2018 Mazda 3 Touring HB - Puzzling Road Test

johnnloki said:

If you replace your car often, then I'm sure the Mazda is fine.



Every Mazda that I see on the road that is 5 years old and not a Miata has cancer around the tail end. I'm shocked that they don't try to address that, but then again, the new car buyers don't have to worry about that. As it's only the new car buyers take money from their pockets to give to corporate, I guess I understand.



Outside of the Miata, I know no one who is a fan of the Mazda brand. The majority of this forum would be described as "he is a Volkswagen guy" by their peers. Never met a Mazda guy. Funny.

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Mazdas do not age well.

I used to swap cars every couple years. But maybe cause I'm older now, I think I am over that, unless I end up with a real dud. Semi retired now, and I may be slow, but I now see the HUGE depreciation of a car in the first couple years. The day I bought the Golf, almost 4 years ago now, the other car I was going to test drive was a Mazda 3. I liked the Golf so much I never botheted. Have never regretted getting the Golf.

I gotta say something regarding the interiors topic. My wife just got a new 2019 Imprezza a couple months back. Yes, the imprezza is slow, but has a better dash layout, and upscale interior, plus it is all wheel drive. I think I would take the imprezza over the Mazda 3. Both slow, but you get all wheel drive in the imprezza.

AWD is available with a stick on the ‘19 Mazda 3. Dunno when it will actually be on lots though.

Personally I don’t think the AWD option overcomes the massive C pillar the ‘19 HB has now.

For the first time, the sedan looks better.

Areoflyer09 said:

Your experience mirrors a lot of the complaints that I had with my 2014 Mazda 3 HB. I kept it for a year before the dissatisfaction set in and I traded it.

Take a Mazda for a long test drive before buying it. I was fine with the seats around town, an hour into a highway trip though and they put pressure on my lower spine. The infotainment system is acceptable. I had the 2.0 which was good at MPG and that’s about it.

The killer was my fiancée’s 2004 Mazda 3 that she had at the time. The ‘04 had better seats, a more engaging engine, more willing to be tossed around. Both had similar amount of wind & road noise, which was a lot. The ‘04 really only lost MPG, but it wasn’t by a lot.

I traded the ‘14 3 for my 500 Abarth. The 500 ride better, had better seats, was more fun, got the same MPG and let less road and wind noise in. The trade-off was the exhaust. Get above 65mph and it would drone, the drone at 70mph would induce headaches for me after 30 minutes or so. Luckily, it wasn’t a long haul highway car so that was a limited issue.

I have loved Mazda for the Miata and I truly enjoyed the 1st and 2nd generation 3s, but the Mazda we have now isn’t the Mazda of then. In their chase to be a “premium” brand, I feel they’ve lost a bit of what made them special.

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Hey, nice to see a fellow abarth owner on the vw forum
They’re fun little cars. I even got a high 14 sec pass out of mine. I personally love the exhaust though, wish my R(s) sounded like the fiat lol ! They have character, something Mazda has lost imo, anyway mine on summer and winter wheels along with a pic of her best time.

Post up a pic bud!

Areoflyer09 said:

AWD is available with a stick on the ‘19 Mazda 3. Dunno when it will actually be on lots though.

Personally I don’t think the AWD option overcomes the massive C pillar the ‘19 HB has now.

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I see Mazda3 does AWD for 2019. Base HB in AWD looks like they start at $25,000. My wife's Imprezza in the medium level from was less than this. The Mazdas seem to be hitting the top of the price range for the class.

Btw, I have had three Mazdas, a 1st gen RX7, a 2nd gen RX7, and the Protege5.

Woody_in_MN said:

I see Mazda3 does AWD for 2019. Base HB in AWD looks like they start at $25,000. My wife's Imprezza in the medium level from was less than this. The Mazdas seem to be hitting the top of the price range for the class.

Btw, I have had three Mazdas, a 1st gen RX7, a 2nd gen RX7, and the Protege5.

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It seems to me that Mazda wants to be a premium brand and are increasing their prices accordingly. Personally, I struggle with prices of Mazdas for what you get.

KASPER - The Abarths are neat cars. Fiat baked more character into that little car than a lot brands have in their entire line ups. Shame they haven’t found a way to bake that character into the rest of Fiat’s lineup as well, it could use it.

Don’t get me wrong on the exhaust, I did love it 90% of the time and I truly believe the issue with the drone is a me issue more than the car issue. Whatever frequency the drone was occurring it had a direct line to my brain and would set off headaches. This didn’t really matter most of the time, but as the wife’s Buick has gone up in miles we had been using the Abarth more. Add in the changing hobbies and want for room, the time had come.

johnnloki said:

If you replace your car often, then I'm sure the Mazda is fine.



Every Mazda that I see on the road that is 5 years old and not a Miata has cancer around the tail end. I'm shocked that they don't try to address that, but then again, the new car buyers don't have to worry about that. As it's only the new car buyers take money from their pockets to give to corporate, I guess I understand.



Outside of the Miata, I know no one who is a fan of the Mazda brand. The majority of this forum would be described as "he is a Volkswagen guy" by their peers. Never met a Mazda guy. Funny.

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"mazda guy" here!

we have a 2017 mazda 3 (hatchback/5door) for my wife and personally i love it. it's only the 2.0, and it is NOT quick. but that doesn't seem to bother me because i know what to expect. the "sport mode" is useless (just holds gears longer) but the throttle response is great, even if it is lacking in power. i think it handles REALLY well and is a blast to drive on fun roads, especially as shifting it manually is the proper set-up (forward/downshift, back/upshift). i think the combination of low(ish) power and great handling enables you to enjoy the car without worrying about getting yourself in trouble. the whole driving a slow car fast idea i guess...

i absolutely LOVE the exterior/interior design of the newer mazdas. the interiors are so devoid of any gimmicky features and elegantly done. personally i really like the brown bits (that doesn't sound right...) in the black interior. i can't say why, but i think it works.

this is our 4th mazda (02 protege5, 04 3 HB, 06 6 wagon v6, 17 3 HB) to go along with 5 VWs. rust was an issue with the 04 3 and 06 6, particularly on the rear quarter panels as someone already mentioned, but hopefully they're getting better at that. i just really like what mazda is doing right now, and i like the fact that they always seem to be doing their own thing, which may or may not be good for them in the long haul...

I nearly bought a Speed3 a few years back. Seemed like a fun car. Too bad they stopped making them.