# After 6 weeks....why Germans still engineer a better car.



## AzNMpower32 (Oct 23, 2005)

So the 2014 Mazda 3 hatchback is what replaces the 10-year old E83 X3 I'd been driving for quite awhile. 285k km (177k mls) to be precise. It was overdue for replacement; I'd been planning to replace it for 2 years now, but thanks to VW dragging its feet on MQB-based Golf VII, I soldiered on with the X3.

In North America, we are not spoiled for choice for a fun hatchback. I really wanted the Golf TDI but got tired of waiting; the only other vehicle that fit my (numerous) requirements was the Mazda 3 BM, released in 2013. It met the safety, environmental, and driving requirements I require so I placed an order in May 2014 and took delivery 3 months later.



While sales have been lukewarm in the US, the Mazda 3 BM has been quite the hit in Canada and Europe; sales have increased 46% overall in Western Europe; it's quadrupled in Sweden in the Netherlands and is > +50% in Germany. It remains the 4th best selling vehicle in Canada and its easy to see why.

The Drive
This car drives very well in nearly every situation. My driving style is standardised across every country, so I regularly cruise at 140-150km/h on open stretchs of autobahn. While its lightweight 1300kg kerb weight might suggest instability, it has impressed me being solid steaming down the motorway at 170+ km/h. Acceleration is more than adequate from the 2,5 litre, brakes are stellar, and the automatic gearbox is programmed very well. A 6MT is now available as of 08/14 production in North America.

And if all you ever do is 8/10ths driving, there's really nothing to fault. Push beyond that though......some rough edges still show. It doesn't understeer or wallow or any of that stuff, but its suspension tuning doesn't quite instill the amount of solidity and confidence you'd find in a German car like say, a BMW or VW product. There's a bit too much suspension travel, a bit too much weight transfer so the chassis doesn't seem quite as forgiving in truly aggressive driving. I feel like my ContiSportContact 5s (BMW OE spec!  ) are doing the handling, rather than the chassis. It may be good on an Auto-X course or a track, but on demanding mountain roads, this car takes 2nd place, or maybe even 3rd to the Ford Focus. It never makes the car "shrink" or feel one with the driver.

The Interior
The interior materials and build quality are excellent. Earlier models seemed to be problem, but mine was a later build (06/14) with most of the MZD Connect and dash rattles sorted out. Seats are reasonably comfortable for longer (6h+ drives) although the driver's seat is only 6-way adjustable and passenger seat is manual with no lumbar adjustment no matter what. The "poor man's" HUD works well, especially with sat nav directions integrated into the display, but the Board Computer looks distinctly 20th century with its computer font and no-colour display. Exterior visibility is quite poor due to the exterior styling in the rear, and cargo capacity is similarly impacted due to the sloping roof.



For all its technology and design, there are other misses as well. The noise levels can get unacceptably loud depending on the road surface. The light controls are annoyingly integrated into the indicator stalk, there is no residual power for the windows or audio, and interior storage is lacking with no real door bins.

Technology
The Mazda 3 scores near top of class in this department. The MZD connect system mimics the iDrive system on BMWs and is equally intuitive to use and operate, although they have taken away the WiFi capability and thus the Real-Time traffic and weather functionality. The Active Cruise works very well, but unless you live in the EU, the maximum set speed is a mere 145km/h, which makes it useless to me about 40% of the time (if you're reading this in the EU, this is a non issue as the maximum is 200km/h). The Forward Obstruction and Lane Departure warning are great for safety and are not unduly intrusive. However, Park Distance Control is not available in the US; you can order rear sensors as an accessory but it will not display in the dash display, only acoustic warnings are given. High Beam assistant is a nice feature, but not totally ironed out as it can be too eager to go back to full-beam even though there's another car oncoming.

The Details.......the German's have this better
It's hard to get everything right on a test drive, after all you are not truly experiencing every possible scenario of driving. But here's a couple more things I've noticed after 5500km.

Headlamps: The Adaptive bi-xenon headlamps are fine on low beam, but the high beams are very weak. Weaker than halogen headlights on some cars. There's a good chance you will still overdrive them.
Fuel consumption: Even with my best attempts, I have yet to achieve the claimed figure of 6,1 l/100km. Urban consumption is about 7,2 l/100km which is fine, but highway consumption is pretty much identical to urban consumption. This means it consumes as much fuel on the freeway as my mother's E90 325i.......and that car has a 6 cylinder and much sweeter engine.
This car has a preference for no-ethanol fuel. Shifting and drivetrain response are improved, as is consumption (of course). This means I'm paying the same amount as I would for diesel fuel. Except a Golf TDI gets much better mileage.
The automatic is geared unnecessarily tall. Unless you live in Kansas or Sasketchewan, you'll find the gearbox hunting between 5th and 6th gear. Stick with the 6MT

With all this negativity, it may sound like the car's rubbish. It really isn't. It recently scored 2nd place in a recent comparison test and usually winds somewhere between 2nd and 3rd in European comparison tests. And that's how it really is. Of course, Mazda doesn't have the R&D budget of larger automakers and the Mazda 3's success reflects that they've really developed a very, very good family car that's practical and fun at the same time.

But it's really that last 10% that's missing. German cars cost more, but there's a reason. They're just better at getting that last 10% down right. And if you're as detailed and serious about driving as I am, I'm sure you'll appreciate it as well. And so in the words of Jeremy Clarkson: "The only car anyone ever needs is a VW Golf". He's right.


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## sixpot_simon (Sep 13, 2013)

Nice review.

As for the Golf, my mum's got a 2013 TSI. Great car, but I the gearbox is similarly frustrating. As a MT driver, I'm probably overly critical of autos, but I still find the DSG is absolutely obsessed with keeping the revs under 1500, which means it's lugging the engine a fair bit. Also, moderately fast standing starts are a dogs breakfast. Firstly, there's a slight delay as the engine fires up. Then it takes off in 2nd, so the engine is struggling with big load at low revs. At the point where 2nd gear is finally making sense, it THEN decides to kickdown into first, so the engine starts screaming its head off. So it quickly goes back to 2nd. Only by the time you hit 3rd does it stop jumping around like a madman.

And the satnav is woeful. The map display is cluttered and looks crusty. Although the compass display on the dash with the road name is nice. But the way the satnav pronounces street names is terrible, we can barely understand it and, hilariously, it pronounces "road" as "rd", not realising it's an abbreviation!

Overall, though, it's a very nicely built runabout.


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## Saintor (Dec 14, 2002)

I had a Mazda3 2014 for 2 weeks.

I expected more from the 2.0L. It was not pulling more than our Civic. What bothered me about the transmission was that it slow to change when manu-shifted. Those concerns would go away with the 2.5L 6MT.

But yeah I generally prefer VW products.


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## Bruce128iC (Feb 16, 2003)

I used to believe the Germans engineered a better car too. After almost a month with my new 2014 ATS 3.6 RWD Premium, I no longer hold that belief. The Cadillac does everything better than any of the 5 BMWs, 1 Mercedes, and 2 VWs I owned in the past. It is by far the best car I've ever owned. :bigpimp::bigpimp::bigpimp:


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