10th gen Civic vs. 2017 Mazda3

Ben&Jen

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Mazda is very underrated. They still have an extensive final QC department that checks the cars before being shipped. Also, their cars are way better in all respects. About the same with the infotainment on each. The 2018 Mazda 3 is suppose to blow everthing away.
 

ulieq

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My only prob with mazda is that inside it sounds like a corolla.....
 

Randallel

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Mazdas are good, but they definitely come with flaws. I had a 14 Mazda6, so this is coming from personal experience. It's honestly just a bigger 3. I know Japanese cars have thin paint, but Mazda especially is bad (that has to be my number 1 complaint). Driving dynamics are good, but the suspension and road noise suffer. It's a good car, just some fit and finish/build quality issues that made me decide to get rid of it.
 

inv4zn

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lol...do you know why so many first gen Mazda 3's have dents in their front doors?

Because if you wham it with your hand, the door will unlock. Then Mazda came out pretending it was a safety feature.

My point is, no car is perfect.
 


Randallel

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lol...do you know why so many first gen Mazda 3's have dents in their front doors?

Because if you wham it with your hand, the door will unlock. Then Mazda came out pretending it was a safety feature.

My point is, no car is perfect.
Your point is redundant. Yeah, every car has their flaws. I'm just stated what my experience was with the new KODO design language.
 

SonicHB

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Sales of Mazda 3's dropping like a rock....and I bet the new Honda HB is going to all but do Mazda in in the that segment.

This from The Truth About Cars.


'American consumers acquire more than 200,000 new compact cars every month. Only 4 percent of those cars are Mazda 3s.

Compact car buyers are far more likely to drive away from a new car dealer in a Corolla, Civic, Sentra, Elantra, or Cruze; more likely to choose a Focus, Jetta, or Forte, too.

While U.S. sales of compact cars are down 4 percent this year, Mazda 3 volume is down 11 percent.'

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2016/11/2017-mazda-3-hatchback-review-not-the-one-you-will-buy/
 

CosmicSilver

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I test drove a Mazda 3 2.5 auto sedan earlier this year along with other cars in the segment when I was in the market. The 3 was very nice and was a great driving car but the new Civic just beats it in most all other areas - would still get the Civic if I had to do over.
 

ravidavi

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I agree that Mazda is underrated, but I also think it's their own fault. I test drove a 2017 Mazda3 GT manual ... it drove GREAT. The heated steering wheel and power seats were a very nice touch compared to the Civic, plus Mazda allows us stick shifters to get the iactivesense package (akin to Honda Sensing).

So why didn't I buy it? One word: infotainment. Well actually many words, which boil down to Android Auto. At the end of the day, no matter how good your infotainment system is, without AA (and CarPlay) it's a few years outdated the day you buy it. Built-in maps are a joke (all of them), and the pathetic traffic info they provide is, well, megapathetic.

Maybe the 2018 Mazda3 will blow everything away as Ben&Jen said, but I can't buy one today, and whatever I buy today won't benefit from the improvements of next year. I hope for Mazda's sake one of two things happen: Android Auto and Car Play die within the next 12 months ( :rofl: ), or they embrace reality and enable AA/CP. Otherwise, it'll be another awesome Mazda that nobody buys.

Or maybe I'm placing too much importance on the theory that every human under the age of 35 (Mazda3 target market) wants AA/CP.
 

Billy4202

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I agree that Mazda is underrated, but I also think it's their own fault. I test drove a 2017 Mazda3 GT manual ... it drove GREAT. The heated steering wheel and power seats were a very nice touch compared to the Civic, plus Mazda allows us stick shifters to get the iactivesense package (akin to Honda Sensing).

So why didn't I buy it? One word: infotainment. Well actually many words, which boil down to Android Auto. At the end of the day, no matter how good your infotainment system is, without AA (and CarPlay) it's a few years outdated the day you buy it. Built-in maps are a joke (all of them), and the pathetic traffic info they provide is, well, megapathetic.

