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Hatchbacks Mazda3 Mazda3 2.3 vs. '07 VW Rabbit
389 messages, Last post on Apr 17, 2009 at 12:40 PM
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I traded My 03 Accord v6 for a Rabbit 2 door, 5 speed For my 18 year old daughter. I paid 14,500 for the car. My experience with the dealership was a 10, repairs include only a lose vent, avg gas mileage is around 25mpg. My daughter wanted this car because she thought it was cute. A true test came when we took a trip to Chicago from Memphis and back in a 42 hour period, I was so impressed with this car, We got around 29 mpg, On the interstate we probably averaged 80 mph and peaked around 95 mph. The ride was very comfortable, good pickup even at 75 mph. We left Chicago at 10 pm in a really bad rain storm, the traction control handled amazingly, the headlights and wipers did their job very well. In the City the car was easy to drive, the little 2.5 engine was perfect, its not a race car but had plenty of pickup. Also while on the 9 hour trip we were never without a good radio station. My only complaints are the the stick shift, Sometimes starting from a start it wasn't very forgiving and I thought the gas mileage could have been better. The bottom line is I was comfortable and felt safe. This car gets a 9.5 in my book.but when you factor the price of the car it gets a 10+,
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Replying to: tsungtak (Apr 19, 2008 4:36 am) I've always thought that this new Rabbit is amazingly comfy-riding for a small car. My 2000 Civic hatch (the most recent model w/ the high-tech full-double-wishbone suspension all around) isn't even close. I also doubt the clumsy heavy bulky '03 Accord w/ huge turning circle really rides smoother than the Rabbit. I almost bought a Rabbit/Jetta last year, but was only appalled by the electric pwr steering's lack of feel. Instead, I decided to collect an '07 Focus 2.3 ST & sacrifice ride comfort a little. Just days ago when upgrading to Quaife differential in my Mazda-powered Focus, I had a '95 Jetta VR6 as loaner car. I was impressed by its good-old VW steering's natural feel & the decently absorbent ride comfort, even w/o the modern Focus-type Control Blade multi-link rear suspension found in the most recent VW's. Too bad that an old VW had several broken parts everywhere -- it makes my '90 Mazda Protege twin-cam feel like a new car by comparison.
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Carfanatic007: Actually, Consumer reports disagrees and they (VW GTI/Rabbit) are not recommended due to poor reliability. What a surprise. http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/cars/past-road-test/hatchbacks/overview/hatch- - - backs-ov.htm What say you, Carfanatic?
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Replying to: 600kgolfgt (May 12, 2008 3:06 pm) BIG MISTAKE - It bearly made 74K miles. List of some items I recall: Mutiple engine oil leaks (warranty covered) and the biggy --> timing belt broke at 69K miles crushing valves...well before the 100K warranty (VW replaced it but it took 1-1/2 weeks to fix). I actually called 3 VW places before the incident to find out when timing belt is to be replaced, they all stated 105K (conveniently just 5K after powertrain warranty  ). The #1 reason not to buy VW, the VW service guy told me to unload my 1999 as soon as possible, I did --> now that's VW confidence !!!!  p.s. I told my brother to buy one which he did get a 2000 Passat with 5 speed and he never lets me forget since he has had major & minor issues as well. 
