For those who have received their cars during the end-of-September/early October shipment, are they liftback models?

It is not Bermaz fault not adding front camera, because Mazda Japan doesn't even had support for front camera installation at all for this new generation of Mazda 3.

If you need front sensors to park a car, maybe you should re-evaluate your driving skill.

Also, only the High Plus spec has front and back parking sensors. The other specs, 1.5L base spec and 2.0L High (Sedan) doesn't come equipped with parking sensors at all.

There is a reason why there is an owner's manual supplied. Everything you need to know was written in the manual. Page 6-36 by the way.

Make sure to scan the QR code inside the service booklet (not owner's manual) to activate the service maintenance record in their system. Once you have an account created, click on the triple bar (hamburger menu), select MY VEHICLE and select VIEW VEHICLE INFO >. Fill in the necessary information to activate the service maintenance. Check with your SA to ensure that they can see that the service maintenance was activated properly from their side.

Car age and resell price to the used market will probably follow the year stated in your VOC (Vehicle Ownership Certificate / Sijil Pemilikan Kenderaan), the Jenis Badan/Tahun Dibuat field. Tarikh Pendaftaran is the actual date the car was registered with JPJ to become road valid and licensed to use on the road. You could have some cars made and then sitting in the dealership for months end before anyone buying it. This might affect the resell value, but then the car sales advisor would probably give additional discounts to clear out so called old stocks. If you are concern about car resell price, you shouldn't be taking Mazda 3. Instead go for more popular car like the Honda Civic instead.

For tinting, the car was equipped with factory tint, branded as SkyTint (OEM was Konica Minolta). Try it for a couple of months. If it doesn't perform up to your expectation, then only consider changing it. And DO NOT remove the rear window's tint. You risk damaging the rear window defogger heating elements.

There is also another designation given by the car manufacturer, which is model year. Model year may or may not correspond to the actual calendar year. For example, on my car's 17-digit VIN, the 10th digit is the model year (the letter M for year 2021, more info here). On the Custom's Form 1 given when I bought the car (Form 1, Perisytiharan Barang-barang Yang Diimport / Declaration of Goods Imported), it will show the Year Made being 2020.

Most owners who receive the car in the Oct/Nov 2020 period will have their VIN 10th digit designated as model year 2021.

Also, the model year given designation does not necessarily mean the entire car's components were manufactured the same year itself. If you buy a car early in the year, some parts may be made at the end of previous years. e.g. the ECU was manufactured and assembled in Oct/Nov 2021, sitting in inventory for a couple of months before being assembled in Jan/Feb 2021 to the car.

What is more important is the ability of the manufacturer to trace all the different components in the car down to the batch/trace code/serial number of individual components in the event that there is a recall in the future. For example, one of the most prominent recall in recent time is the fuel pump failure by Denso Indonesia for the 2018/2019 batches that affected several car makers, such as Perodua and Honda, even Bermaz (Malaysia's Mazda license holder) started to recall certain models for fuel pump replacement.

Is coating a must for a new car? What do you mean by contact washes?

For PPF wrapped, it is only for the front bumper plastic part?

For the new generation of Mazda 3 (BP), there were two types of entry system. One was called Keyless Entry System and the other was called Advanced Keyless Entry System. I own the car with Advanced Keyless Entry System, so I can verify the operation with such key system, but will need help from owners of Keyless Entry System to verify the operation.

From the user manual:

Keyless Entry System

What does it mean:
1. You had to manually press the remote control buttons to lock and unlock the doors.
2. The key can be in your pocket/purse and start the car by just pressing the brake and pushing the Start button.
3. I can't verify for the liftgate/boot lid's operation. Need other actual owners to verify.

Advanced Keyless Entry System

What does it mean:
1. The key can be in your pocket/purse. You don't need to reach your remote to lock and unlock the doors. You just have to slide your hands into the door handle (inner side of the handle) and it will automatically unlock. Swipe the door handle (outer side of the door handle) to lock the door. The door handle has touch sensor built in for this function (refer to Figure 1) and of course your remote control has to be within the range specified (refer to Figure 2), in a pocket/purse.
2. The key can be in your pocket/purse and start the car by just pressing the brake and pushing the Start button.
3. The boot can be open by pressing the button underneath the Mazda logo at the liftgate/boot lid. You don't have to take out the remote and press the button to unlock it first.


