It’s been a couple of years since a Mazda3 pulled into the driveway for a test spin. During the first go around, the vehicle just made its debut in the spring of 2003 as 2004 model year vehicle, replacing the long-running compact Protege in the Mazda lineup. While the Protege served Mazda well, it never quite reached the sales level of the Toyota Corolla or Honda Civic, two popular compacts from Mazda’s larger Japanese rivals. Mazda introduced the Protege back in 1989 as a replacement for the compact Mazda 323 which set forth in 1980. Mazda began selling cars in the U.S. in the early 1970s.
The front-wheel-drive Mazda3 has made nice strides in its three-plus years in the lineup. The Mazda3 ranks by far as the best-selling vehicle in North America for Mazda despite growing competition in the small-car segment of late. The relatively new Chevrolet Cobalt debuted in the 2005 model year as the replacement for the long-running Cavalier with decent results and Ford Focus sales have been kept steady thanks in part to price fluctuations of petro at the corner filling station. A recent wave of new subcompact offerings including the 2007 Toyota Yaris, 2007 Nissan Verge and 2007 Honda Fit vie for many of the same customers as traditional compacts and join fellow subcompacts including the Chevrolet Aveo and Hyundai Accent. DaimlerChrysler’s Chrysler Group currently has no compact sedan in its lineup since the departure of the Neon last year. The five-door, four-cylinder Dodge Caliber is the closest small vehicle entry but no sedan or coupe version is sold. Chrysler is seeking an automotive partner to eventually re-enter the segment. Mazda has no subcompact sedan in its lineup, but does offer the all-important MX-5 Miata, the two-seat convertible that reinvigorated the roadster rage when it debuted in 1989.
When Mazda3 arrived on the scene, its sleek exterior styling woke up the compact segment with its distinctive and notable exterior good looks. Up until then, compact styling largely tilted towards the conservative, especially those from its Japanese counterparts. Rival Honda took note by spicing up the styling of its compact Civic redesign in the 2006 model year.
“If we could build 25 percent more Mazda3s, we could have sold 25 percent more,” according to Jeremy Barnes, of Mazda North American Operations, who was in town last month visiting with area auto journalists. Indeed, Mazda3 sales were 5,987 this past October, compared with 8,241 in October 2005. The drop was not do to weak demand, but a shortage of supply
As was the case in the 2006 model year, the front-wheel-drive Mazda3 returns in four-door sedan and five-door hatchback body styles. No two-door coupe is offered as is the case with the Honda Civic. The four-door Mazda3 sedan comes with the choice of a 2.0-liter four cylinder engine (designated as an ‘i’) delivering 148 horsepower, or a 2.3-liter, 16-valve, double overhead cam powertrain (designated as an ‘s’) boosting four-cylinder horsepower to 156. The five-door hatchback comes with the 2.3-liter ( ‘s’ ) engine exclusively. Not every compact rival offers two engine choices. Hyundai’s Elantra (2.0-liter, 132 horsepower four cylinder engine) and Toyota’s Corolla (1.8-liter, 126 horsepower four cylinder) offer one engine. Mazda’s base 2.0-liter engine offers more horsepower than many other competitor’s four-cylinder base engines.
Three Mazda3 trim levels are again offered in 2007: Sport, Touring and Grand Touring. The big news for 2007 is the debut of the MazdaSpeed3, a turbo-inspired version of the 2.3-liter engine cranking out 263 horsepower sporting an attractive $22,240 starting price with standard six-speed manual transmission. MazdaSpeed is Mazda’s performance-inspired designation offering a touch more power and enhanced handling characteristics from factory-built vehicles. MazdaSpeed3 offers two trims: Sport and Grand Touring. In 2007 MazdaSpeed nuances are also available on the mid-size Mazda6 sedan.
Mazda supplied the Daily Herald with a Touring s sedan with the 2.3-liter engine and five-speed manual transmission. Pricing started at $18,325 with a bottom line of $20,205 when adding $430 for Sirius satellite radio, a $890 power moon roof and $560 destination charge. The lowest-priced Mazda3 starts at $13,795 for an i sedan sport model with manual transmission. The s trim test vehicle included cruise control, power windows and door locks, and air conditioning standard. A 2007 compact Toyota Corolla sedan starts at $14,205 while a 2007 Honda Civic starts at $14,810 for a coupe version.
