A Week With the Mazda3 i Touring 4-Door

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

I had to be down in Portland for the weekend, so I thought I’d take our Mazda 3 test car over to the Burnside skate ramp where a Jeep had famously rolled over a few days earlier. Once I saw the ramp, I wasn’t sure that the Mazda would fare any better, plus I was pretty sure no one would ever give me a test car again.

Skate ramps notwithstanding, I came away pretty impressed with this little car. Actually, it didn’t feel little. It felt just about right. Continue reading after the jump!

First of all, for me, the 148 hp produced by the little four banger is the proper amount of hp for a FWD car of this size and weight. Any more hp and I’d want AWD or RWD. The only time the Mazda felt gutless was attempting to pass going uphill on the freeway at 70+ mph. Otherwise the Mazda had plenty of scoot.

The car felt very well balanced and handled nicely, with great steering feel. There was not a whole lot of torque steer and it had a good turning radius for its size. It’s fairly sporty but without an overly harsh ride. First rate ergonomics, no nasty blind spots, comfy seats. Basically it’s a well-proportioned and thoroughly practical and liveable car.

The only weakness is that a fair amount of tire and road noise makes it into the cabin. So I just turned up the Bose stereo. The brakes were also a bit graby and non-linear, but that might have been my particular test car.

It seems to me that the Mazda3 is a car you get if you want to buy an import, but don’t want a Corolla or Civic, and don’t want to chance the reliability of a Jetta. It doesn’t have AWD like the Impreza, but it also delivers better gas mileage. The car also has a fair amount of personality and style (I prefer the previous design, though, without the goofy smiley face). I’d probably go with the hatch, but that’s me.