Figure 1: Touch sensor in the door handle, only applicable for keys with Advanced Keyless Entry System, taken from Mazda 3 Owner's Manual, page 3-15


Figure 2: Operating range of the Advanced Keyless Entry System, taken from Mazda 3 Owner's Manual, page 3-11

One interesting bit, the updated specification for the base model, 1.5 SkyActive-G Sedan/Liftback now includes Advanced Keyless Entry System.

Original 2019/2020 specification, updated as of 3/Jul/2019 (Attachment:mazda_3_specification.pdf)

Key	1.5 Liftback (BFBE RAA)/Sedan (BFBC RAA)	2.0 High Sedan (BEGW RAS)	2.0 High Plus Liftback (BEJC RAQ)/Sedan (BEGW RAT)
Keyless Entry System	✔	✘	✘
Advanced Keyless Entry System	✘	✔	✔

Updated Q4 2020 specification, updated as of 5/Nov/2020, only for the 1.5 variants, both Sedan and Liftback (Attachment:mazda_3_specification_20201105.pdf)

Key	1.5 Liftback (BFBE RAD)/Sedan (BFBC RAF)	2.0 High Sedan (BEGW RAS)	2.0 High Plus Liftback (BEJC RAQ)/Sedan (BEGW RAT)
Keyless Entry System	✘	✘	✘
Advanced Keyless Entry System	✔	✔	✔

Between the original 2019/2020 specification and the updated Q4 2020 specification, there was an increase of price by RM2590 for the Advanced Keyless Entry System in the 1.5 base model.

So, if you want to get the 1.5 Liftback, you need to make sure which specific model code you are getting, either 1.5 Liftback, model year 2020, ready stock (code: BFBE RAA) OR 1.5 Liftback, model year 2021, either existing stock or on back order (code: BFBE RAD).

This post has been edited by SFX: Mar 7 2021, 12:36 AM


Attached File(s)
 mazda_3_specification.pdf ( 197.18k ) Number of downloads: 13
 mazda_3_specification_20201105.pdf ( 204.41k ) Number of downloads: 21

Ask your SA to show you Custom Form 1 (Perisytiharan Barang-Barang Yang DiImport / Declaration of Goods Imported) for the mentioned ready car stock. If your SA mentioned why, just tell them you wanted to verify the exact model code of the car you intend to purchase.

Each and every car brought in (i.e. imported) will have its own Custom Form 1. It will have the Chassis No. (17-digit/letters combination) and the Kod Model declared in the Custom's form.

Verify the Kod Model is the code of the car you want, either BFBE RAA (Keyless Entry System) or BFBE RAD (Advanced Keyless Entry System) to the chassis number on both the car itself and the Custom's form.

At the end of the day, if you buy a CBU car, you are entitled a copy of both Custom Form 1 and Form JK69 for your own records.

If you intend to get the BFBE RAA model code, ensure that the OTR price w/o insurance is RM135,070.00 (West Malaysia, private) or lower because these are the old models, ready stock car sitting somewhere in the dealership's warehouse waiting for buyer. If it is RM137,660.00 OTR price w/o insurance (West Malaysia, private), then make sure you are taking the BFBE RAD model code car.

2021 model could mean two different thing. Model year 2021 will have the 10th digit of the chassis number written as letter M (letter L for 2020), but made in the year of 2020. The Year Made data is also in the Custom Form 1. Read my previous post #3044.

This post has been edited by SFX: Mar 7 2021, 03:05 AM

For those who has the new BP generation, when the washer fluid for the windscreen gets low or empty, is there any warning light up on the instrument cluster stating that it is low?

Machine gray. There is no such colour as meteor gray for this generation (BP).

Perhaps below video illustrate all the available 8 colours better.

Only Titanium Flash colour is not available in the Malaysian market.


