Mazda3 1.6 TS2 Diesel review
by David Finlay (28 July 2009)
It may not be the first thing you think about them, but Japanese manufacturers are rarely far away from succumbing to the temptation of inserting a bit of whimsy into their car designs. One of the first things that struck me, for example, about the Daihatsu Charade, when I drove one on the press launch six years ago, was the display which read "Hello, Happy" when the engine was switched on and "See You - Good-bye" (or rather "Good-by", but that was fixed for the production models) when it was switched off.
Things have not come to this pass in the Mazda3, but a similar display offers you a "Hello" and a "Goodbye" in equivalent circumstances. The Mazda does, however, takes matter further than the Daihatsu did by giving out a cheery "bong-bing" when you turn on the ignition and another "bong-bing" when you fire up the engine.
"Bong" and "bing" are respectively a major third and a perfect fifth, and I'm not giving you this inconsequential piece of musical analysis because I think it will be of the slightest interest to you, but simply to show how much the bongs and bings got into my head after a week of constant exposure to them.
To me, this is the most memorable aspect of the 3, and that might be seen as a problem. The 3 fits into what the motor industry calls the C segment, which includes cars like the Ford Focus and Vauxhall Astra, and this part of the market is so busy (despite the recent rise of the supermini) that you would think any contender would have to stand out from the others to be noticeable.
But maybe not. C-segment buyers generally want a car that is reasonably good to look at and performs daily duties with a minimum of fuss. Thoroughly revised in both mechanical and styling terms earlier this year, the 3 is handsome enough, and although it doesn't stand out from the crowd in any respect it is nevertheless a pretty good package with much to admire and little to complain of.
If I had to buy a 3, I think the 1.6-litre diesel TS2 might well be the one I chose. Its turbo diesel engine produces a maximum of 108bhp, and although you have to make it work quite hard in some overtaking manoeuvres it seems well up to the job otherwise.
Of course the 3 would be more exciting if it had more power (and, my word, Mazda offers that - the most butch diesel in the range has 182bhp and the forthcoming MPS will have 256bhp), but for most customers it wouldn't be necessary.
Admittedly, choosing this engine means you lose out on the range-topping Sport trim level, which is available only on the 2.2-litre diesels; with the 1.6 the choice is limited to TS2, as tested here, or the cheaper TS. On the other hand, you get an official combined fuel economy figure of 62.8mpg and a CO2 rating of 119g/km which, uniquely in the 3 range, means your VED payments will be £35 this year and £30 from next April.
If anyone tries to tell you that the Mazda3 is thrilling to drive, poke them with a stick and tell them not to be silly. The major controls all feel soft and do not give much sense of what is actually happening at the engine, brake, transmission or steering ends of the various processes. In other words, the 3 is "not involving", as motoring journalists tend to say when they wish they were driving a Ferrari instead.
But all those controls require a similar amount of effort, which is an important point in the 3's favour. 
On top of that, the car rides comfortably, it responds to firm commands from the driver if reasonably rapid driving is wanted or required, and there is much less sense than there is in some rivals of having to haul a heavy and unresponsive bulk around corners, even though Mazda's programme of weight reduction has by no means made the 3 the lightest car in its class.
Less happily, the 3 has a remarkably limited amount of room for rear passengers, and if you keep the rear seats in place the luggage volume is 300 litres, which isn't particularly generous - most of the car's obvious competitors do better than this, though none can match the four-door saloon version of the Mazda, which manages 430 litres.
The saloon isn't as attractive as the hatch, though, and you can't fold the rear seats. If you do that in the five-door the capacity leaps up to 1360 litres, and that really is good. In fact, it's one of the best features of a car which is in other respects fairly ordinary, but which I would not object to living with if I could somehow persuade it to stop bonging and binging at me.
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