by David Finlay (30 November 2009)
This is Mazda's second attempt at creating a high-performance version of the 3. Whether or not you consider the first - launched in 2006 - to have been a success depends on what you want from a hot hatch. The original 3 MPS was very quick, and its ride quality even at speed over rough surfaces was phenomenal. But it wasn't much good round corners, and a track test we conducted in April 2007 demonstrated all too clearly that it could easily be found wanting when unleashed on a race circuit.
The most important part of that car was its 2.3-litre turbocharged petrol engine, which has been carried over largely unchanged. There have in fact been a few tweaks - it is now compliant with Euro V emissions regulations, and the exhaust has been redesigned to make it quieter above 5000rpm - but maximum power is still 256bhp, and straightline performance (0-62mph in 6.1 seconds, for example) is the same as it was before.
An important part of the engine's nature is that it works brilliantly when you're not thinking about performance at all. It operates perfectly well at speeds as low as 1000rpm - well past the point where a turbo diesel would have given up the ghost - so you can realistically drive through town in sixth gear without any fuss at all. I'm not sure if my fellow journalist Iain Robertson used this characteristic to his advantage when he achieved the greatest improvement on official combined fuel economy with a 3 MPS in the 2009 ALD Automotive/Total Eco 10 MPG Marathon, held in October, but I would be very surprised if he didn't.
It remains the case that this absolutely excellent engine is by far the best part of the MPS. According to Mazda, "sophisticated computer-controlled electronics modulate the delivery of torque to minimise torque steer", but you don't minimise torque steer by using sophisticated computer-controlled anything. You do it by getting the suspension right, and this has not happened. It's clear even in town that something is wrong - not because the MPS clatters over manhole covers and the like the way many other hot hatches do (the ride is firmer than before, but still very good), but because it is obviously having trouble carrying its own weight effectively.
If this is evident at less than 20mph, you can imagine what it's like when you really get going. On anything other than a flat, straight road the car simply doesn't know what to do with all the power it has. Fitting stiffer springs, firmer dampers and thicker anti-roll bars has not been enough - or the correct specifications were not chosen - to keep the body properly under control even when you're driving reasonably gently.
I suppose that at some stage during the car's development, somebody must have said, "Wow! We've got it right now. Let's go into production with this," but I find it difficult to imagine that happening. There is no suggestion whatever that the MPS was created by people who know how a real driver's car should be. Oh, and the torque steer is much worse than it used to be. In your face, sophisticated computer-controlled electronics.
The wonder of it all is that Mazda actually
does know how to build a real driver's car. Look at the MX-5, for example. And look, with still more wonder, at the recently revised
CX-7, which is not simply a brilliantly set-up SUV but a brilliantly set-up car full stop. If you drive a CX-7 and a 3 MPS on the same day, as I have, it's hard to quell a rising feeling of anger that the latter is so much less capable and less enjoyable to drive.
If your idea of a hot hatch is something that goes very quickly in a straight line, buy this one. Why not? You'll love it. Really, you will. If, on the other hand, your appreciation of performance cars goes deeper than that, there are many others on the market that will suit you far better.