2012 Mazda 3: What's It Like to Live With?
Read the latest updates in our long-term road test of the 2012 Mazda Mazda3 as our editors live with this car for a year.
What do you want to know about?
- Introduction
- U Have to Be Kidding
- Separated at Birth?
- A Bright Transmission
- Who Started This Hatch Thing?
- Weighing the Buyer's Choice
- Design by Exchange Rate
- Three Knobs, Three Buttons
- So Blue
- A Look Underneath
- Life With a Compact Hatchback
- It's Got Range Alright
- Will The Bike Fit?
- Imperceptible Shifts
- A Great All-Rounder
- Will People Get the Blue?
- Smudges Galore
- The Line Between Too Firm and Just Right
- The Prius and My Left Foot
- Steering Ahead Of The Rest
- Good Mix of Old and New
- My Kind of Clean Tech
- I Wish We Got the 6MT
- When Will the Zoom Zoom End?
- Fundamental Goodness
- Upscale Headlights
- Interior Light Trick
- Video Walkaround
- Just GTFM
- Fast 5,000 Miles
- Rain-Sensing Wipers
- That Shouldn't Be Red
- Revolution
- What Is That Thing?
- My Left Foot
- Your Lack of Information Disturbs Me
- Hmm, That's Gonna Leave a Mark
- Acceptable Use of Plastic
- What I Did This Afternoon
- Front Plate Installed
- Moving the Magnaflow
- Mazda "Gets It"... Again
- L.A. Freeway Ride
- Blind Spot Monitor Annoyance
- In Case You Were Wondering
- Voice Recognition Fail
- Satellite Radio Recharge
- Rear Seat (In)convenience?
- Bells, Whistles, Etc.
- Fingertip Controls
- Color Critique
- Not So Zoom-Zoom
- Fantastic Visibility
- No Place for a Button
- First Service In Record Time
- Kumbaya
- Service Report
- Glovebox Means Business
- Navigation. Is It Worth It?
- Don't Rush Me
- Is Right Up My Alley
- Rear-Facing Child Seat Fitment
- Sales Up, But The 3 Deserves Better
- Is It Still Fun To Drive?
- The Upside To The Little Navigation Screen
- I'd Get The Skyactiv Engine
- Size Is Relative
- An Additional Note About The Steering Type
- What To Do With $25,000
- One Of My Top Three Picks In The Class
- Why Does This Remind Me of Star Wars?
- What Does Racing Prove?
- Not a Slug-A-Matic
- Cross-Country Contender?
- Ideal For Grocery Shopping
- Beer, Red Meat and Guns
- When You Least Expect it
- 10K in the Rearview Mirror
- Royal Road, With Fleas
- Take the Temperature
- What Does Racing Prove, Part 2
- Not Blinded By the Light
- Adaptive HID Headlights
- Nice and Easy
- Rocking Seat
- Cold Starts
- I Love Hatchbacks
- How Low Can You Go?
- Great Party Prep Car
- Case of the Mismatched Font
- Airport Duty
- Highway Fuel Economy
- It's not what it looks like
- Road Trippin
- This Is Going Too Far
- Not-Quite Road Trip Report
- Ode to Joyful Parking
- Dirt Hauler
- Wiping Off the Wiper Blades
- Clever Packaging
- Weak Sauce A/C
- Foot Race
- Trouble in River City
- Parking Lot Door Dent
- How Blue
- The Silhouette of Artful Utility
- Second Oil Change, First Attempt at Fixing Loose Driver Seat
- Wait, I Do Like Front Plates
- Still A Lot of Fun
- Welcome to Monterey
- Automatic Transmission Has Brains
- Car Guy's Nightmare
- Monterey Road Trip Fuel Economy Report
- Lumbar Adjustment Wanted
- Dog Report
- Interior Aesthetics
- Time for a Change
- Car Guy's Nightmare, Part 2
- Weak Sauce A/C, Part 2
- I'd Buy One
- Batten Down the Hatch
- 15,000 Miles In
- Storage Wars
- I'd Still Get This Engine
- My Top 10 Favorite Things About Our 3
- When You Could Use More Space
- Driven Back-To-Back
- Clatter
- Needs Paddles
- I'm Five
- My MPG
- The Road Ahead?
- Light Pollution
- Running Out of Time
- At Home with this Range
- Boom Boom Bose
- SEMA Roadtrip Ride
- SEMA Trip Fuel Economy
- Safety Smorgasbord
- Honest, Simple, Enjoyable
- Goodbye To A Great Car
- Final Push to 20,000 Miles
- Wrap-Up
Introduction
With its logical interior, standout looks and best-in-class driving dynamics, the Mazda Mazda3 has been a longtime favorite of the Edmunds staff. We've recommended it to family and friends and even put our own money down on a few.
In a review of the 2010 Mazda Mazda3 s Five-Door Grand Touring we let you in on a little slice of our personal lives. "Three chest-thumping, horsepower-hungry car guys who test-drive new cars for a living here at Edmunds all choose the economical Mazda Mazda3 Five-Door hatch to park in their own driveways."
Unfortunately, not all is perfect in the land of the 3. Both the 2.5- and 2.0-liter engines made good power, but they were crude and returned substandard real-world fuel economy. The car's five-speed automatic wasn't helping anything either.
Mazda's solution to this problem is a new family of engines and transmissions it's calling Skyactiv. In our first drive of the 2012 Mazda Mazda3 Skyactiv-G Grand Touring we wrote, "The fuel mileage is for real with the new drivetrains, and unlike most other approaches to maximizing mpg, they don't put a damper on the fun. Instead, it's quite the opposite. The Mazda Mazda3 has never been better."
The fuel economy is real? The Mazda Mazda3 has never been better? We knew right then we had to add one to our long-term fleet, and now we have in the form of a 2012 Mazda Mazda3 i Five-Door Grand Touring.
What We Got
There are two engine options available for the 2012 Mazda Mazda3 and for perhaps the first time, we didn't get the big one. A 2.5-liter, 167-horsepower inline-4 is available in the S trim and it is, admittedly, the one we want. It is not, however, the volume seller, nor is it the one that is set to take on the 40-mpg club head-on.
No, that motor is the 2.0-liter 155-hp inline-4 that currently sits in our Mazda Mazda3 i. With the new six-speed automatic transmission (finally), this engine earned an EPA-estimated 39 highway and 28 city mpg. For comparison, that's 4 mpg better city fuel economy than the 2012 Mazda 2 with a manual transmission. This powertrain returns 40 mpg in the 2012 Mazda Mazda3 sedan, but sedans are boring and less functional. We'll gladly give up 1 mpg for more cargo space and better looks.
Our 2012 Mazda Mazda3 Grand Touring comes pretty loaded from the factory with a tilt-and-telescoping wheel, leather steering wheel, leather seats and door panel inserts, eight-way power driver seat, heated front seats, 16-inch wheels, 60/40-split folding seats, a 265-watt Bose stereo with 10 speakers, Bluetooth audio and phone and a full-color compact navigation system. Total price for all that plus the 2.0-liter Skyactiv-G engine and Skyactiv-Drive six-speed automatic came to $23,595.
Beyond that we opted for an interior lighting kit for $200, an auto-dim rearview mirror for $275 and the Technology package for $1,400. That last one lumps together blind-spot monitoring, Sirius Satellite Radio, adaptive automatic bi-xenon lights and rain-sensing front wipers. It's hardly a necessary option, but we figured we wanted to see how good a Mazda Mazda3 can get.
All together, this 2012 Mazda Mazda3 i Five-Door Grand Touring in Indigo Lights Metallic with Dune interior stickers for $25,520. Mazda provided us with the vehicle for this test.
Why We Got It
When recommending the Mazda Mazda3 to friends, the conversation frequently ended with just one question. "Seems nice, but does it get good gas mileage?" Our response was always, "Sort of." Now we have a chance to see if that weak point has been fixed without neutering the Mazda Mazda3's other more interesting features.
We expect it will get better mileage, but can the 2012 Mazda Mazda3 with Skyactiv technology deliver on the near 40-mpg promise? That will be a tough number to hit, although our most recent long-term test of the Mazda 2 confirmed that it delivered exactly what the EPA rating said it would.
We'll be tracking that story over the next 12 months and 20,000 miles to find out. Follow along on our Long-Term Road Test blog.
Current Odometer: 1,148
Best Fuel Economy: 41.7
Worst Fuel Economy: 23
Average Fuel Economy (over the life of the vehicle): 33
The manufacturer provided Edmunds this vehicle for the purposes of evaluation.
I was lucky enough to have our new Mazda 3 for the last couple days, and can tell you that its virtues are legion. But — at the risk of getting off on the wrong foot with the car — it's missing what I've come to think of as an essential: a USB port.
My husband and I discovered this when were carpooling yesterday and running late. His iPhone wasn't fully charged. We assumed that there would be a connection in the Mazda 3. We looked for it in the usual places: on the dash, in the glove box, and finally, in the storage console. That's where we found an auxiliary jack and an accessory socket. But no USB port. And so no charging for us.
I went through the manual this morning to be sure I hadn't missed something And at Mike Magrath's behest, our Mazda subject-matter expert did a big of digging too. USB absence confirmed. The Mazda 3 does have Bluetooth audio. But as the perspicacious Mr. Magrath points out, that's no help for people who want to play their iPods in the car. Or for anyone who wants to charge a device, which is pretty much everybody these days.
I know there's no dearth of aftermarket solutions for smartphone or iPod charging. But come on, Mazda. It's nearly 2012. Why not ditch the CD player (this century's eight-track) and give us the built-in USB connection we really need?
In due time, we'll have amassed enough fills to quantify our longterm 2012 Mazda 3's real-world fuel economy. Clearly, that is the driving force behind this thing's all-new new "Skyactiv" engine and transmission.
There's no waiting on driving impressions, though, and so far I'm impressed with the new 6-speed autobox. I'll always prefer a stick, but as autos go this one does a lot of things right.
There's very little torque converter syrupyness.
Upshifts and downshifts are quick and smooth.
Downshifts are rev-matched (!)
The shift calibration is cooperative — downshifts are served up willingly when you dip the throttle.
Yes, this transmission is a big improvement over the old 5-speed automatic in many more ways than just the extra cog. Furthermore its console selector is simply a model for "how to do it right":
The manual gate is canted toward the driver
Push forward for downshifts, pull back for upshifts
Precise, distinct action and effort. Short throws and fluid movement. Feels substantial, too. Unlike that of so many other cars, Mazda's selector was apparently designed by someone who actually uses the manual mode. Thumbs up.
There should be a special day to celebrate the guy who invented the hatch, don’t you think?
Every time I use the 5-door Mazda 3 in the way it was designed, I think there should be a day on the calendar to honor the person who brought us the perfect utility of the hatch.
It’s easy to think the hatch has always been with us, but I can remember when it was new, when it was dissed and discarded, and when it became snappy and stylish.
As far as recent history is concerned, the Mazda Protégé 5 and the Subaru Imprezza reintroduced the concept of a small wagonette and made it cool. They brought back the spirit of those first Honda Civic wagons of the early 1970s, the car you drove if you were the kind of person who put a bandana around the neck of your German shepherd.
The way I remember it, the 1975 Volkswagen Golf really popularized the hatch in small cars, and once the GTI made us all realize that front-wheel-drive cars could be fast as well as practical, every carmaker rushed to market with a Hot Hatch. Of course, once the hatchback became synonymous with small, cheap cars, it went right out of fashion, but by then the hatchback had been integrated into all kinds of cars, from little coupes like the Acura Integra to sports cars like the Porsche 928. The Europeans really liked larger hatchback sedans like the Saab 9000, but Americans said the concept would never work in premium-style packages. Of course, sport-utilities eventually made everyone receptive to the hatch in big vehicles again and now the Audi A7 is everyone’s favorite car.
Who really got to the idea first? Big station wagons of the 1950s had split tailgates as I remember. It seems like the Jaguar E-Type might have been first with a hatch, you think? Butzi Porsche wanted the Porsche 911 to have one, but the body engineers told him it was impossible. The Pininfarina-designed 1965 MGB GT really popularized the hatch because the car was relatively affordable, and then cars like the Datsun 240Z, Ford Pinto and Toyota Celica Liftback followed.
Whatever, the hatchback guy deserves a place in the car design hall of fame.
There are a number of trade-offs that buyers face when looking for a new car. For example, our 2012 Mazda3 has a fuel efficient Skyactiv engine and a nice list of features, but it isn’t the top trim. For an additional $600 (add an extra $800 for the automatic), you can get the S Grand Touring with a 2.5 liter engine and a number of other features. This makes for a tough choice for Mazda3 shoppers.
On the one hand, the Skyactiv engine is 28 percent more fuel efficient (7 mpg combined) than the 2.5 liter engine. It costs less and has most, but not all, of the features from the S Grand Touring.
The 2.5 liter engine makes about 13 more horsepower and 20 more pound feet of torque. This engine is a nice compromise between the eco-minded Skyactiv and the hyperactive Mazdaspeed3. The 2.5 also gives you the option to get a manual transmission.
The S Grand Touring also includes a number of items exclusive to this trim level: 17-inch wheels, fog lights (optional on i Grand Touring), keyless entry with push button start, LED tail lights, navigation and power side mirrors with turn indicators.
If it was my money, I'd wait for the diesel Skyactiv. But if I had to choose between these two, I would probably go with the Skyactiv. I'm fine with paying more for frivolous items like LED tail lights and turn indicators on the mirrors, but I could never get over paying 28 percent more for gas.
What would you choose?
When I look around at the interior of the Mazda 3, I don’t see design. Instead I see the state of the currency exchange rate between the Japanese yen and the American dollar, currently 77Y to $1.
For years Japanese car-makers have dreaded the declining value of the dollar because it cuts into the profit margin of the manufacturing process in Japan. It was an exchange rate of 80Y/$1 which everyone feared, a level that then was considered catastrophic. Toyota began to prepare for this more than a decade ago (as did Volkswagen), and now every Japanese and European manufacturer is doing the same. Even so, Toyota has recently admitted that it can’t make a profit on Japanese-built subcompacts like the Yaris at the current exchange rate.
You can see the evidence of the same issue in the Mazda 3’s interior.
Once you’re behind the steering wheel and take a look around the Mazda 3’s cabin, you find places where things don’t look quite right. Sometimes it’s the materials, sometimes it’s the architecture, and sometimes it’s simply the color. These are places where money is being saved. And whenever you make similar observations in other cars, you’re seeing evidence of the same issues.
It’s kind of a miracle that the Mazda 3 has been improved in so many respects considering the circumstances. You can’t just make cars for free, you know.
This is what's going on in both footwells of our Mazda 3. It annoys me as I'm constantly catching it in my peripheral vision at night. And it can't be turned off.
Its brightness can be adjusted via this knob to the left of the steering wheel, but it can't be turned off.
Bummer.
It's Christmas Eve Eve, the perfect time to put our brand spanking new 2012 Mazda 3 up on our brand spanking new 2-post Rotary Lift and photograph its underside.
Happy Holidays.
After I dropped a couple friends and their luggage at LAX on Christmas morning, I figured I'd stop off at the iconic Randy's Donuts in Inglewood to see what all the fuss is about. Randy's never closes. Except on Christmas Day. Nevermind. I probably didn't need a bear claw anyway.
I've spent the holiday weekend trying to convince myself that our 2012 Mazda 3 (and its Skyactiv-G engine) fits into my life, now and in the future.
The trip to the airport touched the limits of its utility. It was me and two friends, and one of the friends is well over six feet tall. They had two weeks' worth of luggage. I had presents and various paraphernalia for a family gathering I was driving to immediately after the airport run (and the donut stop).
My friends cast doubtful looks when they see I've already got stuff in the hatch, but I have some experience packing cars (I was nomadic in college and regularly tetris'd nearly all of my worldy possessions into a moldy '80s-era Camry). We manage to fit everything in (barely) and I still have a view out the back.
One of the friends grew up in Germany, so he likes cars, and is fond of hatchbacks, but is skeptical of small, gasoline engines (because diesel exists) and automatic transmissions. Of course, I start proselytizing about Skyactiv technology as soon as he indicates a willingness to listen. I go on for about five minutes and by then we've reached the freeway on-ramp.
"Watch what happens when I floor the throttle."
We listen as the 2.0-liter engine revs smoothly and sweetly, building strength in the midrange. It still feels strong as the transmission executes a nice, clean upshift at 6,100-6,200 rpm. In D, at least, that upshift comes just shy of the marked 6,500-rpm redline. Wish it was right at redline, but oh well, that's why there's a manual gearbox.
My friends do the right thing and indicate that they're impressed and that this car is the greatest.
