Editorial Review

Consumer Reviews

To improve my mileage, I installed a fuel charger and air charger. The improvement is noticeable. When driven below 80kmh, I get 13.3km/L, 12.5km/L at 90kmh, around 11km/L at 100kmh. Slightly heavier than previous model as such unable to attain speeds in excess of 165kmh with 4 occupants and boot fully loaded. Still better than Toyota Altis in terms of handling and high speed driving as it is very stable even when cornering at over 80kmh. Mazda's pride is it's brakes, fantastic !!

Purchased the new Mazda 3 and driving it for a month now.
Love the exterior look, the smily face has been toned down with a more sporty front bumber. To me this was the main selling point, in terms of looks it beats the boring 2012 civic and altis hands down. Nothing against forte and elantra owners, but I'm not gona pay close to 100k for a korean car.
Handling is excellent. Takes sharp turns and high speeds very well. The car feels solid and grounded.
Interior is nice, love the sporty cockpit. Audio is also very good.
Fuel consumption is not great but still bearable, with no sky active technology available yet, but then again everybody knows mazda has never been known for good FC.
Initial pick up is abit slow, but after a while you do feel the zoom zoom kicking in. The car does not feel heavy, and you can really enjoy the driving experience.
Features include keyless start, auto lock, rain senser wipers, headlights, dimming rear view mirror, remote boot release, and cruise control, useful if you're driving on msian highways.
Major disappointments for me are the 4 speed auto gear box, lack of ipod/ipad connectivity and lack of memory seat functions.
The service centre kinda sucks, guys are unfriendly and not very helpful.

Other than its sporting good looks, this car's performance after driving it is not as good as its looks. A comparison with similar models of its fellow japanese competitor brands, I will say that this car is a great disappointment.
I was attracted by the perks and the great discounts given by the sales person who was very aggressive and pushy with the sales.
After I bought the car, I was utterly disappointed. Due to the heavier weight of the car, fuel consumption is very high and especially so when I have to revv up my engine to pick up speed.
And the car servicing experience was terrible, I wanted to ask the car mechanic about some of the features on the car but he gave me an attitude problem and ask me to read the user manual!!
If you were me, will you still recommend this car to your friends?

I fell in love with the car the moment i saw it in the pictures. The Sporty exterior and smooth curves and the well furnished interior.
Interior looks more posh for it's class. Very fun to drive and the handling is excellent. Takes corners very well. Once you are seated, its quite hard to get out of the car.
I read alot of reviews on pickup being slow, but i actually find it pretty responsive. Only down i can comment at the moment is the FC which i am hitting about 10KM/L.
The Keyless start and entry makes life very very easy and convenient.
For those buying the 1.6L model, remember to ask the SE for mods that can make the car look like a 2.0L.

We were so in love with the external design of the All New Mazda 3. Once you sat on it, you just simply do not feel like getting out. The engine is quiet and interial was great.

I have owned it for 5 months and done 13000 km, been to Malacca and Genting and back once. My FC was from 10km/litre initially, to about 11.5km/litre these days. I know it sounds a bit too good to be true but it is. To sum up on a few words about this car, that is, it is a car that encourages spirited driving due to it s free revving engine.

The 2010 Mazda3 2.0L offers a comfy and relatively quiet drive, with continental inspired styling and equipped with several modern features and functionality.
The equipment level of the 2010 Mazda3 is quite high - auto headlights, auto wipers, bucket-styled leather seats, push-start ignition, auto door lock, cool black-out speedometer gauges, etc.
The 2010 Mazda 3's exciting exterior also never fails to turn heads.

Good handling in terms of higher speed, cornering. Seats are comfortable. Telescopic steering wheel comes very handy if you have more than 1 driver. Can change the height of the driver seat too, which is useful for shorter drivers.

Just got my car M3 recently. Before Mazda I own Toyota and Honda cars. I was kind of worried for the FC as Mazda is known among my frens for Bad FC. But when the new model was launched in 2009. It caught my eyes. And I went to test drive the car. it's a very comfortable ride. As for FC... I'm getting 11.5km/l, so it's quite good.

Due to the generous promtotion launched by mazda and the dropped of the COE for Cat B cars($35k) I decided to book a test drive for the M3 2.0L SDN. The 2.0L comes with full bodykit and nicely furnished interior. Verdict: Beautiful. Test drove the car for 45mins..."I demanded it from the agent" lol. Conclusion: I find the shifting of the gears are smooth and the car is definitely not under powered. Accelerated a few times and the car pushes fwd efficiently. Not much drag being felt. Did a few sharp corners and find the car handles well. The car doesn't swings when doing sharp u-turns. On high speed the wind noise are not obvious.
Love this car even more after the test drive and decided to put my money down for the 2.0L crystal white. Got my coe on the 1st bid. now waiting it to be deliver.

A lot of people have issues with the front smiling grill. But if you don't, this is a really sleek looking car that packs equipment above its class: xenon lights, paddle shift, welcome light, press start engine. Lots of people also claimed that the old 1.6 was under powered but fortunately the new Mazda3 is available in 2.0

Been hearing too much about the lack of power on a mazda and its horrendous FC. test drove the unit and its comfort level surprised me. the power delivery although running on a 4 speed auto gearbox, was actually quite punchy. Legroom at the back is sufficient though the point of entry to the back seat requires the door to be opened quite a fair bit(not a luxury singapore carparks normally provide) Dash instrument takes a little getting used to unlike the Civic which you can find any information almost instinctively.
Going upslope on this car can be a tad frustrating and you can actually hear the engine strain and run out of juice
Pricing is a tad at current levels but looks of the car will last a long time to come.

Had wanted to buy a new car then, test drove a Cerato Forte and found it underpowered.. A cruze is not to my wife's liking.. Let alone a Avante which will change model in the near future.. Tested a 3 and found it more powerful than a cerato.. Wife and daughter loves the shape.. And I love the car for the fact that it will depreciate slower than a avante.. Add in much higher OMV and I bought it on the spot.. Got a good deal from Mazda too.. Been driving it for a month.. And enjoying the envious looks from others.. Recommended some friends and they too said this is a good buy

This is the second mazda-3 my family owns. The prev model is mine and the new model (1.6) is my sister's.
All I can say is this new model has decent built quality compared to most M-I-T cars like Honda or Toyota. The design is nice and unique. It has good handling. The car is quite stable @ 150km/hr. However, just like the previous Mazda-3, the engine is extremely underpowered. With Mazda-3 (1.6), you can never outrun any other jap, korean, or conti car of the same size/class.
In addition, the price of the car is not very realistic. I believe this is just like the good old Mazda-3; the car's price was very expensive when it was first launched. A couple of year later, the price dropped like mad. Perhaps, for those who really are interested in getting this car, they should wait for a year or 2 for the price to drop.
All in all, this is a good car for people with spare cash to spend. If you only need car as a mean of transport for your daily life, I suggest you get some other make (with more realistic pricing & better engine performance).

Test drive this car two days ago and is surprised with the stylish looks of outside. Cabin is still okay despite feel dated and cheap plastic everywhere. Boot space is okay for a normal sedan like the Sunny and the Latio.
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