As winter approaches, we've now fit our Mazda 3 with Continental ExtremeWinterContact winter tires in preparation for the snow, slush, and ice storms that we're sure to receive. Our new tires match the stock rubber in size at 205/50TR-17 and sell for $114 each. We're used to making compromises to ride and handling when fitting our cars with snow tires, and the Continentals are no exception. The 3's sharp steering is dulled, handling is less confident, and the ride significantly choppier. "I noticed a lot more torque steer while accelerating, and the Mazda wandered on the highway, requiring significantly more corrections than when it was on the stock all-season tires," commented copy editor Rusty Blackwell. On the other hand, we're expecting these tires to be quite grippy once the snow starts flying.
Aside from the new tires, we've been quite content with the 3, and the logbook has been relatively quiet. There have been two complaints about the 3's stereo, regarding relatively poor FM radio reception and the constant speaker interference caused by a BlackBerry. The interference creates a frequent staccato digital buzz. We're laying blame on both the Mazda and the BlackBerry, as our staffer has never encountered the issue in another car. In the Mazda, most other phones seem to happily coexist with the stereo, but a few other BlackBerry phones have caused the same noise.
In early November, we took our car to the local Mazda dealer for regular maintenance. The service only required an oil change and inspection that came back with all the checks in the green boxes. Total cost for the dealer visit was a hardly painful $35.71. Otherwise, the 3 continues to drive on in good health with almost 13,000 miles on the odometer. ...next page >>