Maybe the 2018 Mazda3 will blow everything away as Ben&Jen said, but I can't buy one today, and whatever I buy today won't benefit from the improvements of next year. I hope for Mazda's sake one of two things happen: Android Auto and Car Play die within the next 12 months ( :rofl: ), or they embrace reality and enable AA/CP. Otherwise, it'll be another awesome Mazda that nobody buys.

Or maybe I'm placing too much importance on the theory that every human under the age of 35 (Mazda3 target market) wants AA/CP.
The AA/Carplay point really can't be overlooked. Its quickly become ubiquitous, feature really gels with that younger demographic.

The Mazda3 is definitely underrated, its one hell of a car. The 2018 could easily eclipse the Civic. TBH, every manufacturer needs to aim for the Civic and gun for first place, that's what makes the market so interesting now. I hope they bring the Speed3 back with the next iteration. And advertise more. People (generally) don't think "Mazda" when it comes to a new car, its more of a car-people-in-the-know brand.
 


VarmintCong

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I agree that Mazda is underrated, but I also think it's their own fault. I test drove a 2017 Mazda3 GT manual ... it drove GREAT. The heated steering wheel and power seats were a very nice touch compared to the Civic, plus Mazda allows us stick shifters to get the iactivesense package (akin to Honda Sensing).

So why didn't I buy it? One word: infotainment. Well actually many words, which boil down to Android Auto. At the end of the day, no matter how good your infotainment system is, without AA (and CarPlay) it's a few years outdated the day you buy it. Built-in maps are a joke (all of them), and the pathetic traffic info they provide is, well, megapathetic.

Maybe the 2018 Mazda3 will blow everything away as Ben&Jen said, but I can't buy one today, and whatever I buy today won't benefit from the improvements of next year. I hope for Mazda's sake one of two things happen: Android Auto and Car Play die within the next 12 months ( :rofl: ), or they embrace reality and enable AA/CP. Otherwise, it'll be another awesome Mazda that nobody buys.

Or maybe I'm placing too much importance on the theory that every human under the age of 35 (Mazda3 target market) wants AA/CP.
Remind me again what's so good about Carplay? I know the nav is cool but after using Waze I can't go back to a nav without live traffic. The text to voice is cool but doesn't the Mazda have that?
 

ravidavi

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Remind me again what's so good about Carplay? I know the nav is cool but after using Waze I can't go back to a nav without live traffic. The text to voice is cool but doesn't the Mazda have that?
I'm using AA so I'll let someone with experience talk about CP ... the internet probably also has lots of reviews and articles about it.

In my mind, the greatest benefit of AA/CP is best described thusly:

Honda Civic 10th gen 10th gen Civic vs. 2017 Mazda3 262866_970w_645h


Apple & Google can (and do) upgrade their software to include new capabilities, such as Waze integration. Mazda never will, nor will Honda for that matter. I don't blame them for that, since their infotainment designers don't have the same resources to work with as Apple/Google developers do, plus they're always designing towards the NEXT model year, not the current one. They can only be expected to spend time upgrading existing systems if there is a usability impact severe enough to affect safety or marketability. Apple/Google, however, will constantly upgrade their car software unless they decide to cancel it entirely, which neither one will do unless the other does also (why throw away the consumer money?).

Worst case scenario (IMO): AA/CP go bust and I can't use that part of my Civic anymore. Consequence: the 2017 Mazda3 becomes equal to the Civic for infotainment, but is still beat out by the Civic's lower cost, roominess, and gas mileage. 2018+ Mazda3 may be a different case, but until then, too bad Mazda.

Of course all this is just my opinion, even though I recognize I wrote much of it as fact. :p
 

VarmintCong

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Ok, I guess I meant today, what's the appeal of AA/CP, but I totally get the idea of upgradeability, and if Waze gets added, I'll go straight to the shop to have a Carplay deck installed.
 

ravidavi

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Ok, I guess I meant today, what's the appeal of AA/CP, but I totally get the idea of upgradeability, and if Waze gets added, I'll go straight to the shop to have a Carplay deck installed.
Fair enough. For me, AA was a deciding factor because of (1) Google Maps on the car's screen, and (2) potential for upgradeability. The Mazda3 has neither. I briefly considered the possibility that Mazda might enable AA on the 3 mid-year, but that seemed like a long shot.

