Is a 2015 Mazda3 Grand Touring a reasonable purchase in 2026?
I’m F27 and trying to figure out whether I’m making a reasonable adult financial decision or just getting emotionally attached to a car.
I currently drive a 2009 Toyota Camry that’s honestly in pretty rough shape at this point. One of the exterior door handles is broken off, there are multiple scratches that are rusting, the clock spring still hasn’t been fixed after someone stole parts from the steering wheel area during an attempted theft, and the plastic covers around the ignition/wires are missing. The interior has also been neglected for a while. Mechanically, the car still runs, but overall it just feels very worn down physically and mentally.
I started looking for another car and found a 2015 Mazda3 s Grand Touring with around 60k miles, one owner, a clean title, and no accident history. The ad price is $14,499 before taxes and fees. After taxes, licensing, and documentation fees, the total comes out to around $16.3k. After applying my current Camry trade-in ($2500) and cash down payment ($1000), I’d be financing about $12.9k at 6.94% APR.
I genuinely really like the car. I like the styling, the size, the interior, and it feels much more modern and upscale to me than the other cars I looked at.
The issue is that almost everyone around me keeps telling me this is the wrong decision financially and that I should either fix my old Camry or buy another Toyota. I also test drove a 2017 Camry, and while I understand it’s considered extremely reliable, I honestly hated how it looked and felt. I didn’t like the gray exterior, the larger body style, or the interior design. It just felt old and boring to me even though I know it’s probably the “safer” decision financially.
I also went to BECU for financing, and they basically implied the Mazda wasn’t holding value the way a Toyota would. They were willing to finance the Camry more easily at a lower APR, while the Mazda required more money down because the trade-in/book value was lower than the dealership selling price.
I plan to keep the car around 4–5 years, not forever. I know the Mazda is probably not the absolute best resale-value car compared to a Camry, but I also don’t want to spend years driving a car I genuinely dislike just because it’s the “correct” answer on paper.
For people who know these cars well or have owned a Mazda3 long-term, would you consider this a reasonable purchase in 2026, or am I letting emotions override logic?
TL;DR: I’m considering buying a clean-title 2015 Mazda3 s Grand Touring with ~60k miles and only one owner for $14.5k. After taxes/fees it’s about $16.3k total, and I’d finance around $12.9k at 6.94% APR after trade-in/down payment. I currently drive a very worn-down 2009 Camry that still runs but has multiple unresolved issues and theft-related damage. Everyone around me keeps telling me to either fix the old Camry or buy a Toyota instead because of resale/reliability, but I genuinely dislike the 2017 Camry I test drove and really prefer the Mazda. Trying to figure out if this is still a reasonable adult purchase or if I’m letting aesthetics/emotions override logic.