The Mazda3 is a mix of two cars in the twenty thousand dollar range it competes against
the Civic and the Elantra in the 30s it goes against Mercedes and Audi this right here is a
$36,000 car and admittedly it's not a whole lot of car it's a small hatchback but what's here is
entry-level luxury at a bargain price speaking of Bargains why not sell your car with CarGurus
type a few details get a cash offer from thousands of dealers Nationwide if you like the price they
pick it up and pay you we've driven every version of the Mazda 3 since this generation came out for
2019. hatchback sedan turbo sedan and now the turbo hatchback the hatchback is the designer's
choice and it's so bent on looking fashionable that it cuts out visibility and Headroom
but so what the Mazda 3 hatchback has The Panache of an Italian car it reminds me more of an Alfa
Romeo than anything remotely Japanese but here you have it flowing lines beautiful creases
this nice big mouth grill and these thin LED headlights it's very distinctive when you see
a Mazda from the front or in the back I'll show you that in a little bit this one is so low I
absolutely love it it's so low it almost scrapes the ground because it has an optional black chin
spoiler that's on the premium plus package this is the most expensive one you also get a rear
roof spoiler I just generally like how the colors look on this car all the cut lines especially the
paint quality is excellent in a car they only cost mid 30s the rear is even prettier than the front
and it's prettier than that of the sedan what you get here is the cam back tail now the cam back was
something that the Germans pioneered in the 30s continued into other European cars throughout
the 70s even the Dotson Z had a can back that's this very aggressive slant that goes straight
down almost 90 degrees it's more aerodynamic but on the three it just looks so so good other
hatchbacks have a similar kind of profile but not quite this aggressive when you combine that with
this decklid spoiler on top nicely polished black and these four red ring lights for the tail lights
absolutely love how they're different shaped inner and outer then you combine this with the c-pillar
it's really thick so you see this gorgeous profile on the side it's uninterrupted and then it flows
right over the fenders when you're looking at this car head on it just looks nice and wide like a
proper sports car this is how you do design folks another benefit with the hatch is the cargo hold
20 cubic feet Behind these seats compared to 13 on the three sedan and when you fold these down 47
there are seven Trims on the hatch and eight on the sedan check out how the sedan looks in
profile it's handsome no doubt but now look at the hatchback it looks more upscale in every way and
it's priced that way trim for trim the hatchback is a couple Grand more and here's where you really
pay for it getting in got to be careful because this door cut line is just so low I'm really
close to the door and the B pillar just blocks your immediate Vision anytime you turn left to
change the lane way it always is and that c-pillar out back while it's so beautiful from the outside
it's a burden inside when you're reversing because the thickness of that panel and just
the way the rear shoulder line Rises and has the window going upward it blocks a lot of visibility
it's a good thing blind spot monitoring is standard on every trim but the base s but only
the premium plus has the 360 cameras and rear emergency braking in this car you might need
the help but what a grand interior and by Grand I mean minimal subtle it's the best kind of high end
every surface exudes quality from the leatherette on the softly padded Dash to the grip of the small
Hub steering wheel to the switches all the way to the supportive very comfortable seats Mazda
doesn't shout it Whispers And you'll appreciate the finer details try The Classy instrument
panel it's got a digital speedometer that mimics the analog gauges in this view you can see when
the car detects a vehicle in the blind spot and when it's helping you stay in the lane
I wish Mazda made this system work above 40 miles an hour but it's good I also wish they
had a better infotainment because while the rotary controller is fine the interface isn't
for example you really have to dig to find controls for the tuning and the seeking they're
not there by default and say if you want to change the source without a touch screen all of this is a
little hard to use once you're used to it you'll find surround sound for the Bose stereo it sounds
really good especially Center Point you get a nice virtual surround sound experience I like that
and when you go into the settings there's a lot of personalization including for the head-up display
every three comes standard with forward emergency braking you also get Lane keep assist
adaptive cruise control automatic high beams and the top of the line 3
has traffic jam assist that works below 40 miles an hour to self-steer the car
it's all good but the real luxury brands do a lot better job with the technology
they don't have better engines not on this turbocharged two and a half liter four this one's
