2025 Mazda3 Turbo: Still the small car standard
The little sedan — or hatchback — hasn’t changed much over the years, and that’s a good thing. It has enough acceleration to be fun, but its real specialty remains the slalom.
2025 Mazda3 Turbo Premium Plus AWD vs. 2025 Volkswagen Jetta GLI: A little bit of fun.
This week: Mazda3
Price: $37,065 as tested. Metallic gray paint added $450, the lone option.
Conventional wisdom: Motor Trend likes the “premium cabin, great handling and brakes, FWD or AWD,” but not that it’s “not as fun to drive as the Civic,” the “backseats are a squeeze,” or that there are “only gas power trains.”
Marketer’s pitch: “Make every drive an experience.”
Reality: Definitely an experience.
What’s new: The Mazda3 has been hanging around with only minor changes since its 2019 redesign, but it remains the model for other small cars to catch up to.
Competition: In addition to the Volkswagen Jetta GLI, there’s the Honda Civic, Hyundai Elantra, Kia K4, Kia Soul, Nissan Sentra, Toyota Corolla, and Toyota Prius, among others.
Up to speed: The Mazda3 tested is powered by a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine that’s aided by a turbocharger. The power plant creates 227 horses, just as it has for many years.
The Mazda3 doesn’t have the off-the-starting-line performance that one would see in a more expensive small car or an EV. Motor Trend noted a 0-60 time of 5.9 seconds, which seemed a little optimistic.
What the Mazda3 definitely has in heaps, though, is the joy of driving found in fewer and fewer cars these days. Take it out on a country road, and you’ll be zipping up the little hills and accelerating out of corners easily.
Shifty: Add in the nicely designed shifter for rowing your own gears, and the performance is even better. In a world where automakers seem bent on making everything easier for us, Mazda’s traditional approach is that much more fun. Whether that’s because they’re run by a fun bunch or because bean counters are constraining their R&D budget, the driver wins.
I’ve gotten out of the habit of shifting this way lately, but the Mazda3 reminds me that it’s not me, it’s auto engineers.
There are paddles, but this shifter has such a nice feel, don’t even bother.
Speaking of being out of the habit of shifting, a six-speed manual is available in one hatchback trim level, but sadly it’s a front-wheel-drive version only.
On the road: Of course the Mazda3 is also pleasant for taking on the curves without too much braking. You’ll feel true joy just zipping though S-curves and around corners.
I’m sure the all-wheel-drive version makes all this much nicer. A front-wheel-drive model is also available.
Back down: The brakes on the Mazda3, unfortunately, could be their downside. I haven’t noticed such a long stopping distance in quite a while. And even after a week, I found it hard to land at the red-light line.
Driver’s Seat: The seat was firm as Mazdas can be, but I didn’t feel any back pain or leg pain during testing. I felt like my feet and hands never worked in unison on the pedals and the wheel; you may want to explore this a little further before committing.
Friends and stuff: The rear seat has a miraculous amount of foot room for such a tiny space. Granted, headroom and legroom are pretty cramped, but my feet went under the front seat with room to wiggle.
Cargo space is 13.2 cubic feet.
In and out: Not surprisingly, the low ride height of the Mazda3 makes it challenging to enter and exit, but it’s not as embarrassing as some.
Rear-seat passengers will want to watch out for the door corner, which protrudes angrily, standing ready to strike your stomach or chest.
Play some tunes: Sound from the Bose premium 12-speaker system is nearly perfect, an A. Even before I bothered fiddling with the tuning, I found songs replayed nicely.
Mazda keeps the console control knob along with the 10.25-inch touchscreen; both are easy for getting around.
Keeping warm and cool: The tiny HVAC controls remain, the buttons and hard-to-decipher screen controlling fan speed and source. Only the temperature setting is easy to control, with big knobs for driver and passenger.
Fuel economy: I averaged 26 mpg in an extremely enthusiastic week of driving. Turbo performance is better if you feed the little car 93 octane.
Where it’s built: Salamanca, Mexico
How it’s built: Consumer Reports predicts the Mazda3 reliability to be 4 out of 5.
Next week: How does the Volkswagen Jetta GLI measure up?