Mazda 3 Hatchback Car Review: Zoom and Room

There is a tremendous amount of competition in the compact car field and so you need something unique to standout. Mazda has created this with its 3 and an emphasis on handling, storage space, and natty looks. Mazda apparently paid little attention to price leaving the inexpensive hatchback market to the Korean manufactures, and has priced its automatic equipped Mazda with a sunroof at $22,700 (AU) placing it among the most costly of its brethren. At that price it looms in the same price field as the Mini, Scion tC, Toyota Prius, and the 2005 Acura RSX. Interesting company indeed.

However, the reality is that those who are interested in the Mazda sedan and hatchback are probably only going to cross-shop it with the Toyota Matrix/ Pontiac Vibe, Toyota Corolla, and Hyundai Elantra, and the Honda Civic.

Of these the Mazda is the best handling and powerful, but its not a hands down winner. No doubt the Mazda is a frisky companion, but one that has some needs for improvement. It has an anemic air conditioning system as well as an interior dash lighting that is difficult to read and too clever for its importance.

Limited rear view visibility due to the back seat headrests, an automatic transaxle gearing that has the engine turning over 4000 rpm at highway cruising speeds, poor gas mileage compared to the competition (we barely got 22 mpg), seats that needed more support to take advantage of the sporty nature of the 3, a trunk that can only be opened by shoving your hand along the dirty rear bumper, a horn that could barely be heard above normal highway noise, and a lack of acceleration despite the 160 horsepower engine are other caveats.

That is a lot of negatives, but Mazda is gambling that the cute styling well draw attention from the more sedate offerings and to make sure they are offering it as a sedan and hatchback. We tested the latter and it is the best handling of this breed currently available at this price. They have also added superior brakes, and a tight chassis to the mix making it your only real choice if you like to drive hard, but not particularly fast.

Mom’s view: The red night lighting on the dash reminded me of an Audi, except in this Mazda they were not as well done and tended to be too small and too difficult to read quickly. So you can add that to the need to improve list plus the fact that the remote did not have a truck-opening button on it and yet the price of our test vehicle was about $22,700 (AUD).

If you get the idea I was not enamored with the Mazda3 you are correct. It would be an excellent car for $16,000 for the hatchback, but at the current price range it simply did not catch my fancy, and the seats didn’t do a particularly good job of holding my fanny, either.

I usually have a problem with compact cars due to their lack of interior space, but the Mazda had plenty. However, the rear seat legroom was tight. In addition, I found the chassis excellent, solid and communicative, and eager to please.

We had the automatic transmission and its four speeds simply did not do the engine justice. It is pleasant enough, but it takes the edge off the Mazda’s performance. I would stay with the manual transmission and save nearly a thousand dollars and spend the money on optional antilock brakes, aide and curtain airbags, and maybe even a sunroof. All of this is very practical, but how does it feel to someone who Mazda really wants the 3 to appeal.

What makes The Car Family review unique is that even though I am not the prime demographic for buyers, my son and daughter may well be and so you get more well rounded review from them.
Continued...
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