Wonder if anyone knows all the extra options for the Mazda 3 GVC hatchback?

As you can see from the Mazda malaysia gallery image, it seems to show that there is a front lip spoiler, skirts to this model


While it seems to be not available from here


Looking at the price list
http://www.mazda.com.my/PriceList/WestMala...a3_Price(W).pdf

It seems to only show that you can get the kick-plate, boot tray, tint and navigation for it. While the non GVC ones has the Mazda 3 sports kit for 2,168.00 which contains the front, rear lip, side skirts.

So, i am a bit confused as to whether the Mazda 3 HB has this by default or the option is not made available to it. Also, no showroom having the actual unit is not helping with the purchasing decision.

Also, if anyone knows if the Mazda 3 soon to be a complete CBU line up a rumor or a possibility?

Contemplating to purchase one but maybe in another 3 months time. Also, the lack of show units on showroom floors is making it hard to decide. All dealers including Bermaz HQ says there is no demand and production for HB is super low with only several batches per year compared to sedan.

The big main attraction to me for the Mazda 3 is the center mounted tacho and floor mounted throttle pedal, of course the finishing of the car is second to none.

The only disadvantage to this is that it is quite a bit lacking in rear seat spacing and leg room compared to it's C segment competitor the Civic which i am ruling out due to the design of it and the digital aircond cluster. The only thing that might sway me is if Honda Malaysia launches the Civic Hatch which is unlikely and looking at the interior finishing, still pretty much veering towards the Mazda 3 hatch.

Also, can i ask any Mazda 3 owners here how is the feeling of the brakes. Particularly the brake pedal feel. Is it pretty solid and linear pedal pressure when you press onto the brakes or is it that squishy mushy type of pedal feel. I hate the latter as it doesn't give the confidence when trying to stop. Another deal killer for the car as i have yet to driven a test drive unit yet.

DAMMIT!!! why is buying a car so hard.

Ford is never ever a consideration of mine. Even though now the Focus no longer uses Powershift transmission. It is just never the right car to own.

As for Civic. The sedan is definitely a no-no due to not very happy with the digital aircond cluster. If you don't get the TC-P, you lose out on things like the LED headlamps and stuff.

Interior space wise, the Civic wins the Mazda 3 though. That is the only consolation.

That is, as i said unless Honda Malaysia brings in the hatchback. Then, those things can be overlooked.

Thanks for your information.

Brake effort and brake pedal feel is pretty much different thing. With brake assist nowadays, it is almost a no effort to brake any car to a stop as you no longer get rock hard pedals when you stomp on it.

The brake pedal feel, whether it is soft and mushy or firm upon depression is due to the brake master cylinder and it's design. I seriously dislike cars with mushy pedals as it is very hard to gauge when the brakes will grab fully and it doesn't give the driver confidence especially when he / she is forced to go into emergency braking. So, that is my take on it.

If i have RM320k, FK8 Civic Type-R is not my first choice. It will be problematic if one gets the car and Honda proceeds to launch the HB version of the Civic and then you will see copycats left and right on the road.

Thanks for the feedback, will certainly give it a go and see how it is.

Non GVC most probably as GVC models were launched last week. As for safety features, just check if it has i-ActiveSense

Try use hot water and suction cups to push the dent back out if the damage is not too bad.



This post has been edited by KnightSports: Apr 9 2018, 01:11 PM

Thanks a lot for the tip. Will drop by and take a look as the HBs are such a tough one to spot on the road.

The interior is practically more or less the same thing from what i understand.

As for the CBU rumor mill, i am not sure if it is to be trusted as this means inokom will practically be focusing solely on the CX-5 as even the Mazda 2 is a CBU model. I don't know how they plan to be competitive against their rivals if the car is to increase in pricing some more coupled with the fact that the Mazda 3 is a pretty aged platform although being updated periodically over the last few years.

If they do it across the entire Mazda 3 lineup, they must be truly out of their mind and trying hard to give their sales to the Civic X market.

Have went for a test drive on the sedan over the weekend at bermaz PJ.

Initial impression as i push on the pedal as soon as i got into the car was not really as good as i expected. You know when the pad engages. But as you press harder, it sort of sinks down further.

While this is most probably not going to annoy most people. I am not 100% sure if it is caused by firewall flex or just the nature of their brake master cylinder. After driving around, i can say that it does not really lack in braking power whether loaded and unloaded. 3 person including sales advisor in the car at the time i drove around, didn't drive it hard nor did i do a hard stop. But, in my own opinion it is not really my preferential feel and especially during emergency braking it will be very unnerving when you slam on the brakes and then it suddenly sinks further in towards the firewall.

