What does everyone think of the upcoming Mazda3 2.5Turbo?

IronFusion

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Well got a notification today, Car and Driver confirms 30, 945 for the Mazda3 turbo sedan and starting at 31, 845 for the Hatchback, up to $34,695 for the fully loaded prem plus trim. Available by the end of the year, Like the SI with an HFP package that can add the $, there is a bbs wheel package that can add $3675.80 to the price. So to start, this is in the near price range of the Veloster N, given that the veloster N is supposed to add sport seats and additional standard options, plus an available DCT. The Veloster N is also dropping the 250 hp model. Thoughts?
If my EX-L (CVT) were to be totaled or I were bought out of it at a good price, I'd get a Veloster N with the DCT.
More sporty than my car, is a hatch, and has that third door.
I suspect that now, with the DCT, the Veloster Community will grow and more mods will come about. I looked into it the other day, and all that camp has going on is some sort of piggyback performance module and another option. But having 100hp over what my car has at stock would relieve the itch to upgrade my ride.
Adding a MHI TD03 to the 1.5l, that doesn't have LSD, sounds fun to max out the EX-L but that's like 6-10% the cost of a new car.
I'm a sucker and like hearing the pops and crackles of the Veloster N too.
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I'm not sure fun to drive was working for them, was it? I just sat in a Mazda 3 hatch this weekend and loved it, it's not on par with Audi, it's better. (low end Audi). I haven't driven one, but the CX5 we drove was certainly more fun to drive than anything in its class, it was nicer than the Volvo V60 we drove. The dealership was also beautiful, but it's new, not sure they're all like that.

So maybe this new tack will help them gain market share, cause the old fun to drive thing didn't seem to be working, luxury will sell better.

Yeah, the interior in both the 3 hatch and the CX5 was bottom of the class - but the 3 was like my E46 BMW 330i in terms of rear space - it was enough 10 years ago, it's just that everything else has gotten huge in comparison.
The old fun to drive thing made the Mazda3 their best selling car until the CX-5 took the crown. The sales for this generation of the 3 have been absolutely abysmal, so it seems that the luxury isn’t a selling point at all for this segment. I’ve seen very, very few out on the road. I’m in SoCal with millions of drivers and I’ve maybe seen 4 of them out in the wild. That’s really sad considering the compact segment is huge here.
 

Feddy_Ace

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But many people said that the torsion beam feels like independent multilink, comfort enough like Civic 10th gen.
I personally have not tried yet, so I don't believe it LOL
As you probably shouldn’t. I’ve seen some reviewers say it drives well, but that suspension comes into play as soon as you go over bumpy roads and surfaces. Mazda can tune the suspension until they’re blue in the face, but you can’t stop the physics of a twist beam rear. When you hit a speed bump or pothole that ass is gonna drop like it’s in a rap video.
 

RobbJK88

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As you probably shouldn’t. I’ve seen some reviewers say it drives well, but that suspension comes into play as soon as you go over bumpy roads and surfaces. Mazda can tune the suspension until they’re blue in the face, but you can’t stop the physics of a twist beam rear. When you hit a speed bump or pothole that ass is gonna drop like it’s in a rap video.
That's the issue exactly with the old style twist beam (just like the 8th and 9th gen civics had). They ride fine over most roads... but over bumps, and especially if you hit bumps while cornering, the whole back end of the car will jump and skip to one side (not confidence inspiring).
 


jred721

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Thought id chime in. The 3's power is certainly a big plus point and it does have a pretty nice more premium interior to boot. But I agree with the sentiment that from a performance standpoint, the car isnt really well thought out. No independent rear suspension, no LSD. So it's not really a true GTI competitior and as far as the Si goes, this costs a hell of a lot more than one so thats not really a huge competitor either. I guess you could think of this as a 1.5t civic with a bigger engine and more power with a nicer interior.

Bottom line, I think the MAZDA 3 's main target market is for people who want a brand new commuter car that has a nice powerful engine, nice interior with modern features. Although personally, there are so many nice used cars I could get for the 3's price point that I would probably be looking used. Or better yet, i'd still pick something like a GTI over this. The biggest head scratcher for me is why mazda didnt just go all the way and slap an LSD, good suspension, all the sporty bits and they would have had the MS3. Wasted potential.
 

