Just picked up a 2005 Mazda 3 hatchback in the bright blue color. It was a great deal at $9,000 with only 65K miles on it so I picked it up... now ive fallen in love with it.

Im a total jeep guy and spend most of my time working on wranglers and cherokees in the offroading scene. I have now seperated "toys" from practical and now drive the jeeps on the trails on the weekend and use the mazda 3 as my fun daily driver.

The only thing i dont like about my mazda 3 is the front wheel drive. Im curious to see how these do on the snow, for id love to zip up I-70 on powder days to go skiing in the mazda.

My wife and I are currently in Virginia until spring, and will return home to Colorado then. We are out here on contracted work for my company. Looking forward to meeting some of you and learning more about my mazda3!

Welcome to the forums! Your FWD 3 will be fine, as long as you're not on high performance summer-only type tires. I've had RWD, FWD, AWD, and have been able to get around in the snow in any configuration, on the right tires.

Whereabouts in Virgina? I was in the Hampton Roads area about..geez, 10-14 years ago.

Welcome. I'm also I jeep guy, did quite a bit of jeeping in the GJ area. I did spotting a few times in moab. I used to have a '57 willys wagon. I'm planning to get a new JK unlimited in 2012.

welcome!
im kinda a jeep guy here too, i have a '72 jeep wagoneer w/ amc360
but you should be fine, theres a few MS3's that are daily riven in the winter, and i survived last winter in my miata with allseasons. if you can afford it and can get wintertires your car will zip around just fine

Welcome!

Welcome! Your Mazda3 will be fine in snow. I have an '04 and I've never had any issues with it and have taken it into some pretty gnarly weather.

Right on. Thanks guys. Looking at some blizzaks tomorrow and some 16" black steel wheels. 300 for all 4 with less than 2k on them!

That's a good deal. I run dedicated snow tires on my MS3 and have no issues getting around even commuting from Colorado Springs to Denver. I laugh at Monument Hill when it snows (most of the time).

Ended up getting the Goodyear Eagle GT's on my stock 17" wheels. I'm very happy with the performance in the rain so far, cant wait to test em on the snow.

Also picked up a Yakima rack set up with a fairing for the snowboard. I've spent just under 1000 on upgrades in the last 3 days! Live the ride of the 3 though. Definitely a peppy car.