Not to fault it, but it isn't really to my kind of taste and it is almost a deal killer for me on the Mazda 3. I really really like the center oriented tachometer and the floor mounted throttle pedal though but this brake pedal feel is not really something that can be easily fixed by a steel braided hose or pad upgrade. I am thinking of this car as a driver oriented car and they very certainly got it right with the center mounted tach and the floor mounted accelerator. They are if i am not wrong the only japanese car manufacturer to get the sequential gear shifter right by assigning the push to downshift and pull to upshift. I am absolutely biffed that so many manufacturers do this in reverse as it is common logic that you pull to upshift as acceleration pushes you into the seat and push to downshift as braking pushes your body forward and away from the seat. Nevertheless this is irrelevant as they included a paddle shift for those people who likes to have control over their gear shifts. But, from a rather sporty oriented car perspective. I have no choice but to fault it for the brake pedal feel.

Interior are absolutely top notch among japanese makes, bar none. Boot space a bit crappy unless the 60/40 seats are folder down. A bit claustrophobic for rear passengers with the rear window design and leg room if you have someone with long legs driving, but that is all for the looks right? Can't say that is a problem. Either you care for your passengers and deal with an ugly car or have what you want and don't care if they go into some anxiety disorder because of the rear confinements.

Handling wise, very composed although a little excessive body roll for a car of this size. The car's weight is not helping i guess. Their implementation of lane departure warning is way better than Honda's sensing, i think it is audible rather than a shaking steering wheel on the CRV. Blind spot monitor is a plus that is not available on it's rival the Honda Civic. The rear cross traffic alert as well but that wasn't tested.

Overall a nice and very premium car if any buyers don't fault it for the same thing that i do.

Was offered RM2.5k worth of discounts over the last weekend with a further couple hundred through the lucky dip. Overall, the price after discount as far as i understand is less or equivalent to a Civic TC-P but with more features. If the Civic gains Honda sensing, then it would be on par. Else, it loses out on active safety features.

This post has been edited by KnightSports: Apr 18 2018, 10:15 AM

Actually, it is the reverse as of now. Until i test the Civic that is.

Isn't the spoiler part of the mazda sports bodykit?

There was a hatch back in pearl white at the PJ showroom that day. First time saw it, without the mazda sports bodykit though.

I actually prefer this spoiler though

I think so, but the picture of the one with the bodykit seems to look like it has it.

Anyways, got extra better than not having it. Paid by SA right?

p/s change the rims for a set of Sparco Asetto Garas, should look sweeet


This post has been edited by KnightSports: Apr 18 2018, 07:42 PM

It is actually not a grabby touchy pedal feel that i am looking for. I don't need the pads to be biting hard onto the rotors and faceplant the driver into the steering wheel as soon as you push down on the pedal.

The thing with it is that it should have consistency on the pedal feel throughout the stroke. When driving it, you can feel when the pads engage which is why i say it will very highly and likely not be something that annoys most people. If they are lucky, they would not even notice it the entire time they own the car.

The problem with is it is that once the pads bite and you push down harder, the pedal stroke and feel of it is very mushy. It is not the braking force not being linear, but the perception of your brake input vs the braking force that is going to be the issue here. This is why i bring up the point of emergency braking where most people will just hop onto their brake pedal when it happens. Yes, the brakes bite and you feel it through the pedal stroke resistance at some point throughout the stroke, but the subsequent travel when the pedal sinks further (like it has 2 layers of resistance) is a little bit unnerving.

Again, maybe not everyone but it is certainly for me. Once you feel the pads engages, the pedal feel should remain as firm or at least consistent as more pedal effort is put in. Having the pedal sink further might and i say just might make the driver feel the car is not stopping even though it is braking at it's maximum efficiency. The feeling of it is almost akin to a brake pedal when the brake fluid is almost at it's boiling point.

It is hard to describe the feeling in words. But, it is something i noticed quite immediately upon pressing on it once i got into the car before it even moved off. To be frank, i had a feeling this was the case as i watched an episode of hot version which featured the BM chassis Mazda Axela and i noticed they seem to be trying to gauge the pedal as they set off into the gunsai loop on their individual impressions and it was apparent they did not do this as noticeably on the other cars that was driven on the same episode. As again i mentioned, it is not that the car is not stopping properly. But, it is just not giving you the feel of doing so against your pedal input. I believe a hard stop would most probably be more interesting to find out how it reacts.