This post has been edited by SFX: Mar 14 2021, 07:11 PM

I know there is such feature for the car, but this feature is only available in some models and the image was taken somewhere in the cold country, as evident by the -4°C on the display.

I'm just wondering if the Malaysian models have such feature? Any other owners (for Malaysian models) notice the low washer fluid warning on the instrument cluster first OR only realise there is no more fluid coming out after manually pulling the stalk to trigger the wiper and no water coming out from the nozzle?

This post has been edited by SFX: Mar 19 2021, 02:00 PM

Refer to post 3069

BFBE RAA model code cars already not in sales anymore, unless your dealership still have some ready stock sitting somewhere in the warehouse waiting for buyer. Oct/Nov 2020 was supposed to be the last batch of cars with this old model code, BFBE RAA.

BFBE RAD is the new batches of cars that was supposed to be on sale starting from Jan 2021 onwards, with advanced keyless entry system come standard.

Between BFBE RAA and BFBE RAD, there is an increase of RM 2590. What is the selling price quoted by your sales advisor?

How much does it cost you to buy the GPS Navigation SD card? Does the Traffic Sign Recognition (TSR) System works?

Just get the Sedan High Plus. The lights alone are a reason to get the High Plus. The signature illumination is one of the defining characteristics of the new generation Mazda 3. I've seen quite a few of the new Mazda 3 on the road without the rear signature illumination, and yes, it is ugly.

The i-Activesense suit of technologies, your so called fancy safety features are some of the things I considered essential in today's automobiles. In fact, the latest 12th gen. of Honda Civic released in Thailand already included Honda Sensing (i-Activesens equivalent) in all trim levels. I expect Honda Malaysia to follow suit when the new gen. launch later this year, if what they said to the automotive news are true.

Don't like these features, all individual features can be controlled from the control panel, to enable or disable it. It is better to have these features available at your disposal than regretting of not getting it a few year later down the line.

As for the parking sensors, for Sedan variant, the base and mid trim doesn't come with it. And yes, you can retrofit the rear part, but how about the front part?

High:
LED

• Outer rear ring doesn't light up. Just illuminate the outside.
• Inner rear ring (the lights on the boot lid) doesn't light up at all.

High Plus:
LED with Signature Illumination
Reddit link with image of LED with Signature Illumination

• Outer and inner rear rings light up.

10k is for the lights with signature illumination, plus front and rear sensors, plus the advanced safety techonlogies (i-Activesense) suit. Remember, these suit has to take into account of additional hardware that has to be installed to enable the full suit. MRCC has a radar sensor located at the front logo emblem. Motorised headlights to enable Adaptive front-lighting system (AFS). A camera at the top of the front windscreen to enable high beam control (HBC), lane related assist technologies. Additional ECU that ties all these additional sensors to deliver the complete package.

The lights for LED (minute 4:01)

(Image taken directly from the above Youtube video at minute 4:01 mark).

versus the reddit post I posted earlier for comparison.

The Mazda 3 brochure and specification sheet already mentioned this (which can be downloaded from Mazda Malaysia website), under LED Taillights specification.

Serious misinformation. If you don't really know the answer, please do not spread the information.

The two stripes on both side of the bumpers (right above the exhaust pipes) are reflectors. They are not the rear fog lights.

Please refer to post #3504


Also, please refer to post #3504

They are the fog lights, activated from the main light stalk, separate inner ring. And it only lights up on one side of the rear light, the driver side, not both sides.

Also, the rear fog lights can only be operated when the ignition is ON, i.e. when the engine start and running. Doesn't work in ACC mode (some electrical accessories work but engine doesn't start).
This is because fog lights are much more brighter than rear lights, therefore it is not suitable to turn on without the engine running.


Figure 1: Operation of the rear fog light, from the user manual

So, the changes for the fog lights is as below:

Year Model	2019 - 2021	2022 - present
Sedan	4 LEDs inline (4 × 1 configuration)	Confirmation from anyone?
Liftback	4 LEDs square (2 × 2 configuration)	3 LEDs inline (3 × 1 configuration)

This post has been edited by SFX: Feb 13 2022, 12:41 AM

Twist the light stalk to off position.