The 14.5 gallon fuel tank utilizes regular unleaded gasoline and fuel economy numbers for the 2.3-liter engine checked in at a slightly below average of 26 miles per gallon city and 33 m.p.g. highway when mated to the standard five-speed manual transmission. The 2.0-liter engine improves numbers to 28 m.p.g. city and 35 m.p.g. highway when mated to a five-speed manual transmission. The four-cylinder engine is available with an optional four-speed automatic transmission while the 2.3-liter engine comes with an optional five-speed automatic.
Currently, Mazda offers no gas-electric hybrid vehicle in its lineup, but that too is about to change. Mazda is one-third owned by Ford Motor Co. who a year ago, began marketing a gas-electric version of the mid-size Ford Escape SUV. Since the Ford Escape shares an automotive platform with the Mazda Tribute sport utility, Mazda announced recently the gas-electric Tribute HEV will be available in limited quantities starting in the spring of 2007.
At night, the Mazda3 dashboard and sporty instrument panel illuminates with red back lighting similar to what the folks at Pontiac have been doing for quite sometime. Three deep-set independent tunnel-like gauges make up the instrument panel with analog center speedometer flanked by a left-side tachometer and right side fuel indicator and digital odometer. The glove box is better-than-average in size for this segment. In between the front cloth bucket seats (leather seating is optional in up-level models) are a dual inline beverage holder, hand-operated parking brake and a medium-sized flip-top storage bin hinged at the back. Cup holders are also molded into each of the four door map pockets. Fuel-door and trunk release levers are on the floor left of the driver’s seat. All doors with the exception of the driver’s have ceiling handles above. Both front sun visors incorporate vanity mirrors but no slide-out extenders.
Modest interior additions to the 2007 Mazda3 include dual cup holders built into the rear folding arm rests and an auxiliary input near the stereo and a standard 12-volt power outlet for operating an ipod or other personal portable music players. The sound system with thin, rectangular window display sits atop the column-like center with three, easy to grab ventilation dials below. The sound system layout is not as user-friendly as some so the secondary steering wheel audio controls come in handy.
Keep in mind when removing the key from the ignition cylinder located on the steering column, a release button must first be pushed before the key gets released.
Back seat leg room is tight. In fact, some of the newly introduced subcompacts from rival Japanese automakers such as the Honda Fit, offer better back seat leg room than the Mazda3. The rear door opening is not as wide and not as user friendly as others in the segment when swinging legs into place.
Back seats fit two riders comfortably with back rests that fold down with a 60-40 split once large, top-side buttons unlatch the cushions. If needed, these seatbacks can be locked from inside the trunk by leaning in and pushing down a latch on the backside of the cushion. The 14.6 cubic-foot trunk conveniently incorporates hinges outside the cargo area.
The sporty exterior includes a very short, high rear deck lid, large, square rear window and body-colored strap-like door handles. New for 2007 is a small recessed area in the top bumper region with room enough for a hand to slip under when opening the trunk lid. No trunk release button is found on the key fob so the trunk must be opened via key or release lever in the car. The nose-like front end has the Mazda ‘M wing’ logo front and center with a honeycomb air dam below. Both headlight and tail light housing are narrow and band-like in nature. Our Mazda3 ‘s’ trim featured a single exhaust.
Options can add up quickly. Air conditioning ($880) is extra on base-level models. Mazda has several packages to pick and choose. Four-wheel anti-lock brakes and electronic brake force distribution ( EBD ) with brake assist are standard on s models and optional on i models. Dynamic stability control (DSC) and traction-control are now available on s models. Front dual airbags are standard. Seat-mounted side and roof-mounted curtain airbags are optional in all i models and s sport models. Some compact competitors, including the Honda Civic and Hyundai Elantra have side air bags standard across all trim lines.
The drivetrain warranty is covered for 60 months or 60,000 miles (whichever comes first). The basic bumper-to-bumper warranty is for three years or 36,000 miles.
The five-speed manual transmission shifted smoothly when accelerating to highway speeds. Wind noise was evident at higher speeds. Mazda3 has an average turning radius for a compact sedan; but braking and handling are excellent thanks to its ultra stiff and rigid chassis.
For those looking for more styling and decent horsepower in a compact segment that’s sometimes in need of a caffeine jolt, Mazda3 may be the energy drink required. |