“All the News That’s Fit to Print” Reprinted With Permission
SUNDAY, MARCH 11, 2012
By LAWRENCE ULRICH
A
SK the hipster waiting in line for
a new iPad. Buyers and critics
alike are easily seduced — some-
times too easily — by the new.
It’s no different with cars. Last year,
a rare battle of the welterweights
broke out. Never before, it seemed,
had so many new compact models
swaggered into showrooms. The Ford
Focus, Honda Civic, Hyundai Elantra,
Chevy Cruze and Nissan Versa were
all brand-new or completely rede-
signed. Which one would win the com-
pact crown?
Yet while all eyes were focused on
the main event, the Mazda 3 was in
training. It now comes to market not
as a stem-to-stern redesign, like those
competitors, but with a transformative
new engine and a pair of exceptional
new transmissions.
Although the Mazda arrived relative-
ly late, it turns out to be the life of the
party. Long the sportiest, most reward-
ing car to drive in its class, the 3 is now
the only one that effortlessly tops 40
miles per gallon in real-world driving.
Let’s repeat that: The Mazda 3 is the
best performer in the class, and it has
the best mileage. That’s a pretty un-
beatable combination.
Since the 1970s, of course, Mazda has
worked that niche of affordable Japa-
nese performance, enjoying hits like
the Miata roadster, but never quite
breaking into the big time. Fuel econ-
omy took a back seat, as with Mazda’s
prodigiously thirsty, rotary-engine RX
sports cars.
But with regulators circling and a
35 m.p.g. standard brewing, there’s no
longer any place to hide. Mazda says its
new suite of technologies, collectively
called Skyactiv, will raise its fleetwide
mileage by 30 percent by 2015 with no
need for an expensive hybrid system.
The 3 sedan and hatchback bear the
first green fruit of this technology, in-
cluding a 2-liter 4-cylinder engine and
equally stellar 6-speed transmissions,
both manual and automatic.
While the 3 doesn’t look much differ-
ent, its body and cabin have received
a nip and tuck. Mazda has made an at-
tempt to fix the goblin grin of the lower
grille, softening the shape of the radia-
tor opening and slapping a larger black
bar across it. But like a dental retainer,
the hardware can do only so much for
the Mazda’s unsightly mouth.
The interior may not be as fresh as
some newer entries in the class, but it’s
still awfully good. Genuine sport seats,
with bolsters for both the cushion and
the backrest, remind you that the 3
helped to usher in the era of premium
small cars.
The old 3’s dated red instruments are
now an easier-to-read white. The infor-
mation display proved less prone to
wash out in sunlight.
Combustion-enhancing direct-fuel in-
jection, piston cavities and an especial-
ly high 12:1 compression ratio help the
Skyactiv-G engine make 155 horsepow-
er and 148 pound-feet of torque on regu-
lar unleaded. That power-packed com-
pression ratio soars as high as 14:1 in
European models running on premium
fuel. That is higher than any gasoline
car engine in regular production today,
including those in six-figure supercars.
With roughly 5 percent more horse-
power and 10 percent more torque than
before, the engine also gets 21 percent
better mileage: as much as 28 m.p.g.
in town and 40 on the highway for the
sedan with the automatic transmission.
The manual transmission is lighter and
more compact than the one it replaces,
and gets an extra, sixth gear for better
mileage. The shifter “throws” — the dis-
tance the handle moves between gears —
are 10 percent shorter, giving it the crisp-
There’s Fun After 40 (Miles Per Gallon)
PHOTOGRAPHS BY MAZDA NORTH AMERICA
STANDOUTS With the Skyactiv-G engine, the Mazda 3 hatchback, above, and
sedan are the best performers, with the best mileage, in the class.
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