Ah, well, maybe that's not quite how they said it, but even with all the weight on board, straight-line performance is still sufficient. Nope, this isn't a sport compact, but with the new, D.I. 2.0-liter engine, this car is quick enough that I wouldn't even consider getting the less efficient 2.5-liter engine and its less sophisticated automatic transmission.
We're going to see a lot of 400-mile tanks with our 2012 Mazda 3 i Grand Touring and its 2.0-liter Skyactiv-G four-cylinder engine and six-speed automatic transmission.
After 397 miles of indifferent driving in both city and highway conditions (but with a fair amount of 70-mph cruise control usage in mostly light holiday traffic), I fueled up our Mazda 3. I put 12.117 gallons of 87 octane into its 14.5-gallon tank. That works out to 32.7 mpg, which is smack dab in the middle of its EPA ratings — 28 mpg city, 39 mpg highway, 32 mpg combined.
In my previous post, somebody (was it blueguy?) expressed doubt that the 3's acceleration could really be adequate with the 2.0-liter engine. And it is, I tell you. I'd trade the 2.5-liter's better low-rpm kick any day for the direct-injected 2.0-liter's more balanced performance and the superior transmissions that go with it.
The added fuel range (and mpg) is more like icing on the already tasty gingerbread, as opposed to the only compelling reason to get the models with the Skyactiv drivetrains.
You knew it was coming, so here it is: How easily does a bicycle fit in our new Mazda 3?
In this case The Wife and I stopped by the bike shop, while out running errands, to pick up my hardtail deuce-niner which had some work done on its fork. So it wasn't just simply "will the bike fit?" but rather "will the bike fit with The Wife in the passenger seat?"
Let's see...
Hatchback and folding rear seats make it pretty easy, but I would have to remove that cargo cover.
Slide the front passenger seat forward a bit to accommodate the rear tire, and the bike was in. It's been said before but I'll say it again: Gotta love hatchbacks. The Wife didn't have quite the leg room she wanted, but hey, she's used to making sacrifices for my cycling habits.
My first impression of our long-term Mazda 3 is definitely positive; which is quite a departure from our old Mazdaspeed 3.
Our new Mazda 3 is smooth. The ride is well cushioned while still remaining communicative. But really, I was struck by how smooth the transmission shifts. They're CVT-smooth. When I'm leisurely rolling down the boulevard, the only indication that the gears are changing is by the drop of the tach needle. The same goes for downshifts.
So far, I'm impressed.
This weekend our 2012 Mazda 3 was my conveyance about the city. And I have to say that I loved it. Honestly I can see myself owning this car as it suits my needs as a city girl with a dog (no dog report here though but stay tune). Easy to maneuver in congested traffic, consequently easy to park. And it's actually fun to drive and bonus that it gets decent mpg. How often do you see both those qualities in a car?
Even though I'm an "enthusiastic" driver, I still managed to get about 31.5 mpg, just below the 32 EPA. Also it checks some of the other boxes for my simple likes in a daily driver:
— Effective seat heaters. These go to 5 and the hottest point of this highest setting is intense. I actually found myself flicking the level down a notch! I know, riight?
— Responsive and easy automanual shifter.
— Straightforward controls. "Oh, there's the button for the trip, there's the one for the fuel door." Plus three knobs for climate controls. No guesswork, no reading manuals. All you have to do is look.
Mazda is offering too many engines on the 2012 Mazda 3, and if you haven't read up on the Skyactiv technologies, you're liable to make the wrong choice.
Our long-termer's brand-new, 155-hp, direct-injected, 2.0-liter Skyactiv-G four-cylinder engine is stuffed in-between the old 148-hp, 2.0-liter MZR engine and the 167-hp, 2.5-liter engine (which is a bored/stroked version of the 2.0 MZR motor).
Neither of these older engines is as efficient as the new Skyactiv-G engine, but several of you have written here that you'd still go for the 2.5-liter for its extra torque (166 lb-ft vs. a 148-lb-ft rating on the new engine). And to that I say, well, you really need to experience the new transmissions that come with the 2.0 Skyactiv-G engine before you make up your mind. Low-end grunt is nice and all, but I'll trade that for the new six-speed automatic's super-smooth upshifts and very quick, rev-matched downshifts any day of the week.
Regrettably, I can't be at every Mazda dealership to tell you what to do. And the automaker is taking a far more subtle approach of letting customers know that there's something special about i Touring and i Grand Touring models with the Skyactiv drivetrains. To start, these models all have blue halos on their gauges; other Mazda 3s have gray rings.
There's another blue ring in each headlight assembly. Since our i Grand Touring model has the Technology package, said headlights are bi-xenons.
Finally, the Skyactiv models have this badge on the lower right side of the their hatch or trunk lid. This area is blank, of course, on sedans with the base MZR engine, while s Touring and s Grand Touring models have the usual 2.5 badge. Now, of course, one of my new commuting games is to tally up all the Skyactiv-badged 3s I see. So far, I've seen very few.
These details are too subtle, I think, and I'm not sure most buyers will notice them.
I remember Michael Jordan commenting on the subtle downgrading of interior materials in 2012 Mazda 3 i Grand Touring. And I remember at the time, I thought, oh, it can't be really be appreciably worse than the stuff in our Mazdaspeed 3, can it?
But it really kind of is. The new black plastic on the audio head unit collects oily fingerprint smudges like my Dell Latitude E6410's keyboard does during periods of furious typing in auto show press rooms. It's kind of gross. And, no, we never had this problem in our 2012 Mazdaspeed 3, which had this head unit. (Regrettably, these aren't the best photos; I'll take some more the next time I'm around the car during daylight hours.)
I spent the weekend in our 2012 Mazda 3 Skyactiv-G and put mostly freeway miles on it. I like the way our car rides. It's highly controlled. No matter what kind of pavement you encounter, the suspension is able to cope with it. It never gets unsettled, and this builds up your confidence. No other car in this class feels this good.
However, I'll admit that the setup on our i Grand Touring model (with P205/55R16 89H Bridgestone Turanza EL400 tires) toes my personal threshold for ride compliance. Which is to say, it's great the way it is now, but I wouldn't want it to ride any firmer than it does now. (Which makes me a bit of hypocrite, given how I loved on the stiff-riding Mazdaspeed 3.)
After renting a Ford Focus SEL hatchback (seen after the jump parked outside an atmospheric Microtel at night) last week in Michigan, I can understand why someone might drive both of these cars and prefer the Ford's slightly cushier ride. Arguably, the Focus feels more luxurious, though less fun than the 3.
Still, for a personal vehicle, I'd go with the Mazda, as I prefer its sharp-shifting six-speed automatic to the Ford's dual-clutch box, along with the freer-revving character of its newer engine (the Focus 2.0-liter is based on the old MZR motor that's still the base engine in the Mazda 3). Also, I'm not really a fan of the Ford's electric power steering — not enough feel and I found myself making tiny on-center corrections on I-94 and U.S. 23.
I confess that I use my left foot to brake. I can’t help it, really. It all came from a rally in the middle of the night in the Olympic rain forest when it snowed (while driving a Mitsubishi Cordia of all things) and I learned to balance a car while cornering by using the brake.
The Mazda 3 doesn’t entirely like this and will occasionally cut the throttle. Of course, it’s not the Mazda that's the problem, actually. It’s the Toyota Prius, and the panic about unintended acceleration, which of course has since been shown pretty comprehensively to be unintended driver error.
But in any case, no carmaker wants to risk any confusion with pedal application these days. When you press the brake pedal, the car assumes that you want to slow down. The same thing happened with German carmakers after the Audi 5000 panic in the 1980s (another case comprehensively shown to be unintended driver error).
So the Mazda 3 doesn’t entirely like my left foot.
There are times when I'm left-foot braking into a corner and the throttle will cut completely. Nothing dangerous, but certainly annoying. And even more annoying when the automatic transmission seems to lose its place for a moment, prolonging the whole episode.
It really only seems to happen at low speed, and apparently there’s nothing more involved than looping the brake lights into the circuitry for the fly-by-wire throttle, or so I’m told. The car just assumes that if both the throttle and the brake are pressed at the same time, the brake should have priority. Most manufacturers have reacted to the Prius episode with similar measures, some simple and some more elaborate.
Toyota actually describes its own technology this way:
“As an added measure of safety, Toyota created the braking system enhancement known as Smart Stop Technology. This advanced technology automatically reduces engine power when both pedals are pressed at the same time under certain conditions.
Smart Stop Technology intervenes when the accelerator is depressed first and the brakes are applied firmly for longer than one-half second at speeds greater than five miles per hour.
In normal driving conditions, you won’t notice Smart Stop Technology as it is imperceptible. The feature doesn’t engage if the brake pedal is depressed before the accelerator pedal. This allows for vehicles starting on a steep hill to safely accelerate without rolling backward (known as hill start).
Toyota has installed Smart Stop Technology in all its new models since the beginning of 2011, making it one of the first full-line manufacturers to offer this braking technology as standard equipment."
All this just means that there are fewer cars that let me use left-foot braking. First German cars and now Japanese cars. There is hope for the future, though. I’m told that Mazda is working on a throttle-cut system that depends on brake pressure, so it’ll tolerate a certain amount of pedal overlap and let you use the brakes to balance the car while cornering. The protocol starts with the forthcoming Mazda CX-5 and will be incorporated with new model launches thereafter.
As the Mazda guy told me, “We are the Zoom-Zoom company, after all.”
Our longterm 2012 Mazda 3 has electric power steering. Normally these are not words associated with good steering.
Anyone that has fiddled with racing dampers that have adjustable compression and rebound (never mind high and low speed adjustments...) knows — the more options at your disposal, the more likely you are to find the options that suck.
And that's at the root of the problems with EPS — it tempts engineers with its apparent vast potential. With EPS, all of sudden there is an entire open toolbox brimming with tools. Hey, we can do drift/pull compensation! Hey, we can manufacture steering feel! Hey, we can vary effort not just with speed, but with engine load, throttle angle, side view mirror position, dome light state and GPS location!
Just like that, OEM engineers become like that trackday neophyte staring at their suspension's knobs, jaw agape, shellshocked by choice and destined to make bad ones.
This is not Mazda. Somehow, this little company has figured out which things to focus on in their EPS development and which to ignore. The result is steering that feels more consistently natural than the EPS in other automaker's offerings. Mazda's been doing EPS well for years, too. For example, the RX-8 has been (rightfully) praised for its steering. It's EPS. Yes, the RX-8 had electric power steering ages ago and many people — some of them autojournos — didn't even know it by driving it.
I agree wholeheartedly with Josh on this one. Seeing the three dial climate control setup on our Mazda 3 was a welcome relief. It was a bit unexpected as our Mazda 3 is otherwise loaded up with all sorts of high-tech features.
I haven't done a full checklist yet, but so far I've noticed that it has rain-sensing wipers, active headlights, a navigation system and Bluetooth connectivity. Those are typically the kind of features you get when you load a car up with every last package, and those packages almost always include some kind of automatic climate control. Glad to see this wasn't the case here and I still much prefer the ease of use that comes with a three-dial setup.
You may have read by now that good ol' California has once again decided that its citizens should drive cleaner cars, specifically those of the electric, plug-in hybrid and hydrogen variety. A new mandate dictates that 15.4% of all new cars sold in the state must be electric, fuel-cell or plug-in hybrid by 2025.
Most manufactures have supported the measure, largely because most of them have enough products in the pipeline to meet the requirement. That, and there always seems to be a way around it if you don't.
This may look good to the legislators on the California Air Resources Board (CARB), but I prefer the road that Mazda has taken toward improved fuel efficiency. It's far less extreme, but it's also far more palatable to the average consumer. Instead of far reaching technology that requires an all-new infrastructure, Mazda's Skyactiv philosophy merely builds on what's already there. More fuel efficient combustion engines, transmissions that make the best use of those engine and eventually chassis designs that reduce the weight the powertrains have to carry around.
Our Mazda 3 long-termer has a Skyactiv drivetrain already and you would hardly know that it's significantly cleaner and more efficient that a previous Mazda 3. Doesn't cost extra either. Forcing automakers to build cleaner cars is one thing, but you can't force consumers to buy them. Should be interesting to see how it all works out over the next decade or so.
Our long-term 2012 Mazda 3i Touring SkyActiv is equipped with a 6-speed electronically-controlled SkyActiv sport auto transmission and has a torque converter with electronic lockup, with overdrive in 5th and 6th gears for good fuel economy.
Several of my colleagues have reported many good things about this transmission. And they're right. Acceleration is very smooth in our Mazda 3 — there's almost no shift shock. And shift timing once you're rolling is fine too.
But here's the thing...
(Photo by Kurt Niebuhr)
When moving from a standstill our Mazda 3 is a slug. With 154 hp and 148 lb-ft of torque from the SkyActiv engine I was expecting more. I understand that this powertrain was tuned for fuel economy over sportiness, but the Mazda TV ads are saying you can have both.
Not really. With this 6AT normal acceleration feels smooth and sedate, but boring and slow. If you try to accelerate quickly, you'll get a big downshift and a full-body lunge forward from the shift shock. It's not pleasant. And that 6AT is reluctant to downshift, in the name of fuel economy of course.
I was surprised to find out that a 6MT is available with SkyActiv. I wish we could have gotten that version instead, because the rest of the car is quite nice for a subcompact.
Come to think of it, off the top of my head, I cannot think of any small car that I like equipped with an automatic transmission. I believe that every itty bitty car I like (the Base Mini Cooper and Ford Fiesta, for example) has been equipped with a MT. You just have better control of those small engines, and can rev it or short-shift as you like. Larger engines with their greater power, and especially torque, can get by with an AT.
What do you think? Is there any small car you've driven with an AT that had good performance?
The video breaks down the SkyActiv 6AT and 6MT.
I noticed that our latest Mazda still gives you the ol' "Zoom Zoom" sign when you start it up. Mazdas have been doing this for years, so it's almost expected at this point. But it did get me thinking about the now tired slogan.
At what point will somebody at Mazda say, "You know, we haven't really used the whole 'zoom zoom' in a long time. maybe it's time to move on."
Sure, "zoom zoom" was an advertising tag line and a company motto of sorts, but even if Mazda still adheres to the idea of it, plastering it across the dashboard every time one of its cars is turned on is going to get old at some point, if it hasn't already.
Wonder what the dashboard will say then?
I like this car. It's that simple.
There's a certain fundamental goodness about the way Mazdas drive that's appealing to me. Nearly all of them offer it. Even this, the fuel-economy-obsessed compact hatch has built-in qualities that make driving it meaningful. It's steering, for example, feels like it was tuned. It's not just a product electro-hydraulic motion, but rather an integral component of a larger system. And it's one that contributes to the overall experience — even in a slow car.
Also, its transmission, and I'm not the first to say this, is awesome. By locking up the torque converter quickly and offering sharp, immediate rev-matched downshifts, it makes the most of a minimalist powerplant. Nice.
Finally, it's a utilitarian hatchback that has, since November, twice achieved more than a 41 mpg average on a tank of fuel.
Hard to argue with that.
This is a lot of headlight for a car that cost $25,520. But it's not as good as the superb headlights in our long-term Camry.
The 3, by virtue of being equipped with the Technology Package, includes Bi-Xenon headlights with an auto-leveling feature and an adaptive (self aiming) feature, which points the lights into a turn.
I'm yet to capture an acceptable image of these lights' capabilities, but I have driven them on the same road and at the same time of night that I drove the Camry and Quest. I'll get an image the next time I drive the car, but here's my subjective report (as if a photo isn't subjective).
Adequate reach and coverage. No hot spots. No distracting hard cut lines. But the adaptive feature doesn't really do much for me. And, more importantly, it doesn't make these lights any better than the Camry's more conventional set up.
Our Mazda3's six-speed auto, set in default drive mode, is pretty sluggish on the throttle input. It's a little out of character for a car, and brand, known for sharp reactions. In manual mode though, it calls up the neighboring cog surprisingly quick. Since I spend most of my time in traffic flicking the lever up or tapping it back, I figure my left foot should also do something useful. If you're shopping this car, just get the manual.
If you must have the auto — someone in the family can't drive stick and refuses to learn — or you just want that seven percent improvement in fuel economy over the previous auto, this is not a bad box to live with. Just know that you'll be rowing back and forth a lot. I'd be curious to spend an entire tank of fuel with this car to see how that style impacts our average fuel economy.
I'm not sure who has been hogging our new Mazda 3, but this is the first time I've driven it. And I took the wheel just in time to watch the odometer flip to 5,000 miles.
I drove it just enough to realize I could really like this car.
Must fight for more seat time.
A weird thing happened here yesterday: It rained. No, I'm serious, it really did. And has been said, rain is a good thing.
Not just because the land desperately needs it here in southern California. But also because it's nice to have some actual "weather" for a change.
