Mazda3 Saloon - ABC Leasing

Car & Driving
The independent definitive Mazda3 Saloon video review
How will you view?

This is a sample, showing 30 seconds of each section.

    THREE TO THE FOUR(some text hidden)

    By Jonathan Crouch


    Ten Second Review word count: 43

    The Mazda3 Saloon is the four-door version of this Japanese brand's engaging family hatch. This notchback body style is one not many manufacturers bother to offer in the family hatch segment these days, but it's welcome here. Read on to find out why.


    Background word count: 124

    Here's a car that bucks the trend. It's conventionally shaped when fashion says it should be an SUV. It's got a normally aspirated engine when virtually every other car on the road has a turbo. And it's also that rarest of things, an affordable volume branded compact saloon. Welcome to the Mazda3 Saloon. It was originally called the Mazda3 Fastback, the Japanese brand reckoning that that moniker might make the car more likely to sell. And it needs some help: compact saloons don't traditionally do very well in our market unless they come with premium price tags and a posh badge on the bonnet. But this one might carve out a useful niche for itself - and here, we're going to find out why.


    Driving Experience word count: 186

    We think the Mazda3 in any form is one of the best handling family hatch sector cars you could choose. We'd take it over a Ford Focus; it's that good. And it has the slickest manual gearbox of any car of this kind you could choose. Automatic transmission is optional, but for goodness sake try the stick shifter before you stump up for a self-shifter. There's only one engine option, a so-called 'Skyactiv-X' powerplant. It's a development of the Skyactiv-G 2.0-litre petrol unit used in base versions of the Mazda3 Hatch but is very different, developing 180PS and using what the brand calls 'Spark Controlled Compressed Ignition' or 'SPCCI', a patented lean burn process that delivers exceptional efficiency. Interestingly, it incorporates a supercharger, not for extra performance (though torque is increased by up to 30% over the Skyactiv-G unit) but instead to ensure that there's enough air in the engine for the compression ignition to work properly. Rest to 62mph takes 8.2s en route to 134mph. Unlike in the Mazda3 Hatch, you can't choose to have this powerplant mated with the brand's i-Activ AWD all-wheel-drive system.


    Pictures (High res disabled)

    Scoring

    Category: Compact Car

    Performance
    70%
    Handling
    80%
    Comfort
    60%
    Space
    70%
    Styling
    80%
    Build
    70%
    Value
    60%
    Equipment
    80%
    Economy
    80%
    Depreciation
    70%
    Insurance
    60%
    Total
    71%
    Mobile
    Narrow
    Narrower
    Normal
    Wide