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| Launch Report Mazda3 |
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Special Enough?
When the entire range is up and rolling later in the year, there'll be sixteen hatchbacks and four saloons spread across a choice of four petrol and three diesel engines, one automatic and two manual gearboxs, and seven packages of trim and equipment. Prices will be between £13,500 and £21,500, power will range from 104 to 256bhp, and the official combined fuel economy figures will mostly fall between 37.2mpg and 62.8mpg, though no figure has yet been released for the performance model. The most obvious changes are to the bodywork. The 3 has been given the same themed makeover already given to the 2 and the 6 with longer, sleeker lights, a wider grille across the front and a lot more subtle sculpting, creasing and moulding along the flanks, round the nose and around the tail. Its facial expression has changed from a simpering chirpiness, to a wide-mouthed chortling smile which to my eye is a little bit Walt Disney. It's certainly a fresh look all round, but I liked the outgoing model better. Anyway, the important stuff is under the skin, so let's start with those engines. The baby of the petrol range is the 1.6-litre that turns out 104bhp which has an official combined fuel consumption figure of 44.8mpg. It'll take the four- or five-door model to 62mph in 12.2 seconds.
Next up are two two-litre engines, one with 148bhp fed through the new five-speed automatic gearbox or 149bhp piped through the manual box. The latter is a new Direct Injection Spark Ignition or DISI engine which, despite its minute power hike, is significantly more efficient and cleaner than its sibling. The extra price of the newer engine means it's almost the same as the more basic engine plus an auto box. King of the heap, though, is the 2.3 turbocharged engine in the MPS performance version which will crank out 256bhp. What that means for performance we'll find out nearer the launch date later this year, but Mazda says it'll be more eye-catching than the outgoing MPS, with a bonnet vent, flared arches and a wing. Diesel engines also start with a 1.6 turning out 108bhp which will reach 62mph a full 1.2 seconds sooner than its petrol counterpart yet still return on average almost 20, yes 20mpg more – the official combined figure is 62.8mpg. It's £1500 more than the petrol model in similar trim, but I think it would be money well spent.
There are two versions of the 2.2-litre diesel unit, the main difference being just the electronic engine mapping which makes it turn out either 148 or 182bhp. The price of that power hike is about £1500, taking the on-the-road price up from £18,440 to £19,900 in Sport trim. Indoors, across the range, the dash has been given more swooping lines to make it more modern and less boxy. There are two big dials for speed and engine revs under a cowl in the usual front-of-steering-wheel place, but the ancillary data is now sneaked into an information centre that squats under another long, low cowl that rises like a glass-fronted split in the upper dashboard.
Also good is the way the new Mazda3 still has the height-adjustable driver's seat that helps make a comfy driving position easier to find. Bad news is that there doesn't seem to be much knee room for passengers in the back of the hatchback. Not sure what's happened there – these things usually get better with upgrades but from memory it appears to be worse. At the launch event in Scotland, I first drove the 182bhp 2.2-litre diesel Sport five-door, six-speed manual which bears a price tag of just under £20,000. On a 300-mile trip through stunning Highland scenery, the engine proved so strong that the driving got lazy. I found I could rely on the deep well of torque to keep the little car pulling strongly on all but the steepest inclines. The suspension set up made an excellent and quiet job of smoothing out the patched and pitted mountain roads and straightening the curves and bends on the west coast route. The gearshift felt a bit clunky and mechanical but it was swift, thanks to the short-shift stick. The whole experience was one of comfort and ease but perhaps because of our eager progress I got no more than 40mpg out of it – well short of the official average of 50.4mpg.
I also ran an automatic two-litre petrol TS2 with 148bhp in reserve. Extremely quiet and smooth it was, but I found it didn't actually feel that powerful for a two-litre in such a small car and my spirited drive down the east coast meant it was travelling less than 30 miles on a gallon of unleaded. The official sprint time of 0-62mph in 10.6 seconds is nothing to write home about. The automatic gearbox, though, was excellent, changing through the five cogs so smoothly it was almost imperceptible. The best response was elicited by using the stubby shift stick in sequential mode. Changes were so rapid and smooth I actually preferred using it in this mode to fully automatic. Mazda has been making the 3 since 2004 and it's the company's top-selling model in Europe. Last year it moved up to overtake Nissan in the sales chart to become the third biggest seller of Japanese cars, behind only Toyota and Honda. Whether the new 3 is special enough to keep it there remains to be seen. However, it'll be up to you to decide whether it's a solid little road car from a manufacturer that's got a reputation for making cars that are reliable and hold onto their value, or just an anonymous wee hatchback in the street that drives pretty well.
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