And one other reason: It gave me a chance to try out the rain-sensing wipers in our long-term Mazda 3. Not all rain-sensing systems are created equal. Some can be annoying, as they have a tendency to overreact and go into the highest speed setting if the rain coming down is anything above a drizzle.
So how did the Mazda do?
Not too bad. Admittedly I never drove in a downpour, but I was generally impressed with how smart the system was about spacing out the wipes according to the amount of water on the windshield. And you can adjust the sensitivity in the same manner that you would adjust an intermittent system to suit your personal taste. Plus, it never once freaked out and went into high-speed mode for no reason.
Just set it in Auto and forget it. Exactly how it's supposed to work.
I don't know how many times I've been behind the wheel of a Mazda 3 — a lot, I presume; I owned one — but each and every time I drive one, I'm tricked by the bright red information in the instrument cluster.
On this one it's the D for drive, on the last one it was the trip and odo. When parked it looks nice. Red's a cool color. But every. single. time. I pass a spoke of the wheel over the IP and see a quick flash of red, I panic and think that there's a dummy warning light.
I've been trained that things flashing red are bad and this one, a big red light smack in the middle of everything, sets off my warning alarms every time. This phenomenon is doubly true at night. Triply so if you're hustling down a dark canyon miles from anything.
I can't think of another car that gets me to think it's broken every time I pass the wheel over the gauges. Even our Juke, which has a bunch of red information up there, doesn't illicit the same response. Maybe it's the size or the fact that it's just a big, simple letter. Either way, if I'm not used to it now, I probably never will be.
FWIW, here are the actual warning lights.
Have you seen the new Mazda SkyActiv commercial yet? SkyActiv (as on our long-term 2012 Mazda 3 SkyActiv) is supposed to blend performance with efficiency. SkyActiv works pretty well (though I wish we got the 6MT instead).
The "Revolution" commercial is a cocktail mix of exciting and environmental images, backed by a Bo Diddley soundtrack. It's all topped off with a few clips of the Mazda 787B sports prototype race car that won Le Mans in 1991, with Johnny Herbert behind the wheel (yes, that actually did happen; Mazda was the first — and only!! — JPN manufacturer to win Le Mans.)
Hit the jump to see the full-length version of "Revolution" and the 787B in action.
There's an intriguing little plastic door to the left of the navigation screen in our Mazda 3. It's right in front of the driver's face so it must be important, right?
Here is what's underneath:
It's a funny looking setup. We assumed it must be something to do with how you update the navigation maps. But there is no visible card slot.
The navigation manual confirms it is indeed how you update the map information. Underneath the plastic cover, there is another cover that you slide out of the way. You can't see a card slot until you get past the second door. There you will find the SD card of the nav map data. You simply swap SD cards and close everything back up. You can get the latest card from a Mazda dealer.
Sounds easy enough, but does it have to be in front of the driver instead of hidden somewhere less conspicuous?
Who knew that left-foot braking is such a mystery? Apparently if you’re a left-foot braker like me it makes you into some kind of secret freak, as if you had been abducted by aliens and then let loose to subvert normal right-foot-braking humans.
I’ve taken it for granted that everyone knows that this is a racing technique, not just in rallying but in all forms of racing, from stock cars to Formula 1. Plus, everyone has driven the go-karts down there next to the miniature golf place, right?
Of course, the question is, does left-foot braking have a place on the street?
The left-foot braking thing came to me long ago when Bob Sinclair at Saab brought Swedish rally driver Stig Blomqvist to the U.S. and made him road race the Saab 99, which looked as big as a bus compared to the other street stock cars it competed against. With left-foot braking, Blomqvist could do that whole Scandinavian-flick cornering thing on dirt or gravel, but he told us that on asphalt it was all about damage control on the outside front tire.
Soon after that, left-foot braking became a big thing in road racing, and Don Knowles (recently honored by the Road Racing Drivers Club) became its most famous exponent. Then the racing schools starting discussing the technique because it addresses the whole friction circle thing, where you attempt to balance the load of braking, cornering and accelerating on all four tires.
After that, the open-wheel racers starting talking about left-foot braking, especially since the good guys had been using it for years at the Speedway. And then the go-kart generation overwhelmed Formula 1, with Michael Schumacher being the primary exponent. Car designers weren’t leaving enough room in the footbox of open-wheel cars to move your feet around anyway, especially once electro-hydraulic shifting with paddles on the steering wheel were introduced.
The big controversy comes with using left-foot braking on the street. Some believe it quickens reaction time, though it’s hard to say if this is true. Some say that it compromises your ability to use the dead pedal and brace yourself in the corners, so you end up hanging on the steering wheel instead of using your fingertips the way you should. There might be something to this. At the same time, it’s impractical to use when you’re in the downshift mode with a car with a synchromesh manual transmission and a conventional three-pedal setup. Take a look at the pedal work by NASCAR stock-car racers on road courses (/www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMZO8EBnmFQ) and rally drivers of the 1980s (/www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGIiarIrUCI) on YouTube if you want to learn more about where and when left-foot braking is useful.
As for me, I'm a big fan of balancing the car’s weight in the cornering process, doing my best to optimize the car’s cornering attitude according to the whole friction circle thing. Jackie Stewart has told me more than once that the way you get into the brakes and get out of them is crucial for good corner speed, and only hacks stand a car on its nose under braking and then leave the corner with the nose up in the air under acceleration. It’s kind of the same thing as braking earlier and lighter because you’re able to gauge you entry into a corner better, so your speed improves compared to the thing where you stomp on the brake pedal at the last nanosecond.
Of course, left-foot brakers do use up brake material quicker than right-foot brakers, but as several race engineers have reminded me, brake pads are way cheaper than tires or clutches or transmissions, so don’t over-think things. I’ll admit that it’s annoying to follow a left-foot braker because the brake lights are always flashing in a distracting way, as guys on road trips with me often report.
There is a strange divide between right-foot brakers and left-foot brakers, as if they were religious cults. If you’re looking to get educated on the subject, I’ve attached some links below. I have a lot of time for the special site created by the Road Racing Drivers Club. In the old days, we’d be reading books by Paul Frere or Piero Taruffi, utterly confused by the little mathematical diagrams.
You should be glad that there is so much information about fast driving, because there was a time when there was no information at all. I remember F1 and Indy 500 driver Dan Gurney telling me about his first-ever road race at Torrey Pines in San Diego with a Triumph TR-2. Whenever Gurney was braking his car into a corner, he couldn’t figure out why he could hear blipping throttles from all the cars around him. It was only afterward that he and his buddy Skip Hudson heard guys talking about heel-and-toe downshifts.
www.driftingstreet.com/braking-technique-left-foot.html
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMEqOGejlrw
www.trackpedia.com/wiki/Left_foot_braking
www.formula1blog.com/2010/12/14/the-drivers-seat-right-foot-vs-left-foot-braking-2/
I wasn't trying to use the navigation system. I just wanted to look at the map for an upcoming street. There are times when this screen goes completely white with its lack of information.
It's basically the same small screen that was in our 2010 Mazdaspeed 3 long-termer. It's too small, too far away, and too hard to read.
OK, this news isn't specific to our 2012 Mazda 3 but it is something for fans of seat heaters (i.e. me and Donna) to be aware of, especially when using a seat heater as effective as that in our Mazda.
So apparently, a new study shows that avid users of this popular car feature may be in danger of suffering from something called Toasted Skin Syndrome. It's not so much a burn as it is a rash caused by prolonged exposure to a heat source. Like how when you sit next to a fireplace too long or a space heater. Fortunately, the initial discoloration isn't permanent and will fade with time. If you do it all the time, however, "doctors say people who get the rash most often can also end up with a permanent tint in their skin." (CBS Local) Eek.
But at least now I won't be so quick to grumble over the fact that the Audi A8L's seat heater only goes on for 10 minutes or that the Infiniti M56 doesn't get hot enough. Still, bummer since this is one of my most favorite features in a car.
By the way, check out the list of warnings about the seat warmers listed in the Mazda 3's owner's manual. Drunk and fatigued people beware!
Never a big fan of plastic engine covers. They usually look so out of place, mostly because they're tacked on as an afterthought.
Now, I'm not saying that the Mazda 3's engine cover is a work of art, but at least it looks as though someone took more than a few minutes to design it. The fact that it's blue is part of the Skyactiv theme, so it has nothing to do with the exterior color. A lid to cover the crankcase cap and dipstick would have been a nice touch, but on a car in this price range that's probably too much to ask.
It was one of those afternoons where I had to drive to Malibu's Corral Canyon Road "for work" — for a video we're making.
Honestly, I'd never driven an automatic-equipped Mazda 3 with any kind of enthusiasm on a back road. And while I'd still take a manual gearbox for myself, I had fun. You've read a couple complaints about sluggish response from our car's Skyactiv six-speed automatic in stop-and-go traffic, but on this afternoon, I observed none of that sluggishness (on Corral Canyon and in the light traffic coming to and going from this road). Although, to be fair, I've never really had a grievance with this transmission.
On Corral Canyon, the automatic responded sharply to my (moderately aggressive) throttle inputs, and if you haven't experienced this transmission, you'd be amazed by how cleanly it drops from 3rd gear to 2nd — rev-matching it every time. This is one of the few automatic-equipped cars that I can actually stand to leave in "D" on a back road.
The brakes felt good, too — this thing doesn't have the mushy pedal you usually get in a budget car; it actually has real brakes. Good times.
We already had a bracket mounted on the front of our long-term 2012 Mazda 3, but we didn't have screws for the front license plates, so today I bought a couple and finished the job.
Front license plates are a bit of hassle (mainly when you're driving without one... I've been pulled over and issued a citation before), but my main complaint here is that our Mazda was issued a set of the new-style California plates that have the URL for the Department of Motor Vehicles' website on them.
I don't like having advertising on license plates (beyond the state name itself, that is), even if it's for a government agency website that California residents already know how to find anyway. It's not as bad as the MyFlorida(.com) plates, but still it's an eyesore, albeit a very minor eyesore. I've always thought personalized plates were a waste of money, but I'd pay more not to have a URL on my tags.
Bought this Magnaflow exhaust system for my '98 Mustang Cobra and had it shipped to the office, the thought being I could just put it in the car (which is usually here at work) and take it to the muffler shop for the install. But although the 'stang has fold-down rear seats, the pass-through was just a little too short in height to fit the box through.
Scanning the long-term board for pack mule candidates, I recruited our Mazda 3. After I flipped down the seats and scooted the passenger seat up (there was still room for a short passenger) the Mazda accommodated the large box with inches to spare. Gotta love hatchbacks.
Like Mark (who loves the smooth shifts) and Jay (who mentioned, among other things, the proper directional functionality of the manual gate), I also feel the 6-speed automatic in our Mazda3 is engineered and calibrated very well. But I found another Mazda-specific Easter egg that makes me believe people at Mazda really do care about driving...
If your car has an automatic with a manual-shift gate, what happens when you initially select it? Does it stay in the current gear or does it kick down a gear when you snick the shifter over? Our Mazda3 does either/both depending on the throttle position. Why is this a case of Mazda "getting it?"
If you're on the throttle and move the shifter to the manual gate, it retains the current gear — as if you're readying the car for some sort of "spirited action" ahead. If, on the other hand, you first remove your foot from the throttle (like when you're going down a grade and want some engine braking), the Mazda3 kicks down a gear (and matches the revs, by the way). By the way, is the shift surround supposed to look like the layout of a racetrack?
Thanks for sweating the details, Mazda. We noticed.
I don't know of any other car that does this. Do you?
It's been a while since I've had the opportunity to actually reach the speed limit on my commute home. I took advantage of this rare occasion and grabbed a quick video of our long-term Mazda3 SkyActiv's ride on the notorious stretch of 405 South. Its uneven concrete slabs and corresponding seams are very evident, to say the least.
Make the jump to watch and hear the thumping the Mazda takes...
A few nights ago I was on my way home in the Mazda 3 when the Blind Spot Monitor began triggering unnecesarily. For me, these systems are of limited value. Part of the problem is that they're calibrated too conservatively for driving in the constant congestion of a city like Los Angeles.
Here's why...
The turn signal, in L.A., is a sign of weakness. Using it as advance warning of your intentions is an invitation for drivers in other lanes to close the gap you're trying to fill. Protocol here, too often, is to change lanes, then signal, then look. I'm not saying that's how I do it, but that's how it feels.
These systems — and this one in particular — are simply not designed to work in an environment where traffic is tightly surrounding your vehicle on every side. So after a few false alarms I switched the BSM off. That's when the yellow warning light you see here appeared on the instrument panel. I find it as distracting as the constant BSM false alarms.
And I don't need another distraction.
Got myself into a voice recognition death spiral with the Mazda 3 last week when trying to pair my phone. As you'll hear, we Edmunds folk have all sorts of creative names for our phones. Mine is called "Josh's phone." But there's also a "Joe's phone." It doesn't go well.
The video picks up somewhere in the middle of the fiasco which went on for about five minutes without the system ever able to distinguish between the two. I eventually gave up and drove home unlinked. Later, over the weekend, it managed to get it right. I did nothing different.
Yes, I jump the gun on answering the system and screw it up worse. At this point I was a bit frustrated. After about eight of these misidentificaitons, you might be frustrated, too.
Ok, so I didn't exactly catch this at the decisive moment, so some explanation is in order. Also, not my best camera work. I was jamming to capture this before it dissappeared. Had to pull the car over, open the camera app, etc, etc, etc. I'm full of excuses, but reading below should help you understand.
I've been driving the Mazda 3 for about a week. On several occassions, the satellite radio has cut out. When it happens the small display which normally shows station information switches to the above screen showing that it's buffering. When the audio stops the screen usually shows "80%" then "90%" then, eventually, "100%" before the audio returns. And it can take more than a minute before that happens. It doesn't seem to correspond to driving under anything, either. It just goes away.
Weird.
This has happened to you. I know it has. Happens to me every time I flop down the rear seat in a compact hatchback or sedan. And, until now, I've had only one solution: Walk around to the front passenger door, open it and move the front seat forward so the rear seatback will lie flat.
Fortunately, there's a simple — and obvious — solution.
That's right, the small fabric pull tab releases the headrest which allows the seatback to fold flat without the hassle of walking around the car. Also, this position improves rear visibility when seats are in the upright position. I know it's not entirely new, but it sure took a long time to arrive.
Well, duh.
I'm a big fan of loaded small cars, and as such I dismiss those who used to say "Why would you pay so much for a Chevy Cruze when you could get a Hyundai Sonata for the same price? It's a bigger car! Bigger is better!"
I don't want a bigger car. I like smaller cars, but I'd still like all the bells and whistles you can get on bigger ones. That's a main reason why I got a Jetta VR6 years ago and it's the reason my wife (then-girlfriend) opted for a '07 Mazda 3s Grand Touring. Our long-termer is also a Grand Touring, albeit in 3i guise that includes the SkyActiv engine.
Mrs. Riswick's 3 s came with then-rare-for-the-class niceties like xenon headlights, automatic climate control, rain-sensing wipers leather upholstery, heated seats, an iPod jack and a Bose sound system. Our 2012 Grand Touring with the Tech pack includes all that and adds/supplants it with currently-rare-for-the-class adaptive xenon headlights, eight-way power seats, a compact navigation system, a Bose surround-sound audio system and five-level heated seats. We don't have auto climate controls, but the 3s Grand Touring does and adds dual-zone capability.
If you value a car's size above getting lots of stuff, that's nice. But I'll go the other way on the trade-off scale.
There are times when I feel like steering wheel controls are needlessly redundant, and then there are controls like the ones in the Mazda 3. These work better than most for a couple of reasons.
One, you can figure out which one is which without even looking at them. It doesn't take long to learn that the volume is the first rocker switch and the seek the other. Same goes for the hang up button with its braille dot.
Second, the tight arrangement of them makes it easy to hit them all with your thumb. Can't tell you how many cars I've driven that had buttons that required moving your hand around to push one of the buttons. In other words, this setup rewards proper hand placement while driving, not surprising from Mazda though.
My two favorite colors are red and blue. I know, way to get crazy, right? But I definitely don't like my blues to border on purple. And that's exactly what's happening with the color of our long-term Mazda 3.
It's officially called Indigo Lights Mica, but it has way too much of a purple hue for my tastes, especially in the right (or wrong) lighting conditions. My limited photography skills weren't able to quite capture its full purple-ish-ness here, but at least there's an interesting car in the background.
Edmunds photog specialist Kurt Niebuhr explained that what I'm seeing is a dash of magenta wafting throughout the Mazda's otherwise blue metallic paint. Okay, whatever...art major.