One other cool feature that AA seems to have on the horizon is car diagnostics. There's currently an unused icon in AA that looks like a speedometer, which apparently could eventually provide access to ODB2 diagnostics. Of course all speculation now, but backed by on-screen evidence and news stories.
 

tychay

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Ok, I guess I meant today, what's the appeal of AA/CP, but I totally get the idea of upgradeability, and if Waze gets added, I'll go straight to the shop to have a Carplay deck installed.
It will be difficult to get CarPlay/Android Auto installed on a late generation Mazda 3. For one thing, late generation cars have certain features deeply integrated into the entertainment unit so that you can't simply get a replacement headunit without breaking/losing them. For another, the Mazda 3 series has its display as a separate screen that isn't a standard headunit, so that's going to be odd/difficult/impossible to get it to work without some fancy wiring. For the most part, these OEM replacements are for earlier generation cars—I've had a Panasonic NEX Carplay-compatible headunit on my 16 year old car for the last two years. I'd look into what options you have (if any) for replacing the unit in your Mazda 3, but don't have high hopes.

Apparently the Mazda 6 in China (which has the same system as a 2014+ Mazda 3) has support for CarPlay, however it has yet to appear in a single Mazda outside of that (them and Toyota/Lexus are the last two holdouts), so waiting is a crapshoot as ravidavi says. In theory, it's a firmware update, in practice it's going to more likely require purchasing a new model year, especially since I haven't heard of them getting MFI certification for any of their cars yet (they are a member of the alliance).

As for Waze, it's more likely to be added to Android Auto than Carplay because the company got bought out by Google IIRC. If you are willing to deal with the finickiness of using background applications, you can kinda/sorta get it working with your iPhone right now in CarPlay. http://www.carplaylife.com/how-to/how-to-enable-waze-navigation-on-apple-carplay/ . With iOS 10 opening up Siri integration, I think 3rd party map support is on the horizon (personally, I'm happy with the improvements to Apple Maps, but I know others feel differently).

It also looks like Volkswagen is testing CarPlay/AA integration to car diagnostics. It's still new, so I think that'll be a couple years. Having said that there will still be features that I don't think will ever work/be truly future-proofed in the current Civic (for instance, I'd imagine Carplay/AA control beyond Music in the driver console display would be a possibility in future iterations, but there is no protocol for that/likely to be backward compatible when it does come out).

Keep in mind, over the last two years, I've found CarPlay to be somewhat erratic (sometimes after a software update, I might lose the connection mid drive and have to download a firmware update before it becomes reliable again), also, in my case, my steeringwheel predates any bluetooth controls so I had to hack in a wireless solution, so it isn't all a bed of roses. Most CarPlay apps (other than the defaults) are really not there yet. Having said that, having used it, I'm not going back. Siri, maps, text message/phone call, and podcast/music/stereo integration are far more reliable overall for me than a hodge-podge of handsfree, navi, cell phone data-stealing, bluetooth audio mishmash that exists outside of it.

On the CivicX at the lot, I tested the CarPlay integration out. It looks like you have to remember to hold down the handfree button to cause it to bypass whatever is in the unit to talk directly to Siri, but trust me (and I'm sure Google's is similar), that integration is much better/smarter than anything they can put in the car, even if the underlying OS of the Civic's unit is Android, it isn't the same has having a network-enabled assistant to parse your needs. Just being able to glance down at my map ETA at a stop light while a podcast is playing and speak a SMS to my girlfriend with my arrival time while driving off from the light is just so easy with something like Siri. Much better than depending on her to remember to look at the FindFriends or whatever to see me and safer than missing the light change ;-)
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