Test driven the Mazda 3 high spec yesterday morning. The sales advisor was kind enough to allow me to drive for about 45 minutes, covering almost 70km with equal mix of highway and urban driving on varying road conditions, covering  about 90% of the journey to and fro work. Besides myself and the sales advisor, my wife and my 9 month old daughter (strapped in baby car seat) was there to also evaluate how the car feels in our usual family drive. 

I'll be comparing the Mazda 3 against the cars available in my household (my 13 year old Vios workhorse, my wife's previous generation Hyundai Santa Fe diesel and my mum's W205 C250) and also various brands and models that I've came in touch before. My aim here is to describe how Mazda 3 drives in a real life normal driving. Hope my views on the drive could help those on the sideline figuring whether to jump into this car or not.

Aesthetic wise, the Mazda 3 is quite a looker (maybe also due to the rarity on the road). I saw the really rare reflex blue option in their garage waiting for delivery and it is very nice in real metal. My only gripe was on how the proportion looks from the side view. Although there were quite a number of reviews and comments that the Mazda 3 looks like a shrunken down Mazda 6, my view was that the boot area just seemed out of proportion. This could be due to the fact that the Mazda 6 has more metal and length to work on, so the proportion on the Mazda 6 looked more balanced. As for my all time favourite side profile of a car, it would be the last generation GS (although I agree that the front and rear end don't gel with the presence of the GS). Although the boot may comparatively be smaller than the competition, but who loads to the brim constantly anyway?

Stepping inside, i have to admit that the cabin space is a bit smaller compared to the cars available for this segment. The new Altis takes the crown here with better rear legroom. To my surprise, the C250 is just a tad larger inside than the Mazda 3. However, shoulder room seemed on par with the rest. I quite liked the front console, button and knobs are nicely sized and properly spaced. If you are the type that really likes a clean looking console, you should go look at the new Peugeot 308. (But i feel kind of scared controlling so many things within the touch screen). Despite the absence of rear seat blowers, the air conditioning was effective in cooling the cabin down quickly under the hot day with only the setting at half strength. This reminded me of the Protons i came in touch before, can get super cold quickly. The same can't be said on the C250 though, taking longer to cool down and seemed a bit inadequate for our climate (although already have a really good Llumar tint). I can't comment on the MZD system and infotainment system though, as I was solely focused on driving only.

I was able to get a comfortable seating position with the electrically adjustable driver's seat. And a good score should be given to the leather seats which I thought was better than the ones in my mum's C250, maybe due to the C250 being designed and engineered by the westerners to fit their physiques better (generally heavier and larger sized). Further, after proper adjustment, i get better headroom in the Mazda 3 than the C250.

On driving the Mazda 3, the steering effort was just nice (i have no idea what "steering feel" means other than the genuine "feel" of the unassisted steering in the old Kancil), the acceleration being adequate for me. I didn't do a pedal to metal way of testing the acceleration, but more of gauging the engine response to throttle input. Actually, the linearity and predictability of acceleration was a plus point, being much better than my old Vios and also my wife's Santa Fe, considering the fact that diesel delivers stronger torque in mid range of the RPM. Further taking into account that there were 3 adults and 1 baby in the car, it would have responded even better if there were no passengers.

During the drive, contrary to what many people say about large diameter rims and the harshness related to it, I would say yes, only at some degree. Comparing against the Vios' 15 incher, I felt the comfort and harshness level is still better in the Mazda 3. The Santa Fe back home was a 18 incher (a good comparison as same size), but it felt harsher than the Mazda 3 considering that it should have more substantial absorbers to handle the weight of the car. I don't know about the 16 incher with the GL spec, but maybe the 17 incher from the (soon to be launched) CX-3 should strike a nice balance between looks and improved harshness (Anyone care to try?). Another thing about the 18 incher in the high spec model was the very limited choices available in the market for 215/45 R18, 2 from Toyo and another from Bridgestone (if my memory serves me right). Like some of the forumers commented, the road roar is indeed on the higher side but acceptable to me. Engine drone during driving wasn't an issue to my ears and it sounded better (surprise! surprise!) than the C250 back home (C250 of course more quiet engine noise overall la, just the tone not so nice).

With regards to the HUD, it was one of the feature that I'm rather excited about. But in reality, to me, it was practically useless unless I adjust the seat very low down. For my preferred driving position, I saw nothing other than a coloured plastic in front of me. Maybe it could also be due to the way I sit, as I prefer driving upright. Maybe those who drive in a more laid back position could benefit from the HUD. The only benefit of the HUD for me was that my wife at the back was able to see how fast i was travelling. Brake pedal travel was to my liking but strangely, the brake feel in my Vios was better among the cars I've driven.

The slush box gearbox engages the gear smoothly throughout the drive with the pedal shifters although a little small to me liking, was responsive to inputs. Wind buffs start getting more prominent only after our national highway limit and travelling at about 140-150km/h, the RPM was pointing around 2.8k to 2.9k, although I wished there would at least be another extra cog for better fuel economy in high speed driving. High speed stability was remarkable, without my wife feeling uneasy (she's the easily car sick type) and the baby asleep at the back. Many times I read reviews about dynamism of a car in a corner and making the driver really happy and i have no idea about it. I had a hint of it in my mum's C250 (my mum is very cautious of me driving even slightly aggressively in corners), but I got a few tries in harder cornering during my drive in the Mazda 3. There was one particular semi hairpin turn after exciting the highway that's quite challenging. On slightly faster approach, the Vios and Santa Fe developed substantial body lean to make me feel quite nervous. But on the Mazda 3, I approached it close to 80km/h without the tyres squealing or the body leaning uncomfortably. Very neatly composed!

Well, with my driving style and the road conditions that I travel, the way the car handles itself was 95% of my mum's C250 (NVH, interior materials, ambiance and acceleration aside, here I'm purely referring to how the car sorts itself on the drive). There's possibility that many will bash me on that but I still stand by this conclusion. I don't know how it compares against the Ford Focus, but i think they can be quite similar. Also, another point I want to make is that cars that are cheaper doesn't mean they are always inferior and vice versa. You can see that I point out a number of times that my 13 year old Vios workhorse has certain things that are superior to my household cars and also to the Mazda 3. But at the end of the day, my money was on the Mazda 3. I made a booking at the end of the drive (hope no regrets in the coming future considering the new Civic and Elantra is on the horizon  ).