Hi Ian,

First of all I would say get an MX-3 before they are all gone. The
newest you can get as far as I know is a '98 S plate. Dont know if you
can get newer ones on an import but I would stay clear of imports just
cos of insurance issues and lack of service history.
I dont find the back seats that bad for my kids but they are only 3
and 6 but I have sat in them and they are better than say my friends
celica. But then I am fortunate to also have a four door car for the
big trips!
Re which one to buy the 1.6 should be more economical but everything I
read says its completely gutless. Everyone says go for the 1.8. Thing
with this is the old ones pre '94 I think have 134bhp as standard
whereas after this they dropped the bhp to 128. Dont know why?
I dont think insurance is that bad compared to other comparable cars.
Economy isnt great. I agree with others on here. I get about 30mpg
too. Trouble is the tank only holds about 200miles worth of fuel whish
is a pain.
Economy would be better if fifth was better spaced. Its just another
guy not an overdrive so when you are doing 70mph revs are at about
4500 so uses more fuel and also makes it noisy. Good for me but maybe
not you :-)
Servicing is the main issue though. These cars need cambelt changes
every 5yrs or 60k miles. This is expensive. Its normally 3-4 hours
labour and you dont want someone dodgy doing such an important job.
Steer clear of Mazda. They charge a fortune. My BMW is cheaper to run
than my Mazda for servicing. Other problem is car needs servicing
every 6k miles. Mechanic told me you might get away with 8k miles if
you do a lot of motorway miles.
Not sure on aircon but does seem to be the newer models. No reason why
it shouldnt work if its been serviced. You might have to get it
regassed tho. Not sure what that costs.
My car has been very reliable. I bought a '93 L reg about 18months
ago. I have done 15k miles in it and its never let me down. I have had
it serviced 3 times in that period tho including cam change. Had 67k
miles when I bought it and now up to 82k miles.
The blue is a wierd blue. Quite dark with a sort of greenie tinge to it?
There are enough to choose from on autotrader or ebay but not as many
as some other cars of the smae age as I say. just had a look. 73
across the country right now on autotrader of which only 37 are 1.8.
14 have aircon and of these only 7 have less than 100k. But there are
lots of cars with up to 150k miles but generally they dont seem to do
much more than this.
The big of bunch is '97 P reg with 37.5k miles!! its less than £2.5k

Best of luck but if you get one dont forget full service history with
that cam belt change and make sure you do an HPI check.

Regards

Bryan
--- In mazdamx3ownersuk@..., ianlinden_uk <no_reply@...>
wrote:
>
> Hi Ian,
>
> I no longer have my MX-3, nor all the manuals, but I can remember
> some things.
>
> I think all the V6s after 1996 had aircon included, to try to boost
> sales. Mine certainly did. I've driven both the 1600 4 cyl and the
> V6 and I found the former very disappointing (even compared to a 1600
> cc Rover), so I opted for the V6. I used to get between 28 and 32
> mpg, and the average was 30.3 mpg.
>
> I would choose to go for the youngest I could get, because they are
> hard to work on and parts are not cheap, so an older one could work
> out to have higher cost of ownership in the long run. Having said
> that, my 96 gave me 3.5 years with only one wheel bearing to replace.
>
> I hope that helps.
>
> --- In mazdamx3ownersuk@..., "Ian" <i_d_johnson@>
> wrote:
> >
> > Hi all
> >
> > I've just joined the group as a potential owner and have a few
> > questions.
> >
> > First of all a bit of background.
> >
> > I have wanted an MX-3 since the 90s but never felt it was an
> option
> > for various reasons - financial, practical - family & kids come
> first
> > & all that. Now I think it might be time to indulge myself. I've
> had
> > several, well 4, Honda Civics (N-Y reg 3 door - not the recent
> Focus
> > clone) which I've been happy with not least from a comfort point of
> > view. Someone kindly wrote off my last one a few weeks ago and I
> > started thinking about the MX-3 again. I test drove one and liked
> it.
> > It's comfortable enough but it lacked air con which I'm used to now
> > after 10 years. I do a lot of miles and thought the MX-3 would be
> > thirsty on petrol as well as being much more expensive to insure -
> > group 13/15 vs. 4 for the Honda.
> >
> > However, I read somewhere on the web that fuel economy is good for
> > the MX-3 and when I did an online insurance quote it came out as
> £390
> > for a 2000 Honda vs. £370 for a 1998 MX-3. So now I am considering
> > the Mazda again. My options are:
> >
> > 1. Stick to the Civic which is easier to come by & easier to get
> with
> > air con, may be cheaper to run & more reliable being a bit newer
> >
> > 2. Get an Mx-3 as late a model as possible and fulfil my ambition
> at
> > last before they become even harder to find
> >
> > 3. Get the Honda now and after I move house in the summer,
> depending
> > on my finances which are in a state of flux, get an older MX-3 as
> > well for fun/occasional use, not necessarily with air con.
> >
> > If anyone can offer any advice and specific answers to the
> following
> > questions I'll be grateful.
> >
> > a. Was air con standard on any models - did it only come on the 1.8
> > or was it optional on all? How easy is it to find - I can find very
> > few that have it - and is it still likely to work after 9 or 10
> years?
> >
> > b. How economical are they to run? If I have it as my main car I'll
> > be doing mainly motoroway driving but not hammering it.
> >
> > c. How reliable are they? Are there any known faults to look out
> for?
> >
> > d. I've seen references to them in caribbean blue. I thought they
> > only came in red, white, black, silver & green as standard, can
> > anyone tell me what shade of blue this is? I did a quick search
> > online but couldn't find any pictures.
> >
> > Thanks to anyone who reads this & offers any advice
> >
> > Ian
> >
>