I have always been a fan of the Mazda3, as its lines and practical size make it just about right for the kind of life I lead. That life is carrying around a lot of things especially car parts and tools and the Mazda3 Sport has wagon-like features making it easy to get things in and out.
The Mazda3 comes in either a sedan with a trunk or a wagon-like affair with a hatch and the Speed 3 is a performance version of the hatch. The car I drove was the Sport GS-Sky which uses an abundance of technology to make this car much more efficient to drive and run.
It is not often that I get such a basic car to test, but it is nice to have a car that is more commonly sold than one loaded with options. That’s not to say that the car was pretty basic, like all cars in this price range, it is quite well optioned out. The GS I had was equipped with a fully adjustable manual seat, heated seats, AM/FM/CD Satellite radio player, power windows and locks and all the other little amenities we have all come to expect. During my testing, I encountered an abundance of rain and the standard rain sensing wipers were a great addition to this car, something more mid-priced cars should all be equipped with.
All the controls on the car are easy-to-reach, find and operate with little to know effort by the driver. Seating in the front is comfortable and the seat heaters work well keeping one warm until the car heats up. The tachometer and speedometer are large and easy-to-read at a glance. I might have liked a few more gauges as this is a “Sport” version. Despite the thick rear, most pillars visibility from inside isn’t too bad and by using the mirrors properly isn’t bad.
During my time with the car, I only encountered one small problem, which was the fogging of the windows that on occasion seemed to take a lot longer to clear and it took a little time to fiddle with the heating/defrost controls to clear them.
Being a hatchback/wagon-like car, loading and loading in the rear is good and with the rear seats folded down, you have plenty of room for even the bulkiest items. The factory mat in the hatch area was good and slowed things from sliding about in quick turns, something this car is good at.
Power for the Sport 3 is a 2L double overhead cam 4-cylinder with 155hp and 148lb-ft of torque, which gives the car decent performance considering its weight of 1350kg. The terrific 6-speed smooth shifting automatic transmission was also a big plus when driving.
As I mentioned earlier, it’s the very nice handling that makes this car fun to drive. Zipping in and out of corners is pure fun, which makes owning this car worth the $22,000 bargain for what you get.
By Glen Konorowski