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Replying to: godaddy1 (May 14, 2008 1:49 pm) |
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Replying to: godaddy1 (May 14, 2008 1:49 pm) School's in session. Here's your homework. Learn it well: New Rule - It is not wise to purchase an automobile (from any manufacturer) early in the production cycle. I learned that the hard way with my first VW - a 1975 Mk1 Scirocco (eventually drove it 200,000 miles after getting the initial bugs fixed) - and secondly with my next car - 1977 Datsun 280z (the first year a 5-speed manual transmission was offered, and suffered two transmission replacements as a result due to poorly designed bearings). I learned my lesson well with my next four cars (all VWs): 1987 Golf GT - 16 years, 624,000 miles (until I hit a deer at 55 mph) 1997 Jetta 2.0 - 5 years, 250,000 miles (still going strong - engine doesn't burn a drop of oil) 2003 Wolfsburg Jetta 1.8T - 5 years, 115,000 miles (still going strong) 2003 Passat GLS 1.8T - 5 years, 80,000 miles (still going strong) Do you sense a pattern here? All four cars mentioned were purchased at or near the end of the production cycle - enough time for the manufacturer to work out most of the bugs... The VW service department who advised you to dump your car was more than likely a big cause of your problems by cutting corners on the maintenance and/or ignoring factory recommendations (such as using the wrong motor oil, for example). Case in point: The demise of your timing belt is caused by one of the following conditions: 1) Sludge. The dealership, the factory (and possibly the car's owner) dropped the ball on this one. Turbocharged engines REQUIRE synthetic oil (meeting the VW 502.00 specification) every 5000 miles. Not 5001 miles. Not 6000 miles. Not 7500 miles. Not "Oh I haven't changed my oil since I bought the car new". No exceptions, do not pass GO, do not collect $200. The service department more than likely used conventional 5w-30 motor oil which they purchased in bulk to save money. Sludging eventually causes oil starvation - especially to the cylinder head with the camshaft operating the timing belt. Cylinder head seizes while engine is still running - timing belt gets sheared - valves meet pistons - bye, bye, engine. At the time immediately before the timing belt broke, major engine damage has already occurred. 2) Water pump. But since your car is a 1999, the engine more than likely had the older-style aluminum water pump (which will last at least 150,000+ miles) instead of the plastic water pump that came on the scene during the late 1999 model year. If your car has a date of manufacture past mid 1999, then chances are it has the plastic water pump which has been known to disintegrate around the 60,000 - 70,000 mile mark (confirmed when I had the timing belt service performed on my two 1.8Ts at 65,000 and 73,000 miles respectively) - resulting in the broken pieces jamming the water pump. And since the plastic water pump is driven by the timing belt, a seized water pump will lead to the timing belt's demise in similar fashion as the sludge scenario described above. Lesson learned: Those drivers who insist on being the "first kid on the block to have the newest car fresh off the assembly line" are volunteering to become beta testers for the automotive industry, usually at great expense $$$$. As an aside, the powertrain in the Rabbit has been in production since 2005, and has been quite reliable during that period, and at present (being a non-turbo engine with a timing chain helps as well). So chances are that the 2008 model has most of the bugs worked out.... |
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Replying to: 600kgolfgt (May 15, 2008 9:25 pm) Lesson learned: Those drivers who insist on being the "first kid on the block to have the newest car fresh off the assembly line" are volunteering to become beta testers for the automotive industry, usually at great expense $$$$." That's the whole point. Being the original owner of the first-year-model 1990 Mazda Protege produced in Japan, I still found the car long lasting & quite trouble free even today, aside from very few minor early- production glitches that were remedied by the factory service bulletins. But the same cannot be said about the last-year-model 1984 MkI Jetta produced in Germany -- things have been falling apart for many years. Well, I am glad that at least my 1999 E36 BMW 328is & 2007 Focus ST (w/ Mazda-developed 2.3 powerplant) all came from the very end of the production cycle. |
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Replying to: 600kgolfgt (May 15, 2008 9:25 pm) That is not accurate. There are many mfgrs that you can purchase a vehicle from in its first few model years and have little no issues. Most of the Japanese makes have little issues in their first few years, where as German brands tend to have numerous issues not only in their first years, but many years afterward. I will say, credit is due to VW for improving their product.
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Replying to: aviboy97 (May 28, 2008 8:15 am) Last year Consumer Reports showed that even the venerable Toyota and Honda companies experience more issues in their initial production years than in the second, third or following years. As a consumer, it seems like a wise strategy to wait until the early adopters test out the new releases.
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Replying to: autonomous (May 28, 2008 9:03 am) If you as a consumer think it is wise to wait until the 3rd or 4th year of production on a particular vehicle, that is ok. Most cars tend to have a few issues in their first couple years. My point was that the German makes are so much more suseptable to problems then Japanese cars are, and since you brought up CR, they also agree with my statement. |
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