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Trading in Mazda3 for a Fiesta ST

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#1
I learned the hard and expensive way that I do not jive with boring cars. Or specifically, it has to be so cheap or so luxurious that most other things can be forgiven.
My Mazda3 is not the most refined ride out there, it's not the fastest, and it's certainly a step down from my GTI.

I am now cross-shopping an E90 330i that I passed on for the Mazda3 and the Fiesta ST.

Why the 330i? It's the last of its kind. Manual, the sweet naturally aspirated inline-six, sports package. Part of me wants to say that it'll be too much headache as a daily driver and if I really want a faster car in the future, I can get into a Mustang, Corvette, maybe even a Porsche.

Why the Fiesta ST? It's cheap, certainly more practical than the 330i. I recently got into road cycling and miss having a hatch.

I'm just very conflicted, so my apologies if I sound a bit scatterbrained. Liking cars and being just out of college doesn't really leave you with a lot of options...
 


Dpro

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#2
I learned the hard and expensive way that I do not jive with boring cars. Or specifically, it has to be so cheap or so luxurious that most other things can be forgiven.
My Mazda3 is not the most refined ride out there, it's not the fastest, and it's certainly a step down from my GTI.

I am now cross-shopping an E90 330i that I passed on for the Mazda3 and the Fiesta ST.

Why the 330i? It's the last of its kind. Manual, the sweet naturally aspirated inline-six, sports package. Part of me wants to say that it'll be too much headache as a daily driver and if I really want a faster car in the future, I can get into a Mustang, Corvette, maybe even a Porsche.

Why the Fiesta ST? It's cheap, certainly more practical than the 330i. I recently got into road cycling and miss having a hatch.

I'm just very conflicted, so my apologies if I sound a bit scatterbrained. Liking cars and being just out of college doesn't really leave you with a lot of options...
I would forgot the BMW unless you like spending lots on maintenence . Get the ST and be happy.

Oh and this is coming from a BMW E36 M3 owner who has owned more than one. The E36 M3 is on its way out the door . Awesome cars to drive costly to own.
 


zanethan

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#4
In my opinion, I would live with the Mazda3 for another year or two and establish yourself financially before taking the financial hit on the trade in. You're just out of college likely have student loans to pay off and likely won't be making a ton. It's no fun having to stay in on a Friday night because you don't have the cash flow to go to a bar with friends.

That being said if you MUST change cars, I would look for a slightly used or left over '17 Fiesta. The maintenance costs will be less and the mileage will be lower. I would also consider the FoST as it is a good blend of fun/practicality/and comfort (assuming you go with the ST2/3 package). The FoST will fill your needs longer in my opinion as well.
 


Ford ST

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#6
My wife has a 2011 Mazda 3 2.5 hatchback it's been a great car, and will keep it till dust. Get the ST man the insurance is cheap, the car is cheap. A BMW is hard on the $$$$.

Sent from my LG-LS997 using Tapatalk
 


Dpro

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#7
Didnt the FiST prove itself to have better straight line performance than the M3?

Edit: watch this https://youtu.be/Gbcj-zE7gBw
Actually its not faster in straightline performance..... but that being said I can personally echo a lot of Matt Farrah’s opinions on the car vs the BMW. The BMW’s and the M models especially are the classics in the garage that if you drive every day will wind up costing.
The Fiesta is the car you drive all the time and just grin about it all the time. I climbed out of a TC Kline coilover equipped ,lightwieght flywheel M5 clutch M3 and jumped into the ST and walked away from the ST stating that was the most fun I have had driving a car in awhile. I know a former 997 owner who proclaimed the same reaction to his 997 vsthe Fiesta. Ford got this car right regadless of if its actually faster.

In my opinion, I would live with the Mazda3 for another year or two and establish yourself financially before taking the financial hit on the trade in. You're just out of college likely have student loans to pay off and likely won't be making a ton. It's no fun having to stay in on a Friday night because you don't have the cash flow to go to a bar with friends.

That being said if you MUST change cars, I would look for a slightly used or left over '17 Fiesta. The maintenance costs will be less and the mileage will be lower. I would also consider the FoST as it is a good blend of fun/practicality/and comfort (assuming you go with the ST2/3 package). The FoST will fill your needs longer in my opinion as well.
This is good advicd. I own the Mazda 3 equivelent a 2012 Focus. It has a 150k drivetrain warranty and 64k on it. I don’t owe a cent on it but I could see keeping it and driving it into the ground as its going to be reliable for a long time. I am actually also looking a Ecoboost 1 liter Fiesta which would probably be the only car I would consider shifting the Focus for.

