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When it comes to compact cars Corolla and Civic are what comes to the average consumers mind
But for those who care about driving, they would also think of the Mazda 3
For 2019 it was just fully redesigned
With more power and luxury than ever before and it's going to be squaring off against the refreshed Honda Civic
Which is known for being a fantastic
all-arounder
So as Mazda one up the class leader, let's find out
Like always the first thing on the agenda is pricing and equipment
Now since the vast majority of people shopping for affordable vehicles go with lower value oriented trims
We chose the Civic sport and the mazda3 select
Both these brands keep things simple by not offering any major option packages
So all you're looking at is a couple of accessories and the destination charges all told they're both a little over
$23,000 and about a hundred dollars apart
So kicking things off with the exterior
Obviously each car is going for a different mission
The Refresh Civic is going for a sporty and athletic look with a grille. That is always black no matter what exterior color you pick
The Mazda on the other hand is working to move upscale
so it has a simple and classy mesh grille surrounded by a thin strip of chrome that
Chrome also extends underneath of the premium looking full LED headlights
Civic instead uses halogen lights until you get to the top-end Touring but it also includes fog lights which are missing on three
In a similar way the rear designs also differ a lot
With the Civic going for a sport back look and the Mazda with a clean elegant design
Both have some LED lighting elements and exposed exhaust in the middle or on the sides
Finally as far as your wheels both cars give you large and good-looking 18-inch alloys even on these lower end trims
Now moving past the styling first. We have the mirrors where only the Mazda includes blind spot monitoring integrated within them
But then as far as all the other safety systems they match each other tit for tat
Both come fully loaded with Ford emergency braking Lane Keeping Assist
Automatic high-beam headlights and adaptive cruise control
For warranties. They also have the same three year 36,000 mile basic and five year 60,000 mile powertrain warranty
And then the finish things off on the outside
Both have 13.2 gallon fuel tanks and nearly identical fuel ranges, but the Civic does have a capitalist fuel filler
Well that wraps up everything on the outside, so now let's see which one offers the most on the inside
Heading to the interiors both models come with smart entry. However only Honda gives you remote start on the fob
At first glance inside you can immediately tell that these are two of the nicest cabins in the class
The civics is mostly the same as it's been over the last few years. But in this case black cloth
The new Mazda3's cabin is totally redesigned this year. And even on this lower end model. We have grays leatherette seat
as
Far as the seats themselves both are manually adjusting but neither of them are heated at this price point
Now beyond the seats both have impressive designs and materials
So on the Civic all the upper dash is soft touch plastic and then in the middle you have some black trim
Lower areas are mostly hard touch, but everything does feel very high-quality
Mazda though has jumped to the front of the class with soft touch plastic and lots of leatherette on the upper areas
Plus even more as you move down to the center tunnel
The same thing is going on for the door trims where the Mazda basically gives you the same experience
As the loaded premium model even on this entry-level model
After pressing the push button starts seven inch reconfigurable gauges will fire up on both
And they coming back to the steering wheels you will also find leather wrapping on both but only rain sensing wipers on the Mazda
Now moving on to the important subject of storage the Civic is pretty much the undisputed king
Mazda certainly gives you plenty of storage cubbies
But the Civic has a very deep center console large front bin and even a center pass through
These sedans have plenty of storage despite using traditional shifters
Both have manual shifting abilities. But only the Civic has paddles and when in Reverse both have backup cameras
However, only the Honda gives you three views and active trajectory now
Heading up to the climate controls the Mazda has two advantages first, it is dual zone automatic versus single zone of the Honda and
Second it is a lot more ergonomically friendly
Since the Civic requires you to go into the touchscreen to get to certain features like your zones
Now for the audio systems a technical issue caused us not to have a sample for the Civic
But we'll go ahead and listen to the Mazda
So that takes us up to the infotainment systems
Which we'll take a quick look at first and foremost the screens on these systems are very different
The three has a significantly larger 8.8 inch display compared to seven in the Civic
But at the same time Mazda's is no longer touch and can only be controlled through a dash mounted knob
Now as far as the actual software, the Civic is still running the old version of Honda Lane
So the graphics and performance are better in the Mazda