We were out testing our long-term Mazda 3 Skyactiv a couple days ago, and I was fortunate to run the test numbers. Fortunate, because our test track is the best and safest way to find a car's limits.
What I found was a bit of a let-down.
Not so much the acceleration times (full numbers will be published soon, and I don't want to spoil the surprise for you guys). It's an economy car, so I wasn't expecting much in the way of pure Go. But rather, it was the 3's handling and braking numbers that proved a bit sub-standard. At least for Mazda.
The problem? The steering and well-tuned suspension are trying to write checks the low-grip, high-fuel-mileage tires can't cash (hmm...why does that suddenly remind me of my own bank account?). Anyway, the blame goes to the Bridgestone Turanza EL400 tires, which run out of grip before you can say, "Why won't this car turn for the next slalom cone?"
How important are tires? We went 3.4 mph quicker through the slalom in a 2011 Mazda 3 fitted with Yokohama Avid S34s.
On the bright side, so far we're averaging 29.8 mpg. Which isn't bad considering how many of our editors are either driving around town or muddling through stop-and-go traffic.
The problem, though, is that another long-termer on staff, the Chevrolet Sonic LTZ turbo, exhibits markedly better handling than the 3, yet is returning 29.4 mpg.
I think you can guess which one I'd rather drive.
I've decided that for my purposes, the current-generation Mazda 3 hatchback is a lot more practical and desirable as an urban/suburban everyday run-around car than a lot of other cars, both smaller and larger. I would, for example, choose the 3 over our Fiat 500 or our Chevy Sonic — solely for its great rear visibility.
The Mazda has a large rear glass area, and it extends farther down on the tailgate compared to most other hatches (500 and Sonic, included).
The advantage here is obvious. It's a lot easier to see out the back of the Mazda, so it's easier to park it. And I notice this every time I drive the Mazda.
For a car that does so many things well, it's odd that the Mazda 3 manages to screw up something as simple as a trunk release. In this case, it uses the tiny little button you see here to pop the trunk open.
Not only is the button ridiculously small, it's just plain counter intuitive. Latches make sense, you pull the latch to release and then just keep on pulling to open the hatch. Here you push the tiny little button, listen for the release and then grab the bottom edge to open it. Not exactly hard, but unnecessarily complex.
There's probably some reason the engineers decided to go this route, hope it's a good one.
First Service In Record Time
This happened so quick I didn't even get a chance to photograph it. Well, OK, my camera is having focus problems at the moment, but here's how it went down:
I dropped our Mazda 3 off at Mazda of Orange this morning about 9:00. This is its 7,500-mile service, which is essentially an oil change. At 10:20 our service writer, Joel, called me to say the car was ready to be picked up.
That's rapid service. More info (and a photo) after I pick the car up later.
The white car is my mother-in-law's pre-Skyactiv 2011 3. There's another Mazda in the garage.
I guess we're a Mazda family.
Yesterday I took the Mazda 3 in for its first serivce at Ford and Mazda of Orange in Orange, Calif. Yes, we could have saved money doing it ourselves. No, we don't do that very often. Reporting on the dealer experience is part of what we do here. And our experience at Mazda of Orange was a good one.
I called service writer Joel Angulo yesterday morning and asked if he could turn the car around by 4:00 if I brought it in right then. He said yes. The he turned it around more rapidly than we expected.
I arrived later in the day to pick it up and Joel remembered my name, had the car washed (even though it only had a few spots on after being washed the day before) and clearly explained the bill.
In addition to the oil and filter change, they had rotated the tires, checked their pressure, checked the brake pads and tested the battery performance. Here's the cost breakdown:
Oil filter: $5.95
Labor: $20.25
5 Quarts 0W-20 synthetic: $36.20
Tax: $3.27
Total: $65.67
This was one of my favorite features on the first-generation Mazda 3 and it continues in the second-generation car. Meaningful space for more than just the owner's manual in the glovebox is truly practical.
Hit the jump for the full tour.
Daily use items — like our fuel log — can be kept in the tray portion of the box which is the backside of the door. Less-frequently used necessities — the owner's manual, baby wipes, Depends — can be stashed further back in the bin portion of the box.
I've gone back and forth on the value of the navigation system in the Mazda 3. In 2008, when the current car debuted as a 2010 model, the compact, integrated system was touted to be small so it could be comptetitvely priced with portable units. We were told then that it would draw only a $500 premium. It sounded like a reasonable idea, but I don't believe the pricing has ever been actualized.
Currently, you must step up to the Grand Touring trim level to get the system. Doing so provides a pile of other features, but the cost is nowhere near $500.
In fact, opting for a Grand Touring trim level adds $3,850 to the 3's cost. For that sum you get the navigation system, a 10-speaker Bose audio system, sunroof, heated mirrors, an eight-way power adjustable driver's seat, heated front seats, leather upholstery, a sliding center armrest and a color trip computer.
Here's the thing: I used the 3's navigation system today and was suprised to find that its button-only interface is relatively easy and efficient to use. But for that kind money I'd likely buy the Touring trim level, skip the heated seats and other features and use my phone's navigation funtion.
You?
Perhaps you remember Ed's blog from last week regarding the ergonomics of the 3's button-release hatch. Whatever your feelings on the usability of the electromechanical release, I've found another downside.
It's slow to reset itself. At first use this isn't obvious, but cycle the mechanism a few times with the hatch open and you'll realize that after it release its grip on the striker, the latch mechanism requires a three count to return to a position where it will fully latch. Not a big deal in normal use, but a much bigger deal if you try to release it and close it quickly.
I noticed this issue last week when I failed to fully secure the latch before leaving home. One block away I noticed the light on the dash and stopped to find the hatch held shut by the saftey catch but not fully sealed. Here's what happened next:
Release hatch and close it normally. Latch fails to fully engage, but catches on saftey stop.
Close hatch harder. Same result.
Slam hatch. Same result.
Slam it harder. Same result.
Engage brain. Examine latch. Cycle mechanism with button. Wait (smoke pours from ears). Think (more smoke). Wait more. Latch clicks and resets.
Close hatch normally. Hatch fully seals.
Something to think about the next time you find yourself repeatedly slamming the hatch on your Mazda 3.
I'll take a conventional mechanical release any day.
Out of the cars currently in our fleet, I'd say our 2012 Mazda 3 Skyactiv is my favorite for getting around the city. Sure, the A8 and the X3 (cars I know won't likely be cross-shopped with this hatch) are plush and luxurious but the Mazda 3 is the right size for going down narrow streets and alleys and it's not as terrifying to maneuver in crowded parking garages. Like our Camry, it's well damped for negotiating those pothole-filled alleys and gets decent gas mileage but it's also actually fun to drive.
It's really suited to my lifestyle as a single city dweller who likes to save money on gas but still wants fun doing it.
Parents or potential parents should consider this when shopping the Mazda 3. Rear-facing child seats are massive. Their depth consumes considerable longitudinal space. So much so that with this child seat behind the driver's side I can't access my preffered seating position. I'm only 5'9" but I've got a 32-inch inseam. Anyone exceeding those dimensions will have bigger problems.
Of course, had I actually engaged my brain, I'd have put the rear-facing seat on the passenger side where my 5'4" wife sits. That is, after all, what we did when we owned one of these cars.
Anyway, it can still be done. I sacrificed a few inches of legroom, but I managed. Even so, that kid looks none too thrilled.
Sales Up, But The 3 Deserves Better
Sales figures are out today. For the first quarter of 2012, Mazda sold 42,218 Mazda 3 models, a healthy 24.9 percent increase over the same period last year. Even so, the 3 is one of the laggards of the small car segment. For comparison, Toyota's sold 93,232 Corollas so far this year. Yet if you'd poll our staff for a show of hands on which one they'd buy, a Corolla or a 3, you'd get, well, you already know the answer. The 3, as good as it is, deserves more American buyers.
More comparison sales numbers follow after the jump.
Chevrolet Cruze: 75,288
Ford Focus: 85,468
Honda Civic: 101,592
Hyundai Elantra: 61,237
Mazda 3: 42,218
Toyota Corolla: 93,232
Volkswagen Jetta: 47,959
We've written some previous posts about our Mazda 3's tires. Specifically, how they're not very grippy. Mike wrote that the Mazda's chassis "writes checks the tires can't cash." Objectively, our Mazda 3 posted up mediocre handling numbers and worse than average braking numbers. But we've still been praising the 3 for its steering, transmission and fundamental goodness.
So I began to wonder: is our 3 still fun to drive or do the tires suck the life out of it? I decided to head out to one of my favored roads to find out.
I had already noticed that you don't need a test track to realize that the tires don't have performance as their first priority. Even around town, they'll squeal when going around a city street corner at low — but enthusiastic — speed. Honestly, I was expecting the 3 to be disappointing on the drive.
Well, I was wrong. True enough, the tires aren't very grippy. But this particular road I drove on is sort of a medium pace road. And I realized that I could still drive at a quick pace and enjoy the good stuff about the car without overstepping the tires' limits.
The 3 is still fun. The steering, if not all that communicative, is quick and makes the three feel playful. Even on a bumpy road, the suspension does a nice job of being compliant without being soggy. And sure, our car has an automatic transmission, but it shifts quickly and smoothly in manual mode. And, of course, it has the proper forward/downshift backward/upshift setup for the manual mode selector.
Maybe if I drove on a tighter road or drove more aggressively, I'd be complaining more. And yeah, if this was my car, I'd still quickly swap out these tires and wheels for some grippier rubber and be fine with whatever drop in fuel economy would occur. But for the average economy car buyer, the 3 with Skyactiv is still plenty enjoyable.
We've covered the 3's navigation system before, most recently with Josh's Is It Worth It? post. There is one thing I really do like about it, though: it's up and out of the way, and that leaves plenty of room for the audio controls. These are great. They're easily within in arm's reach, and the buttons are big and identifiable. And I certainly use these a lot more than I do a navigation system.
With so many cars these days having complex controls and/or touchscreens, this is a refreshing contrast.
I filled up the Mazda 3 today. Calculating it out, I got 35 mpg from a 365-mile mix of highway and city driving. That even includes the back road drive I did last week. I'm impressed.
Were I buying a 2012 Mazda 3, I think I'd go with the 2.0-liter Skyactiv engine. I wouldn't miss the 2.5-liter engine. Sure, it's a little more powerful, but I'd trade that for the better fuel economy. The only thing that would be a drag would be not being able to get the features that Mazda offers for the S trim level (2.5-liter engine only), such as the keyless ignition/entry and the front sport seats.
I was amused a few days ago after parking our Mazda 3 for some shopping and looking at its lot mates. The 3 is quite practical thanks to its hatchback body style, and rarely do I find it limiting or "small." But clearly it is "small" when parked next to an M-Class and a CR-V, neither of which is exactly "big" in the automotive world.
I happened to be looking at one of our earlier posts (Steering Ahead of the Rest) and noticed a couple late comments. Specifically, they called out that the Mazda 3 has hydraulic steering but with an electrically driven pump, not pure electric power steering as originally described.
Well, they're right.
The 3 does indeed have a steering rack that is powered hydraulically with an electric pump. This is what is described as electro-hydraulic power assist (EHPAS). (A traditional steering setup would have an engine belt-driven pump.) Pop the hood and you can see that the 3 has a power steering fluid reservoir and lines that run from the pump to the steering rack.
According to our resident wonk, Dan Edmunds, there are two types of EHPAS. He wrote to me:
"There are two kinds of "electric over hydraulic." On type uses a constant-flow belt-driven pump. Full flow is used in parking situations, and at higher speeds a bypass valve siphons off a portion of the flow so less assist is generated (and more feel) at higher speeds. This would more accurately be described as electronically controlled power steering, or ECPS. Because it has a belt-driven pump, many don’t consider it true electric. But Hyundai and Kia did promote it as such about 10 years ago.
"Another type — and what's on the Mazda 3 — uses a hydraulic pump driven by an electric motor, the output of which is managed by an ECU to create differing levels of assist.
"True EPS — which the Mazda 3 is not — has no pump or hoses. The motor can by located in more than one location, so EPS itself can be broken down to column-mount and rack-mount (sometimes called dual pinion) varieties.
But with any electric assist steering, the ECU and software are crucial to [steering feedback] success."
As such, I'd say the content of that original post — that Mazda did a nice job tuning the 3's electric steering — is still valid, even if the actual technical description isn't quite right.
Our 2012 Mazda 3 has an MSRP of $25,520. It's an excellent urban runabout with just about every Mazda 3 feature included, plus great utility and fuel economy. But it's not very exciting.
Alternate choice: for $24,795 MSRP, you could get a Mazdaspeed 3, just without the Technology package.
Of course, it's easy to say "I'd buy the MS3!" But would you really in the real world, with the added insurance, stiffer ride, lower fuel economy and manual-only transmission?
So what say you?
Setting aside the debate of regular Mazda 3 versus Mazdaspeed 3 for the moment, I do think the regular 3 is one of the best choices for a small car in 2012. If someone asked me, "What small car should I buy?" the Mazda would be one of my top three picks.
Much of the credit goes to the new 2.0-liter (Skyactiv) engine, as it gives the car the competitive fuel economy it's been lacking the past couple of years. Then there's rest of the Mazda 3 package — responsive handling, upscale features and an available hatchback body style — that makes this car so appealing in my opinion.
Incidentally, my other two picks for 2012? Ford Focus and Volkswagen Golf.
Geek Alert.
For some reason the vents in the Mazda 3 remind me of Star Wars. Is it Darth Vader's TIE Fighter? Or perhaps the window where Luke fights Vader in front of the Emperor.
There's also a good chance that everything reminds me of Star Wars.
What do you think?
So you're driving around in this little Mazda 3 wagonette and it's easy to wonder what it has to do with the whole racing persona that Mazda has created for itself. After all, what other car company has its name on a race track?
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Is this some sort of advertising scam? What does it have to do with a thrifty sort of runabout with a four-cylinder engine? You know, not exactly Formula 1, eh?
And yet once you step into the arena at Laguna Seca for the American Le Mans Series, you start to get the idea. It seems like every racing car in the place has a Mazda MZR four-cylinder engine at the business end.
In street trim, the 200-hp MZR powers the Miatas in the Mazda MX-5 Playboy Cup . A 230-hp MZR powers the DP02 cars in Cooper Tires Prototypes Lites 1. A 500-hp turbocharged MZR-R powers Dyson Racing's Lola B12/66 in the LMP1 class of the American Le Mans Series.
Meanwhile, you can go to other race tracks on this same day and you'll find Mazdas of almost every persuasion in competition. As Mazda keeps telling us, it has a whole ladder going that can take you from go-karts to the 24 Hours of Le Mans .
It's easy to think of this as simply advertising, like money thrown into the street. After all, bright guys have been saying for decades that there's no business case for motorsports.
Of course, Henry Ford would disagree, because he used speed and performance to prove the performance of the 80-hp "999," which finally made his name in the car business after several false starts. Since then, any car company with a shortage of advertising dollars and a lot to prove has chosen motorsports to do it, notably Ferrari and Porsche.
Mazda has been doing the same since it first put its name above the title at Laguna Seca in 2001 and has just renewed its contract until 2016. And unlike most title sponsors, it has used its involvement to good effect, establishing its heritage, creating a program that sells $8M in parts to amateur racers every year, and even achieving a substantial presence in the Monterey community.
So when I think about the state of small four-cylinder engines today, which are largely featherweight, highly stressed power plants with cooling and oiling systems barely capable of keeping all the components alive, the Mazda MZR under the Mazda 3's hood seems like a miracle of engineering in comparison.
And when the Dyson Lola B12/66-Mazda goes by , I can practically feel the breeze. For me, racing proves something. When I see my brand on the track, I feel better about what I drive. It might be advertising, but it sure works on me.
As some of my colleagues have noted, our Mazda 3 has a praiseworthy automatic tranny. It's smooth, cooperative and even rev-matches its downshifts. But its performance is all the more impressive considering it's part of a powertrain geared towards high fuel efficiency. Unlike most automatics fitted to gas misers, this one doesn't tax your patience when you want a downshift. Yet it still allows strong fuel economy.
When you need it to step down to pass that lane-drifting zombie yacking on the cell phone, it does so swiftly and without requiring you to mash the gas to the floor and wait one-thousand-one before it gets its act together and moves the car out. Factor in the 3's thrifty fuel mileage, nice interior, comfortable seats and good stereo and you see why this Mazda is one of my favorites in a segment full of good cars.
Maybe it's because we're assembling the perfect road trip play list over on our Facebook page. Or maybe it's because of a story I read on the release of the "Route 66" box set. Whatever is driving it, I would love, love, love to make a road trip this summer.