Edit:


Seriously, you have the car. Read the manual and above attachment.



Edit #2: It seems like there is no way to turn off the DRL permanently. The option are there but Malaysia's model doesn't have such feature enable inside the Settings.

Only 2 lights turn on - Sedan Base 1.5L and Sedan High 2.0L spec. Liftback Base 1.5L spec.
All 4 lights turn on - Sedan High Plus 2.0L spec. Liftback High Plus 2.0L spec. (a.k.a Signature Illumination)


Just take the High Plus with the i-Activesense suite. I had once a pedestrian suddenly cross my rear car in my blind spot while I was reversing my car from a parking spot and the RCTA immediately stop the car from hitting the pedestrian.

This post has been edited by SFX: Feb 26 2022, 01:38 PM

Mazda 3 BP Owners Manual (Rev. 8JR6EE20E)

The revision between car batches might be different. For accurate information, please scan the QR code inside the physical book's QR code.

I have the 8JR6EE20E revision of the car's manual that came with my car.

For those who complain that the Ignite Edition cost more, do remember that it came with 360° view monitor. This includes 2 additional camera embedded beneath the side mirrors, 1 for each side of the side mirror. Plus the associated ECU to construct the 360° view image.

Also, the driver attention alert (DAA) has an additional camera on the centre display console.

RM4000 for the windscreen coverage is more than enough. Get coverage for full convulsion of nature (i.e. flood, typhoon, earthquake, etc.). I renewed my insurance for my car from Berjaya Sompo's Mazda Premium Insurance (MPI) and RM4000 for the windscreen coverage only is more than enough.

You just got duped into covering more for the windscreen.

This post has been edited by SFX: Apr 16 2022, 11:38 AM

By the way, the OEM was Konica Minolta for the previous tint given (branded as SkyTint).

Just ask for amendment for the insurance policy. The RM4000 windscreen coverage exclude tint film. It is better to exclude the tint. In the event you need to replace the windscreen, replace them under the insurance policy, then tint them from your choice of tint film outside. At least you know the exact tint film you are getting if you do it independently. If you bundle them together with the windscreen coverage, you don't know exactly what tint you'll going to get.

Put the extra insurance money for the full convulsion of nature insurance coverage. For Berjaya Sompo's MPI, it is 0.2% of your car's sum insured.

For comparison, below is my 2nd year insurance price, from Berjaya Sompo's MPI:
Windscreen coverage (RM4000 sum insured) at 12%: RM480.00.
Full convulsion of nature coverage (RM144000.00) at 0.2%: RM288.00

This post has been edited by SFX: Apr 16 2022, 12:38 PM

Not compulsory to buy Berjaya Sompo's insurance for your 1st year insurance. Tell your sales advisor that you'll be getting your own insurance. They cannot force MPI down your throat.

Do note that Berjaya Sompo's Mazda Premium Insurance (MPI) is different from Berjaya Sompo's general car insurance offered online (SOMPO MotorNow Car Insurance). This insurance (MPI) was offered for Mazda's cars only and was only sold through agents, usually the car dealers.

When I request for insurance quotation for my car for the 2nd year, all through insurance agents, MPI offered better value among all the offers I received.

Of course, if you buy your insurance online without through any agents, you'll save some of the premium because you don't pay for the agent's commission.

Seriously, RTFM. Page 4-12 to 4-18.

This is to tell you to use your turn signals whenever you change your lanes. Not a bug. Seriously, whenever you change your lane, use the signal. I don't know how do you even pass the driving test.

The signal activation also activate the blind spot monitoring to warn you of any incoming vehicles, especially bikes that may pass through from behind when you cannot see them through the rear or side mirror.

And that is why they equip the car with EFB batteries. This is different from normal car batteries as EFB batteries were designed to withstand frequent start/stop of the engine.

Mainly made to satisfy US and EU regulation call for environment legislation. One car may not seems much but multiply this feature in many cars, the benefits are there.