Automotive

2018 Mazda3 Sport GT

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May 25, 2009
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2018 Mazda3 Sport GT

Hi,

I'm thinking of leasing a Sport GT...however I'm iffy on if it's what I should go for. Within the "aprox" same price point, there's also premium luxury.. ie the Infiniti Q50.

Anyways, what would be a good price for the Sport GT? Not sure where to start; does anyone have quotes?

Cheers,
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Dec 11, 2005
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The Infiniti Q50 is at least $13k more than the Mazda 3 Sport GT. How are those two even comparable?
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I'd imagine the Q50 is leased over a longer period of time, if the payments are equal to the 3GT?

But like falen55 said, they're very different vehicles. The only thing the 3GT has going for it over the Q50 is probably cargo space.
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They're really no comparable, I understand, I'm more so looking to see if the extra 80$/month is worth it for the infinity?

Also wondering what's a good price for the Mazda? I'm looking at around 380 ish for a 4 year lease with 1k down. Mazda 3 sport GT with premium package

Thanks
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I got my '17 GT sport without premium for 27.5k all in; tossing in the premium package would've probably put my total at 30k. Discounts and incentives were the same as what I'm seeing on the site now.

I'm not too familiar with lease calculations, but you could probably work backwards from 30k, which is a decent 2k off.
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Definitely lease it, and jump on the 2019/2010 model once that rolls out. Fully loaded one should be under $30k pre-tax.
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gujuman23 wrote: They're really no comparable, I understand, I'm more so looking to see if the extra 80$/month is worth it for the infinity?

Also wondering what's a good price for the Mazda? I'm looking at around 380 ish for a 4 year lease with 1k down. Mazda 3 sport GT with premium package

Thanks
I pay $192 bi-weekly (or $384 for most months) for 36 months with $0 down for my '16 sedan GT. I believe the Sport is $1K more than than the sedan, so factor that into your calculcations.

The Infiniti may be just $80 more a month, but that's almost an extra $1000 per year. Also factor in the extra fuel cost in the neighbourhood of $500+ a year, as that car will need premium fuel as opposed to regular. I'm going to guess that the Infiniti will also cost more to insure.
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Talamasca wrote: I pay $192 bi-weekly (or $384 for most months) for 36 months with $0 down for my '16 sedan GT. I believe the Sport is $1K more than than the sedan, so factor that into your calculcations.

The Infiniti may be just $80 more a month, but that's almost an extra $1000 per year. Also factor in the extra fuel cost in the neighbourhood of $500+ a year, as that car will need premium fuel as opposed to regular. I'm going to guess that the Infiniti will also cost more to insure.
Adding to the part about insurance, check out http://www.ibc.ca/nt/auto/buying-auto-i ... measure-up
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Talamasca wrote: I pay $192 bi-weekly (or $384 for most months) for 36 months with $0 down for my '16 sedan GT. I believe the Sport is $1K more than than the sedan, so factor that into your calculcations.

The Infiniti may be just $80 more a month, but that's almost an extra $1000 per year. Also factor in the extra fuel cost in the neighbourhood of $500+ a year, as that car will need premium fuel as opposed to regular. I'm going to guess that the Infiniti will also cost more to insure.
Hmm thanks for that. I think I will go with the Mazda as it seems the insurance will be killer for the infiniti Crying Face

How you liking the Mazda? I've heard nothing but rave reviews about it Sooo pretty close to pulling the trigger. Not to mention the sky active is wicked on gas.

Considering your payments though; I'm going to see if I can push the lease payments down a bit :-) what dealer did you get your car from, assuming you're from the GTA?

Cheers
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Feb 17, 2007
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It's funny you have this dilemma, which really isn't one. I compared the exact same options back in 2016, among others, and ended up going for the Q50 limited.

It's indecent to pay the same price for a Mazda 3 than a Q50, It should be a no brainer.

Residual value of Mazda is (rightfully) crap, versus the Infiniti. That's what makes it a no brainer when leasing is involved. Also, the Q50 has a 4 year full bumper to bumper, and if you know your way around bargaining, you can have them include free scheduled maintenance for the duration of the lease.
I can't afford to buy cheap stuff. Always on lookout for deals on quality goods and services.
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Infinity are horrible for reliability, they gonna cost you big time.

Stick with the Mazda
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gujuman23 wrote: Hmm thanks for that. I think I will go with the Mazda as it seems the insurance will be killer for the infiniti Crying Face

How you liking the Mazda? I've heard nothing but rave reviews about it Sooo pretty close to pulling the trigger. Not to mention the sky active is wicked on gas.

Considering your payments though; I'm going to see if I can push the lease payments down a bit :-) what dealer did you get your car from, assuming you're from the GTA?

Cheers
I love mine. I got mine from Achilles Mazda in Milton. You can try contacting Jeff at Toronto Mazda, as he is sometimes on here.
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gujuman23 wrote: Hi,

I'm thinking of leasing a Sport GT...however I'm iffy on if it's what I should go for. Within the "aprox" same price point, there's also premium luxury.. ie the Infiniti Q50.

