2019 Mazda3 Review: The Luxurious Compact Sedan for Track Days

Mazda’s completely new 2019 Mazda3 is a benchmark for the auto industry. It is a mainstream compact sedan with the silence and cockpit quality near that of a luxury car, plus the handling that makes the Mazda3 feel at home on the racetrack. The Mazda3 defines what the competition talks about: class-above capabilities, a big center console, matte wood trim, a new Bose audio system with woofers hidden in unused space near your feet, and a big (for a small car) 8.8-inch center stack screen.

Mazda makes standard a complete safety and driver-assist package except on the decontented entry trim. All in, the new Mazda3 runs from $21,890 for a Mazda3 with front-drive to $29,390 for the Mazda3 Premium all-wheel-drive with Soul Red Crystal paint bright enough to immolate insects before they touch down on the bodywork. That’s for the four-door sedan that arrives in March. A hatchback comes later in the year for about $1,000 more.

This is both the start of the fourth generation for the Mazda3 and the beginning of a new, more restrained design language for all of Mazda, as well as a driver-assist safety suite, a bigger center stack display and interface, and more harmony between man and machine. Every button and every knob is tuned to have the same stroke and force to turn or activate.

The annoying warning beeps on many cars have been replaced by melodious tones. Why it took Asia’s second tiniest automaker to figure this out should be a wakeup call to Toyota, Honda, Hyundai et al. Goliath doesn’t always win.

If you’ve driven a Mazda3, any trim level, you know it’s an affordable sporty sedan on par with the Honda Civic Si, Subaru (Impreza) WRX, Hyundai Veloster Turbo Ultimate, Ford Focus ST, or Volkswagen Golf GTI. One difference is that Mazda’s base suspension is its sport suspension. The others also add more powerful engines. Mazda uses the same 2.5-liter, 186-hp SkyActive-G in-line four across the board to get 0-60 mph acceleration of about 7 seconds. Mazda enthusiasts will want to know if and when Mazda might drop in the 250-hp turbo-four from the CX-5 SUV.

In a half-day test, we drove Southern California’s Angeles Crest highway northeast of Los Angeles, the same roads Mazda’s engineers use to sort out their pre-production cars. Our test cars were front-drive, automatic-transmission, top-trim Mazda3 Premiums, with comparatively low profile 215/45R-18 wheels and tires that gave a firm ride, whereas the entry Mazda3’s run 16-inch wheels are less likely to suffer pothole damage. The sophisticated rear multilink suspension on the past Mazda3 is now a simple torsion-beam axle. No matter. The suspension limits lean going around corners, bumps are nicely damped, and steering is precise. The 2019 Mazda3 uses the company’s latest iteration of Mazda GVC, or G-force vectoring control, an algorithm that subtly reduces engine power as you start into a turn so the front wheels grip better and the car carves a smoother arc. The upshot in plain English: The Mazda3 rides and handles well; drivers will appreciate the handling and passengers will appreciate the ride.

The Pelvis-Coddling Driver’s Seat

Mazda believes in the car and driver working in unison. Mazda calls this jinba ittai, or rider and horse as one. Most recently, Mazda researched how people walk, run and drive. They concluded that to keep the driver’s head upright — important even when going around sharp corners, even if car racing movies show the driver’s cocked at a 45-degree angle — the pelvis needs to be properly canted to support the spine and head. To that end, the seats have adjustable side bolsters that hold the driver, and pelvis, in place. The suspension has also been modified. Many of the editors and reviewers testing the 2019 car said the seats were excellent and that the seats on previous Mazdas felt very good, too.

Mazda also added an extra inch of adjustment to the telescoping steering wheel. That probably helps tall and short people be as one with the car, too.

Cockpit as Good as It Gets in a Sub-$30K Car

Mazda upped its game in the cockpit. The car looks high-class. The leather-look trim is nicely stitched, and reflective surfaces have been minimized. Chrome finishes are brushed satin. Mazda moved the two cupholders forward, then made the console wider, lower, and closer to the control wheel (Commander, in Mazda parlance) and volume control knob. For their part, the control wheel and volume knob are bigger. Now you can press the volume knob sideways; depending on whether it’s a short or long press, you jump to the next track or fast forward. You can also jump among stations this way, which is useful since the presets take more than one button push to call up.

A head-up display (“Active Driving Display”) is offered that uses the windshield; it’s no longer a tiny crescent of plastic called a collimator. Steering wheel buttons have been reconfigured to be easier to activate. The cruise control button still cycles among off, adaptive cruise control, and traditional cruise control; press the wrong button and the next time you think you’re invoking ACC, you’re just turning on CC. (There are small indicator lights and icons, though they’re easily confused. Not to worry, the car also has forward collision warning that’s always on.)

The car is three inches longer now to make it look sleeker. That makes the back seat more spacious and reduces one advantage of the sales leaders, Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla: back seat room. Passengers in the back should use their phones and tablets sparingly; Mazda went cheap and offers just two USB jacks, one up front and one in the console. Shameful. There’s no telematics system.

On the other hand, the ultra-wide center stack display is up to 8.8 inches. It’s farther forward, slightly left of center, slightly tilted toward the driver, and no longer has any touch functions. The interface is better, and Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are included. The standard six-speaker audio is pretty good. The 12-speaker Bose audio is excellent and marks the first use of Bose woofers embedded in the cowl to the outside of the driver’s and passenger’s feet.