All of this is besides owning my ST . Though fresh out of college upside down on the Mazda I would say the OP shoudl chill his jets and the worst thing would be buying the BMW. Lol
Thats trading one debt for another form of fininacial hardship.
 


danbfree

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#8
I learned the hard and expensive way that I do not jive with boring cars. Or specifically, it has to be so cheap or so luxurious that most other things can be forgiven.
My Mazda3 is not the most refined ride out there, it's not the fastest, and it's certainly a step down from my GTI.

I am now cross-shopping an E90 330i that I passed on for the Mazda3 and the Fiesta ST.

Why the 330i? It's the last of its kind. Manual, the sweet naturally aspirated inline-six, sports package. Part of me wants to say that it'll be too much headache as a daily driver and if I really want a faster car in the future, I can get into a Mustang, Corvette, maybe even a Porsche.

Why the Fiesta ST? It's cheap, certainly more practical than the 330i. I recently got into road cycling and miss having a hatch.

I'm just very conflicted, so my apologies if I sound a bit scatterbrained. Liking cars and being just out of college doesn't really leave you with a lot of options...
Is the Mazda3 paid off? If it helps and you don't know, the FiST pretty much does not understeer like every other FWD car in the world, it's crazy how it would rather go up on to 3 wheels rather than understeer, but of course I'm sure it can be coaxed too... On the other hand it does have a decent amount of torque steer, so along with AP/tune and RMM I'd definitely recommend at least a 2 pt/traction bar as one of the first mods.
 


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#9
Bought an E90 330i new back in '06 and it was an AMAZING car. Had the sport package of course and would still have it to this day if only it had a manual instead of the steptronic tranny. The BMW auto is quite good, but nothing beats rowing your own gears.

In fact I considered picking up another '06 330i, this time with the proper tranny, and even found one locally for a decent price, but wasn't sure I wanted to deal with the nightmare that is German-car-out-of-warranty. Been there, done that, don't really want to do it again.

So FiST was the logical next step in my desire to get another "fun" car. I say get the FiST. With a couple mods you'll be making 330i power with 1/10th of the issues involved with owning an old(er) Bimmer.
 


RubenZZZ

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#10
I sold my '04 325i with sport package for my FiST in 2016.

The bimmer was a great ride, but maintenance starting getting expensive ( i bought a SULEV model not knowing what it was). Seemed like i was dumping $500 every month for something new, so figured might as well have a new car. I miss having a sunroof and leather seats but thats it. The FiST is a much funner car.

Out of warranty BMWs can be costly.

Sent from my 2PYB2 using Tapatalk
 


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#11
I learned the hard and expensive way that I do not jive with boring cars. Or specifically, it has to be so cheap or so luxurious that most other things can be forgiven.
My Mazda3 is not the most refined ride out there, it's not the fastest, and it's certainly a step down from my GTI.
I'm assuming you mean a new (3rd gen) mazda 3 here? If so, I actually thought they were pretty decent cars, very good chassis and steering, and pretty nice interior, at least in the GT trim. 100% agree with you about being a step down from a GTI though.


I am now cross-shopping an E90 330i that I passed on for the Mazda3 and the Fiesta ST.

Why the 330i? It's the last of its kind. Manual, the sweet naturally aspirated inline-six, sports package. Part of me wants to say that it'll be too much headache as a daily driver and if I really want a faster car in the future, I can get into a Mustang, Corvette, maybe even a Porsche.

Why the Fiesta ST? It's cheap, certainly more practical than the 330i. I recently got into road cycling and miss having a hatch.

I'm just very conflicted, so my apologies if I sound a bit scatterbrained. Liking cars and being just out of college doesn't really leave you with a lot of options...

The Fiesta ST in my opinion is lighter and more fun to drive than the GTI, it feels more engaging. However the GTI's interior is much, much better, and your first complaint seemed to mention the lack of luxury found in your mazda. If that's the case I can't imagine you'll be happy in the FiST for long.

The 330i is a different animal from both, being RWD and older. The pro's here are that it will be more fun to drive than the FiST and the GTI, it'll have an interior at least on par with the GTI, and they aren't that expensive.

