Both the Honda Civic and Mazda 3 are very good cars. Mazda 3 has been winning accolades since its debut in 2013.

If space is of paramount importance, then Civic wins, end of story. Subjective views on the design, outlook, dashboard etc aside..since these are personal preference...

I feel Mazda 3 is the better buy in Malaysia, both in base GL spec & GLS high spec as we get the most powerful bunch of the 2L Skyactiv-G engine, the 162bhp tune.

The GL loses out to base Civic on keyless push start, power seats and cruise control, but gets a bigger engine, and its cheaper by RM5k. Whether those 3 items are worth 5k at the expense of a smaller displacement, I personally don't think so. Especially when that 1.8L engine is nothing new, and a carryover.

The Mazda 3 high spec is hands down the best buy. All the features the Civic Turbo Premium has, and on top of that, with i-ActivSense. The Civic has advanced safety technologies as well, but it was not brought into Malaysia by DRB-Hicom, and its more expensive than the M3! Pay more for less. How much more? A whopping RM11k. Is that worth the power the Turbo engine produces? Not really IMO. I don't think so. Sure, the Civic Turbo is more powerful, but how much power you need? Only you can answer that. The M3 2L is no slouch. The driving experience, VTEC won't kick in, cause of CVT, just the way it works. That alone I would prefer the M3 cause I'd fall asleep on the CVT -- or bore myself to death.

Even the base Civic Turbo is RM124k vs full spec Mazda RM121k. That's RM3k difference for a car that has less safety features. Its year 2016 and still coming with halogen head lamps?

The Civic is a very good car, just look at all the raves its getting in North America and Australia. But when it reached our shores, DRB decided to cut down the features and sell it for more. Simply not value for money. Still, its a good car.