2005 Mazda3 GT test drive impressions

I recently test-drove a 2005 Mazda3 GT sedan. The "GT" is a Canadian designation for top-of-the-line Mazda3--the one that comes with all the power gizmos and the 160HP engine. Below are my impressions on the car.

Engine: The 2.3 liter engine is very smooth and very quiet. Its 160HP feels just enough for the car. It is quietly competent rather than overwhelmingly powerful. I have done several engine tests: highway merging, top gear acceleration, rapid start from a standing stop, and the result has always been the same: acceptable performance, if not overachievement. While Mazda3 is not a muscle car, it easily beats the offerings from Honda and Toyota in the engine department.

Manual transmission: Very, very, very easy shifts. The thing almost shifts itself. The throws are quite short. On the down side, it is rather vague; there is no "snick" sound as you slide into gear, almost no feedback at all. Usually I can tell the gear the car is in by just placing a hand on the shifter, but I could not do it in this car; this is mostly due to my inexperience with the car. However, in other cars I drove, I did not need any experience.

Minor gripe: the handle of the shift stick is in the form of a very large ball; this makes shifting awkward. I bet it grows easier as you get used to it. If it doesn’t, aftermarket shifter handles are widely available, and cost about $15.

The clutch is very light and easy to operate. Good clutch.

Brakes: The brakes on the Mazda3 are powerful, and stop the car confidently and quickly. Unfortunately, they are also rather grabby, and take a conscious effort to stop smoothly; if you’re not thinking about it, even touching the brakes lightly can decelerate the car rapidly, throwing you and your passengers forward.

I did an emergency braking test, and the car decelerated quickly from 60mph, with little dive. I was doing it on a wet road, and ABS engaged just as I was almost stopped. ABS made an unpleasant growling sound, but did an admirable job – there was no skidding whatsoever.

Handling: The car handles well in normal driving: its responses to your steering are very predictable, and the feedback provided to the driver is good. As you can imagine, during the test drive I did not do any maneuvers that stressed the car's handling (especially not with the salesman sitting in the passenger seat). I did take it through a couple of tight turns at relatively high speed--Mazda3 took the turns with ease, as if telling me I was nowhere near its limits. I did notice a bit of understeer, though--normal for a front-wheel-drive car with a heavy forward weight bias.

Seat comfort: A definite judgment is difficult to make after a 20-minute test drive, but initial impressions are very good. The seat is wide, supportive, and not overly deep. It is also height-adjustable. This feature is not essential for me, but it’s nice to have. The steering wheel tilts and telescopes.

Room: The room for the driver and front passenger is good, as it is in most cars. It's the availability of leg and hip room in the back that comes as a surprise. Even with the driver’s seat moved back, there is room for the back seat passenger to stretch his legs and move around a bit. I am sure that even a big and tall adult will find the back seat comfortable enough for a multi-hour trip.

Trunk space hard to estimate just by looking but seems adequate, and standard for the class.

Instrument panel: The instrument panel is best described as classy but overdesigned and messy. It is arranged in three circular pods. The central one houses the speedometer; the left one contains the tachometer; the right one is home to the odometer and a variety of idiot lights.

The arrangement is very classy to look at, but I would have much preferred a plain, flat instrument panel. The classy circular pods look good at first glance, but when it comes to using the instruments, they are an obstruction: rather than framing and separating the dials, they only add clutter.

The colors and brightness of the instrument panel can be adjusted, which is supposed to be helpful during nighttime driving. I did not test-drive the car in the dark, so I can’t objectively judge the effectiveness of this feature, but it sounds rather over-hyped.

NVH (i.e. Noise, Vibration and Harshness): The car really excels in this category. It is completely quiet at idle; some faint murmurs from the engine compartment can be heard, but they can be easily mistaken for outside sounds. In order to make sure whether the car is running or not, you have to look at the tachometer. Lexus, watch out: here comes Mazda!

The car is also very quiet and vibration-free while underway. The engine is superbly balanced, and vibration is negligible even at high revs (6000RPM and up). The engine starts to be heard at about 4000RPM, but it is fairly quiet even then, and you have to rev it very high before the sound becomes intrusive. I can see how someone might take this car on the highway and leave it in 4th gear, forgetting to shift to fifth. 70mph (110km/h) in top gear translates to about 3000RPM, so the engine noise won’t be a factor in highway travel at legal or almost-legal speeds.

The main source of noise on the highway are tire and wind noise, but neither one is bad enough. I’m willing to bet the car will be comfortable for long highway trips.

Interior quality: The quality of interior fit and finish in a Mazda3 is above the norm for an economy car. All materials are pleasing to the touch, the seat cloth feels sturdy, the controls provide good sensory feedback and are a pleasure to operate. The stereo controls are quite intuitive. The glove-box closes with a reassuring click.

Outward visibility: Even though the A and B pillars seem thick, the visibility is good, even with a passenger (the salesman did not trust me enough to let me loose in the car by myself, and went with me). That said, there are some blind spots, and other cars (e.g. Honda Civic or Subaru Impreza) have better outward visibility than the Mazda3.

In summary: In my opinion, the Mazda3 GT currently provides the best bang for the buck in the compact car segment. For a very decent price, it provides an excellent engine, good transmission, confident handling, and quiet ride. It also comes standard with a lot of gizmos that you would otherwise have to pay for: ABS, A/C, power windows, heated(!) power mirrors, cruise control and even steering-wheel stereo controls.

For all car shoppers considering an economy car, a look at Mazda3 is an absolute must.