As I ran about town in our Mazda 3 last night, I had to ask myself: Is this car up to such a challenge? I think it could do the job. Although I do think that the massive plain of black desolation that is the dash across the passenger side would drive me nuts somewhere around Nebraska.
But what say you? If you were to head out like our heroes here, would you drive the Mazda 3 on US Route 20 from Newport, Oregon to Boston Massachusetts (3,365 miles)? Would you ply Route 66? Assuming we can't get that Corvette, what car in our fleet would you take? And on what iconic road?
The 3's compact size means it's pretty easy to park in tight spaces. And since we have the hatchback body style, it doesn't get much more convenient for loading grocery bags as that tall opening makes it easy to lift the bags in and out. I had five bags in the photo, and there's certainly room for a few more.
I also like the scuff/scratch protectors on the rear bumper.
How does Mr. Takahashi celebrate Memorial Day weekend? By enjoying some of this great land's contributions to culture (and referring to himself in the third-person). I had some friends over to CasaHashi to watch the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday (I woke up early to catch Indy) and take part in some good ol' fashioned barbecue. That meant it was time to get a new barrel of Boddingtons for the kegerator.
Over the years, I've used a variety of long-term vehicles to transport a Boddingtons keg. Surprisingly, all of them have accomplished this task with ease. I assumed our Mazda 3 would be no different, but I was wrong. I loaded the empty keg into the trunk and realized that if I closed the hatch, the glass would have shattered on the keg. You see, the seatback and hatch angles converge just enough to keep the keg from fitting. Flipping down one of the rear seatback sections was an easy fix, but I was afraid that under acceleration, the keg would slide back and take out the rear glass.
Easy fix number two: tie it down with the seatbelt and stuff my camera bag between the hatch and keg. It's not ideal, but it worked.
As the BBQ got underway, I was grilling in the backyard. I needed a spot to put a tray of dry-aged bone-in ribeyes from my favorite butcher and my Boddingtons while I arranged the hot coals (gas is for wimps). Bingo! The Mazda 3 was unlocked and the hatch made a great little table. Sorry for the blurry photo, but, you know, Boddingtons. Those empty shotgun shell boxes were left over from a sporting clays expedition on Friday afternoon. 'Merica, love it.
There I was at a stop sign. Cross traffic does not stop (nor do they slow down). Considering Mazda's reputation for spirited driving, I figured this real-life game of Frogger would be easy. No. When I stomped the gas pedal I was met with the dreaded throttle tip-in.
That Dynolicious graph above illustrates it. There was that brief pause of lazy forward motion, followed by the rush of acceleration I was expecting from the get-go. Argh.
The tip-in was a bit of a surprise because I never noticed it in "normal" driving. That's when I decided to break out my Dynolicious iPhone app. Below is a graph of normal throttle application.
The tip-in is much less noticeable with a light foot, blending seamlessly into smooth acceleration. It's not at all like our departed BMW 7 Series, where tip-in was prevalent in every situation. Still, I think if the pedal it pushed to the floor, there should be no tip-in. Then again, I'm no engineer.
The moral of the story: plan ahead and anticipate a little hesitation.
I was about 20 minutes into a 100-plus mile trip home from a driving event in La Jolla this morning when I realized that our Mazda 3 had clicked past the 10,000-mile mark. I was zipping along in the pre-dawn hours in an effort to beat burgeoning traffic, so it took a while for me to snap the odo.
I'm sorry that I missed catching it on the dot. It's such a fun moment.
Last week, I wondered whether our Mazda 3 was a car fit for a long road trip. After driving it to and from a driving event called Heels and Wheels this week, I've concluded that it's excellent company for a quick 200-mile round-trip journey.
Our Mazda 3 is maneuverable, energetic and comfortable. The controls are within easy, intuitive reach, whether for climate control or radio/satellite nav. There's power enough to pass, and enough acceleration to keep a good speed up the long, slow hills that Interstate 5 presents between San Diego, San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano. People drive 80 to 85 here, when the CHP isn't around.
It was too early in the morning to realize it Thursday morning, but my drive took me along El Camino Real: the King's Highway. This backbone of the California transportation system had its beginnings in the1700s as a footpath connecting the missions, running from San Diego to Sonoma. Portions of it live on in U.S. Highway 101 and Interstate 5. My parents took me to every blessed mission when I was kid. I loved them all in their crumbling, gessoed glory.
My favorite part of this drive, on and off El Camino Real, is through Camp Pendleton, where young Marines blast along the road on motorcycles or Chargers or Camaros, dressed in camo and hell bent for speed. Every time I pass Las Pulgas Road, I wonder who decided to name a place in honor of fleas. I used to think it was the Marines. Now I know it was the missionaries.
I flick the accelerator, and a splash of sun parts the clouds. Just another couple hours until I’m home.
I won't revive the great three-dial debate here. But I will say that I like knowing the interior temperature of the car. I have info on the outside temperature. Why not an interior degree report?
Just when you think that there can't possibly be another flavor of Mazda's MZR inline-4 engine, another one comes along. This weekend Mazda announced that it's going to build a racing version of its 2.2-liter MZR-CD diesel, an engine that is now sold in the Europe and is scheduled for introduction in the U.S. soon.
The 2.2-liter, Skyactiv-D racing engine uses the stock motor's block, cylinder head, and common-rail injection components, but a dual-stage turbocharger, upgraded internals, and a 14:1 compression ratio enable it to produce 400 hp. Mazda claims the racing engine is 10 percent lighter than the stock engine and reduces internal friction by 20 percent.
This racing engine will be showcased in Grand-Am's new GX class of high-tech sports cars with production-style silhouettes.
Aside from my own fascination with all the different uses to which the Mazda MZR engine has been put — both in street cars and in racing cars — the Skyactiv-D shows me that even in a world where mpg is more important than mph, there's still room for trick engine technology.
Maybe the Mazda 3 will still be fun to drive in the future after all.
Look Ma, no glare. Well, not much, anyway. The interior of our 2012 Mazda 3 is not decorated with the obnoxious sort of chrome trim found elsewhere, the kind that tends to shoot laser-like reflections right back at you when the sun shines in through the windows just so.
This afternoon I arrived home with the sun at just such an angle, and I was struck by the fact that I was not being struck by anything that required a defensive squint posture, a quick donning of sunglasses or the sort of shield move one executes with an open palm.
At the same time, the silver paint does a good job of mimicing aluminum. It adds a bit of character to the various knobs without being tacky or overly brilliant from a reflective standpoint.
I dig the adaptive bi-xenon HID headlights fitted to our 2012 Mazda 3 i Grand Touring. In addition to spitting out clear bright light, they turn as you steer the front wheels to illuminate the inside of corners and they auto-level themselves as you add passengers and cargo.
Steerable auto-leveling HID adaptive lighting is a semi-common option farther upmarket, but they're pretty much unheard of at the budget end of the compact segment where the Mazda 3 plays.
That said, one must cough up enough dough for the Grand Touring model and then opt for the $1,400 Technology Package to get these babies. We're talking a minimum MSRP (including destination) of $25,345. But at least the required Tech package also includes rain sensing wipers, blind spot monitoring (with an off switch for heavy traffic areas where such systems tend to go off constantly), and other stuff.
I'm a big fan of compacts. They've consistently been my go-to choice even when I could afford something bigger. In the past I've always resented having to make the choice of either doing without or stepping up to a larger size than I wanted. Today, it seems, a wider range of compact options means they offer something for everyone.
I am grateful for the low effort required to open and close the Mazda 3's doors. They swing open really easily (but not so easily that it feels out of control) and don't call for a lot of muscle to close. This is really helpful to me because, more often than not, I've got my hands and/or arms full of kids or kid stuff when I'm trying to get into or out of a car.
Just because it's easy to open and close the doors, don't assume that they feel cheap or flimsy. They don't. And they make a good, solid sound when they shut, too.
Seems our longterm 2012 Mazda 3 has a screw (okay, a bolt) loose. The bottom part of the driver's seat will pop up and down a couple of mm if you lean into the seatback, and the associated play is somewhere between the seat bottom and the seat slider/track.
Seems earlier Mazda 3s and other models exhibit this tendency, according to this TSB. Ours is a 2012 model but it's possible it employs the same seat and track design as those models. Should be an easy fix. Therefore I'll let someone else do it. Say, the dealer at the next service.
The Skyactiv-ness of our longterm 2012 Mazda 3 is the real deal, as we've confirmed in our recent fuel economy test of 40-mpg cars. We used a 3 sedan for that test, by the way.
Somewhat related: one thing I've noticed about the Skyactiv engine in our longterm car is a muted high frequency 'shh' noise (it's not exactly a ticking, more like the sound made by tiny pebbles placed on the exhaust heatshield of an idling engine) during cold starts. Some owners might mistake the source as being from the engine's direct injectors.
Turns out the exhaust manifold has thin walls and thus transmits more combustion noise than if it was some old-school cast iron chunkus. When cold, the ignition timing is retarded which puts more heat into the catalyst to aid light-off. This retarded timing also has stronger exhaust blowdown pulses, and that's what you're hearing.
The sound is hardly annoying, but it's there. And it's normal.
Don't you? They are so practical. Maybe it's because I love my old Acura Integra. I hauled around so many different sized and shaped things in that car. I don't drive it enough anymore.
I always thought of hatchbacks as young people cars. There were a lot of them in my college parking lot. But it seems that retirees and empty nesters are interested in them, too.
Whenever I have the Mazda 3 in my driveway, my older neighbors ask me about it. How does it drive? Does it get good mileage? Yesterday someone commented on the color then asked if there was a Mazda dealer nearby. They have wide appeal.
What's your favorite hatchback on the market?
Getting in and out of the Mazda 3 is easy for me. There is ample room and the leather seats don't hold onto my clothes like cloth seats normally do. So I can slip right in.
But not so easy for a friend of mine. He's 6'1" and threw his back out. Getting out of the car was no problem for him. But lowering himself into the Mazda 3 was quite painful.
You see, the Mazda 3 sits low and getting into the seats for someone taller than me and with a bad back wasn't easy. I know this is a specific problem but one you should consider if you have chronic back troubles. A low car is not your best choice.
As I mentioned in a previous post, some of the older residents on my street have been asking me about the Mazda 3. They also ask about other small hatchbacks like the Acura ILX, Ford Focus, Volkswagen GTI, etc. These types of vehicles seem to be gaining popularity with empty-nesters. I can see this low entry point being an issue with them, too, as some of them have mobility problems.
This is why you should always physically go on a test drive. You never know how the car will suit you until you try it on for size.
I had some friends over to CasaHashi this weekend and made sure to snag the Mazda 3 since I knew I was going to have to run a lot of errands and transport a lot of stuff. It wasn't a large gathering, but there was a LOT of food to haul.
After a trip to New Orleans this spring, and falling in love with the cuisine, I decided to cook up a Nawlins' feast. Gumbo, collard greens, fried chicken and boiled crawfish had me buzzing all around L.A. in the Mazda. I had to pick up some folding tables and a propane tank, too.
Unfortunately, the Mazda got towed from in front of my house, which put a big dent in my plans. Poor placement of "Temporary No Parking" signs were the culprit. An hour and $200 later (and an endless litany of expletives), I was back on track, but fuming mad.
Once I picked up 15 pounds of live crawfish from my favorite butcher, along with about 2 pounds of lard, I started feeling better. Then I smelled something of concern. The Styrofoam box was leaking crawfish water in the trunk. Within a mile, the Mazda stunk like a 30-year-old fish truck. Whoops.
As soon as I got back home, I pulled the trunk carpeting, hosed it down and sprayed it with Lysol. I also sprayed the trunk floor and left the sunroof cracked. I must have caught it in time, because the car smells normal now.
With all the driving to and fro, the Mazda made for a great party prep car. It had enough space for everything and was easy to park in crowded lots and on the street. I think picking this car over one of our SUVs was a smart move.
Okay, so I love most things about the Mazda 3. The handling, the ride quality, the engine. And I think the cabin looks great for what it is. The overall look is simple and straightforward. There's no mistaking it's an economy car, but at the same time, it manages to avoid feeling cheap.
One thing bugs, though: the mismatched fonts shown above. Well, "bugs" might be overstating it. But most other things in the cabin are so well-thought-out that this misstep seems out of place.
Love the font used in the display on the left. So clean, so crisp.
I flew into LAX recently and was happy to find a hatchback for airport luggage duty. This is far from the first post of our long-term Mazda3's cargo-carrying capability. It'll hold an entire exhaust system, thirty-seven 5-gallon jugs, a keg of beer (and then some), and, of course groceries. It was because of all this that I was a little surprised that the cargo area barely held our luggage: a large roller, a small roller, a backpack, and a computer bag.
...and what a highway 101 in California's central coast is. On the way up, I was hampered by traffic leaving L.A. and achieved only 34 miles-per-gallon of 87-octane gasoline. On the way back, I observed over 40 mpg until the full-stop in Santa Barbara (and later in Ventura) so the EPA's 39 mpg Highway is absolutely achievable. Still, a true 37 mpg is darned good with the A/C on and cruise set to about 70 mph. By the way, the self-reported average runs about 1 mpg optimistic which is better than some systems.
Eating in the car? Okay. Spilling a cup of melted, frozen yogurt? Not so much. Imagine my surprise when, after about two hours of "Eye Spy with My Little Eye... something that is brown" turned into this. It turns out going dead straight with said cup of brown liquid balancing on the armrest is fine. It's that first exit ramp when things go sploosh! So, let's hear it for pleather. A bowl of soapy water and a handful of paper towels and all was forgiven.
Okay, why don't all gas-station squeegees have 30-inch handles? Typically reserved for truck stops, the squeeeeeeege enabled single-sided bug removal. It's also nice the wipers pop all the way up — also from one side. One thing we need to take care of is our Sirius subscription. As my local FM stations faded away, I went to the satellite radio and discovered the freebie period had run out.
I understand that concerns over safety and litigation have prompted most automakers to lock out the major features on their factory navigation systems while the car is in motion. Not saying I like it, but I get it. But Mazda has taken it one small step too far in my opinionated opinion.
A couple nights ago, I entered an address into the car's nav system and set off on my commute. When the nav lady repeatedly advised me to exit on surface streets that were 25 miles from my destination, I realized a previous driver must have set the route preferences to avoid freeways. So I clicked the steering-wheel controller a couple times to get to the options menu to change it...
... But Mazda doesn't allow you to change the route preferences from "Avoid" to "Prefer" while the car is moving. It's a holiday week here, so traffic is relatively light (not complaining about that) and I never came to a stop on the freeway.
As the continual voice prompts to exit grew annoying (had a Dodgers game going on the radio), I ended up cancelling guidance on the nav system and using other navigation tools, which could have included my phone, the iOS Mapquest app and a closed course.
Just spent a couple days in our long-term 2012 Mazda 3, and it's a nice car to have when you've just moved to a new place, as all manner of small home improvement projects immediately suggest themselves. The day before the holiday, I had to run an errand to San Diego, and I hopped in the 3.
I noticed the loose driver seat when accelerating from stoplights (and if I'm honest, the slightly delayed throttle response when diving for holes in traffic), but overall, I was pleased with the Mazda's long-haul potential. For sure, the ride is on the firm side, and it feels firmer over certain freeways (the ones that haven't repaved recently), but it's just compliant enough to keep me content. The cabin isn't super quiet for a budget hatchback, but again, it's quiet enough.
Sometimes — usually when merging onto freeways via a short onramp — I'd wish I could get a little more torque from the direct-injected 2.0-liter engine, but then, the six-speed automatic would give me such a nice, prompt downshift, it was hard to dwell on any deficiency in grunt. If I had to get to an automatic transmission in a compact car, this would be it.
There weren't any interesting roads along my route, but I like that I didn't spend much time thinking about the steering and the brakes — because they're pretty much exactly how I'd want them. Brake pedal feel is good, and the steering feels nice and stable on-center and appropriately quick and precise off center.
What I like least about our Mazda 3 is the driving position. It has nothing to do with the funky seat issue, rather it's the positioning of the seat relative to the steering wheel. Our car has power driver-seat adjustments so there are plenty, but the steering wheel doesn't telescope quite enough for optimum comfort. It's not a big deal, just something I noticed during half a day in the car.
The Mazda 3 is not the car you drive to the Hollywood Bowl. In my humble opinion, no car is, unless you have super-deluxe valet parking privileges. Parking at the concert venue is an unrelenting nightmare. The Mazda 3 is, however, the perfect car to take to the Park & Ride bus that takes you to the Bowl.
The Mazda 3's hatch will easily hold a picnic basket, backpacks and stadium seat cushions. It's small enough to park easily in the shopping-mall lot that serves as the bus staging area. It's inconspicuous enough to avoid being a thief magnet while you're gone.
