Mazda 3 Hatchback (2013 - 2019) 2.0 Sport Nav 5d Owner Review

After a couple of disastrous experiences with an Astra K and a fragile Peugeot 308 puretech I was looking for a Japanese car with chain driven cams. Despite having owned mx5s over the last 8 years and being impressed with reliability I overlooked Mazda's family cars until one of these cropped up locally at a good price. My 308 had a nicer interior and the Mazda felt a little dull and dark when I got in but this was soon forgotten on the test drive. It's immediately apparent that the 3 is the better drivers car with a strong hint of MX-5 DNA in its driving feel. It's quite a long car and can appear ungainly from some angles but it's handling agility is surprisingly good due to its multilink suspension setup at the rear. The gearshift is slick and mechanical with a nice short throw and the whole dash setup is focussed around the driver with a large central tacho and no silly distractions. The engine is a little gruff on startup but soon settles and is very refined on the move and I'm averaging about 41mpg on a 35 mile commute. Most surprising was the performance for a car with a quoted power output of 120bhp. Without doubt it was quicker and more eager than my 308 130bhp despite having a higher kerb weight. I later discovered that for some reason Mazda had downplayed the official figures. Mazda tuners BBR GTi acquired one as a development car for MX-5 mapping packages and dynoed theirs at 135bhp at the wheels suggesting an actual engine output of 155bhp. I've seen a few other examples of this so it wasn't just a one off. Practically and build quality are more or less on par with other hatches and is all swings and roundabouts these days. Equipment levels are good but it's probably worth seeking out a facelift version with stone leather and all the toys. My 2016 misses out on LED headlights but the bi-xenons are still pretty good. Infotainment is pretty good with a Bose sound system. The central controls work well but 5 months on I'm still getting used to it. Also look out for models with the iloop system, adaptive headlights, adaptive cruise, lane departure and blind spot monitoring. I don't have these but I imagine they would be useful. It's worth noting that dab and parking sensors were options pre 2016 so look out for this. Best colour is the stunning Soul Red but be warned it's quite fragile so look out for stone chips. To sum up. As a slightly left field choice they are a competent package with distinctive styling, bulletproof mechanicals and genuinely good to drive.