The Mazda 3 follows the Mazda 2 as the "cheap toy car" in the companies line-up, in fact, in certain areas in the country the Mazda 3 completely replaces the Mazda 2. The issues are similar, you have a combination of a cheap basic car with decent built (Toyota) with a nice stylish look with inefficient parts (Kia). The Mazda 3 will look stylish and will boast about features to get you excited. All of this at an affordable price point new, and near dirt cheap used, however you are basically getting nothing more than a car you'd only really buy if you go 2-5 minutes down the street to the grocery store maybe a few times a week. The Mazda 3's internal design is pretty bad and will be the source of likely most problems buyers will face. It's to easy to have multiple parts break in a small collision or in heavy precipitation. It can go fast, but skidding on turns can cause force to knock things into each other, and the engine is unreliable out the box, it is recommended to get some adjustments made or a new modern engine in your Mazda 3 if your going on the highway. By default the engine will take up a lot more gas than it needs to as well. While it's still not too bad compared to other brands for gas guzzling, it is supposed to be one of the most gas conservative vehicles on the market, but the ineffective design choices destroy that prospect. Externally the car looks very nice and modern, but the outside material is very flimsy as if you were driving in plastic. It is definitely not a car for long-term use. Your best bet is to go to a dealer and get replacements for many parts and have some adjustments done to the casings to make it harder for parts to be displaced or get damaged.

The car is pretty well equipped for the price that you are paying. I have the version with leather, HID xenon and leather. A lot of these options would be costly in most other models, because you would have to add them as add ons normally. The car is dependable and pretty good on gas mileage, I would say the styling is good.