As to the image on the screen: It's the brainchild of Herman Kolgen of the J. Paul Getty Museum. He created a video to go with the last movement of Beethoven's 9th Symphony, and in it, joy expresses itself as a sinuous kudzu-like vine that overtakes streets, buildings and even parking meters, painting a gray world in shades of green. Works for me.
A few weeks ago we removed our small front yard, took it down to its poor dirt level, and requested bids from a couple of local landscapers to upgrade the sprinklers, redesign the flower beds, and resod the lawn. After many days of silence from the companies who promised to email bids, I got frustrated and decided we'd do it ourselves instead.
On Friday evening I used a Ford F-150 to pick up eight bags of soil amendment from the local Lowes. We rented a rototiller and started preparing the yard, working on turning the soil until dark that night.
Saturday morning, I woke to find an email from one of the landscapers with a very reasonable bid to do the complete job.
Saturday afternoon, I loaded the seven unopened bags of soil amendment into the Mazda 3 and returned them to Lowes.
Don't judge me.
It's been raining a little here in Southern California lately, and I had a rare chance to test the Mazda 3's wiper blades.
Not good. There were multiple streaks across both sides of the windshield. I couldn't believe that the summer sun had already baked out the blades — our Mazda 3 is only 12,000 miles old, and spends most of its days inside a temperature-controlled garage.
Turns out, the Mazda has also spent some recent time beneath a tree at some staffer's house. The blade well was holding enough leaves and needles to seriously dirty-up the blades, causing the poor performance.
After a good cleaning, the road became clear ahead. Wish I could say the same thing about the weather.
This isn't the first car I've seen package its subwoofer inside a spare tire, but it's still worth noting. Beats the heck out of having a big box eating valuable space in the cargo area.
Go Mazda.
I'll get right to it: The Mazda 3's air conditioning doesn't cut it. Not even close. SoCal had mid-80-degree temperatures last weekend — not that hot by desert standards — and we spent a lot of time being uncomfortable. I'm not the first to notice this, either. This is a hot topic in Edmunds forums and it's been mentioned by commentors in previous blogs.
The system needed about 15 minutes of driving time to drop the 3's interior temperature to comfortable levels. Bring it to halt and the cooling efficiency drops significantly. I suspect if it were 100 degrees, it wouldn't be able to keep up at all. We owned a first-generation Mazda 3 which suffered the same problem, but we kept that car for five years in this climate and I never remember being this uncomfortable.
I had a less-is-more moment as I got into our Mazda 3 last night. I'd just spent the weekend in the big, gas-hoggy and tech-heavy Infiniti JX35, which has quite a vocabulary of safety beeps and proximity alerts. With that in mind, it was refreshing to start up a car that's small, simple and abstemious. And not quite so talkative.
This isn't meant to be a comparison of those two cars — that would be absurd. Each has its place and purpose. Sometimes you want a pair of Cole Haan peep-toe sling backs with five-inch heels (or I would, anyway, as long as I didn't have to walk far). But some days, what you need are Dansko Professional clogs: comfortable, unassuming and sure-footed. Yesterday, the Mazda 3 was the shoo-in.
No, these 2012 Mazda 3 Skyactiv hatchbacks are not being given the suspension walkaround treatment by dealer staffers. Instead this tiny Mazda dealership in Brookings, Oregon has been hit by tire-slashing vandals, with about a dozen Mazda 3 sedans and hatchbacks taking it in the sidewalls.
These two are up on jackstands awaiting new tires; the white car and others behind it are sitting on their rims waiting for their turn on the jackstands. Oddly, a Mazdaspeed 3 and numerous CX-5 SUVs nearby escaped unharmed.
This kind of thing makes my blood boil.
Parking Lot Door Dent
There was only one spot open when I pulled the Mazda 3 into the store's small parking lot, and I carefully nosed the hatchback into the average-sized space. It was made slightly narrower by the Porsche Panamera that was backed in on my left, a little right of center in his own space.
I had plenty of room to get out of the driver's door, which I did extra carefully when I realized there was a guy in the Panamera talking on a phone. I didn't want him to think I was just gonna go banging recklessly around his new wheels.
As we headed across the parking lot to the store, my daughter said, looking back, "Mom, that guy just opened his door into our car."
"What?!" I said, stopping cold, and already ticked because I knew he had plenty of room if he decided to get out.
"Nevermind," she said. "I'm wrong," when he didn't emerge from the car. "I thought he opened his door."
We continued into the store, and came back out in less than five minutes.
The Porsche was gone, and there was indeed about a 4 inch vertical dent in the Mazda's left rear door.
What do you think? Did he do it on purpose?
Mazda calls this paint, Indigo Lights. The Gap calls her shoes, Becca Blue.
I call them a perfect match.
You meet them all the time.
People come up to you and then with a puzzled frown they tell you some long and tangled story about trying to find a car to buy that will fit a dog/bicycle/television/jetski, but has to get 40 mpg and be no bigger than a lawn chair besides.
As always, people expect that the laws of physics can be suspended. It's kind of flattering, really. The car companies seem to make magic with stuff every day, so why not the laws of physics?
Can't be a crossover utility because they're too big. Can't be a station wagon because they're too old. Can't be a hatchback because they're too crappy.
Fortunately, I am usually somewhere within sight of a Mazda 3 5-door hatchback (aren't we all?), so all I have to do is point and say, "There's the answer to your problem."
They tend to get the idea in an instant. A nice people package, only with a long roof and square back so there's room enough to carry stuff. Plus a little bit of towing capacity for recreational purposes.
I credit the Mazda 3 5-door for helping people embrace the wagonette-style car because it has always looked good, which is a big deal. But even more important, it has never tried to disguise its utility, so you could always understand its possibilities at a single glance. What the Mazda 3 5-door has is a look that vehicles as different as the Acura ZDX, Audi A7 and BMW X6 have tried to capture only to seem clumsy in comparison.
It's easy to get lost in the details of the Mazda 3's style, but the thing that makes it work as a piece of design is its silhouette. It combines art and utility in a way that makes you believe that the laws of physics can be suspended.
The maintenance indicator was on in our long-term 2012 Mazda 3, and as I'm planning a road trip to Monterey next week, I wanted to get it addressed this week. So on Thursday, I called Long Beach Mazda and made an appointment for yesterday (Friday) at 9 a.m.
I pulled into the service drive 10 minutes late yesterday morning, but it wasn't that busy, and no one cared. Within 2 minutes, a service advisor was helping me. I told him I wanted an oil change and tire rotation, and he quoted me $69.95. Way cheaper than the prices I'm used to in Santa Monica, and I remembered that this was in the ballpark with what Josh paid for the Mazda's first service, so I OK'd it.
I also asked the advisor if someone could take a look at the driver seat, which rocks back and forth under acceleration and braking. He said a tech would do the oil service and tire rotation first, and then, they'd road-test the car and he'd report back with their findings.
"OK if we wash the car today?"
"Definitely," I said.
Well, he followed through, as about two hours later, I got a call from him that the maintenance was complete and they were headed out on a drive.
After lunch, he called again and said, yep, the tech detected a "slight movement in the driver seat" but hadn't found any problem with how the seat attaches to the track. So they had a call into Mazda's tech line to see how they should proceed.
Later, he called and paraphrased the following (which is also printed on the final service receipt):
"Customer states that the driver seat rocks and forth during acceleration and braking."
"Technician verified that there is a very slight movement in the driver seat on acceleration and deceleration of the vehicle. Checked seat track; OK at this time. Contacted Mazda; Mazda stated there are a few reports of vehicles with the same concern. Mazda is currently working on a solution to rectify this concern. Once they determine a solution, they will contact the dealer who will then contact the customer."
Then, he said I could come pick up our Mazda 3. I arrived about 10 minutes before closing, and the car was waiting in the driveway, in the shade, and the interior was pleasantly cool — nice on a warm summer day.
The final bill, with tax, was $73.58. Parts amounted to $41.50; labor was $28.45.
Upon scrutinizing the service receipt later, though, I noticed that the dealer put "5W20 synthetic" in the car... Technically OK, per the owner's manual, but not the 3's preferred 0W20 synthetic drink. :grumble:
And I guess I can't be too surprised... this dealer also services Lincolns and Mercurys under the same roof, and Motorcraft 5W20 is the preferred drink of latter-day Lincoln-Mercury models, so it appears management has decided to economize by also putting it in all the newer Mazdas that come through. If we come back here, I guess we'll have to bring our own oil. I supposed that's what I'd do if this was my car. Another option, of course, would be run down to the dealer today and demand that they swap out the Motorcraft oil for the correct stuff, but based on my reading, 5W20 should be close enough that having it in there for the next 6,000-7,000 miles won't lunch the engine. A casual search online suggests it worked just fine in the older MZR engines.
Update
While I was poking around under the hood, I noticed that the dealer put a sticker there
apparently to indicate that our car would be part of whatever TSB is released for the seat concern
. — Instead, the sticker evidently refers to a recall campaign that isn't yet in the NHTSA database. Logically, given the location of the sticker, it lets future techs know that our tech performed a PCM reflash on the car. It's emissions related, apparently, as docs posted on a Canadian Mazda 3 forums site suggest (www.torontomazda3.ca/forum/showthread.php?63187-2012-Variable-Valve-Timing-System-Emission-Recall-Campaign), and on affected cars, the factory calibration can reportedly trip up the Skyactiv engine's variable valve timing.
Also, when I got up this morning, I gave the dealer a call to inquire about the apparent use of 5W20 instead of 0W20. I left a detailed voicemail for our service advisor. Didn't hear back but the service department closes at 2 p.m. on Saturdays. Perhaps I'll get a call back from him on Monday.
Over the weekend, I had occasion to street-park the Mazda 3 in a parking-starved area of Eagle Rock. I happened upon a space that had room for 1.75 Mazda 3 hatchbacks. I didn't want anyone to park behind me, so I backed up all the way to where the unpainted curb turned to red, leaving room in front of me for a Mini or Smart. Instead, we came back from dinner to find a Camry had made room.
And although California's front plate requirement has brought me considerable inconvenience over the years, it offered some peace of mind/more crumple zone in this situation. Mind you, I couldn't find a single love mark left by the Camry, so I guess the driver managed this feat without touching (or just without leaving a mark). Next time, I won't leave so much room.
A wider shot, taken by by my spouse with his BlackBerry.
I still haven't gotten tired of driving our long-term 2012 Mazda 3 Skyactiv around Southern California. Oh sure, sometimes I wish we'd gotten the six-speed manual gearbox, but in the budget car class, you're really not going to do any better than this automatic. It's not perfect, but quick downshifts are what I care about, and this transmission delivers.
What's more, I'm still smitten by how quickly the Mazda responds to steering inputs. If I had the time, I'd take it on a back road every week — it's that entertaining. We were at Dodger Stadium over the weekend for the L.A. stop of Ford's Focus ST autocross event. My spouse had signed up, and I ended up getting a turn behind wheel as well. And indeed, the Focus ST is as fun as we said in our first drive, probably better than the Mazdaspeed 3 (although maybe not on GMR) and of course way quicker than our workaday Mazda 3 Skyactiv.
Yet, I felt zero disappointment as got back into the 3. For the money, you won't find a more entertaining commuter car. If I owned this car, though, I'd already be looking for a different, probably more expensive tire to replace these really very all-season Bridgestone Turanzas when they wear out. They're squeally around turns and road noise is considerable. Not sure than new rubber would fix the latter, but I'd try a different tire anyway, especially one that offered a bit more grip.
"We've been waiting for you," the really very young valet guy told me as the Mazda 3 and I pulled into a hotel parking garage near Monterey's Cannery Row.
"Really?"
"Yeah, there's a spot saved for you."
"Are you sure I won't get towed?" I asked as I backed into this very spot.
Ten minutes later, it turned out he was not. He'd mistaken me for a McLaren executive. And I don't know about the Mazda 3... perhaps it's the front-engine, front-drive hatchback McLaren would build if it was in the business of building of front-engine, front-drive hatchbacks?
In any case, the 3 was relocated to steerage and I was given a normal valet ticket.
I'd been on the road for hours at that point, but I was in a good mood. Driver-seat comfort in the Mazda isn't bad, and in spite of the car's reputation as the sporty car of the budget car class, the ride is sufficiently compliant.
The headlights are also very good if you end up with the Grand Touring model. They're adaptive xenons, and the adaptability of said lights when you add steering input is about as good as any high-end car with this feature. I had no problems seeing through the turns on Highway 68 and 17-Mile Drive in the dark — and this came in handy as I made repeated runs down these roads during my weekend on the Monterey Peninsula.
I'll post fuel economy numbers from the trip later this week.
By now, several of us have written about our Mazda 3's six-speed automatic transmission and how quickly it comes up with downshifts in passing situations. Over the weekend, I became acquainted with another side of this transmission.
So, basically, there's a ton of traffic on the Monterey Peninsula during the weekend of the historic races and the Pebble Beach Concours. On many occasions, I found myself trailing other cars at 30-50 mph on downhill stretches of twisty two-lane roads.
And in situations where I was in D, off-throttle and intermittently applying the brakes, the transmission would at a certain point drop down a gear to provide some much desired engine braking.
Now there are plenty of other automatic transmissions with hill logic that will downshift in these situations, but the timing and smoothness with which this particular automatic does it is just right-on and adds to the enjoyment of driving an automatic-equipped Mazda 3. It made me happy.
It has been a bizarre 30 hours with our long-term 2012 Mazda i Touring Skyactiv hatchback. As Kelly Toepke wrote, I needed a Camry rescue yesterday. It's not often Kelly and I get to carpool, and I really enjoyed the conversation, which is made easier by the Camry's relatively quiet cabin and pleasant 405-freeway ride, but I wish this opportunity had come up due to better circumstances. Here's what happened.
Early Tuesday morning, I left the Mazda in the care of the valet staff at this hotel. I was attending a work-related event, and there was no self-park option so I just had to trust that our humble hatchback would be treated decently.
Five hours later, I handed a valet staffer my validated ticket and requested that he please retrieve the Mazda 3. Then, I stood in the warm sun, overloaded computer bag on my shoulder. A friend came up and we talked as he waited for his car. His car arrived and we said goodbye. I continued to wait.
Finally, the valet employee, who I'd interacted with that morning, and asked what kind of car did I have? Uh...
"You remember me, right?" I said. "I'm the tall, whiny lady with the dark blue Mazda 3 hatchback." (If you knew me, you'd understand the 'whiny' part. I like things the way I like them.)
"Oh... yeah." He got back on the radio. Minutes later, I heard the person on the other end of the radio say the fateful words "lost key."
Then, the employee holding the radio began lightly swearing.
After that, I met several more members of the valet staff, including a young, well-meaning employee, who said, "Yeah, I parked your car this morning, and I remember having the key in my pocket and I don't know what happened to it after that. I'm sorry."
I got to the see the valet company's office and its key board. There was a current-gen Mazda key fob on it, but it was attached to an Enterprise rental car key chain and clearly didn't go to our car.
Eventually, I met the valet staff's manager, who said, "we're so sorry, but we've lost the key to your car. What can I do to help you?"
"Well, I think you should have a staff meeting and everyone should check their pockets, and if no one has it, I think you should all look for my key."
"Well, I have other customers..."
"Really?? I think this is a pretty big deal. You've lost the key to my car (and I didn't say this next part but sort of which I had, *and taking care of people's cars is your core business*)."
After that, about 15 minutes went by while the manager and an undisclosed number of staff apparently looked for the key. But by that point, I saw which way the wind was blowing and made a call back to the ranch to see if we had a spare key.
Alas, we did not, as Mazda has loaned us this car. So when the valet staff's search didn't turn up the key ("It's crazy what can happen to these keys," the manager told me. "They fall into cars, and I bet what happened is that your key got attached to another key ring."), it became clear that I would have to leave the car here for the night, and given that I'm a bit attached to it, this tugged at my heart.
Before Kelly picked me up, I requested a visitation to confirm that the 3 was still physically on the hotel premises. It was up on the top level, competently parked, but baking in the sun — its lot in life as a workaday hatchback in the land of Bimmers and Benzes. I snapped a photo of the VIN to help our friends at STI locate the correct key for the Mazda. Of course, there was also some paperwork to deal with at the hotel, and in all, this incident delayed my departure by 90 minutes.
The spare key was located this morning and, conveniently, also delivered to our office this morning. This afternoon, I let the valet manager know we'd be coming and that I had every intention of driving the car out of their garage myself, so please clear a path to the car. He was friendly when I arrived, and 27 hours after my original attempt, I retrieved the 3 without incident. It drives fine and is undamaged.
If this was my personal car, I would probably take the overly cautious step of having the blue Mazda 3 re-keyed at this point (since the lost fob is floating around in the great big city of Los Angeles). Since this car belongs to Mazda, though, our contacts at the company will have to decide if they want to go this route. If that happens, we'll let you know.
