Interested in a Mazda 3. Need help with few questions

Cruis3r · March 7, 2021

1. The car is a 2009 model Mazda 3. It appears to have the infamous 'dashboard melting' issue plagued with Toyotas and other brands during the timeframe. The owner has wrapped the dashboard with a cloth like material to hide the sticky and ugly dashboard. It actually looks nice. However, during the pre purchase inspection, the garage advised that this wrap could severely affect the airbag deployment and recommended to buy a new dashboard which has the issue fixed. What are your thoughts on this?

2. The car is a UK spec, so the speedometer and mileage are in miles and the turn signal lever is switched. Are these considered a major turn off in our market that it would affect my resale?

iRage · March 8, 2021

1. Yes....do change it...the melting can cause the surface to either turn stretchy or brittle. In either case it will hinder proper airbad deployment. In some dashbaord the surface can be rewrapped (depending on the extent of the damage) because it is only the surface material that has melted. In some cases it needs to be replaced as the structure underneath is also cracked or spoilt because the melted cover has compromised it. So...you could go to a PROPER garage and see if it the entire dash needs replacing or if it can be just rewrapped (if it is rewrap-able...go to a proper place so that they use materials that are of the original spec and do a proper fitment. If the material is not up to spec that could effect airbag deployment and if not properly fitted there will be air bubbles later on and it will get all messed up again.

2. O the brightside..90% of the car buying public are already turned off by your car for not having a Toyota badge on it..so you only have to deal with like 8% of the imbeciles out there...the remaining 2% would be proper motorheads who appreciate a car for a car. If the buyer belongs to the above

2% : then as long as you have proper records, do an honest job restoring, repairing and servicing the car and price it reasonably they will appreciate the car and it will be an easy sale with some negotiating for some pending work (usually a reasonable amount to fix all this) or what they can afford to offer you if you don't come up with a better offer.
8% : they will bring up the fact of resale issues, point out some things they want or spotted and throw a ridiculously low number to start thigns off with and go back and forth with some offers (each offer might bring up a new issue) and at the end may or may not end up buying it.
90% : oh they will come although they would not want anything other than Toyota..especially the brokers....they will come and talk about how stupid you were to buy a Mazda as it is not a Toyota...talk the talk on how they will be doing you a service/favor by taking it off your hands and giving you the price of 3 cows, 6 donkies and 8 chicken.

Edited March 8, 2021 by iRage

mazdaspeed · March 9, 2021

On 3/7/2021 at 7:18 PM, Cruis3r said:

1. The car is a 2009 model Mazda 3. It appears to have the infamous 'dashboard melting' issue plagued with Toyotas and other brands during the timeframe. The owner has wrapped the dashboard with a cloth like material to hide the sticky and ugly dashboard. It actually looks nice. However, during the pre purchase inspection, the garage advised that this wrap could severely affect the airbag deployment and recommended to buy a new dashboard which has the issue fixed. What are your thoughts on this?

2. The car is a UK spec, so the speedometer and mileage are in miles and the turn signal lever is switched. Are these considered a major turn off in our market that it would affect my resale?

I too checked her out and she is a beauty 😍 - some concerns were those mentioned above and few other minor matters which I noticed. All in all, who ever owns it - hope it's looked after well as it would be sad to see her get wasted. This is not for the Guys who wants zillion KM per liter, and do fancy RICE Mods etc . Hence know the car , do proper research and be prepared for a tad bit high price on maintenance compared to your average T or N branded car ( No offense to them - as I drive an N brand now and know the difference in maintenance costs first hand )

mazdaspeed · March 9, 2021

23 hours ago, iRage said:

90% : oh they will come although they would not want anything other than Toyota..especially the brokers....they will come and talk about how stupid you were to buy a Mazda as it is not a Toyota...talk the talk on how they will be doing you a service/favor by taking it off your hands and giving you the price of 3 cows, 6 donkies and 8 chicken.

Very true and they sell it with an absurd price saying its' one of a kind etc.

There was another issues on undercarriage - UK + Salt (roads in winter) etc ... but I could not see not get a better view by simply looking underneath - need to hoist it to have a better idea .

The owner had done a complete check on faults etc and seems to be OK - but your point is a concern.

iRage · March 9, 2021

5 hours ago, mazdaspeed said:

There was another issues on undercarriage - UK + Salt (roads in winter)

A bit off topic...but it is a false to be believe that cars from Japan are automatically free from salt. Far from it...depending on the area of Japan and the intensity of the winter (which can go from non existant in one year to full on frozen armeggedon the next). In fact it is worst because on one hand people do not know when or if salt had been sprayed. It is just that in Japan cars are kept pretty clean so during/after winter the cars would get a complete wash (most of the time in a machine and htose have under carriage sprayers).

No matter where the car is from..if salt is sprayed it is a pain in the rear-end..however, with proper maintenance (regular and thorough undercarraige washing) the impact of salt is quite minimal...especially on newer cars with much better pain protection.

mazdaspeed · March 10, 2021

thanks for the update iRage - as I've seen some pretty bad cars at the service station I use to visit in kalubowila. But she may not be the case as it was imported through personal use car as per the seller