Instrumented Test
TESTED
Ponder life behind the Joker’s mask. You’re a stud at Batman movies but an object of scorn the rest of the time. Such was the plight of the previous-generation Mazda 3 four-door sedan and five-door hatchback. The grotesque smile and black-tongued face no mother could adore kept these otherwise excellent compacts from earning the respect they deserved.
Celebrating its 2010 clean break from the Ford Motor Company, Mazda is strutting its small-car stuff with an all-new 2014 3 family, designed and developed in-house with no blue-oval collusion. The four- and five-door bodies are back, sans grinning grilles, on a 2.4-inch-longer wheelbase with a 1.6-inch stretch in width. The family resemblance to the CX-5 crossover and 6 flagship sedan is clear, yielding some of the more attractive small cars less than $30,000 will buy.
The five-door is 1.8 inches shorter overall versus the half-inch snipped from the four-door. Models with an “i” suffix are powered by a new 2.0-liter four-cylinder; an “s” signifies a 2.5-liter four. Both engines abide by the Skyactiv ethos of variable valve timing, direct injection, a 13.0:1 compression ratio, and a penchant for revs. The little engine’s redline is 6800 rpm, and the bored-and-stroked big brother tops out at 6500. Four trim levels are available with the 2.0 and three with the 2.5; factor in the body and engine choices, and you have 11 different Mazda 3s to choose from.
The 3 i Grand Touring tested here is a middle child with a starting price of $24,040 (versus the basement model’s $17,740) and only four options—a $70 cargo mat, a $100 rear bumper guard, $125 door-trim plates, and a gorgeous metallic paint job costing $300 extra. Standard GT equipment consists of 16-inch aluminum wheels, automatic climate control, a seven-inch touch screen with navigation and a rear camera, and a split-folding rear seat. The GT’s Bose sound system boasts nine speakers, HD and satellite radio, two USB ports, Pandora, Stitcher, and Aha. Bluetooth and SMS message delivery and reply are also standard GT fare.
Shift and Shout
Even with this equipment bounty, our test car weighed a reasonable 2892 pounds. Even though the spunky 2.0-liter engine is happy at its work, it doesn’t move this package with excessive enthusiasm. The run to 60 took 7.9 seconds with 87 mph showing on the speedometer during the 16.3-second quarter-mile sprint. You’re justified blaming tall gearing for some of that languor, but without it, the stick-shift 3 i wouldn’t earn the 40-mpg highway EPA rating essential for competing against compact-class competitors, hybrid or otherwise.
Need more speed? Locking the right pedal to the floor yields an impressive 131 mph, attributable to the five-door’s 0.28 drag coefficient and modest frontal area. Alternatively, you can ante up $3250 to $5000 for a 2.5-liter 3 s that adds 29 horsepower to clip 0.7 second from the 0-to-60 and quarter-mile times.