Anyways, what would be a good price for the Sport GT? Not sure where to start; does anyone have quotes?

Cheers,
The residuals are very low for the Mazda 3 now as they need to make up for the lease cash and 0 interest and all the other rebates. Imo it's not a good deal to lease it unless you intend to buy it out

Back around October, you could lease a 2018 sport GT for $155 inc tax biweekly for 48mths for 24k a year but cheapest now is around $170 I think
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I'd say forget the Q50, its an awful car. I actually prefer the Maxima over it if you were considering a nice Nissan 4 door. What makes the Q50 awful? The drive is extremely dull, Infiniti managed to turn a RWD sports sedan chassis into a FWD couch. Its so dull that I've driven FWD Toyotas and Buicks that were more interesting. Even though it got duller to drive, Infiniti still isn't good at sound deadening so the not very nice VQ engine noise is even more unpleasant. The interior room still isn't that large, something the G37 also didn't do that well in. The touch screen...the menu navigation is downright awful while the manual buttons are given a poor layout and small. Yes, the Q50 is a case of the succeeding car being an inferior car to its predecessor. I liked the G37 a lot, but I hate the Q50...I'm not even sure whether I consider it worse than the CLA or B-class.
- Jegan V
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JeganV wrote: I'd say forget the Q50, its an awful car. I actually prefer the Maxima over it if you were considering a nice Nissan 4 door. What makes the Q50 awful? The drive is extremely dull, Infiniti managed to turn a RWD sports sedan chassis into a FWD couch. Its so dull that I've driven FWD Toyotas and Buicks that were more interesting. Even though it got duller to drive, Infiniti still isn't good at sound deadening so the not very nice VQ engine noise is even more unpleasant. The interior room still isn't that large, something the G37 also didn't do that well in. The touch screen...the menu navigation is downright awful while the manual buttons are given a poor layout and small. Yes, the Q50 is a case of the succeeding car being an inferior car to its predecessor. I liked the G37 a lot, but I hate the Q50...I'm not even sure whether I consider it worse than the CLA or B-class.
Hah.

Thanks for all the input guys. I honestly had no idea about residual value...I was actually confused to see why Subbie lease payments were about the same for a car worth 7k more...makes sense now!

Now I'm really in a weird position haha. Not sure whether or not leasing a Mazda makes economical sense
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JeganV wrote: I'd say forget the Q50, its an awful car. I actually prefer the Maxima over it if you were considering a nice Nissan 4 door. What makes the Q50 awful? The drive is extremely dull, Infiniti managed to turn a RWD sports sedan chassis into a FWD couch. Its so dull that I've driven FWD Toyotas and Buicks that were more interesting. Even though it got duller to drive, Infiniti still isn't good at sound deadening so the not very nice VQ engine noise is even more unpleasant. The interior room still isn't that large, something the G37 also didn't do that well in. The touch screen...the menu navigation is downright awful while the manual buttons are given a poor layout and small. Yes, the Q50 is a case of the succeeding car being an inferior car to its predecessor. I liked the G37 a lot, but I hate the Q50...I'm not even sure whether I consider it worse than the CLA or B-class.
Good thing you have 1356 posts otherwise I would of called that a troll post... FWD Toyotas and Buicks more interesting to drive than a 3.0 twin turbo Q50 ? Sure... Sound deadening ? Wow lol... if the Q50 is loud, imagine how loud the Mazda 3 is.

I leased a 2014 Mazda 3 GT back in 2014 and really liked the car. It is fun to drive, modern, very fuel efficient (used to drive 500km trip often, averaging 5.8L-6.0L/100km most of the time), I think it gives a lot for the money. Things I disliked;

- Poor sound insulation(very loud when raining, or when driving during winter on slush, hard snow(hard snow is terrible, it is very loud))
- Weird clunk noise coming from the front suspension area when car was 1 year old and had 26 000km on it, there was a recall but it didn't solved the issue so I had to live with it for the rest of the lease, brother had same car, same issue.
- A bit unstable on snow covered roads when there are accumulations, but I think that is common on light compact cars.
- Infotainment system was laggy sometimes and a couple of issues with Bluetooth, they are probably things of the past now tho.
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Latitude57 wrote: Good thing you have 1356 posts otherwise I would of called that a troll post... FWD Toyotas and Buicks more interesting to drive than a 3.0 twin turbo Q50 ? Sure... Sound deadening ? Wow lol... if the Q50 is loud, imagine how loud the Mazda 3 is.

I leased a 2014 Mazda 3 GT back in 2014 and really liked the car. It is fun to drive, modern, very fuel efficient (used to drive 500km trip often, averaging 5.8L-6.0L/100km most of the time), I think it gives a lot for the money. Things I disliked;

- Poor sound insulation(very loud when raining, or when driving during winter on slush, hard snow(hard snow is terrible, it is very loud))
- Weird clunk noise coming from the front suspension area when car was 1 year old and had 26 000km on it, there was a recall but it didn't solved the issue so I had to live with it for the rest of the lease
- A bit unstable on snow covered roads when there are accumulations, but I think that is common on light compact cars.
I've driven both. For all of its flaws I still prefer the Mazda 3.