got 250 horsepower and 320 pound-feet of torque that's if you use 93 pump gas if you don't want to
pay six bucks a gallon right now you can fill this up with regular and Mazda detunes it automatically
down the 227 horse and 310 pound feet either way those are big numbers in a small car
now it's not the immediate thrust that gets you it's more of the smoothness that's the
character of this engine when you get on it especially in the mid-range it punches
because this is a much smaller car than the SUVs with this engine the CX-5 and the cx-30
this responds a lot quicker Mazda uses a six-speed automatic which by today's standard is a little
bit low compared to the 7 8 and even the 10 speeds that other competitors are offering but it does
shift really well the paddle shifters are good in sport mode it's very responsive though I'd argue
that it keeps the revs a little too high for too long when you don't want to go quickly but all
you take is just one little press on the switch here on the console and you can go back to normal
driving there is a six-speed manual transmission option but it's only on one very specific trim of
the three hatchback you have to get the premium it has to be the naturally aspirated engine and
it has to be front-wheel drive so probably not going to find a whole lot of those around on sale
I think this turbo powertrain really pairs well with the all-wheel drive
it's really a natural partner when you have that much power you don't really want all
of it being sent to the front wheels all-wheel drive is really the best choice for this engine
Mazda also uses a system called G vectoring Plus which is a type of torque vectoring not
only does it break the wheels around turns it will actually limit the engine torque so it'll
kind of modulate that up and down depending on your steering input that's also pretty smart
you can get the naturally aspirated two and a half liter with 186 horsepower or a 2 liter with
even less but after driving the turbo 2.5 this is really the only engine that I want
all this mid-range and the top end acceleration is where the three turbo really shines
everyone else expects a slow little hatchback that's not what this is not at all
of course there's a trade-off it's fuel economy if you get this version you get 23 City
31 Highway and 26 combined that is the worst among all the Mazda 3 variants if those numbers bother
you you can always pick the naturally aspirated two and a half liter or the naturally aspirated
2-liter and the sedan and those do get better fuel economy because these days every mile counts
the ride is just so quiet I was really surprised first getting in this car
with how damned everything is it's totally insulated or in the lines of a luxury car
and the handling is just awesome too as you'd expect then when you want to turn
grip grip grip for days and it stays flat it's just fun there's no other word to say I think you
could do this all day I love this little car this is why smaller cars that are low to the ground
can be safer than a big SUV because you can actually get out of the way it's very agile
the soul of the Miata lives inside the three hatchback it's just a fun little car to drive and
all the inputs are just so precisely calibrated that you're always having fun entering a turn
getting on the highway just driving down the road the only other car in this category among compact
cars it's the Honda Civic it's the only one that is truly as well connected and tied down at every
Point steering handling ride engines everything else is is good but it's not up to this level
if you like driving that's why you buy a Mazda it's just true there's a trade-off like in most
Mazdas the ride is a bit firm it's not horrible but you will feel the road a lot more than in
other cars that is just the sacrifice you make for feeling more of the road you're more connected
with the road sometimes you don't always want to be that connected you like to be a little bit
more distance so if you want a lot more Comfort there's some other cars you may want to consider
I will say though that any firmness in the ride is offset by these very cushioned seats
so I'll take the firmer ride with greater body control and keep these awesome seats seriously
we are on a back road with the three Turbo
not only do you accelerate nice and quickly and smoothly you break just as strongly
that's how you know it's a Mazda feels like a Miata the 2022 Mazda 3 hatchback starts at 23
100 well equipped you're looking at the high 20s for all the bells and whistles with the
turbo engine you're paying over 30. my car was 36 160 fully loaded that's Volkswagen GTI money or a
Civic Type R but raw performance isn't the goal here it's refinement and next to a base Mercedes
GLA Audi Q3 or a BMW X2 a loaded Mazda 3 hatchback is better than all those cars for the same money
you get to choose how much you want to spend that's the beauty of the Mazda 3.
I don't like any of the entry-level German luxury cars because they feel cheap with
this it's an alternative to luxury Brands and you're not going to regret it maybe
even over the actor Integra we're reviewing that too and every other brand new car so
check out the channel subscribe and go to cargurus.com we'll see you next time