The big question here is are you mechanically inclined? If you can't handle simple maintenance items yourself that's a big issue, and if you can't handle bigger jobs like water pump, rear subframe bushings, etc, then the 330 could get very expensive very quickly. Not to mention, finding one that has been properly maintained and is up to date on this stuff is difficult, you'll likely have to buy from a private seller. In most cases people trade these in to dealers because they had a bunch of expensive repairs they didn't want to do.


Liking cars and being just out of college doesn't really leave you with a lot of options...
I'm assuming a lot here, so keep that in mind, but I'd guess you probably aren't making a ton of money yet, and you probably also have some student loan debt. It also seems to me that you don't quite know what you want yet, so really selling your car, eating the loss from depreciation, and buying another car you might end up regretting doesn't seem to be the right choice.

That said, if you are in fact mechanically inclined and you know you really like that 330i, then just be patient, find one that looks good and has most of the big $ items already taken care of and buy that. We're talking an $8k-$12k car here, maybe a little higher if you find a clean ZHP. It's not like you're buying a 30k mustang brand new that will depreciate to 20k in a year. You'll get to experience RWD and an NA i6, which will give you a whole different experience than buying another turbo 4 hatch like the FiST.
 


danbfree

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#12
I've never understood all the hate for the FiST interior, and I came from Audi's previously... sure some of the materials are cheap but it's a nice modern design to me, I see absolutely ZERO reason to keep bringing it up like it's a MAJOR issue... if it is then they wouldn't be even considering anything less than luxury brand in the first place.
 


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#13
I've never understood all the hate for the FiST interior, and I came from Audi's previously... sure some of the materials are cheap but it's a nice modern design to me, I see absolutely ZERO reason to keep bringing it up like it's a MAJOR issue... if it is then they wouldn't be even considering anything less than luxury brand in the first place.
Never said it was a major issue, OP complained of the mazda's lack of luxury, which has a nicer interior than the FiST (assuming 3rd gen mazda 3), so clearly seems it would be an issue for them.

No need to take offense to it, the FiST interior is no doubt not great, minus the recaros, but who cares? Who buys a FiST for the interior? Just like the Evo X, nobody cares about the cheap hard plastics and rattles, we understand the compromise was made to put the money into the drive train and chassis, otherwise the car would be much more expensive.
 


danbfree

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#14
Never said it was a major issue, OP complained of the mazda's lack of luxury, which has a nicer interior than the FiST (assuming 3rd gen mazda 3), so clearly seems it would be an issue for them.

No need to take offense to it, the FiST interior is no doubt not great, minus the recaros, but who cares? Who buys a FiST for the interior? Just like the Evo X, nobody cares about the cheap hard plastics and rattles, we understand the compromise was made to put the money into the drive train and chassis, otherwise the car would be much more expensive.
Fair enough, absolutely... it just seems like it's talked about far too much when I'm personally not seeing any problem considering it's price point.. Even all my passengers agree, they even think it's nicer than it should be for such a cheap car, heh...
 


Dpro

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#15
The 330i is a different animal from both, being RWD and older. The pro's here are that it will be more fun to drive than the FiST and the GTI, it'll have an interior at least on par with the GTI, and they aren't that expensive.

The big question here is are you mechanically inclined? If you can't handle simple maintenance items yourself that's a big issue, and if you can't handle bigger jobs like water pump, rear subframe bushings, etc, then the 330 could get very expensive very quickly. Not to mention, finding one that has been properly maintained and is up to date on this stuff is difficult, you'll likely have to buy from a private seller. In most cases people trade these in to dealers because they had a bunch of expensive repairs they didn't want to do.






That said, if you are in fact mechanically inclined and you know you really like that 330i, then just be patient, find one that looks good and has most of the big $ items already taken care of and buy that. We're talking an $8k-$12k car here, maybe a little higher if you find a clean ZHP. .
Ahem... Sorry but I have to cry foul on all of the above. I have owned and driven several BMW’s own a E36 M3 as I type this which runs wrings around a E90 330i when it comes to handling and feel. The BMW will feel a bit more refined, but more fun lol ah NOT!
It’s just not as nimble as a FiST, it just does not beg you to drive it like a FiST and it will not put a grin on your face like a FiST.
Does it have laods of tq yes is that nice? Yes I love the TQ of my M3 but I drove my Black E36 M3 TC Kline coilovers equipped car up to the dealership and test drove a FiST and came out of it feeling it was a lot more fun to drive.

