Why you should buy the Mazda 3 if you love driving
Car changing is a big deal
Most new cars focus on technology, economy, ease-of-driving – but there are still a few models that prioritise driving engagement over all. Tom Wiltshire’s just spent a week with one of them
The new car market holds increasingly little appeal for petrolheads these days. The manual gearbox is dying a swift death at the hands of hybrid and electric cars, and big, rorty engines have long been supplanted by downsized three-cylinder turbos. Not to mention the ever-widening choice of new brands, mostly from China, which have value and practicality on their side but are usually pretty rubbish to drive.
But all is not lost just yet. I’ve spent the last week driving a Mazda 3, and while it doesn’t stand out at all on paper, in the metal it’s a truly fantastic car to drive. Over a marathon 700-mile week I’ve tested it on long motorway slogs, nipping round town and on twisting country roads – driving for maximum economy and driving for maximum fun, with and without passengers. So I’ve really put it through its paces.
Remember, you can buy a brand new or used car right here on Carwow. And you can sell your car, too. We’re here to help you through every step of your car-changing journey.
Mazda’s philosophy is ‘Jinba Ittai’ – translated, it means ‘horse and rider as one’. Translated further from marketing-speak, it means the company focuses on making its cars feel natural to drive – like an extension of yourself. That’s certainly true of the 3.
It’s been weeks since I’ve driven a car with a manual gearbox, but I was able to pull away totally smoothly from the first moment. The control weights are just so intuitive, and absolutely everything is placed exactly where your hands or feet expect them to be. Whether you’re changing down two ratios in preparation for a corner, or just slogging along in stop-start traffic, the 3 is so easy to drive.
Part of that comes down to the manual gearbox, which has the third-nicest action of any car on sale today (first and second spots go to the Mazda MX-5 and the Porsche 911). It’s just a pleasure to snick-snack it into place.
Then there’s the driving environment. You get a proper round steering wheel, with a nice thin rim – perfect for feeding through your hands. Straight ahead, there’s a blended analogue/digital instrument cluster with a real rev counter and just enough information to be useful without overloading you.
And then there’s the infotainment. No vast TV-sized screen that controls everything from the sat-nav to the seatbelts – you get a narrow display set high-up on the dash. It is a touchscreen, but it’s set back so it’s a real stretch to use it. But never fear, because you get a nice clicky rotary dial in the centre console that’s far less distracting to use.
You also get a panel of physical climate controls, a full bank of buttons on the steering wheel and – joy of joys – a switch to instantly silence the speed limit warnings. It speaks of the impressive calibration effort Mazda’s put into its other safety systems that I didn’t feel the need to switch off the lane-keeping aids or the driver monitoring.
Get out onto the road and the Mazda 3 earns even more stripes. No, it’s not very fast – my car was fitted with an impressive-sounding 2.5-litre engine, but it produces just 140hp and you have to rev the nuts off it to get anywhere. But the way it corners and rides over bumps is second to none.
The steering feels beautifully natural, and it’s a joy to thread corners together on a twisting road. There’s loads of grip too, which is good because it allows you to maintain as much momentum as possible through the bends – ideal in a car that isn’t actually very fast.
But on a long motorway drive the engine settles down to near-silence, the suspension irons out all but the nastiest bumps and the assisted driving features work beautifully. A 300-mile trek to Scotland disappeared in a trice – with the car’s perfect driving position and supportive seats meaning I could get out at the other end without any aches or pains.
The 3’s alternatives are a bit underwhelming these days. The Volkswagen Golf is very sensible, but it’s deathly dull unless you go for a GTI model. The Kia K4, Vauxhall Astra, Peugeot 308 and Hyundai i30 are similarly worthy, and while the Honda Civic handles beautifully it’s only available as a hybrid automatic – and the tech inside is incredibly annoying.
So that leaves the Mazda as one of the last bastions of ‘normal’ cars that you’ll really appreciate as a keen driver. It would certainly be near the top of my shopping list if I wanted a small family car, and if you love driving I think it should be on yours as well.
Car change? Carwow!
Looking for a new set of wheels? With Carwow you can sell your car quickly and for a fair price – as well as find great offers on your next one. Whether you’re looking to buy a car brand new, are after something used or you want to explore car leasing options, Carwow is your one stop shop for new car deals.
Click here to follow us on Reddit, where you can keep up-to-date with all the latest news, reviews, advice guides and videos. You can also subscribe to our WhatsApp channel to get the latest news sent straight to your phone.