I too like you think that it was something to do with the ABS / EBD modulator but later realized it is unlikely the case. Not all ABS / EBD cars have pedal feel of such as there are some examples that are pretty well done. It is as far as i found out possibly the characteristics of the brake master cyclinder or there are some flexes somewhere on the firewall where the brake master cylinder is mounted. Which is why this was introduced for the Axela Brake Master Cylinder Stopper

As for body roll, i might have exaggerated by using the term excessive. But, it does seem to have slightly more body roll than i expected given that GVC seems to promise a smooth ride by manipulating the power output of the engine during turns. Also, if my numbers are correct, the civic is slightly below 100KG lighter and only a 50mm lower than the Mazda 3 with the same wheelbase . Given the fact that it also had higher sidewall profiles it should in theory be worst? I don't know, i haven't driven it yet. So, it is not fair to theorize on it. But, i am basing my feel on the sedan version which is more of a direct competitor to the Civic.

I have climbed in a Civic before in showroom floors and it has pretty decent ground clearance. I'd say it won't be like a proton wira with saggy springs even though it looks like a low car with the fastback design.

So, please do not get me wrong as i am not here to diss any cars but just to share my perspective on how the cars ride. My hopes naturally was high for the Mazda 3 as i mentioned before i really really liked the fact that they decided to put the tacho in the center of the gauge cluster and it has a floor mounted accelerator with a sequential shifter done right. But, going into buying this car. I also had a very critical requirement which is not to have brakes that i have endured from my last 2 cars which i in one way or another dislike.

Be it Mazda 3 or Civic i choose in the end, i do give this car a two thumbs up and i would even say that it is actually beating the civic in many aspects for being in the exact same price range. I just wished it did not do the one thing i did not want it to do wrong and it would have been a sure purchase without even the need to test the civic.

So, don't get me wrong ok. I am here to make friends, not enemies.

p/s: here is the video, 4th segment in the video. Try comparing the footwork on the pedalcam with the other cars


This post has been edited by KnightSports: Apr 19 2018, 03:24 PM

As to why they do not want to reinforce the firewall, i am not 100% sure. Maybe there is engineering concerns, or it could be crash safety or it might be fully just a cost problem. Anything is just a speculation at this point. But, the sure thing is that it isn't something so critical that say 90% of the owners will find fault with let alone realize is a problem. So, they most likely just sweep it under the carpet since it is not critical concern to them. Addressing why the dashboard garnish is not made of brush aluminum at the end of the day makes more sense to them marketing wise.

50mm height is substantial for centre of gravity but not for ingress and egress of the car. If there is anything to do with the action of getting in and out of the car, it has more to do with how the seats are designed and the size of the doors. If the seats are made to sunk and be in a low position, most likely old folks will find it hard to get in and out of the car due to the design and configuration of the seats, the height of the door sill against the floor, leg room and stuff like that effects the action in doing so. Other than that, 5cm is more or less like nothing.

You need to look for GVC HB for hatchback, GVC SDN is sedan.

Hatchback for the facelifted GVC model BM chassis is currently only available in GVC high spec. So, compare it with the sedan high spec and it should be identical except for the 60/40 split folding seats

I noticed you mentioned that there is vibration and it felt harder during braking.

I am just wondering if you have a warped or worn out rotor. It is possible that badly worn out rotors also cause some minor vibrations to be felt even without touching the brakes.

18" wheels are not the culprit here but the lack of sidewall. But even if you fault it for having a lack of sidewall or a sidewall that is too stiff, you don't get vibration but more of road buzz or shocks from the road get transferred into the cabin more easily

It is pretty easy to differentiate if it is due to lack of dampening via tire sidewall as lack of sidewall causes vibration that are random to be felt while a bent wheel or warped rotor vibrates at a consistent tempo.

Just a gut feeling.

But, best to get someone experienced to check it out rather than shooting without any targets to aim for.

This post has been edited by KnightSports: May 7 2018, 10:22 AM

Those sounds are usually indicative of the damper top mounts getting aged and the rubber is hardening. New car might not hear it as the rubber is still soft and cushioning the blows that comes from the shock to prevent it from hitting the metal chassis of the car. It is a wear and tear part.

If it is something that you can hear when you floor the throttle, it could be something that is related to engine mounts as one of the rubber or silicone mounts starts to disintegrate and when the engine torques it twists and starts hitting against the actual engine mount instead of being absorbed by the rubber of silicone inserts in the mount.

People like the sound of cold starts

But this is not a Ferrari

Good if it is sorted.

In stock size, i think it is harder to find tyre choices for the Mazda 3. Even your PS4 should have been outside of the stock size of 215/45r18 right?

Other than PS4, i have tried Yokohama Fleva V701. It is not bad as well but there are also other choices if you venture to 225 or 235 width tires.

It is rubber, it is not wearing out really. Just that it is hardening and that produces some unwanted effects. Wearing out is where the rubber inserts starts to crack and disintegrate and then your bearing in the top mount starts getting hammered directly until it starts to fail