Anyone ever had a valet lose the key to your car? How did you handle it?
I put nearly 1,000 miles on our 2012 Mazda 3 i Touring Skyactiv during last weekend's road trip to Monterey.
Just crunched my fuel economy numbers and realized how unusually wide the range was — specifically, my highway numbers were very, very good, while my city numbers were pretty lousy. In this case, though, "city driving" amounts to being perpetually stuck in low-speed traffic between the historic races at Laguna Seca and the auctions in Pebble Beach.
Make the jump to see how I did against our automatic-equipped five-door's 28 mpg city, 39 mpg highway, 32 mpg combined EPA rating.
My best tank, spanning 328.8 miles, yielded 41.6 mpg.
My worst tank, spanning 238.8 miles, yield 24.4 mpg.
My last tank (of 3) spanned 405.1 miles and yielded 38.2 mpg.
My average mpg was 34.4 mpg over 967.7 miles. I put in 28.2 gallons of 87 octane.
These are numbers I could totally live with, especially given the direct-injected 2.0-liter engine's energetic throttle response and livable performance levels (coupled with the six-speed automatic's smarts).
Our 2012 Mazda 3 is an i Grand Touring model. It has leather-lined seats. Its driver seat also has power fore/aft adjustment and power recline. But it doesn't have lumbar adjustment, either power or manual.
In the past, I dismissed adjustable lumbar as a nonessential feature, something for old people, not for me. Now, I'm old(er) and coming to realize that lumbar adjustment is for me.
Mind you, the seat comfort in this car is still passable on a 6-hour drive, but there were moments during my Monterey trip when I wanted more lower back support and couldn't get it.
Wuuut? I haven't done a dog report on our 2012 Mazda 3 yet? Well, I'm gonna fix that right now. This past weekend was all about my dog Mya. On Friday we took her to the beach for Edmunds' annual company picnic, Saturday to the beach again and Sunday on a hike to the Griffith Observatory. Not surprisingly, the Mazda 3 did well as a dog chariot. Not only is it the right height for ease of entry and exit for her but everything else about it was easy, too.
Love that the seatbelt fasteners stick out of the seat for quick buckling of the squirming beast. I could also tuck her blanket deep enough into the seat crevice so she couldn't kick it off as she's wont to do when she "holds on" through the turns. This is very important as our leather seats are beige and therefore more vulnerable to smudging.
There aren't any vents in the backseat but we could just aim the dash vents toward her and she was fine despite the A/C's sluggishness to cool down the cabin. No storage for all her paraphernalia but we just threw her dog backpack in the back and her leash and collar in the rear footwell for easy access.
But yeah, great car for dogs.
Overall, I like our Mazda 3's cabin, and it's holding up pretty well with over 14,000 miles on the odometer and a road trip or two under its belt. The beige-and-black color scheme may not be the most practical, but to my eyes, it works to give things a fairly upmarket look.
I also like the leather used on the seats. It's nicely grained, and it's also proving to be quite durable.
I'm not too crazy about some of the plastics used, though. Specifically, those plastics on the center stack, which look cheap and monotonous.
My friend Matt, a car geek, always asks me what car I'm driving when I stop by his ice cream shop. When I told him that it was our long-term 2012 Mazda 3, he was less than impressed. "They haven't changed that in forever, right?" he asked. "Well, they changed its engine..." I started to say but he already tuned out.
He has a point though. Personally I can't wait until Mazda redesigns the look of the Mazda 3. It's a popular car because it's a great all-rounder, so it feels like I see it EVERYwhere.
Unfortunately, a news report recently talked about a face-lifted 2012 Mazda 3 coming out mid-October but only in terms of getting the "new Skyactiv 2.0 direct-injection gasoline engine and six-speed automatic transmission." Foiled again.
Remember last Tuesday when a hotel valet service lost the key to our long-term 2012 Mazda 3 stranding the car at an L.A. area hotel for 27 hours?
Well, on Saturday (four days ago), I got a call from the valet manager that another customer had found the key to our Mazda in their car and returned the key to the hotel. He asked if I'd like him to deliver the key to my house.
"No, I'd like you to Fedex the key to my office, please." (I tend not to invite valet managers over to my personal domicile. It's nothing against him personally, just a precaution I'd take in any large metropolitan area.)
He was polite and agreed to honor my request. And he already had my office address since I'd filled out a claim form with the hotel.
As of Tuesday, though, I still didn't have the key.
Then, I got a voicemail from the manager while working out in the field yesterday.
"Hello, I couldn't mail your key yesterday due to a family emergency. However, I will Fedex it today — or I can come by your house and give it to you. I'm in Santa Monica. But you'd have to call me back in the next 15 minutes."
I did not call him back. But fortunately, this morning the key arrived, tucked securely in several layers of bubble wrap, via Fedex. So, eight days later, the case of the missing key is officially closed. And we're glad to have our original equipment key fob back.
As we've previously mentioned, the 3 doesn't exactly have your back when the mercury rises.
Today it was 90 degrees out, and I found myself constantly checking to make sure that I'd actually activated the Mazda's A/C. Since the air coming out of the vents was moderately cool and not cold, I thought for a minute that I had only the fan turned on. When the weather situation is dire enough to reduce you to a sticky puddle of sweat in mere seconds, you want frost and icicles in the cabin, not a mild breeze.
I spent 20 minutes in the 3 today, and at the end of it, the cabin still wasn't completely cooled. Lots to love about our cheerful little Mazda, but blazing-hot weather is its kryptonite, apparently.
I'm not in the market for a car, but were I after a do-all daily driver a 2012 Mazda 3 like our longtermer would be high on the list. I'd go for the manual gearbox, of course, even though the auto is quite good.
The 3 has perennially been a strong player but it took the injection of serious fuel economy via its SkyActiv 2.0-liter powertrain to propel it into the 'no-brainer' category of my book. We've seen that it delivers outstanding fuel economy in the real world, too, and isn't just playing some window sticker game.
That's not to say I wouldn't mind some extra grunt in the 3. With the 2.0-liter, it's adequate, but wouldn't it be great if...
...the recently-announced 2.5-liter SkyActiv in the upcoming 2014 Mazda 6 found its way into the 3?
After all, the SkyActiv bits are all interchangeable like Legos, and in US guise the 2.5 will generate something like 175 hp and 170 lb-ft by my estimation. Just the right dose of extra motivation I'd like to see in the 3.
I'm guessing this pairing of 2.5 to 3 won't happen — if it does indeed happen — until the current-generation 3 is replaced with an all-new one in model year 2015. And a 2.5-equipped 3 is likely to drop a couple of mpg compared to the 2.0... hmm. Yeah, a SkyActiv-D (diesel)-equipped 3 would be awesome, but would also likely be expensive.
What'd be your preferred future powertrain for the 3 — 2.5-liter gasoline? Or diesel? Manual or auto?
It seems that our Mazda 3's hatch doesn't want to close all the time. The first time I received the "Trunk Open" warning, I gave the hatch a good open and slam, but I saw that it rebounded off the weather stripping ever so slightly. Absent was any sort of a clunk to let me know it was secure. Instead, it was an airy "whoomp."
Alright, fine.
I opened the hatch again and tired the gentle approach. Still, no clunk, only a whoomp. I made sure there was nothing blocking the latches and tried again. Whoomp.
Sigh.
Finally, I tried letting the hatch close on pretty much its own weight. Clunk. Success!
This happened a few times over the last couple of days, so I'm guessing it's due for some sort of inspection.
Our Mazda 3 cleared 15,000 miles last Friday. We've been reporting on the car since December of 2011, so we should be on track to hit 20,000 miles by the end of the year.
It's been a reliable and affordable 15K so far. We've done two scheduled services (here and here). The only issue I'm aware of is the slightly loose driver seat (not fixed at that last service).
I grew up in Denver. I recall most of the homes there had basements, which you could just rename "storage depots" given how frequently owners used them to store all of their stuff. Then I moved to Southern California. Nobody has basements. Instead, most people just store all of their crap in their garage, leaving their cars on the driveway.
I happen to be a traditionalist. The garage is for the car. But my wife loathes to get rid of things. So we have a lot of stuff. And I have to rent a storage unit (or two).
When it comes time to move stuff from house to unit — or vice versa — it's nice to have a car like our Mazda 3. Granted, you're not going to be moving couches with it. But for the typical stuff — bins and boxes — it works out great. And once I'm done hauling, I'm back to having my nimble, comfortable and fuel efficient small car. Go Mazda 3 hatchback.
A line from Ron's Explorer post yesterday caught my eye: "It was a car that drove too big, had an engine that was too small ..." When we first got the Explorer, I was fine with its 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-4. But as time went on, I found myself wishing we had the V6 instead for its more appropriate power and sound. Were it my Explorer, I'd have buyer's remorse over the turbo.
But I have no such problems with our Mazda 3's 2.0-liter "Skyactiv" engine. It's perfectly suited for the car, doesn't seem underpowered and is returning the best non-hybrid fuel economy in the fleet right now. I don't pine for the larger 2.5-liter engine at all.
I do like our Mazda 3 quite a bit. I'd certainly recommend it to somebody looking to buy a small sedan or hatchback. But then I was thinking about what exactly I like about it. (Got to back up the recommendation, you know.) So here are my top 10 favorite attributes.
1. Hatchback utility
2. High fuel economy
3. Nimble handling
4. Responsive automatic transmission
5. Proper manual shift orientation (pull for upshift, push for downshift)
6. Two-tone interior looks pretty classy
7. Easy-to-reach audio controls
8. Bluetooth streaming audio
9. Good outward visibility
10. Adaptive xenon headlights
Last month 06scooby wrote about his new Mazda 5 over on the Readers Ride blog. And a few days ago I happened to park next to this white 5 with our Mazda 3. It got me to thinking: as much as I like our 3, I have to admit that the mini-minivan 5 would actually be better suited for my current life situation (suburbia, wife, two kids) thanks to its additional interior room and sliding doors. I wouldn't give up much in terms of acceleration or handling, either. But fuel economy is noticably lower with the 5 (24 versus 32 mpg combined).
I've driven our Mazda 3 quite a bit in the past six months. Now I've driven our Subaru Impreza for the first time. Coming out of the Mazda and going into the Subaru does present the opportunity to notice some differences. Thoughts on driving the cars back-to-back follow.
One of the first things I noticed between these two cars is the steering. Through the wheel, the 3 feels nimble, light and eager to turn in compared to the Impreza, which feels heavier and more resistant. It sort of like the 3 says "Hey, let's go party!" while the Impreza says "I think I'm going to stay in and watch Homeland."
But there's some latent capability in the Subaru. I've only driven it around town, but it does seem to offer more grip around corners. As we've covered previously, the 3's tires are rock hard and not big on grip. Test track numbers are also in the Subaru's favor (66.2 mph in the slalom compared to the 3's 63.7 mph).
The situation is reversed when it comes to throttle response. The Impreza, through its CVT, revs up fairly quickly when accelerating from a stop, whereas the Mazda can feel sluggish. This gives the impression that the Impreza is the quicker of the two. But in terms of numbers, the 3 is actually quicker, with a 0-60 time of 8.9 seconds versus the Impreza's 9.7 seconds. And while I need to spend more time with the Subaru and its CVT, so far I prefer the Mazda's traditional six-speed as it seems calmer around town.
In terms of ride quality and road noise, the Subaru is the smoother and quieter of the two cars.
Both cars have great fuel range. The Mazda's doing a lot better in terms of fuel economy, though.
As for the interiors, the Mazda is certainly more stylish to my eyes thanks to its two-tone design. The Impreza comes off as being rather drab in comparison. But the Subaru has superior interior storage (more places to put your cell phone, wallet, etc) and, for me, a more comfortable driving position. I prefer the Mazda for outward visibility, though this runs counter to what Michael Jordan wrote earlier. The Subaru has more rear legroom. Both cars have easy-to-fold rear seats.
I'll withhold judgment on which car I like more since I've spent a lot more time with the Mazda than the Subaru. But overall I'm glad we have the two cars in the fleet at the same time.
Our Mazda3's Skyactiv 2.0-liter makes a righteous clatter on start-up, which lasts for about 30 seconds thereafter. JayKav covered this already, but until I read his piece, I assumed the brief racket owed to some direct-injection freakout that ultimately helped the Mazda3 achieve its impressive fuel economy. But Jay says it's actually related to stronger exhaust pulses vibrating the thin walls of the exhaust manifold until the catalyst heats up and the engine settles into a pleasant, regular four-cylinder hush.
Good to know, but the rattling can't help but remind you of a diesel. It made me wonder how the SkyActiv D 2.2-liter diesel will sound when it eventually arrives in a future 3 model. Not that Mazda has confirmed this; the company hasn’t said boo about which models get the 2.2-liter. The CX-5 and re-designed Mazda6 seem like safe money, but we can't see Mazda marketing missing an opportunity to pepper TV screens and Facebook with a 60-mpg Mazda3 ad campaign.
Mazda will first try out the Skyactiv-D in the Japan-market CX-5 next spring, then shortly after in the U.S. with its Grand-Am racing teams in the new GX class, using the engine shown above. A long-range, high-MPG Mazda3 that also goes racing? Bring the ruckus, I say.
I recently got seat time in both the Impreza and Mazda 3. Brent already covered several bases here, and I don't have much to add. But a colleague said something recently that got me thinking. I mentioned that the Impreza seemed somewhat unloved around here, that no one takes it home much, even for one-night stands.
"Why would you if the Mazda 3 is still available?" this colleague asked.
Fair question, I thought.
So I had to get back in the Mazda 3 to see how it was better than the Impreza. Now, I like the Impreza. I road-tripped it nearly 1,000 miles and find it an easy car to slot through urban traffic and strip mall parking lots. Plenty of room. It does a lot and asks little.
The Mazda 3 is just as eager to please. Dynamically, the Mazda feels tighter. Feels more poised to respond, feels like there's a little more under you. It wants more steering effort. But the tires suck and undermine the Three's best intentions. On the other hand, the Impreza feels better than you'd expect when transferring weight.
One thing the Impreza has that the Maz3 doesn't: paddle shifters. As stretchy as the Impreza's CVT is, the paddles make driving more palatable for those less concerned with EPA ratings. But the Mazda's transmission programming is also pretty lazy, and I find I just prefer riding the manual shift mode. Paddles would definitely give the Three an edge here.
Then again, if we brought you this fine, free blog (did I mention free? You mopey guys in the back there, moaning your disappointment with Mike and Kurt's Alaska blogs, you caught the free part, right?) from New England or Colorado, then maybe the Impreza takes the lead. Both nice cars, both with deserving fanbases.
In the spirit of Dan's earlier Explorer post, it looks like I'm five, too.
I am a former Mazda 3 owner. I had an '09 hatch with the 2.3 and an automatic. When the dealer found out how few miles I had, they bought out my lease early — and at a good price. It was a good thing, too, because I was getting fairly tired of the car to be honest. The ride was far, far too firm on my commute (Wilshire blvd) and was averaging something like 18 mpg on the 8-mile trip. Other Mazda 3 owners I know average about the same.
Our long term Mazda 3 is equipped with the new Skyactiv engine and a six-speed automatic and promises better fuel economy. So I took it for a few days and treated it the way I treated mine. How'd it do?
Better. Way better.
As you can see, my 10 trips back and forth worked out to a stunning 19 mph and an indicated 27.8 mpg. The car then took 2.69 gallons of fuel which works out to 31.02 mpg on this admittedly short sample.
31 is a big number compared to 18. Especially the way I drive. At the current price of fuel (4.645 average) each mile in the old car would've cost me $0.25. In the 2012 Skyaciv 3 we're looking at $0.15 per mile. That's a real difference.
Not only is this new car more efficient by a long shot, but it's a far more comfortable place to spend time than the old car. It absorbs bumps better — not great, but better — and handles broken pavement with a nod towards compliance and comfort.
If mine had behaved this way I might still own it today.
A little over two years ago, I applied Mazda's Shinari concept design language to our Mazdaspeed 3. Reviews were mixed, but now that the Mazda 6 has been out in the open for a while, I thought I'd revive this thread.
I still like the application of the Shinari grille. But then again, anything is better than the silly smiley face. But what I'm really hoping for from the next Mazda 3 is a greatly improved cabin. To me, the current interior has a lot of room for improvement. There's plenty of hard plastics and the integration of the infotainment screen is one of the worst I've seen. It shouldn't take much to bring it up to date, I think.
With any luck, Mazda would use the Ford Focus' interior as a target, as it seems significantly nicer than anything in that segment. As for the exterior, well, I doubt they'd go as far as my concept, but I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the cues survive.
