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.

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.

I've been driving the Hatchback model for 2 yrs. Didn't pay extra $4K for the features which i don't really require or extra $1K for Soul Red. I like the exterior look for this HB model of coz, esp with the sunroof as standard, but i'd say the paintwork really needs to upgrade. Interior compartment / storage space is really too limited, but at least it don't really gives u the "Plasticky" Feel for overall. Sound insulation is really quite bad, but luckily the sound system still has some standard. Driving feels is good, but a bit under power. No complain on the fuel consumption so far, but the rear seats can't really "Squeeze" In 3 normal size adults, maybe more comfortable for 2 big & 1 small...?

Bought the Mazda 3 HB in Jan 2017 first had Suspension & Engine mounting problems, till date engine mounting issue has not been solve.

It has been more then one year.

till date, 4 sets of engine mountings had been changed.

Any advise who should I approach to solve this issue.

I wanted a car which is practical and at the same time fun to drive. Mazda 3 HB is not just a good looker but delivers enough torque for city driving. The car is very stable in corners and urges you to take the turn just a little faster for the thrill. I removed the boot lid to make the huge boot useful. Very easy to down the rear seats from the boot to have a level floor to load whatever barang you need shifted. My best car purchase yet.

When driving this his soul red hb with 18" Sport rim, I noticed quite a high rate of ppl turning back to look at my car when I drive pass.

Really love the exterior n interior of this car. I find it to be one of the bestlooking hb in the current market with a conti interior.

Personally, I feel it is only fair to review something based on what you pay. Given the cost of car in Sg, for less than $90K, the finishes for a M3 standard is consider good.

I am not sure if the made in Japan did add value but it is quite refine in most areas. I choose the standard because many of the items omitted from the deluxe I don't need. If the standard can cost less without sun roof, I would opt for it. That is my view.

The other cars in this range or slightly more that give me that quality finishes are mainly the conti cars and Subaru. This review is done after 1 day of ownership and less than 20 Km. So my opinion may change but I will be objective and provide my first hand experiences.

Drove the car for close to a month now. Car is beautiful as the tagline suggested. Handling is superb and ride is comfortable. Cornering/turning feels great, due most likely to the G-vectoring (or might be due to a combination of other things, really based this on what I read and asked around). Really fun to drive.

Acceleration from zero is a bit slow though. To be fair, I try to be as light-footed as I can to improve FC so I tend not to rev hard. The navigation system is built for overseas so certain terms it uses is weird in our context. For example, you may have to input "Hougang" Into the "Town" Field to look for a place in Hougang.

That said, the MZD Connect (the infotainment unit) with its voice activated functions enhances the driving experience, from playing music, accessing navigation to taking/making calls.

Engine horsepower and acceleration felt normal, nothing above the average.

The rear window is super small if you compare it with other hatchbacks like Ford Focus which I also test drove this week.

The most attractive of Mazda 3 is it's external and interior design.

Seats are fitted in Japan and the driver seat is electronically controlled.

Like all modern cars, it comes with auto wiper, lights, cruise control, dynamic bending of headlight when the car is turning, gps, bluetooth to mobile. Comes with 4 airbags and Euro NCAP certified. Start stop engine fuel saving feature when car comes to a halt. Actual fuel consumption is around 16km/l.

No big side mirrors to catch more of blind spots.

Overall a nicely designed and featured car with Conti feel. Well equipped with features but less the auto door lock and rear aircon. Stock 16" Rims doesn't look good.

Have already place a booking with this car and what made up my mind is really how the car looks, drives and its value for money.

Was initially outside of my price range when searching for a new car but came within after the recent COE drop.

Went to give the car a drive and fell in love immediately with its looks and how it handles. Even my misus was impressed with the curves of the car and the drive itself. We were totally sold on the soul red and almost didn't get the car as there wasn't any more soul red left and for us that was a deal breaker. In the end the SE secured advance stock for us.

For what you pay, you get a car with remarkable design and quality finish. Comparing with the other C segment cars, this has got to be the nicest looking ride with the best quality interior. A true market leader in its category. For those who think it might be a pricey amongst its competitor, I can assure you that its a truly value for money car as I factor in depreciation, fuel consumption, road tax, and estimated reliability costs when choosing between other korean and Japanese competitors. The incremental yearly cost of owning this car is so marginally above the other Korean cars (the difference is really not that big when you factor in fuel consumption) that the quality and utility from owning a Mazda 3 more than compensates for that one two hundred dollars a year. As for the rest of the Japanese cars they are only comparable or more expensive to own but doesn't come close to challenging the Mazda 3 in its looks, feel and drive.

As for reliability however that can only be confirmed with time and I am pretty sure its not to the same standard of a Honda Jazz/Fit for example but likely to be as or more reliable as the Korean makes. I understand as well that noise is another issue others have complained about but I didn't really notice that during my test drive. Heard it gets worse with time as well.

My ride is almost 3 weeks odd and my wife & I loving it very much. The outlook of the car is beautiful with interior had Conti feature & look.

We choose the deluxe version with lot of technology like FC monitor, navigation system and other features.

Overall, the car came with almost everything we wanted and will recommend this car.

Owned the car for almost 2 weeks and we're loving it. The body of the car is wider than our previous ride, the pre-facelift Vios so it took a couple of days for me to get used to it but once I got used to the wider body, driving it is a dream. Of course, I'm still cautious when turning at carparks but not as bad as I thought it would be.

We went for the deluxe version so it had a lot of technology that we had never experienced with our previous ride. The MZD control is good but we found the navigation system lacking in providing directions to the addresses we want to go. Not too sure if it needs an update when we send it for servicing but will see.

Many people have complained that the interior is small but then, they have never sat in our previous ride before. It's comparatively spacious and the door are much heavier so our little girl needs more strength to close the doors when she's in the car. Noise level is comparable with our previous ride so we have no complains. In fact, I think it's good to be able to hear the ambience sound so we'll be aware should something happen on the road.

Overall, the car came with almost everything we wanted in a car save for a few features which we an live with. Will definitely recommend this car.

Mazda has really reinvented the new Mazda 3 Hatchback. Exterior is easy to mistaken it for a Lexus, Volvo, Mercedes. Interior is updated and has a continental feel. From the sound of the door shutting, to the modern technology and the soft plastic and chrome used.

As for the drive, it is responsive to inputs and very predictable. It can be a little harsh and loud in the cabin, and Mazda can do better with sound insulation.

Beautiful car, smooth performance and sips fuel. Mazda should bring back the MPS, it would be perfect.

With the latest technology that Mazda insert into the cars and nothing to ask for more. With the ease of drive with many comparing to conti car.