Neither of them have integrated navigation at this price point but they do have Android auto and apple carplay
Finally wrapping up the front neither have moonroof
Jumping to the back the Mazdas full redesigns still do not get it ahead of the Civic in terms of rear legroom
Tho headroom is essentially the same
Once inside the back seats. These are very affordable vehicles so you won't find a great deal of features
Neither have bent or USB ports. However, the Mazda does have a center armrest
The other important rear space is the trunk
And again Civic has a pretty good lead over the Mazda and pretty much everything else in the class
the actual measurements are thirteen point two cubic feet versus fifteen point one cubic feet and both do have
60/40 split-folding seats
But anyways, these are known to be two of the best driving vehicles in the class, so let's go ahead and compare them there
Just like pretty much everything else these two are quite different under the hood
while both of them are naturally aspirated the Mazda has eliminated its base 2-liter engine and now only has a
2.5 liter 4-cylinder
that gives it significantly more power than the 2-liter Civic at
186 horsepower versus 158 horsepower and that advantage can be felt when accelerating
And so getting up to speed in the 2019 Civic
Power feels pretty good. Like I mentioned this is actually the base engine
So you you know, if you get the sport then you've got to get the base to eater. So it's not a turbo
But power still feels pretty good. I thought that I might really miss the turbo engine, but
It doesn't feel too noticeable. From what I remember
All right, so first taking off then the 2019 Mazda 3
You could definitely tell that extra power right off the bat most things in this class feel
Rather breathless, I guess you could say, you know
A lot of times you've got low power too low to work engines pairs like a CVT so launch
You know won't be too powerful. But this one you can definitely feel the extra torque and the immediate responsiveness of the 6-speed automatic transmission
The Honda routes the power through a CBT and the Mazda via a 6-speed automatic transmission
Honda did tune the CVT well, but the traditional automatic is still more responsible
I'm not sure. I really notice much change to be honest
But as far as the the overall characteristic of the CVT because I know a lot of you for coming from outgoing civics
You might be concerned that a CVT would be something that bother you or what not. I
Have to say it's really a well tuned CVT. It's not super
loud and drony like
some CVT's can be
And also, one of the things I'm noticing is the level of refinement, you know Mazda is billing this as you know
kind of an alternative to a cheap luxury vehicle, you know, they're moving upscale and
They do back that up with this powertrain
It is very quiet in an uncharacteristic way for the segment also the transmission it is a very smooth
Like I said a lot of the rivals at this point probably the majority have gone to a CVT
But having this more traditional more refined transmission I think really adds to the
Overall Pleasant driving
Like I already said these are two of the more dynamic offerings in the class
And it only takes a turn of the wheel to feel that
They both have lively steering setups that respond very quickly to input and there is definitely more feel than in the vast
majority of the class
The chassis are also tuned to feel button-down and corner flatly
Now one thing that is exactly how I remember is the really excellent steering and the really Tassimo feel of the vehicle
This it feels a really impressively agile. This steering is super quick super responsive
And it really feels buttoned down the whole car
It's definitely not what you expect from a compact vehicle
It really has just a solid feel that is
just uncharacteristic of most the vehicles this competes with
But we haven't lost our traditional Mazda characteristics either in this transition to adding more luxury
this still feels very
Lively at the wheel. The steering is very good
and the
Suspension in the corner is very flatly
So we're gonna head around a corner here and you're gonna feel that you don't have that Lane that most of the rivals exhibit
So it definitely still has that fun-to-drive vibe
So overall in a class we're driving dynamics are often neglected these two do a great job
Now one wild card and this whole thing is the Mazdas new ability to get all-wheel drive
Just the fact that it is offered in this class is rare and deserving of a half-point
Finally when it comes to fuel economy the larger and more powerful engine in the three does put it at a disadvantage of two
mpg combined compared to the Civic and
It's important to remember that higher trims of the Civic have an even more efficient turbo engine
So with that we've reached the end of yet another really close faceoff comparison
having spent extensive time in both these products
We can definitely say that these are two of the best products in the class
But like always it's imperative that you test-drive both of them in person to figure out which set of characteristics you personally prefer
Anyways, thanks for joining us and be sure to subscribe for more comparisons and our signature for review videos. Take care