The Q50 has no redeeming features on the fun to drive portion. Steering on the Q50 is very dull, even on a non steer by wire vehicle, but the steer by wire ones were particularly poor. Handling, its shocking how clumsy this car is even though its not necessarily that big. Fast is not the same as fun, the Mazda MX-5 exemplifies that. I've driven faster cars and some actually aren't that nice to drive I'll give you a rather expensive one I've driven. Maserati Quattroporte...I thought it was awful to drive, its fast but definitely not worth the rest of the awful experience especially considering how much you pay for it. I have the same problem with the Q50 only the price is not as severe as the Maserati. I admit I'm way more critical of cars that cost more, so I'm not all that nice to Audi, Acura, BMW, Lexus, or Mercedes especially when I feel you got ripped off. In terms of fun, I've had way more fun in a dinky slow Mazda 2 then I ever had with any Q50. I'm not even anti-Infiniti, the G37 was one of Infiniti's best...and I couldn't believe how badly the Q50 turned out. All the flaws the G37 had are still with the Q50, only the package is significantly worse in several areas. I will say, the Q50 does look good.

I only mention the poor sound deadening not because the Q50 is explicitly loud, but because its engine drone is really annoying...you'd think at least if its dull and boring its quiet. Nissan's VQ engines are powerful, but the noise has always been something few liked even back in 2005. A lot of people equate the noise the Nissan VQ makes to a cow mooing, I'm not sure I'd consider that wholly accurate but its certainly annoying and something you don't want to hear on a supposed luxury car.

The only experience you lose out with a Mazda 3 that the Infiniti does offer is fast and a lot of silly gimmicky options. I actually was swapped out of a worse car than a Mazda 3 before I took the Infiniti Q50 for two weeks, a not very nice Scion xB...I wanted the xB back.
- Jegan V
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Latitude57 wrote: Good thing you have 1356 posts otherwise I would of called that a troll post... FWD Toyotas and Buicks more interesting to drive than a 3.0 twin turbo Q50 ? Sure... Sound deadening ? Wow lol... if the Q50 is loud, imagine how loud the Mazda 3 is.

I leased a 2014 Mazda 3 GT back in 2014 and really liked the car. It is fun to drive, modern, very fuel efficient (used to drive 500km trip often, averaging 5.8L-6.0L/100km most of the time), I think it gives a lot for the money. Things I disliked;

- Poor sound insulation(very loud when raining, or when driving during winter on slush, hard snow(hard snow is terrible, it is very loud))
- Weird clunk noise coming from the front suspension area when car was 1 year old and had 26 000km on it, there was a recall but it didn't solved the issue so I had to live with it for the rest of the lease, brother had same car, same issue.
- A bit unstable on snow covered roads when there are accumulations, but I think that is common on light compact cars.
- Infotainment system was laggy sometimes and a couple of issues with Bluetooth, they are probably things of the past now tho.
Interesting, thanks for the insight. I have a 04 Mazda so I'm SURE it's much more quiet than what I currently have LOL. Mine sounds like a V6 atm.

Mazda didn't fix that clunk noise?! I thought bumper to bumper is covered while on lease?

Also; (although it may be irrelevant due to the year) how much did you lease it for?
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gujuman23 wrote: Interesting, thanks for the insight. I have a 04 Mazda so I'm SURE it's much more quiet than what I currently have LOL. Mine sounds like a V6 atm.

Mazda didn't fix that clunk noise?! I thought bumper to bumper is covered while on lease?

Also; (although it may be irrelevant due to the year) how much did you lease it for?
Ahahaha I think I saw somewhere they said the NVH is improved on newer models ! It was my first Mazda so I can't tell ! Wind noise wasn't a concern tho!

It is covered, yes ! I went to the dealer and they changed some suspension parts(top plates and other stuff), but it didn't fix it. Went a second time and noise was still there so I decided to live with it since I was on a 3 years term and I hated spending time there or driving one of their base trim Mazda 5 while my car is in the shop for days...

Back in 2014 it was a new model so I think it was more expensive than it is now. 476$ tx in on a 36months term, 24000km per year. Tinted windows, 3M car protection and rustproofing (lifetime) included at that price(I know it is silly on a 3 years lease, but I had plans to buy it at the end of the lease, didn't happen). Buyback was 14 500$ if I remember correctly.
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@ JeganV - Sounds like a lot of the quirks from the Q50 with the VQ37 motors...

The current gen Q50 fixed a lot of those quirks and they "improved" the motors to either a 2.0T or 3.0T (VR30TT)... I liked the VR30TT, it's bloody fast (going straight) but not my cup of tea

You're looking at $80 - 100 to fill up with premium and a range of 400 - 450 km...
You will have to get a set of winter tires
May have to go to the dealership once or twice to fix a noise (depends how OCD you are)
May be disappointed by lack of options like folding mirrors, cooled front seats or heated rear seats
Likely get a speeding ticket or two

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