[BearlyHere]

arathol and I have been talking about modifying the front emblem on the 3s. I thought they were all plastic and removable (the silver part), but he pointed out some are flat and the emblem is integrated into the black circle. So, did my local Mazda Service Manager screw up my forward radar sensor by putting on my Evil M emblem (mine isn't flat and isn't part of the black circle)? I asked arathol where he heard this and he said somewhere in the owners manual. So I searched and found what it said. I will try to paste it here but you may want to download and read it separately: https://www.mazdausa.com/owners/how-to-use-my-mazda








It appears that if you cover the sensor, a warning light will come on your dash (including if it gets too dirty). The combined silver/black badges would seem to indicate the car has iActiveSense package. The separate chrome emblem should be on the cars without that package (please chime in and verify what kind of badge and package you have).
I'm assuming that if your chrome badge is separate, you should be able to add the Evil M (which is also plastic but takes up less area than the standard symbol (which is also why my dealer put it on my car).
Changing your grill out would probably disable any of the aforementioned systems.
Please read the manual and share with the community your observations.

 

[arathol]

Yours should be ok if its just the chrome insert that was changed. The cars with radar sensors in the front have a different badge as seen in this thread-
http://mazda3revolution.com/forums/...-how-guides/182026-help-can-i-plasti-dip.html

Those are the ones you don't want to screw around with. Just FYI a replacement radar sensor box is about $1200....:surprise:

 

[Midnightsky228]

What if you never use the forward radar system? I have all of the sensors turned off, including smart city braking every time I drive. Would it matter then if I covered it up with vinyl to rebadge my front grille?

 

[arathol]

If its not on it does not matter, but the light may stay on if the sensor is covered.

 

[Road Trip]

On a 2017 GT in the U.S. with the iACTIVSENSE Safety Package, the front emblem badge is absolutely two-dimensional, has no texture or depth to it if you run your fingers over its totally flat and smooth surface -- even though it appears as if it has a chrome badge mounted on a black background surface. As @arathol mentioned, you can not mess with part of this one-piece integral unit without inadvertently destroying the radar system, or as also mentioned above, choosing to totally disable the radar by covering it, painting it or similar.



For perspective as to its size, the emblem with its black background is 7" wide, 5" inches tall and the chrome appearing emblem part of it (which as above it is not a separate emblem at all), about 6" wide, 4 1/2" tall.

 

[BearlyHere]

On a 2017 GT in the U.S. with the iACTIVSENSE Safety Package, the front emblem badge is absolutely two-dimensional, has no texture or depth to it if you run your fingers over its totally flat and smooth surface -- even though it appears as if it has a chrome badge mounted on a black background surface. As @arathol mentioned, you can not mess with part of this one-piece integral unit without inadvertently destroying the radar system, or as also mentioned above, choosing to totally disable the radar by covering it, painting it or similar.



For perspective as to its size, the emblem with its black background is 7" wide, 5" inches tall and the chrome appearing emblem part of it (which as above it is not a separate emblem at all), about 6" wide, 4 1/2" tall.

Good to know. As I showed above, mine was detachable.
Warning: My dealer had to Dremel the 2017 to make the Evi M fit: 02-13 MAZDA6 EVIL 'M' FRONT GRILLE EMBLEM BADGE - CHROME | eBay

 

[wolstentech]

What if you never use the forward radar system? I have all of the sensors turned off, including smart city braking every time I drive.

The iActiveSense safety package that includes radar cruise control and smart city braking (and also collision warning, which uses the radar) is a rather expensive extra package. Why on earth would you pay thousands of dollars for this stuff, and then just turn it all off? Why didn't you just get a cheaper trim level? According to Edmunds, this package is an $1100 option on the 2017 model. On the 2014-16 models it was part of the "Tech Package" which IIRC was at least $2500.

 

[Midnightsky228]

The iActiveSense safety package that includes radar cruise control and smart city braking (and also collision warning, which uses the radar) is a rather expensive extra package. Why on earth would you pay thousands of dollars for this stuff, and then just turn it all off? Why didn't you just get a cheaper trim level? According to Edmunds, this package is an $1100 option on the 2017 model. On the 2014-16 models it was part of the "Tech Package" which IIRC was at least $2500.

Leather interior, Bose stereo, a proper analog tach, and future resale value. For those reasons I bit the bullet and paid the extra.

 

[wolstentech]

Leather interior, Bose stereo, a proper analog tach, and future resale value. For those reasons I bit the bullet and paid the extra.

You get all those with the regular sGT model; you don't need the Tech Package (14-16) or iActiveSense (17) suite for them. And you never get your money back out of extra option packages when you re-sell a car.

 

[louisbosco]

What if you never use the forward radar system? I have all of the sensors turned off, including smart city braking every time I drive. Would it matter then if I covered it up with vinyl to rebadge my front grille?

bloody hell. how many buttons do you have to press then? pressing 1 for me, which is the istop every time i start up is more than enough..

The iActiveSense safety package that includes radar cruise control and smart city braking (and also collision warning, which uses the radar) is a rather expensive extra package. Why on earth would you pay thousands of dollars for this stuff, and then just turn it all off? Why didn't you just get a cheaper trim level? According to Edmunds, this package is an $1100 option on the 2017 model. On the 2014-16 models it was part of the "Tech Package" which IIRC was at least $2500.

You get all those with the regular sGT model; you don't need the Tech Package (14-16) or iActiveSense (17) suite for them. And you never get your money back out of extra option packages when you re-sell a car.

i think the SP25astina models in the 2015 year when i bought it had pretty much everything. there's no tech package to add on whatsoever. not that i use most off the functions as well, including but not limited to blindspot, forward collision warning etc. most of the time, i just ignore it as it's a hassle to turn it off. that said the packages in the US is very much different from what i see..

 

[Midnightsky228]

You get all those with the regular sGT model; you don't need the Tech Package (14-16) or iActiveSense (17) suite for them. And you never get your money back out of extra option packages when you re-sell a car.

Up here in Canada that is not the case unfortunately.

bloody hell. how many buttons do you have to press then? pressing 1 for me, which is the istop every time i start up is more than enough..

One button for traction/stability, and I have to go into the settings menu for the smart city braking every time I start the car, the rest have memory and stay off. Occasionally I leave smart city braking on when Im being lazy.

 

[BearlyHere]

bump for noobs