I was wondering how many other Z Sport owners there are here ?
The Z Sport was produced as a limited edition with only 400 released for the UK market in 2007.
Based on a Mk 3 2ltr Sport Tech, it boasts ‘Radiant Ebony’ mica paint work, Stone coloured leather interior, heated seats, brushed aluminium(ish) trim, with Z Sport mats, alloy pedals, 17" BBS alloys, clear lenses all round, limited slip diff, fancy suspension, plus other stuff!
I bought mine from a Mazda main dealer at 3 years old with only 4k on the clock. I only use it for weekend/summer fun and it still only has <14k showing. I’m delighted with the car and the fun to be had from top down driving and just generally ‘fettling’.
It would be interesting to see how many fellow ‘Zeders’ are here…and where abouts you are in the country? I have spotted one or two photo’s of Z Sports on the forum at club meetings… so I know you’re out there somewhere!
I’m sure there must be at least a few more ZSport owners in the club but maybe they do not necessarily frequent this forum as there has only been one positive respondent to my original post!
Hi Mick. It certainly looks nice from the photo’s, but then they always do because of the colour combination which is quite eye catching. The body colour is actually called ‘radiant ebony’ (which is a sort of metallic aubergine colour) and the interior leather is called ‘stone’ which is like a cross between white and cream. And I should warn you…the 17" BBS alloys look amazing when clean, but to keep them clean takes a great deal of time and work!
Personally I’d be a bit wary of the mileage as at over 70k it indicates this has been a well used vehicle so I’d certainly want to see it had a good service history. My example has only 14k although I Appreciate this is particularly low. I think the price is a little on the high side considering the mileage.
There are a couple of other Z owners around the forum, one needing a badge and another who wrote a Mk3 buyers guide iirc. How many did they make, about 400 I think. Nice model based on a pretty much fully loaded 2.0 Sport. Particularly if you want a change from black leather on the Mk3, you could get tan for a few early years but not many around are there.
Be interesting to hear how other Mk3 owners find their cars at higher mileages. A friend had a Mk3 1.8 with 125K no problems at all and sold it on to another friend who loves it.
Yes I recall the person who was searching for the ZSport badge. I did reply because I had seen them advertised at MX5 Parts. I do agree regards the high mileage, if it’s well looked after it’s not necessarily an issue. My previous weekender was a BMW Z3 M Coupe which had about 110k on the clock when I sold it and drove beautifully.
Still waiting patiently for more positive responses to my OP though …!
I’ve asked a few questions re SH so see what reply I get.
Are the Mk3 service records solely computerised or is there a manual, as in service book? And can any garage whoever they are gain access to the computer records say of a Mazda dealer?
My experience with my mk3 is that from Mazda’s point of view they do not provide a stamped service book so they would have you feel you have to go to them to have your car serviced in order for the electronic service record (ESR) to be updated.
However, I know that some specialists are able to access the Mazda ESR to update it. When I bought mine from a Mazda main dealer they did say that if I had it serviced elsewhere I could get them to update the record so long as I had a valid invoice proving the correct service was completed.
I actually use a local independent garage that most of our family use for our cars, and I ensure they follow the service requirement as specified in the handbook. I haven’t tried asking the Mazda dealer to update my ESR. To be honest so long as I have the invoice from the garage I can prove she’s been serviced correctly.
I can add a little to Barrys info, the DSR digital service record started after Oct 2005 as our Mk3 still has a book to stamp.
We have a Sept 2006 Mazda 6 which is on DSR so probably less than the first year of Mk3 production will be on paper and most will be on DSR.
Afaik any vat regd garage can register on the Mazda site and enter DSR info for work they do on the DSR cars though in practice I doubt many do. Our 6 has been serviced locally and we just keep the invoices. There is a service book which is very much like the old service book so we just fold them and keep them inside err, why on earth Mazda bothered going to the DSR I don’t know!
Hi Dave, not quite following but if you had the right car and can show the servicing I don’t see why not. I would ask to see a receipt for a filter and 5L oil for each years service and would actually feel happier if it showed just one service using fully syth oil per year than 5 with semi.
.