Mazda3 s Sport 5-Door - Four Seasons Update - February 2010

Allowing for the arrival up of a long-term Volkswagen GTI at One hundred twenty East Liberty Street, the Mazda 3 faces increased pressure to electrify u. s..
The GTI could be our 2010 Automobile of the Year plus comparisons between the two compact hatches have a tendency to be inevitable. After spending back-to-back nights during the GTI and three, production editor Jennifer Misaros observes therefore the Mazda's bigger exterior dimensions do now not translate to added interior space. "The 3's swoopy styling can appear great less than it projects at the expense of interior volume and passenger space, mostly headroom," he or she remarks.
"Despite having a further two doors and Fifteen further inches of overall duration, the Mazda 3 has got fewer in comparison to three extra cubic feet of shipment and provides solely a nominal building up in legroom, front and back." The two automobiles additionally take distinctly alternative approaches to infotainment. Whereas our 3 is provided with an optional miniature navigation screen, the GTI comes customary along with a a lot larger, touch-screen audio interface - but does not come back with navigation (it's a $1750 option). Both approaches suffer from his or her or him devotees and cynics.
Fans of the GTI system get pleasure from the additional information, nevertheless others miss the tactile feedback of physical controls and sweetness why navigation is no longer included if the serious hardware is present. The 3's mini-nav is accessible at a smart looking $1195 with keyless ignition and satellite radio, but the steering-wheel fastened controls, little screen, and restricted functionality draw ire. Misaros notes which if Mazda were to downsize a number of the physical controls in the center stack on hand would be dozens of room for a standard touch-screen.
"After living in the supremely logical and easily engineered GTI for a couple days, the Mazda 3's interior feels sophomoric and somewhat primitive once place next," she gripes. Of course, we tend to will not say each one that while not noting that the four-door GTI starts at $4729 more than only the $20,290 base price of a Mazda 3 hatchback. Meanwhile, our 3 is eight months back to its remain, and drivers have not stopped complaining concerning the clutch. Road take a look at coordinator Mike Ofiara sums up the issue: "The clutch pedal takeup is basically cushy and short. Combined with an all or nothing throttle tip-in, it mostly results in engine rpm raised a lot too high when taking off from a forestall." Three of the four latest comments in the logbook are about the clutch and Ofiara has deemed the 3's behavior worse than the numb communication that frustrated us with the clutch of our Volkswagen Jetta TDI. Our test drivers are at little touch of an obstacle in adapting to the 3's third pedal though we switch automobiles therefore often, and it has almost certain that a three owner would come to master their automobile. Nevertheless, a problem that pumps out about that much discussion so overdue in an exceedingly year-long test is an efficient indicator of something that specifies an automaker's a spotlight. 2010 Mazda3 s Sport 5-Door Base price (with destination): $19,900 Price as tested: $22,570 Overview Body Style: 4-door hatchback Accommodation: 5-passenger Construction: Steel unibody Powertrain Size: DOHC 16-valve I-4 Displacement: 2.5 liters Power: 167 hp @6000 rpm Torque: 168 lb-ft @ 4000 rpm Transmission: 6-speed manual Drive: front-wheel Fuel economy: Twenty-one / Twenty-nine / 24 mpg (city/hwy/combined) Chassis Steering: Power-assisted rack-and-pinion Turns lock-to-lock: 2.9 Turning Circle: 35.Eight ft Suspension, Front: Strut-type, coil is derived Suspension, Rear: Multilink, coil springs Brakes F/R: Vented disc/disc, ABS Wheels: Seventeen x Six.5 in Tires: Continental ExtremeWinterContact winter tires Tire Size: 205/50TR-17 Measurements Headroom F/R: Thirty-eight.1/37.4 in Legroom F/R: Forty-two.0/36.2 in Shoulder Room F/R: 54.9/54.0 in Wheelbase: 103.9 in Track F/R: Sixty.2/59.6 in L x W x H: 177.4 x Sixty-nine.1 x 57.9 in Cargo Capacity: 17.0 cu ft Weight: 3005 lbs Weight Dist. F/R: 60/40% Fuel Capacity: 15.9 gal Est. Range: 382 miles
Fuel Grade: Eighty-seven octane
Standard Equipment
ABS
Front, side, and side curtain airbags
Push-button ignition with intelligent key
Power windows, locks, and mirrors
Bluetooth
Auxiliary audio input
Tire-pressure monitoring system
Options
Moonroof/Bose Package $1395
-242 watt Bose Centerpoint 10-speaker surround sound
-Moonroof with one-touch open
-In-dash 6-disc CD changer
Technology Package $1195
-Color display with compact nav-screen
-Advanced keyless system with push-button start
-Sirius satellite radio with 6-month subscription