I was not new to a manual tranny when I got my new car..... I always seemed to have a grind in between first and second. Kinda chalking it up to old age....I ignored it and kicked myself every time I grinded gears.......two blocks from my house one day I couldn't get the car into any gear but first....so I drove back and parked it.....after towing to a shop I learned that one of the gears had come off and lodged just SO ...so that no other gears were available. Weird....it was the perfect landing for the piece that broke off and probably couldn't do that again if I tried a million times.....needless to say I had to have it replaced.....I never wrote to Mazda about what I believe was a manufacture defect and try to get them to pick up the tab......maybe I will do that and see what happens.

Like others here, a gently driven 6 sp with largely highway mileage driven by a 59 yo who has never driven anything but a manual, never burnt a clutch in 40 years of driving, never uses the tranny/clutch for deceleration suddenly notices a grabbing sound and feel shifting 1st to 2nd about 3 weeks ago. After having it happen 5-10 times in a week, it completely stops. Everything is functioning normally and up to that time the clutch was perfectly fine but I decide to bring it into the dealer for a check up noting to them that they will not likely replicate the malfunction but that I want it thoroughly checked because it was so odd. They check it and report I need a new clutch at 33K and that this is NORMAL WEAR AND TEAR.... NONSENSE! Let's organize people. Mazda is NOT GETTING AWAY WITH THIS! I am a suburban driver doing at least 15 K a year for 40 years on various manual cars as I drove highway to work as a teacher... NEVER NEEDED A NEW CLUTCH... I take driving very seriously and drive a clutch with great skill and respect my vehicles with excellent upkeep and maintenance. I have loved this Mazda 3 up to now. My 2006 Honda Civic coupe 5 sp has 96K miles and of course the clutch is perfect. I'll be dealing with Mazda rep after this weekend and will keep you updated. Please send me your support if you can... Neal

Update: At this time, Mazda has only to be willing to offer free parts but $800+ labor. A Mazda certified mechanic has stated that it is known that master and slave cylinder failure/malfunction has led to premature clutch wear on this car . I have demanded through CORP to speak to the District Manager to demonstrate my history and all the evidence that I have re this cars use and care. I intend to pursue this fully. This truly calls the merchantability of this product into question... A 30K clutch? Huh? They say this could be normal based on my driving? Shame on Mazda if they make this very difficult. I am a real fan, until now.