What to look for when buying a MK3

[GlennyGills]

Hi,
I am probably be on the lookout for a MK3 (once insurance money) comes through.
What are the things to look out for when buying a MK3?

Cheers

John

[Mazda Mender]

What you look for is a mk1 ,mk2,Mk4.
M-m

[drumtochty]

OK from front to back of the car.

The front suspension bushes can weld themselves to the suspension bush inner metal tubes. In most cases it is a saw off job of the front arms. A heavey job that you need heavey duty saw blades for.

The front scuttle blanking caps need removed and resealed to stop watter getting in to the electics and the cabin.

The early cars 2005 to the NC2 use oil if hammered. We drove back from Le Mans to Aberdeenshire at circa 70mph and it used no oil. On the way down were doing stupid speeds keeping up with the other cars, say 90mph. It used 0.4 litres of oil. It never used any more in our ownership and is still going well in 2024

If you do not keep an eye on things if you rev the car it will goose the engine due to oil loss. Very few oil issues with the later cars.

JUST CHECK THE ENGINE OIL.

The exhaust recirculation valve needs replaced in say 30% of cars.

The sepantine belt tensioners can get very noisey. It has a timeing chain not a belt.

New antifreeze after 10 years then every 5 years. There are recent reports of radiator blocking.

Front wheel bearings can wear out. You need a puller to change them.

Pads at 25,000 miles, discs at 30,000 miles. My car needed one front and one rear caliper around 40,000 miles last year the next owner advise the other front caliper need change at 60,000 miles.

The indicators on the front wings for some reanon cause the paint below them to bubble.

The 5 speed box is not bothered re oil but the 6 speed likes Castrol Multivehicle to keep the change sweet.

The sill cover need removed and properly coated, buy a full set of plastic clips to put them back on as does all the steelwork around the rear arches, boot and back bumper need lots of checking and care

There is a seprate amplifier for the sterio and both the sterio and amp can fail, can be quite expensive.

A new central locking control unit is vey expensive if it goes.

Both the pre and post cat O2 sensors can go, usually the pre cat one is the issue.

The anti roll bar links are like toffee.

The convertiblae hoods are expensive. The fancy roof power hardtop can be expensive to repair if the linkage goes.

The drains on the convertible are a pain to clear

They are a much better touring car than the MK1 and MK2. Le Mans and back was not an issue. We enjoyed ours. Replaced with the MK4 184bhp, a better drivers car but a bit camped compared to the Mk3.