The Mazda3, the car that's filling every parking lot at campuses across the nation, has been redesigned for 2010. A lot have complained that they don't like the "smiling-fish" look, but if you love to drive, then you'll manage to get past that.
The redesigned model gets much of its front-end styling from the Nagare concept that Mazda showed off at the 2006 LA Auto Show. The designer of that concept, Franz von Holzhausen, worked at GM and designed the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky, left for Mazda in 2005 and then left Mazda at the end of July in 2008 for Tesla Motors.
He left some inspiration for the 2010 Mazda3 though, and we're glad he did. Check out the other sections to see where the car made us smile, and where it made us frown...
The redesigned interior is sexy, modern, sleek and fresh. It builds upon the previous generation by adding more curves and making the cockpit driver oriented. The electroluminescent gauges look stunning at night and the splashes of lighting all over the interior only add to the ambiance.
The steering wheel tilts, telescopes, and is nicely finished to feel great in the drivers' hands. We didn't have any issues finding a comfortable seating position thanks to the 8-way power adjustable seat and its great design.
The firm, well-bolstered front seats really hug the driver and passenger, almost as if they glue you in. We never experienced any fatigue or discomfort over two hour highway drives, and found that the five-setting heated seats to work quickly and effectively.
The front armrest is padded and slides fore and aft. Directly in front of the armrest are two cupholders, and two more are located in the pull-out rear center armrest. We found storage space to be somewhat of a problem in the tightly packaged interior though.
There is space in the door pockets, glovebox, and that's about it. There's a small coin holder with a 12V outlet just below the HVAC controls and another in the below the center armrest, but neither fulfilled our need for storing stuff.
The back seat was tight by compact car standards. With two six-footers up front and shorter passengers in the rear, the Mazda began to feel like a sardine can. The only way any of us could move was out the door. In general, we'd advise against having anyone six feet or taller in the back.
The trunk was pretty tight as well. We used the Mazda3 for moving a few bags of clothes from home to college and took advantage of the 60/40 split-folding back seat.
Our s Grand Touring model was with filled with every feature you wouldn't expect on a compact car in this price range.
The headlights look like a work of art. Mazda calls the details within them "Nagare-inspired", which means "flow" in Japanese. The bi-xenon's automatically turn on and off, are auto-leveling, and adapt to the curves of the road. On the side of the car, blinkers are incorporated into the heated side mirrors.
Streaming Bluetooth audio and hands-free calling come standard with the 242-Watt Bose 10-speaker system, and both are controlled remotely by steering-wheel controls. AUX input is standard on all trims though, with a 6-disc changer being tied to the upgraded system. We noticed that our Bose unit had a lot of punch, but got a little distorted when it was turned up too high.
All radio information, including Sirius satellite radio information is displayed right in the drivers right-side line of sight. We found the high mounted display to make controlling the radio easier than in just about any other car we've tested.
Rain-sensing wipers are were also standard on our s Grand Touring trim. Setting the wiper-control stalk to use the sensor, it never let us down and worked just as expected automatically in light and heavy rains.
Lastly, the multi-information display allows the driver to customize several of the vehicles settings and scroll through a trip computer. One that we found interesting was the ability to adjust the loudness of the turn signal chime to two different loudness levels. Neat.
Six airbags and ABS are standard on all trim levels of the Mazda3. The anti-lock braking system is equipped with electronic brake-force distribution and brake assist, two features that help the Mazda3 stop even faster in certain situations.
Traction control and stability control are standard on the i Touring, s Sport and s Grand Touring, and not available on lower trims.
Active headrests that support the driver and passengers heads in rear crashes and an engine-immobilizer are also standard safety equipment.
The Mazda3 was an IIHS Top Pick for 2009 but has yet to go through the IIHS's roof strength test to make it a Top Pick for 2010. It earned top ratings in the front, side, and rear crash tests and we have yet to see how it stacks up in a rollover.
Mazda engineers and designers did an excellent job with the second generation of the Mazda3. It's an amazing car for the driver that makes you want to never stop driving.
It may not be the best choice if you need to haul a three or four friends, and some stuff though.
Compared to the Corolla, Cobalt, Sentra and Civic, the Mazda3 has a character within that all of the others lack. It's performance soul might begin to consume you though, so be careful.
