is the tachometer with the 6500 RPM redline with the fuel gauge and temp gauge filling the right side. In the speedometer is a display of the gear the transmission selector is in, including the lights for the transmission mode (D or M as above) and a numeric display for the gear you're in (1 through 5). The odometer (with twin trip meters) fills in a corner of the right side tunnel, easy to see and read at a glance. Of course, the usual warning lights fill the blank spaces. A cool feature is the red back-lighting, as well as blue LED highlights. Another great feature allows for different levels of brightness to the cluster, controlled by both a push button and a dial to dim is all down if the red is too bright for you. All of the controls are easy to find, with the radio and outside temperature display right at the top of the center stack. Just below are the audio controls, The audio controls are relatively easy to figure out, with the main buttons across the top. then the CD slot for the single or optional multi-disc changer. Below this are buttons to preset your favorite stations, choose the band and more. The power and volume control is a big knob right in the center of the face. There are also auxiliary controls on the steering wheel for some functions. 2 more knobs just below control other functions, including the ability to control the "ambient lighting" for the unit, as well as controls for bass, treble, balance & fade and also for a function that can automatically adjust the volume based upon speed and ambient noise. Directly beneath are 3 big knobs for controlling the climate system's functions and temperatures, as well as 3 smaller buttons for A/C, recirculating air and the rear defroster. When you twist the vent control and the temperature knobs to the most left settings, the A/C and Recirculation system are automatically chosen for you. A nice feature when you just want REALLY COLD AIR. Of course, the air never seems to get "really cold"; at least not on really hot days in the desert areas of Southern California. The black-topped dash, door panels and luggage cover absorb a lot of heat through those nice big windows. The A/C system just never seems to cool the car down quick enough. On normal days, the A/C unit works well, taking the bite out of high-double digits. But once the outside temps hit triple- digits, all bets are off for quick and easy cooling off. Those big windows that let in the heat give you an impressive outward view. Unlike so many other styles of late, the windows are big and open and not "squished" in the side by deep and high beltlines. The only visibility issue can come from the triangular rear quarter windows. Oh, and speaking of windows, the Mazda3 is one of the very few small cars where the back door windows go all the way down. If you own one, I'd suggest a high-quality tinting job to keep some of the heat out. There are, of course, as will any small car, a large number of upgrades and modifications you can make, from swapping out the big 17" alloys to a larger size, performance mods and so much more that only the sky (and your bank account) is the limit. There are color choices to fit most palettes, with 8 color choices. The Galaxy Gray Mica has a bit of a "bronze" cast to the finish, providing a light color- change depending upon the lighting. Other colors include Black Mica, Copper Red Mica, Crystal White Mica, Golden Sand, Metropolitan Gray mica, Stormy Blue Mica and Sunlight Silver. Interior colors are the aforementioned Sand (beige) and Black in cloth and black only in leather. The 2nd generation Mazda3 (new for the 2010 model year) didn't have the same serious and sporty look, and had a bit more of a "cartoon character" appearance to the front fascia, enlarging the "smiling" grill. Some of the muscular curves got more muscular and some sharp creases went sharper. It was restyled to "tone- down" the cartoon-like look and get back to that more "serious sporty" look. The MazdaSpeed3 is much more aggressive in style, with deeper sills, moldings and the rear spoiler. Five years of ownership of my Mazda 3 have revealed no major issues - at all. Other than concerns about the sometimes low fuel economy and a seeming propensity for attracting dings in parking lots, I've not really had any issues with the car. The only issue I did have was repaired under warranty, after a few tries to diagnose the problem and find the true cure. When the steering wheel was turned to lock and the A/C was running, the vehicle could stall out and discharge the battery. The fault was found to be a wiring harness from the alternator to the power distribution center and battery. One other minor concern is that at times, when the wheel is turned to full lock, the electrical system seems a bit overloaded and the lights dim. It seems like the alternator and other parts of the electrical system just aren't up to snuff on the car. Same can be said for the power window controls - they pull a bit off the electrical system. Again, it's like the alternator just doesn't put out the volts that the car truly needs. Overall, I'd give the Mazda3 S 5-door a solid 4 1/2 stars out of 5. Cost of ownership (except for the gas) has been on the lower side of things, with easy maintenance and low costs. The original stock tires wore out a little quick (about 30,000 miles) but the front brakes went until over 40,000 miles of spirited driving, with a good mix of stop-n-go in-town driving. A total keeper!