White Manual Touring

[agproject]

Got one several weeks ago...

Initial review - very happy!

 

[ManMachine]

Congrats. How's your impression?

 

[agproject]

Congrats. How's your impression?

Initial impression over the first 3 weeks...

'AMAZED'

I'm simply amazed by the value and overall improvements from Mazda. From the looks to the function they did a great job. You can tell the design team really went out to really design something with emotion. Look at the interior and you will see what I'm talking about. The quality of material lacks, but the lines and flow continues from the exterior to the interior. There are obviously some subtle flaws, but the positives outweigh the negatives. I'd really love to work with the design/engineering team to make this a perfect car! I assisted in engineering the software on the Prius so I'm a bit anal on anything automotive related.

 

[cmfireman]

The quality of material lacks, but the lines and flow continues from the exterior to the interior. There are obviously some subtle flaws, but the positives outweigh the negatives.

What do you find lacking quality wise in the interior? I'm not a huge fan of the microfiber-like cloth upholstery that attracts lint, but other than that I feel like the interior quality is one of the best parts about this car. I'm just curious.

If I could talk to the engineers, I would say why can't I have a manual sport with bluetooth and a touchscreen, and maybe a sunroof option. Other than that I am satisfied.

 

[agproject]

What do you find lacking quality wise in the interior? I'm not a huge fan of the microfiber-like cloth upholstery that attracts lint, but other than that I feel like the interior quality is one of the best parts about this car. I'm just curious.

If I could talk to the engineers, I would say why can't I have a manual sport with bluetooth and a touchscreen, and maybe a sunroof option. Other than that I am satisfied.

I personally did not like the Sport model because of the lack of technology you mentioned. I did like the price. I almost bought one but I needed the BT and rea camera. The various options and configurations would create additional costs to Mazda's bottom line. I think the path they took made sense. Offer minimal additional packages to make it less confusing for the consumer and also increase margins by selling what makes sense. They wanted to sell 3 entry points: 1. Cheap 2. Affordable 3. Loaded Between the three there isn't a middle with the exception of tech. package added.

here's the pricing in my region...
Sport 19.5k man
Touring 22.9k man
GT 26.9K auto

One of the key things to remember, GTs come loaded with ridiculous stuff like radar cruise control and city brake asst. They purposely did not offer this in a manual because it would be problematic for those that modify there cars. My assumption is... A person who buys a mid size sedan in a manual is more than likely to be an enthusiast who would also more than likely want to lower or alter the vehicle. That being said it would be counter intuitive to buy upgrades/features and have them rendered non-operational or defective. You do not want to have a liability by having a lowered 6 accidentally slamming in to another car or person because of failure introduced by the customer.

With regards to the interior the overall design is exciting and flows well throughout. The quality of material used is low quality. Here are some examples: Head unit is the smallest in market 5.8 as opposed to standard 7in, some manf. go all the way up to 17in. Driver seat is powered, but at the same time very uncomfortable, padding is to thin, flat bolsters and boring style. The Sport model is designed the same without power and includes cloth fabric. Plastic material is low grade and scratches very easily (commonly seen everywhere as of late). Controls still use knobs as opposed to digital controls. Steering wheel would have been perfect, especially following the zoom zoom mantra had they made it a tad smaller and thicker. These are just a few things I would change. I've looked over a majority of the car with fine tooth and comb. I plan to look over the rest of the car once I clear out my garage. I just moved and have been forced to leave it parked outside in front of my garage.