The Mazda3 Trim Walk

The Mazda3 dates to the 2003 model year. The fourth generation in the US uses only the 2.5-liter gasoline engine. It comes in four trim lines, with front- or all-wheel-drive ($1,400 extra), sedan or five-door hatchback ($1,000 extra, due later in the year). The manual transmission is now offered only on the Mazda3 Premium hatchback, the same price as the automatic. Except where noted, the features pertain to the sedan.

Every Mazda3 except the base model gets a solid driver-assist package, which Mazda calls i-ActiveSense. There is a drowsy driver detection system using a camera and IR illuminators (for nighttime and sunglasses) that watch the driver’s attentiveness. In low-speed traffic, the car will follow the car ahead, steering, stopping, and going; it won’t do the same at speed. Mazda now has a comprehensive driver-assist suite with all the key components in the package, which it calls i-ActiveSense.

Mazda i-ActiveSense comprises:

• ACC: Full-range adaptive cruise control (Mazda: “radar cruise control”) with stop and go
• BSD/RCTA: Blind spot detection with rear cross-traffic alert
• LDW/LKA: Lane departure warning with lane-keep assist (pulls the car back when it reaches the lane edge; does not self-center the car)
• SCBS/SBS: City and highway forward collision warning and braking (Smart City Brake Support, Smart Brake Support)
• Automatic high-beam control

Perhaps to underscore the zoom-zoom, driver’s-car reputation, Mazda has gone from lane departure warning to lane keep assist but not to lane centering — because if you then activated adaptive cruise control, you’d have a Level 2 autonomous car, and as the old country preacher fears, that might lead to dancing. It’s something Mazda should revisit over the next year or two. On a nine-hour drive, which the Mazda3 can accomplish comfortably, even the most skilled driver might appreciate a little more input from the car on the second half of the drive. One Lap of America competitors turn to these features, along with onboard navigation, on their transit stages to the next competitive segment and nobody calls them wimps. Mazda does offer limited self-driving at slow speeds, in traffic, called Cruising & Traffic Support (CTS).

This is the pricing for the sedan:

Mazda3 ($21,895 with freight). This gives Mazda a $21,000 price point before freight, front drive only. Features include 16-inch alloy wheels, cloth seats, and door trims, and power windows with one-touch down/up. For this trim line only, the hatchback is $2,600 and not $1,00 extra because it has more standard content.

Mazda3 Select ($23,495 front-drive / $24,895 AWD). In Honda style where the trim line (model variant) encompasses all the features (no options boxes to check), it includes Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, leatherette seating and door trims, a leather-wrapped steering wheel/shift knob, dual-zone climate control, 18-inch wheels, automatic headlamps, rain-sensing wipers, and keyless entry.

Mazda3 Preferred ($25,095/$26,495). To the Select trim line, the Preferred adds the Bose premium 12-speaker audio system, a satellite radio tuner, heated front seats, an eight-way power driver’s seat, a power lumbar support and two-position driver memory system, and memory-position side mirrors.

Mazd3 Premium ($27,395/$28,795). The $3,600 step brings a head-up display, steerable LED headlamps, LED tail lamps, paddle shifters, leather seats, and a power moonroof. The HUD limits itself to driver information; if you want to see who’s calling, or what station you’re tuned to, that’s for the center stack display.

Should You Buy?

Mazda has six models in the US, with 300,325 sold last year, 16th best among 35 brands. But among mainstream Asian brands, only Mitsubishi sells fewer vehicles. The Mazda CX-5 and Mazda3 last year accounted for three of every four sales. The CX-5 is the best compact SUV in its class. The Mazda3 is among the very best small sedans and is the car to beat for sporty drivers who don’t want to shell out twice as much for an Audi A4 or BMW 3 Series. It is a solid car with good handling, a truly upscale cockpit, and a solid safety suite.

While the car is bigger especially in the back seat, trunk space hasn’t improved on the sedan. Providing just two USB jacks is skimpy. The drivetrain still lives with a six-speed transmission. Americans can’t get the Mazda3 with the turbo-four, not the SkyActive-D diesel-four (not yet at least), nor the compression-ignition SkyActive-X engine that runs on gasoline and works like a diesel most of the time (still in development). The manual transmission is now only offered on the Premium trim line hatchback, but that’s all the market demands; automakers have learned to ignore online fanboys who gripe but don’t purchase.

If a sedan is the kind of car you want, at least test drive the Mazda3. The Honda Civic and the outgoing Toyota Corolla (new model coming shortly) may outsell the Mazda each by 5-1, but Mazda holds its own on desirability. Mazda and Subaru Impreza are unique in offering all-wheel-drive, and the slightly smaller Subaru Crosstrek, were it classified a sedan/hatchback and not a crossover, would be No. 5 on the sales list above. Mazda now matches and raises the big boys with a safety suite more complete than Honda Sensing and Toyota Safety Sense; the latter two don’t have blind spot detection in their suites.

If you go for the Mazda3, bypass the base Mazda3 that is shy on features for the Select or Preferred trims, both with the i-ActivSense safety suite. The Preferred has nicer seats, better audio, and heated seats. The top trim Mazda3 Premium adds luxury items, better headlamps, and the HUD for driving enthusiasts. At that near-$30K price point, though, Mazda runs into competition from the VW GTI and other pocket rockets with engines over 200 hp.

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