why oh why is the 3 so weak....

[slug420]

I am in the market for a new car....and just felt like complaining.

I want a car that is good looking, comfortable, fun to drive, and will last me for a long time (lets say 200k miles and 10years). I am looking at everything from SUVs to luxury sedans to crossovers and compacts....trying to be open minded.

The mazda3, and cx-5 are GREAT options....they look so good, interiors are really amazing for the pricepoint/class, i know they will be fun to drive, and the dealers near me offer a lifetime powertrain warranty for free which would be great but MAN.....if that 2.5l 185hp engine isnt the saddest thing I have test driven in a long ass time. It sounds like a coffee grinder when you start it/rev it/drive it, unless you are in sport mode the hesitation when you touch the gas sucks the life out of you (especially when followed by the coffee grinder) and there is just no life in it overall...I really felt like I was driving my wife's 2006 civic.

My budget goes well beyond the price of a 3 andI am looking at used infiniti Q50s's, WRXs, ford escapes/lincoln mkc, all sorts of crap... The 3 doesnt really have a place in the assortment I am looking at....yet if it was just offered with an engine with a little life to I feel like it would be a no brainer. Where is my mazdaspeed 3 or cx-5 (or even 6)??

SIGH

 

[RODSCALIP5]

Thats funny because I feel the exact opposite. I have a 2.0l and it has plenty of power, of course it's a manual transmission.

 

[stjohans]

+1 for the 2.0 manual transmission, although I would LOVE a new mazdaspeed3!

 

[slug420]

I was thinking about this on my drive into work this morning....how I was so thrilled with the power in my MSP back in the day (only 170hp) but so disappointed in the 185 in the 3....maybe it was a combination of slow response from the AT (which I need to get so the wife can drive it) and the engine noise which IMO makes the car *sound* weak....those could have influenced my perception.

 

[silvercoat]

Go drive a CVT w/o using sport mode or paddle shifters.

Report back how great the Mazda3 is LOL.

To be fair I feel you. When I drove the first "Skyactive" Mazda 3 back in 2012 I felt the same thing. You would press the gas as normal, and literally it felt like the car would think about it for 2-3 seconds, then tell you "No" to going faster until you pressed the pedal even harder. I was really disappointed in the first go around. I drove a 2013 CX5 2.0 and it was better but I felt it needed a little bit more to be interesting. Still need to drive a 2.5L and see how I feel.

 

[Jo060]

Comparing a M3 to a WRX or an Infinity is guaranteed to get your hopes up.
I went from a fairly built MSP, decided I wanted to get out of the tuning world (still do), and went to a Hyundai Santa Fe SUV, then just purchased a '15 Mazda3 MT with 4 miles on it. It looks amazing, feels great, has great creature comforts but it can feel like it's lacking in power (though acceleration is not bad at all). But when I stepped back and really looked at the big picture I realized it's such a fun car to drive and the MPG is unbeatable. I'm averaging 34.8 mpg. After coming from a 17mpg MSP and a 22MPG SUV, I couldn't be happier.

Granted I've had this car for 7 or so months and have barely put over 4k miles on it (I mostly drive my cruiser everywhere), so it feels like getting into a new car each time. I find myself looking forward to driving it...something I've not felt with any of my cars before.

If you're looking for raw power, the Mazda is not the choice. If you're looking for everything else..go for it.

 

[concept]

I replaced my 2001 Corvette Z51 with 330 wheel horsepower (0-60 in 4.5 sec) with the 2014 3 with 2.5L. Really, when you live and commute in a densely packed city, having power beyond a certain level does you no good at all. When I had the Corvette, a group of forum members would periodically venture out to open space, just to be able to enjoy our $50,000 toys.
My Mazda 3, (and MX5, of course) especially in Sport mode is plenty entertaining. I rarely feel like I need more horsepower or torque. Is it nice to have "bragging rights"? Of course, but the ability to make full use of the extra power requires far more open space than I have.
And by the way, replacing the stock exhaust with a Magnaflow system will overcome the sewing machine engine sound. My MX5 has a Magnaflow muffler that drowns out everything at full throttle, yet is reasonably loud at cruising speed so that I haven't felt the need to duplicate it in the 3.
I have a feeling that road noise will drop when I eventually replace the 3's OEM tires with Continental Extreme DWs. Those tires are very quiet, yet stick to to road very well.

 

[kms1990]

my dad has the 2014 6 with that 2.5 and it has the MT i feel its decent in power, but not sportscaresque. my 08 3 with the 2.3L feels more powerful on throttle than his 6. however his car seems to keep its breath at over 110mph better, this maybe the 20hp difference or the extra gear as mine is a 5 speed stick his is a 6 speed stick. without a speed 3 trim you cannot fairly compare a 3 to a wrx or infiniti anything. his car sounds like a diesel at idle but its quite while moving. the weird screen for the radio that looks like a tablet glued to the dash puts me off on new mazdas but otherwise they are good looking cars that feel plenty powerful for street going cars, however if you are a gearhead like many of us here, then you know that theres never too much power, and a 3 is a good place to start tuning, however brand new ones may not be as i cannot see the already 14:1 compression ratio of the skyactiv motors taking a whole lot of extra extreme tuning, but they are still fairly new motor tech so time will tell. if you are looking at used wrx's why not used speed 3's or 6s?

i just wish i had more budget then i could tune my 3 or just had a speed 3 or sti or something faster to tune on but just graduating college and looking for my first "real" job money is kinda tight so ol faithful is gonna have to keep me entertained awhile.

 

[YelPro03]

Maybe you should drive a stick shift. I love my 2015 3s with the manual transmission.

 

[Natey]

....If you're looking for raw power, the Mazda is not the choice. If you're looking for everything else..go for it.

Yknow what really sucks, is that's a true statement. Mazda use to OWN Japanese racing, now they're sky active instead of TRACK active like the old days.

From winning outright at Lemans, to cars like this one, Mazda was once a force to be feared. Now.... a slower (admittedly better-looking) STi with torque steer is all we get, and even that's been discontinued.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS13rmnYsgk

Back to your roots Mazda!! Bring back the rotary, and make it quicker, lighter and better looking than the LFA/GTR. Just like the old days.

 

[concept]

Seriously, they can fit in-line dual rotary engines under THAT hood!

 

[GerryB]

Stick around. Mazda is showing some real pace in IMSA. The diesel is gone. Zoom zoom will rise again!

Sent from the wrong side of the tracks.

 

[kms1990]

rotary, while an amazing race car engine is not great for daily driver use as many of it's contemporaries would be used for as well as track time such as the gtr and lfa etc. people that dont know them well will undoubtedly own them and as those who know them already know they intentionally burn a small amount of oil and therefore require more frequent oil checks. they also are not very efficient and with them intentionally burning oil the epa and carb people would really scrutinize them. we can thank our government for killing off the rotary, at least until mazda can get some great mpg and power out of it. however the inherent design of rotary makes that a compromise. skyactiv is almost the opposite high compression conventional engine without turbos. rotary is low compression unconventional engine. however they do turbo well and are great engines emissions and over regulation i think have all but killed them.

 

[silvercoat]

It is a shame that they are not the top dawgs elsewhere in concerns with the performance market.

That being said, they hold a good market for fun to drive and eco friendly which is where the money is. Get money = hire more engineers to make a better sports car when the market is right.

More money now should e = a better Speed3,6,CX5 later. I hope.

At least the make a great car now.