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Would a Mazda 3 be a good replacement for my Toyota Corolla?

It's time to change my Toyota Corolla 1.6 VVTi which has basically given 128,000 trouble free miles. I intend to gift this car and then buy a petrol replacement outright. Not so sure about a Toyota Auris 1.2 T though. I thought about a Mazda 3 2.0 SE-L (hatchback or fastback) – perhaps a pre-reg as there appear to be a few with around 10 miles on the clock. However, I wondered if it might be worth waiting for a new Honda Civic SE with the 1.0 turbo engine. Do you have any advice you could offer me? I use my car for both long and short journeys. The budget would be a max of £18,500.

Asked on 24 January 2017 by Mnr

Answered by Honest John
The Mazda 3 are probably pre-facelifts going cheaper, but still nice cars. Simply don't know about the new Civic. Crawled all over one in Thailand a year ago. Big car for the class; about the size an Accord was in 2003. They've been making them in Swindon since last September for export. But no UK launch until stocks of the old model Civic are sold off.
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