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Thought id chime in. The 3's power is certainly a big plus point and it does have a pretty nice more premium interior to boot. But I agree with the sentiment that from a performance standpoint, the car isnt really well thought out. No independent rear suspension, no LSD. So it's not really a true GTI competitior and as far as the Si goes, this costs a hell of a lot more than one so thats not really a huge competitor either. I guess you could think of this as a 1.5t civic with a bigger engine and more power with a nicer interior.

Bottom line, I think the MAZDA 3 's main target market is for people who want a brand new commuter car that has a nice powerful engine, nice interior with modern features. Although personally, there are so many nice used cars I could get for the 3's price point that I would probably be looking used. Or better yet, i'd still pick something like a GTI over this. The biggest head scratcher for me is why mazda didnt just go all the way and slap an LSD, good suspension, all the sporty bits and they would have had the MS3. Wasted potential.
It's most similar to a Volvo V60, like a hatchback version of the AWD V60. Which was so unpopular Volvo doesn't even make it anymore.
 

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Thought id chime in. The 3's power is certainly a big plus point and it does have a pretty nice more premium interior to boot. But I agree with the sentiment that from a performance standpoint, the car isnt really well thought out. No independent rear suspension, no LSD. So it's not really a true GTI competitior and as far as the Si goes, this costs a hell of a lot more than one so thats not really a huge competitor either. I guess you could think of this as a 1.5t civic with a bigger engine and more power with a nicer interior.

Bottom line, I think the MAZDA 3 's main target market is for people who want a brand new commuter car that has a nice powerful engine, nice interior with modern features. Although personally, there are so many nice used cars I could get for the 3's price point that I would probably be looking used. Or better yet, i'd still pick something like a GTI over this. The biggest head scratcher for me is why mazda didnt just go all the way and slap an LSD, good suspension, all the sporty bits and they would have had the MS3. Wasted potential.
It’s beyond a head scratcher. It’s like they wanted to make a performance model but didn’t commit to it, and now they have this weird car in a no-man’s-land for the segment. Not sporty enough to compete with the GLI/GTI, Civic SI, Veloster N. While being more expensive than any of those. Is this car for people who don’t have money for a Lexus IS250? I’m just overall disappointed. I wanted to love the Mazda3. I miss my 2016 GT so much I was ready to go back, but not for this. I’ll keep my Civic.
 

The Vyzitor

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I feel like people are overlooking the fact this car is AWD... that is a pretty significant upgrade over its FWD competition.
 

Vic_L

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Thought id chime in. The 3's power is certainly a big plus point and it does have a pretty nice more premium interior to boot. But I agree with the sentiment that from a performance standpoint, the car isnt really well thought out. No independent rear suspension, no LSD. So it's not really a true GTI competitior and as far as the Si goes, this costs a hell of a lot more than one so thats not really a huge competitor either. I guess you could think of this as a 1.5t civic with a bigger engine and more power with a nicer interior.

Bottom line, I think the MAZDA 3 's main target market is for people who want a brand new commuter car that has a nice powerful engine, nice interior with modern features. Although personally, there are so many nice used cars I could get for the 3's price point that I would probably be looking used. Or better yet, i'd still pick something like a GTI over this. The biggest head scratcher for me is why mazda didnt just go all the way and slap an LSD, good suspension, all the sporty bits and they would have had the MS3. Wasted potential.
I remember somewhere/someone saying Mazda didn't have the capacity (relatively small compared to Toyota / Honda, etc) to designed another MazdaSpeed3.

This 2.5T AWD set-up might be perfect for a new MazdaSpeed3; like you said, add in the LSD, and better suspension. The gone MazdaSpeed3 was a 2.3T making 263 BHP / 280 TQ, so this new 2.5T making 250 BHP / 320 TQ would be perfect.
 


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I feel like people are overlooking the fact this car is AWD... that is a pretty significant upgrade over its FWD competition.
Exactly. The AWD will be more than enough to put the power down well, then add on nice sticky summer tires and this should handle and stick even better. In my opinion, the only demerit for me in this car is the lack of a manual transmission.
 

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It looks like the Mazda CX-30 will be getting the same 2.5 turbo as well. Pricing will fall between the mazda3 sedan and hatch prices.

https://www.motor1.com/news/440242/2021-mazda-cx-30-turbo/
I don’t understand why Mazda would kneecap the 3 Turbo by making a CX-30 Turbo for thousands less. That vehicle is already eating into the Mazda3 sales. This would mean basically no one will be buying the 3 Turbo.
 

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