The FiST is a go kart the BMW while it is pretty amazing( M3’s that is) just does not feel like a go kart.

The FiST is the wiser choice and this is coming from someone who has been into RWD cars for years and owned a built some great drift cars as well.

Also as far as deprecation goes your doomed with either as the 330i’s are deep into the deprecation scale and only sinking.
In the end the OP will spend lots more money maintaing the BMW va the FiST and will have a reliable new car to drive in the FiST . Sure the FiST will and is depreciating but your not spending money on maintanence.

Don’t expect E90/92’s to rebound in value for awhile. The E36 M3’s only turned around in the last couple of years. You still have the E46 which has to decline and rebound and quite honestly E46 was probably the last great M car before the M2. So a 330i is pretty much a bad investment money pit at this time.

In otherwords do not just don’t.
 


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#16
Ahem... Sorry but I have to cry foul on all of the above. I have owned and driven several BMW’s own a E36 M3 as I type this which runs wrings around a E90 330i when it comes to handling and feel. The BMW will feel a bit more refined, but more fun lol ah NOT!
It’s just not as nimble as a FiST, it just does not beg you to drive it like a FiST and it will not put a grin on your face like a FiST.
Ah, that's my bad, I totally missed where OP said "E90 330". My entire post was based on an E46 330i/ci, and my experience was with driving a ZHP 330ci, which is a completely different experience from an e90 330i. Weren't e90 330s only offered for 1 year anyway?

As far as more fun, I guess that's all subjective isn't it? The FiST is a blast to drive, but so is an e46 330, especially a zhp car, and I enjoy RWD much more, especially revving out an NA i6. I'm also thinking in terms of OP experiencing a car with RWD as opposed to another FWD car like his GTI, and he seems more interested in the BMW.

However, if we're talking e90, which we apparently are, and I'm just blind lol, then I'm with you that the FiST would be more fun to drive by far.


Also as far as deprecation goes your doomed with either as the 330i’s are deep into the deprecation scale and only sinking.
In the end the OP will spend lots more money maintaing the BMW va the FiST and will have a reliable new car to drive in the FiST . Sure the FiST will and is depreciating but your not spending money on maintanence.
I mean the FiST is depreciating like a rock too, and still hasn't hit it's floor. Shoot, there's a bunch of 2015s on autotrader right now for less than 13k, some in the 11s, with under 50k miles. Considering only 2 years ago it was 20-22k that's a pretty big hit if OP were to buy new.

You're right on maintenance though, that's why I made it a big point that OP shouldn't even consider the BMW unless he can wrench, and he enjoys wrenching, and/or wants to gain more experience wrenching.

If he takes his time, get's a PPI, and finds a car that has records with the known issues already taken care of, then it shouldn't be a money pit at all with normal maintenance.

That said, since we're talking e90 3 series vs FiST, then the FiST is the more fun, more reliable, cheaper, and easier to find option. I still think it sounds like OP has no clue what he actually wants though, so just test driving more cars and collecting info while he pays off the mazda 3 is the best option. Especially since there's a ton of great cars in that price-range.
 


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#17
I am in the somewhat unique position of owning most of the cars being discussed here! All at the same time. I have a 15 mazda 3 GT with a 6 speed manual, 04 BMW 330ci, 6 speed stick and of course a 17 fiesta ST. All that said, while the wife drives the mazda 3, that car is just sweet, hits all the right notes for driving and maintenance. BMW is a little old as an 04 with 140K, but, still strong and running like a top. But, things keep breaking on the BMW, not big things, just annoying things. Takes a while to figure out what it is and fix it. BMW is clearly the class of these vehicles. Fiesta is different, I call it a go cart for the street. Mine is barely broken in as of now, so do not have any longer trips in it yet. Amongst the three cars, I would take the Mazda on a trip hands down. However, your needs may differ from mine, and that is what you need to determine. What do YOU want?
 


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#18
So.. you're basically like 3 weeks ago me. I was shopping around for a daily driver and my top 3 were Mazda 3, 330i, and Fiesta ST. Fast forward to now, I am sooooo glad I chose the ST. It's just so much of a fun car compared to the other two. I can't stop driving it. Didn't even expect I'd be so in love with a FWD car until the ST.
 


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