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2019 Mazda 3 AWD Affirms Move To More Premium Segment


2019 Mazda 3 Premium AWD

Sam Abuelsamid

I’m going to say right up front, I’m a fan of Mazda. As one of the smaller mainstream global automakers, the brand faces enormous challenges in a changing market landscape. Despite that, they soldier on making interesting new products and staying in market segments that others are abandoning like affordable two-seat, rear-drive roadsters and compact cars. The iconic Miata doesn’t appear likely to go away anytime soon Mazda’s compact entry just got a complete redesign that debuted at the Los Angeles Auto Show last November.

The 2019 Mazda 3 is the first model featuring the brand’s new Kodo:Soul of Motion design language. It’s an evolution of the look we saw on the last generation of Mazda products and it largely dispenses with most of the sharp edges found on those vehicles. The new shape is smoother and more organic. One way to think of it would be the previous models being shards of rock breaking off the side of a gorge. The new generation is what that rock would look like years after falling into a stream with water running over it.

The 3 is available as a four-door sedan and a five-door hatchback and I drove the latter. Like the prior edition, Mazda has kept the relatively long hood, cab rearward proportion. The slimmer horizontal headlights give the face a cleaner look, yet at the same time it appears more aggressive with a sharper, slightly forward leaning grille. While the polymetal grey metallic paint on my tester has a handsome look, especially when combined with the black alloy wheels, the soul red crystal metallic is the color that really shows off the flowing contours of the body sides.

2019 Mazda 3 Premium AWD

Sam Abuelsamid

The greenhouse has been compressed on the new 3, maximizing the proportion of metal and while it looks great, it doesn’t help visibility when you are inside. The one complaint I have about the design is the rather high belt-line which I wish was cut down a bit lower.

The interior is also a continuing evolution of the look of prior Mazdas and I find this even more successful. The overall design of the cabin retains the excellent fit and finish and materials that have made Mazda the most highly regarded mainstream brand in this aspect of the vehicle. The dashboard isn’t clutter with buttons and controls and vents are cleanly integrated on either side of the instrument cluster and across the center and right side. Only a small cluster of buttons and knobs are located in the center of the dash. A few other buttons are on the console.

2019 Mazda 3 Premium AWD

Sam Abuelsamid

Mazda as a brand purports to create vehicles for people that actually like to drive and I’m all for that. In keeping with that ethos, the new 3 keeps the central rotary control knob on the console and dispenses with the touchscreen that was also utilized on the last generation. The 8.8-inch display is now slightly further away than before so you don’t have to refocus as much when you look away from the road. The screen itself has a wider aspect ratio and a new user interface is cleaner and easier to navigate.

The infotainment system supports Android Auto and Apple Carplay and the rotary controller makes it easy to move around the interface quickly and precisely with less cognitive effort than reaching out to tap a screen. The control knob is surrounded by home, navigation, media and back buttons which take you to the corresponding screens in the infotainment system. When using Android Auto, the first three are remapped to go directly to the relevant screens in the phone projection interface.

2019 Mazda 3 Premium AWD

Sam Abuelsamid

The overall ergonomics of the 3’s cabin are excellent and the seats are comfortable and supportive. With the premium package of my tester, you can get surfaces covered in black leather or a combination of black and red that give the car a sportier feel. The back seat also offers plenty of room for a pair of adults although as mentioned above, the high belt-line does lead to a more closed in feeling. Personally, if I were buying a compact car, I’d always opt for hatchback over a sedan because I like the utility offered by the big opening and the 20.1 cubic feet of cargo volume behind the seats.

The old 3 offered an optional heads up display, but it was a lower cost unit with its own flip-up glass rather than projecting to the windshield. While these lower end HUDs can be helpful, they are often too low to provide much real value over just glancing at the instruments. The new car has a more sophisticated unit that projects to the windshield. The display is up higher so you don’t have to look down away from the road as much and it remains clearly visible even when wearing polarized sunglasses.

2019 Mazda 3 Premium AWD

Sam Abuelsamid

For 2019, the 3 only has one engine option in the U.S. market, the 2.5-liter naturally aspirated SkyActiv-G four-cylinder with 186-hp and 186 lb-ft of torque. A six-speed manual gearbox is available in the base trim but all others get a six-speed automatic. For the first time, Mazda is also offering an all-wheel-drive option which should be appealing to those of us that live where winter also includes snow.

On the road, the new 3 retains the precise driver oriented feel of the prior generation. The steering is beautifully weighted and actually has some decent feedback when cornering. The transmission shifts seamlessly and there is just enough sound when accelerating to use your ears as a tachometer as the car goes through the gears.

2019 Mazda 3 Premium AWD

Sam Abuelsamid

Body motions are tightly controlled even on rough roads, but the suspension does an excellent job of keeping the wheels moving over the contours for a comfortable ride. The 2.5 is a reasonably powerful engine, but in its current form, the 3 isn’t going to run with hot hatches like the GTI. However, now that it offers AWD, a 3 with the 2.5-liter turbo recently added to the CX-5 could make a lovely challenger to the iconic German or a Civic Si. The includes the latest iteration of Mazda’s G-Vectoring system that manages engine torque as you turn into a corner, reducing it slightly to induce some forward weight transfer. It’s essentially like an automatic trail braking system.

The 3 I drove included a full suite of driver assists including radar adaptive cruise control, blindspot monitoring and lane keeping assist. The lane keeping was the only part that was unimpressive with barely discernible alerts through the steering wheel and barely any effort to keep the car in lane when drifting out. The blindspot monitor is useful with the thick C-pillars and the ACC worked great in stop and go traffic.

2019 Mazda 3 Premium AWD

Sam Abuelsamid

In fact, the 3 has such a premium feel relative to mainstream compacts that are currently available, this is arguably a real competitor to the likes of the Audi A3 and Mercedes-Benz A-class. Mazda has been trying to change its brand perception to a more premium level for several years now and this new 3 is a big step in that direction. Despite that, you can still get one at a relatively affordable price point.

The base sedan starts at just under $22,000 delivered with front wheel drive. The AWD premium package hatchback I drove came in at $31,335 with almost every option. That’s less than the starting price of the Mercedes. That’s not cheap, but by 2019 standards, it’s not bad for a new car that looks, feels and drives like this one. For anyone looking for a new compact vehicle that doesn’t their heart strangely set on yet another crossover, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the latest Mazda 3.



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