Taken not too long after they discontinued the speed 3. There were a couple more out front that aren’t pictured.
That’s the generation of Mazda 3 that I think nearly killed the company. Such an ugly design. What’s worse is that they didn’t rush through a restyling. They just kept on keeping on. Tweaking the styling and aiming more at the WRX, they really could have moved quite a few of the MS3 versions.
Ah I must have been one of the only people that liked that styling haha.
I like the design too. Aren’t smiley cars just Mazda’s thing?
Shame they were FWD only. They would have made an excellent alternative to Subaru.
Technically you can get one now, you’re just limited to an automatic.
That era was my favorite look for the hatchback.
This and the hatch WRX were perfect. MK6 GTI was ok.
For me, Mk IV R32 will always be the peak of Hot Hatch. I’ve never owned one and never will, but damn.
The prices of original R32s backs up this claim. Bring a trailer has had a coupon go over $40s I think.
Oh wow. That’s a lot of money, and even then they might have age-related things to take care of with parts availability getting worse and worse. Thinking of OE fuel lines, for example.
There are quite a few parts that just aren’t available for the r32 specifically like bumper covers and window trim. It makes cars in good condition go for stupid money, and junk cars still desirable. The Humble Mechanic on YouTube has a fair few videos on the R32.
Yeah, Charles is awesome. I haven’t seen his latest video yet, but the fact that somebody had his R32 in a body shop for two years for a full rust repair probably tells us that the surviving good specimens are sought after.
I really like the bugeye sti’s, but a dream car for me is the Renault R5 turbo
I had a 2008 Mazdaspeed 3. I still think those looked better than the smiley faces, not a fan of that. It looked ok on the black cars because it blended in.
I agree. I’d love to get a first gen but the ones I come across are all clapped out. I need that torque steer!
Yeah finding an unmolested one would be pretty difficult. I have a Focus ST now. The Mazda was a little more roomy in the cabin and felt maybe a little faster and more raw.
Still rocking my 2012 Silver genpu since I drove it new off the lot. Been the best balance of fun and reliability I’ve ever seen in a car. Just waiting for Mazda to get their shit together on their EV’s and make an electric AWD 3 hatchback.
I went German after my protege. I’m hoping the same as you and I’ll be back. Although I’ll be one of the boring people with a cx50 soon enough…
I always wanted one of these back in the day. I never did get one but I have a Miata now instead.
