Anyone on /o/ driven the recent gen Mazda 3? How do you like

Ive been wanting to get one for such a long time, that deals makes me jelly
Go for it OP, you wont get anything better for that amount of money
Though if you could get the hatchback version get that one, but the sedan is alright too

>>17049273
>that deals makes me jelly
The 0% APR is offered through Mazda, so it should be at every dealer.

>>17049240
>brand new car with 180hp
Mazda is sporty, r-right guys?

>>17049278
I dont live in murrica

I test drove their hatchback a few months ago and wasn't impressed. Seemed noisy on the highway and the interior wasn't anything to write home about. Handled fine though, pretty smooth ride with responsive steering.

>>17049240
My mom has a 2014 Mazda 3 hatch with the smaller engine. Decent enough power for zipping around town, but gets pretty noisy when you wring it out. Would definitely recommend the larger engine if it's within your budget. Feels nice around corners, not much body roll.

Unfortunately she has had it die on her twice and the infotainment screen will occasionally go on the fritz. I'm not a big fan of the driving position. Headrest tilts forward at this weird angle and I can't get comfortable. Last gripe is that the transition between standard and HD radio isn't very smooth and can be annoying to have this going on constantly. Not sure if there's a way to turn it off.

My friends 2.0L Mazda 3 is nice for the pricepoint but feels pretty anemic. Mind you I have a tuned ST for reference.

>>17049380
It's a 2.5 liter 180 hp/torque.
For reference, I'm currently driving a 1.5 liter 120 hp, 100 torque Honda Fit.

I drive my Fit on the freeway to work every morning (cruising at the flow of traffic around 80) and it handles decently enough.
The extra power and torque (and at a lower RPM for peak torque), while only being 400 pounds heavier, should do fine for me.

>>17049614
>It's a 2.5 liter 180 hp/torque
Yeah that's the one you should get. My mom has the smaller engine which is like 155 hp or something.

>>17049614
>>17049654
Euro Mazda 3 2014 owner here. Go for it, nothing really wrong on this car, as long as you don't expect too much performance out of it (I own a 2.0 165hp because no 2.5 available here , for some stupid reason). Very reliable.

I have a 2016 Grand Touring 2.5L 6MT hatch. The bad: road noise on rough surfaces. Some say different tires would help, but it’s always going to be noisy. It’s only moderately sporty. Specifically, throttle response is lazy and that makes it feel less powerful than it is. Not a fan of the bottom-hinged throttle, and the pedals are oddly loud. Finally, it isn’t that big inside. Might be the smallest back seat in the class.

On the plus side, it likes being thrown into corners. Imo, it settles into turns better than the GTI (not saying it handles better, but it doesn’t have that top-heavy feel). Steering feel is okay for electrical assist in a FWD chassis (which is usually worse than in a RWD car because you don’t have room to put the assist motor at the base of the column – it has to go higher up, where rotational deflection in the steering column by the assist motor kills a lot of feel). Just off-center it feels like manual steering, which I used to have. I like that. The shifter is just okay, certainly doesn’t compare to my NB Miata. Most others are worse.

I like the light-colored interior. The infotainment system is simple and easy to use. Not the fastest, sometimes takes extra steps to do things, but you can do a lot by touch. The high-mounted screen really does help reduce your eyes’ re-focusing efforts. One of the best rear-view camera displays, too. I get around 25mpg with a lot of exuberant city driving.

The Civic’s not as great a driver and has an annoying infotainment system and volume controls, but is a better all-rounder. The Elantra Sport is the way to go if you want a quiet compact car and don’t need a hatch. The new Impreza (sedan only for now) should be up there too. The Golf and GTI are faster, but the current generation lost of a lot of fun vs. the older ones, and you don’t get reliability either.

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Most new Mazda's are VERY overrated. This post implies this pretty clearly >>17051082

The only reason these automotive journalist twats give it so much praise is they want to get kudos with the enthusiast scene and look cool and hop on the bandwagon. The car handles great, but everything else about it is subpar. It's nowhere near the top in the segment as a daily driver. Civic or Elantra Sport is better for the money.

>>17051192
>Civic or Elantra Sport is better for the money.
The Elantra Sport has only been out for a short time. No surprise that it beats a 2014 design - but there's no hatch, and it is pretty lifeless to drive. I'd call it nice and practical, but not fun.

The Civic's better and sales figures support that. It's not better in every way though. The steering's not as good. The volume controls, including the one on the steering wheel, are very frustrating to use. It's almost as noisy. The hatch is ugly. It's less reliable now that it's got a CVT.

The Mazda3 is only a clear loser if you put tall people in the back seats on a regular basis. Otherwise it's a matter of priorities.

>>17051451
>The Mazda3 is only a clear loser if you put tall people in the back seats on a regular basis. Otherwise it's a matter of priorities.

Enjoy your early rust. Mazda's have horrible paint jobs.

>>17049280
Eat shit, benchracer.

>>17051458
They improved their galvanization in 2008. Took them long enough.

>>17051192
I checked JD Power and it has a 5-star rating for powertrain reliability.
The only low-score they had was for "features" which is basically "the voice command in the infotainment system sometimes doesn't understand me."

http://www.jdpower.com/cars/mazda/mazda3/2014#model_ratings