Three months into our Mazda 3, and a quick note on how the now less relatively new ride has been faring!<\/p>\n
Auto-sensing screen wipers: still a little temperamental, but more often than not – as in maybe 3 out of 4 occasions – the wipers will sense the amount of rain accurately and adjust the wiper frequency.<\/p>\n
Proximity auto-locking: we figured out the system’s (funny?) logic. Basically, the auto-locking works fine – just so long as we don’t open the car boot while exiting the car. If we do – e.g. to take Fairprice groceries out from our weekend shopping – then no, the proximity auto-lock won’t kick in. Hilarious.<\/p>\n
MP3s off the flashdrive: we’ve noticed a pattern here. When Ling leaves the car parked in her school when at work, the media player won’t remember the current playlist and reset it. The player doesn’t blink everywhere else, including overnight in the Minton carpark. The playlist has now reset for us to listen to Thomas Augustine Arne’s Overtures so many times now that it’s beyond mildly annoying now LOL.<\/p>\n
iStop: we hardly notice it now. The engine seems to disable iStop more frequently when the car is consuming more electrical power – e.g. the air-conditioning is turned up higher because it’s hot – but it’s certainly stopped being annoying even then.<\/p>\n
Fuel consumption: we’re still not getting the 8 liters\/100km mileage reported by some owners, but it’s at least been doing better. We started at 9.3, and it’s now creep down to 8.7.<\/p>\n
On other aspects of the car:<\/p>\n
The sunroof is fun and it does make for a more bright-lit interior compartment when driving in the day-time. Caveat though is that forgetting to close the sunroof on a typical sunny day will see you returning to an oven.<\/p>\n
The electrically controlled driver’s seat. We adjusted it to a position where both Ling and I were comfortable, and never touched it again. In other words; it’s a nice thing to have, but unless you’re in the habit of constantly adjusting the seat recline or its position, there seems to be no real long-term benefits against a normal mechanically controlled seat.<\/p>\n
Built-in navigation: nice to have, though on the odd occasion the map has been off by a hundred meters or so. In any case, more often than not, if both of us are in the car, one of us would be using Google Maps for directions.<\/p>\n
Brake and acceleration pedals have indeed loosened, or just as likely, our feet have adjusted to the required pressures to get the kind of response we need.<\/p>\n
Another update perhaps at the end of this year, or earlier if there are more interesting things to say about the Mazda 3 before then!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Three months into our Mazda 3, and a quick note on how the now less relatively new ride has been faring! Auto-sensing screen wipers: still a little temperamental, but more often than not – as in maybe 3 out of<\/p>\n