Mazda 3 Hatchback

Owned the car for about 2 months now and its always nice to step in, close the door with a nice thud, press the start stop, open the sunroof if i feel vain and also take out the sunglass from the sunglass holder. All those that I never find in my previous car. Always thought a car should have about 150bhp and 200nm torque to be adequate but wow my opinions changed as this 1.5litre is adequate in SG roads. Handling is good but a AWD still gives more confidence in tackling bends. Looks wise, this 3rd gen 3 is really flaunting the aggressive face and sleek lines. Drive wise it is adquate but more power wil be better to filter out from lanes at low speed. You really need to rev it to get the power from the vehicle. Its quite sluggish <3K RPM. Overall, is a "Conti" Feel jap car that is sexy and abit high cost to run compared to my previous Impreza. But its also rather fuel efficient. I managed about 12.5-12.8km/litre with start stop off.... Read More

I bought the 1.5 Deluxe HB in 2016 for $106,888. At the time and the price point the Mazda 3 offered the best styling and most premium look. I was especially impressed with the interior, with its use of soft touch plastics, "Leather accents, touch screen, command wheel interface and heads up display. The seats were reasonably comfortable. I have a love hate relationship with the car. I love that it does 6.8L/100km. However to achieve this, Mazda has sacrificed responsiveness. The car struggle to get going. The engine roars loudly if you push it at low speeds or from a standstill. I gather the transmission lags alot. It take about 1-2 seconds longer than it should to shift down or shift up. Going to manual mode does not help. When the car gets up to cruising high way speeds. There isnt a problem with the response as gear hanges are minimal when cruising. The brakes are un-predictable as they have to be pressed really all the way to the end of travel to have sufficient bite and stopping power. This situation is worsened by the sluggish transmission response. I hate this about the car. The auto-start stop irritates me. From a stop at a traffic light, if you release the brakes the engine dosent always come on immediately. This isssss scary as hell especially on a slope. I have rolled back about 5 times now and have been forced to pull the hand brake to avoid accidents. You never know ehn the car will do this, so i drive with the auto-start stop off. You have to turn it off each time you start the car. When the car is fully loaded with heavy stuff like ikea furnitire. I realized i couldn't reverse the car on a slope.. Dont know why. Maybe its just my car. The road noise is a problem.. But worse than that the side pillars are somewhat big so checking blind spots are problematic and id say the pillars obscure your blind spot. 2 plus yeas on.. The steering"Leather is peeling" The emblem on the horn is also peeling. This is the saddest part. As you may know, a certain defunct ride hailing service has been dumping mazda 3s on the re-sale market at a steal.. So the resale value of your Mazda 3 is crap and will be for the next 10 years at least. I was offered 50K -55K for my 2.5year old car that is a drop in value of between 57K-52K in just 2.5years in my case.... Read More