2010 Mazdaspeed 3: Thanks, Pal!

Must have been a bicycle rider. There's no way that side mirror could have been totally demolished without scratches and dents on the side panels if it was a car driving by.

You should be thanking your lucky stars that the side mirror was the only thing that was damaged... Could have been a lot worse.

re: jaden
There are many other alternatives that a possible. Mirror on another vehicle could accomplish this without other damage to the vehicle. Pickup truck or car with lumber sticking out the side would also destroy the mirror without damaging other parts of the car. I've seen quite a few cars with lumber, pvc pipe, and other materials sticking out one or both side windows recently.

A bike rider?! I don't think so -- unless he was swinging a baseball bat!

I groaned out loud as soon as I saw it.
From the picture it looks like it's the hinged side mirror variety .... this degree of damage is despite this???
I'm thinking that if it were a bicyclist, their arm would be pretty jacked up as a result. Unless they were jousting.

Looks like there might be some scratches on the A-pillar too (first pic).

Whenever something happens to my car I just have to keep telling myself it's just a car, it's just a car, I'll kill whoever did this, it's just a car.

Sucks though.

This happened to me because of another car's mirror without damaging the body panels (of either vehicle), so it's definitely possible. I doubt this is the case though unless the person took the time to pick-up the pieces of his/her mirror. Did you see pieces of another car's mirror lying around too?

Personally, I think it was either a scooter of motorcycle. That damage is pretty extensive and looks close to mine, and mine was hit by a car that was going relatively quickly (20-30). Can a bike do that amount of damage?

I'd really like to know how much in Yankee greenbacks they charge for new mirror assembly and paint/primer?

My guess is a rental truck, like one of the U-Haul's in the Camaro pic last Friday. I am very wary of rental moving trucks, because everyone driving them is a noob and probably over-estimates their braking ability and other handling parameters. The mirror probably got clipped by the front edge of the box.

Must have been one of Caroline's "little effers"

More proof that capital punishment should not be abolished.

At least it was only mirror; it could have been the whole left side like.

Karma's a bitch...ever who did this has it coming.

I think it would be funny if the D-Bag was someone on Inside Lane.

I am with @felonious on this one - the first thing i thought of.

This happened to my brother's car many years ago...it was a Protege5.

Could also be someone who's jealous at Jason's fortunes for "owning" this hot hatch and all he has is an old riced out civic who couldn't even match half of the MS3's performance. :-) You do live in SoCal...where the car you drive is a large part of your "status".

Seriously, another possibility was a drunk straggler. My roommate and I went out to bars one night. It was dark when we went home and to bed. Next morning, we found out his Camry was missing the passenger side mirror. We park in our driveway so no way for a motorist or cyclist to hit that car...especially on the passenger side. So we concluded it was a drunk who stumbled around outside one of the bars and somehow knocked the mirror off without leaving any scratches. We definitely remember the mirror was there right before we left for the night.

Pitty, I guess it is pretty expensive too, it is an electric mirror with turning light and was it equipped with mirror defogger? I think no less than $800 just for the mirror, plus installation and A-pillar repaint, about $1200 anyone?

Definitely possible to knock the mirror off without side body damage. It happened to my mother and I. She was driving her Tahoe down our block when some dumb ass in his old Ford Bronco came flying down the block, we thought he was going to hit us, but instead knocked the mirror off and didn't even stop. Also the mirrors that have the directional signals built into them are about an extra 200 bucks then mirrors without them (when replaced by the dealer anyway.)

Ugh, that sucks. I hate people sometimes....

Side note: hopefully they'll give you a complimentary cleaning. Can you say brake dust?

Maybe it was a GTI driver with an inferiority complex. All kidding aside, it really stinks to come out and find your car violated like that. Hope the MS3 isn't sidelined for a long time, as I look forward to the blog entries every day.

Given the light marks on the A pillar its probably a small SUV or crossover that cut it too close.

A U-Haul would have taken out most of the side if it was it with the box and the mirrors are generally too high I would think to hit the mirror.