Every car with a navigation/infotainment display should offer a means to turn it off. Many do, but if I recall correctly, the Explorer/MyFord Touch did not. You could reduce the display brightness down to almost nothing, but never fully eliminate the glow. Often at night, driving home, I don't want glow. I want a dark cave illuminated only by instrument lighting. I want to unwind to the extent that one can while still doing 65 down the highway, and sometimes - most times - that doesn't include a three-, five- or seven-inch display staring back at me.
You can never fully defeat the Mazda 3's twin displays, but the multi-information display (left) has a weird quirk. If you're listening to CD or an Aux source, you can almost get a blank screen by cycling through the Info button on the steering wheel. The display will simply list the selected source at the top. But no luck if you're jamming some terrestrial radio; in place of the blank screen, you get a menu of presets.
Acceptable solution, to me anyway: whether you're listening to right-wing demagoguery or socialist propaganda on the AM dial, or wondering why Garth Trinidad tries so unbearably hard to sound hip and laconic, you can call up the little compass icon and long/lat coordinates to replace the presets menu.
A couple days ago, I realized our 2012 Mazda 3 i Touring Skyactiv will be leaving us in less than a month. I don't know if we'll make it to the 20,000 miles, unless somebody takes a last-minute road trip to Seattle.
I figured I better grab a night in this car while I still can. You already know I like this car. It's my baseline for any future family car I might buy. Yeah, there are some days where I might want something like a VW GTI* (nicer cabin materials, extra rear legroom) or a Honda CR-V (larger cabin with tons of storage slots and cargo capacity), but the reality is that this Mazda does everything I need it to do.
It has just enough room for two adults (and a kid), and enough cargo room for 90 percent of my hauling jobs. It's comfortable enough for a long commute. The cabin furnishings are nice enough that I'm not always thinking about being in an inexpensive car. The controls are easy to use.
And somehow, I manage to have fun every time I go down the freeway in this 155-hp budget hatchback with an automatic transmission. For me, it's about the controlled ride, the impressive steering feel (impressive among the non-so-hot hatches anyway), the lively engine (OK, throttle response isn't perfect, but man, it revs like it cares) and the transmission's quick shifts. 'Course I'd probably shift slower if I had one of these with the manual gearbox, but I'd make that compromise any day of the week.
*Yah, that's a GTI in the driveway, along with a couple really stunning waste receptacles.
I drove the 2012 Mazda 3 from Los Angeles to Napa Valley to attend the introduction of the redesigned 2013 Toyota Avalon and I was amazed at how far I could go on one tank of gas. I was so pleased with myself I pulled out the log book and searched other entries to see if anyone else went farther. YES! This was a record!
Way back when we first got the Mazda, Erin Riches predicted that we would see a lot of 400-mile tanks. We have seen five 400-mile tanks. But there were plenty of tanks pushing high 300s. Anyway, here are the numbers.
I drove 433.3 miles and used 11.55 gallons of 87-octane gas. That works out to 37.5 mpg. Since it has a 14.5 gallon tank, I could have gone another 110 miles and logged a 500-mile tank. The best part of all this was that I wasn’t hyper-miling – just going with the flow and keeping one eye out for the CHP.
Bose is one of those companies you're aware of early on as you learn about audio gear. Either someone in your family has a pair of Bose speakers, or someone raves about the noise-cancelling headphones, or you buy a car with a branded audio system. Years ago, my father bought some Bose speakers for the house, the 301 Series II or III, I think. Oak-look cabinets with kinda drab black and khaki grille cloth.
At the time, Bose was touting its port technology, designed to produce stronger bass from smaller cabinets and the eight-inch woofers. Dad was ultimately disappointed and the speakers soon migrated to grandma's house.
You soon learn that Bose makes decent, if overpriced, audio gear. You also learn that they run shrewd marketing campaigns. The Bose system in our Mazda 3 is pretty good though, better than any compact car's system has a right to be. It came standard on our Grand Touring package, but it's available — bundled with a sunroof — for $1,400 on the lower iTouring trim with automatic transmission (but not the manual). Once again, you row-your-own types get the shaft.
Let's assume the sunroof is about half the cost of that package. So for $700, you get a pretty good 10-speaker Bose system that offers good clarity, good frequency response and good bass. Even if we're a little more conservative with the sunroof costs, the Bose system still seems like a decent value. You'd be hard-pressed to assemble an aftermarket package of equal quality.
Now, I know Bose does some pretty cool and innovative stuff. They undoubtedly have a good engineering corps, and I've read about some of the interesting frequency suppression work they've done on suspension systems with GM, I believe. If such a thing as a Bose fanboy exists, I'm sure I will hear from you. All I'm saying is that, for the dough, I'm looking at JBL or Harman all day.
Rolling out to Las Vegas in our longterm 2012 Mazda 3 reminded me how much I like this car's routine handling characteristics. While not out-and-out grin-inducing, the alert action of its steering, brakes and gearbox make for a satisfyingly cooperative driving experience. And that's welcome in the freeway nip-and-tuck maneuvers that always crop up on this long slog through the heart of the desert.
I had forgotten about the 3's seat, though. Its bottom cushion is just unyielding, and after a couple hours my butt was dead. Otherwise, the seat works well — good seatback comfort and driving position.
I'll compile the trip's fuel economy tomorrow. Any guesses?
Driving to the SEMA show in Las Vegas from Los Angeles involves an interminably boring, soul-crushing slog through the desert up I-15. It's a tedious drive, but at least you can make some time.
That is, you can make time in the places where road construction hadn't cut the freeway from three lanes down to one, adding an hour to the trip. Argh. Otherwise, cruising speeds on the open sections of the trip were between 80-85.
I took our longterm 2012 Mazda 3. Here's the fuel economy result.
31.7 mpg
Naturally, this result is far cry from its 39 mpg window sticker highway rating, but not entirely unexpected given the elevated cruising speed of this particular trip (recall the average speed of the EPA highway cycle is something like 48 mph).
Here in the newsroom at Edmunds, we often wear two hats: We're both journalists and sources for other journalists (it's a little weird after years of being the quoter to become the quotee).
Anyway, a writer asked us last week if there's an "average" price for the newer safety features that some cars now offer — things like blind-spot monitoring, lane-departure warning, lane-keeping, adaptive headlights, forward collision avoidance, etc.
Our awesome data team came up with the answer, which is that there is no average price. Safety features run the gamut from stand-alone items that cost a couple hundred dollars to soup-to-nuts packages that would set you back $30,000 (on the 2012 Range Rover). Those a la carte options are fairly rare, too. As with lots of other optioning, if you really want one thing (let's say, blind-spot monitoring), you might have to buy a bunch of other things in order to get it.
In our Mazda 3, blind spot monitoring (BSM) is part of the $1,400 Technology Package, which is sort of safety-oriented, despite its name. In addition to blind-spot monitoring (which you can turn off), you get rain-sensing wipers and adaptive, auto-leveling, auto on/off bi-xenon headlights.
But Sirius satellite radio and a perimeter alarm are also part of the package. If you want blind-spot monitoring or the adaptive headlights, you're buying those things, too. By way of comparison, blind-spot monitoring is a stand-alone option in the 2012 Toyota Camry. It costs $500.
It would be a service to car buyers if carmakers would group their safety offerings into logical packages, or offer them a la carte. But I'm not holding my breath.
I took what will probably be my last drive in the 2012 Mazda 3 yesterday morning. I didn't go anywhere special, just the San Gabriel Valley to walk a family member's dog, and as I was leaving, I noticed how our very blue Mazda 3 hatch matched the very blue sky. Around here, the sky only gets this blue just before or immediately after a storm. We're in the before stage right now (right now defined as 18 hours ago), which is why the San Gabriel Mountains are completely obscured by clouds.
I hastily parked the car (hastily yes, but still within the legally permissible 18 inches from the curb), took my picture and stared at the car. Aside from its goofy grin and the blue lenses around its projector-type headlights, the Mazda 3 Skyactiv is free of the gimmicks that adorn the other "fuel economy specials" in this class. It doesn't have a low-hanging front spoiler that catches on every driveway, or silly looking aerodynamic wheels, or low rolling resistance tires (although I would be resistant to purchasing this particular set of Bridgestones again).
Inside, the 3 has blue and white instrumentation and some questionable footwell lighting, but you're not forced to watch any kind of instant fuel economy gauge or made to feel like you should be putting the automatic transmission in an Eco mode.
It already does the Eco-ing for you, keeping the torque converter locked up as often as possible, and most the time, it all works out fine. You just drive the car and go about your business, and most of the time it returns great mileage — we're averaging almost 31 mpg against an EPA combined rating of 32, which is ridiculously good by our standards. All the while, we've gotten to enjoy an efficient small car that still has sharp steering, a controlled ride and pretty firm brake pedal feel. What's not to like?
Yesterday, after 12-months and 20,000 miles, the long-term test of this very blue 2012 Mazda 3 came to an end. A nice man from Mazda came to our office, grabbed the keys and drove off. We'll never see the car again.
Goodbyes were quick, and for a few of us, emotional. The Mazda was popular around here. And our year with this Grand Touring example with Skyactiv proved once again that the Mazda 3 is one our favorite compacts.
Look for a detailed wrap-up article with all of the Mazda's pros and cons to appear as soon as we can get it done.
(Photos by John Adolph)
Our own John Adolph volunteered to drive our 2012 Mazda 3 last Friday. He had one goal in mind, to reach 20,000 miles before we had to return the car to Mazda the next Monday. So it was off to June Lake, California.
Wrap-Up
What We Got
A year ago we added the 2012 Mazda 3 i five-door Grand Touring with Skyactiv technology to our long-term test fleet. Quite a mouthful, but it's really not that complicated. In a nutshell, Skyactiv is Mazda's collection of fuel-saving technologies. Some are big, some are small, but they're all geared toward extracting every last mile out of the average tank of gas.
Our 2012 Mazda 3 benefited from the new 155-horsepower Skyactiv-G 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine. Also new was the Skyactiv-Drive six-speed automatic transmission. Together, they earn EPA fuel economy ratings of 28 mpg in the city and 39 mpg on the highway. Mazdas were not historically known to be miserly at the pump, so this was newsworthy.
We added one major option to our $22,000 2012 Mazda 3 Skyactiv, the Technology package. It set us back $1,400 but was worth it, as it added a blind spot monitoring system, satellite radio, alarm, rain-sensing wipers and the trick headlights (xenon, auto-leveling, pivoting and auto on/off). For a few hundred dollars more we got the Skyactiv-specific interior lighting kit and auto-dimming rearview mirror. Total MSRP was $25,520.
Admittedly, we had some concerns going into the test. How much had the team at Mazda compromised on fun to deliver fuel economy? Would these Skyactiv upgrades deliver on the claimed 39 mpg? Here is what we learned.
Our Impressions
"So far I'm impressed with the new six-speed autobox. I'll always prefer a stick, but as autos go this one does a lot of things right. There's very little torque converter syrupiness. Upshifts and downshifts are quick and smooth. Downshifts are rev-matched! The shift calibration is cooperative — downshifts are served up willingly when you dip the throttle. Yes, this transmission is a big improvement over the old five-speed automatic tranny in many more ways than just the extra cog." — Jason Kavanagh
"The tires aren't very grippy.... But I realized that I could still drive at a quick pace and enjoy the good stuff about the car without overstepping the tires' limits. The 3 is still fun. The steering, if not all that communicative, is quick and makes the 3 feel playful. Even on a bumpy road, the suspension does a nice job of being compliant without being soggy. And sure, our car has an automatic transmission, but it shifts quickly and smoothly in manual mode.... The 3 with Skyactiv is plenty enjoyable." — Brent Romans
"I like this car. It's that simple. There a certain fundamental goodness about the way Mazdas drive that's appealing to me. Nearly all of them offer it. Even this, the fuel economy-obsessed compact hatch has built-in qualities that make driving it meaningful. Its steering, for example, feels like it was tuned. It's not just a product of electrohydraulic, but rather an integral component of a larger system. And it's one that contributes to the overall experience — even in a slow car." — Josh Jacquot
"I like the way our car rides. It's highly controlled. No matter what kind of pavement you encounter, the suspension is able to cope with it. It never gets unsettled, and this builds up your confidence. No other car in this class feels this good." — Erin Riches
"The steering and well-tuned suspension are trying to write checks the low-grip, high-fuel-economy tires can't cash.... The blame goes to the Bridgestone Turanza EL400 tires, which run out of grip too quickly." — Mike Monticello
"Chassis feels better than the tires allow. Feels like tires are inflated to 36 psi because they are. Lively, happy to play and rotate off-throttle, but there just isn't any grip. Steering is precise and friction-free without much feel." — Chris Walton
"There are times when I'm left-foot braking into a corner and the throttle will cut completely. Nothing dangerous, but certainly annoying. And even more annoying when the automatic transmission seems to lose its place for a moment, prolonging the whole episode." — Michael Jordan
"Parents or potential parents should consider this when shopping the Mazda 3. Rear-facing child seats are massive. Their depth consumes considerable longitudinal space. So much so that with this child seat behind the driver side I can't access my preferred seating position. I'm only 5'9" but I've got a 32-inch inseam. Anyone exceeding those dimensions will have bigger problems." — Josh Jacquot
"I had forgotten about the 3's seat, though. Its bottom seat cushion is just unyielding, and after a couple of hours my butt was dead. Otherwise, the seat works well — good seatback comfort and driving position." — Jason Kavanagh
"We have seen just five 400-mile tanks. But there were plenty of tanks pushing high 300s. Anyway, here are the numbers from my trip to Napa.... I drove 433.3 miles on one tank and used 11.55 gallons of 87-octane gas. That works out to 37.5 mpg. Since it has a 14.5-gallon tank, I might have gone another 110 miles and logged a 500-mile tank." — Philip Reed
"I'll get right to it: The Mazda 3's air-conditioning doesn't cut it. Not even close. SoCal had mid-80-degree temperatures last weekend — not that hot by desert standards — and we spent a lot of time being uncomfortable.... The system needed about 15 minutes of driving time to drop the 3's interior temperature to comfortable levels. Bring it to a halt and the cooling efficiency drops significantly." — Josh Jacquot
Maintenance & Repairs
Regular Maintenance: The 2012 Mazda 3 requested routine service every 7,500 miles. Mazda of Orange charged us $65 for the 7,500-mile service, which covered fresh oil, a new filter and a tire rotation. Long Beach Lincoln Mercury wanted $74 for the same items at the 15,000-mile visit. Our test ended prior to the 22,500-mile checkpoint.
Service Campaigns: No recalls or TSBs occurred during our test. We did encounter one issue outside of the norm, however. The driver seat shifted slightly upon acceleration and deceleration. After confirming the problem, the dealer called Mazda for direction. Mazda informed them it was still researching the issue, of which it had only a handful of claims. Nothing was done to remedy this concern prior to the end of our test.
Fuel Economy and Resale Value
Observed Fuel Economy: We learned quickly that Skyactiv was a difference maker. We averaged 31 mpg over the course of our 20,000-mile test. During this span we surpassed the 400-miles-per-tank milestone a handful of times and witnessed 41 mpg as well.
Resale and Depreciation: When the 2012 Mazda 3 entered our fleet, it carried an MSRP of $25,520. After 12 months and 20,000 miles it depreciated 26 percent, according to a private-party sale on the Edmunds TMV® calculator. Coincidentally, this is exactly the same depreciation as our long-term 2010 Mazdaspeed 3.
Summing Up
Pros: Still fun to drive, quick-shifting automatic, precise steering and suspension tuning, can hit its advertised mileage numbers.
Cons: Hard, mpg-friendly tires limit handling performance; no USB port; tiny navigation screen; limited room for infant safety seats.
Bottom Line: Mazda successfully made the 2012 Mazda 3 Skyactiv more fuel-efficient without diminishing the fun factor that has made its entry-level hatchback one of our favorites in the class.
| Total Body Repair Costs: | None |
| Total Routine Maintenance Costs: | $139.25 (over 12 months) |
| Additional Maintenance Costs: | None |
| Warranty Repairs: | None |
| Non-Warranty Repairs: | None |
| Scheduled Dealer Visits: | 2 |
| Unscheduled Dealer Visits: | None |
| Days Out of Service: | None |
| Breakdowns Stranding Driver: | None |
| Best Fuel Economy: | 41.7 mpg |
| Worst Fuel Economy: | 22.0 mpg |
| Average Fuel Economy: | 30.9 mpg |
| True Market Value at service end: | $18,894 (private-party sale) |
| Depreciation: | $6,626 (or 26% of original MSRP) |
| Final Odometer Reading: | 20,080 miles |
The manufacturer provided Edmunds this vehicle for the purposes of evaluation.