I've had several short-term rentals over the past few weeks, and 3 of them have been Mazda 3s from Hertz. A very impressive car - streets ahead of the equivalent Auris/Corolla IMHO. Power & handling both excellent. All were 2.0 petrols, 2 of them had 5-speed torque converter autos, whilst the third, interestingly, had a 6-speed manual. Do we really need 6-speeds in run-of-the-mill petrol cars?! A 2-litre in a car of that size has ample power & torque anyway!
2 of them were 3-box saloon variants, which to my personal taste is a lot prettier than the 5-door hatch, and I find that a boot provides far more useable luggage space.
The Mazda 6 outsells the Mondeo in these parts, and I can see that the Mazda 3 is probably a more sporty all-rounder than the equivalent Focus. (New Focus not reached these shores yet).
Well worth a look if that's the size/type of car you're looking for.
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>> I can see that the
>> Mazda 3 is probably a more sporty all-rounder than the equivalent Focus. (New Focus not
>> reached these shores yet).
FWIW HJ agrees: www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/mazda/3-2009/
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Perhaps having to change all those gears explains the 0-62 time - 10.4s for a car of that size with a 151ps (petrol) engine seems a bit slow?
Last edited by: Focus on Tue 19 Apr 11 at 08:22
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>> Perhaps having to change all those gears explains the 0-62 time - 10.4s for a
>> car of that size with a 151ps (petrol) engine seems a bit slow?
>>
It begs the question of why anyone would still buy a petrol car when a two litre diesel will deliver more power, approximately twice the fuel economy, and if cared for unparalleled reliability.
The driving characteristics now match most equivalent petrol cars; they cruise at under 2000 rpm at motorway speed; and the diesel clatter is eliminated by excellent sound-proofing.
Particulates are sorted with DPF, and they're cheap as chips to tax.
[Note - obvious exception for the pensioner who only does 5 miles a week who could drive anything, but would probably find it cheaper to take taxis. For everyone else, diesel is the way forward!]
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>> >> For everyone else, diesel is the way forward!]
>>
Id rather walk, thank you.
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Agree AF.... unless you live on one of the Channel Islands. Although I like turbo petrol engines too - nice having low down torque available.
Looking forward to a new car later this year - a 170PS diesel.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Tue 19 Apr 11 at 23:05
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Try comparing a 2 litre turbodiesel with a 1.4 turbopetrol.
Diesel will always be heavier, fuel economy is not hugely better, and DPFs are far from proven long-life components, along with very high pressure fuel systems.
Unparalleled reliability? I think you're still living in the days of the XUD ;-)
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>> Unparalleled reliability? I think you're still living in the days of the XUD ;-)
But with even small petrols getting turbocharged, they too are getting a lot more complex. For the same reasons diesels did.
For my next car, if the 1.8 turbo petrol was (a) available in the Passat CC GT which it isn't and (b) had lower emissions then I'd have considered it. But for company cars the emissions are too high even though the diesels get a 3% BIK surcharge.
Next time I bet I can get a low emission petrol car instead though... although I am sure to like a 170PS diesel engine. I hope.
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Obviously the 2.0 engine in the Mazda 3 suits it better than the rather pedestrian 1.6 which we hired in South Africa last year: quite similar to drive to the Nissan Tiida we had this year.
Two years ago when we were in NZ we were allotted a Toyota Corolla 1.8 - very much livelier and quite good to drive. If Toyota offered this engine in the UK (and called the car the Corolla) the current Auris might sell better.
Toyota UK seem to have something of a death-wish. The two Auris models that were half-decent to drive, the 2.0 and 2.2 diesels, have been withdrawn.
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The two Auris models that were
>> half-decent to drive, the 2.0 and 2.2 diesels, have been withdrawn.
>>
Trouble with Auris is they're trying to make a silk purse etc, how on earth that design got approved for production is a mystery, Avensis got beaten with the same ugly stick...though it can't be allowed to look quite as nice as Lexus (no Camry here either)....Skoda and Audi same boat?
As for Mazda's Diesels being reliable, there's a good few Mazda 6 owners who wish they'd bought something else would argue with that.
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I've been checking out the Mazda 3 as a replacement or my Almera, and it's up there with the best of them.
I'd go for the 1.6 auto, geezer that carried out the survey on my house had one and he said it woz a blinder!
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>>2 of them were 3-box saloon variants, which to my personal taste is a lot prettier than the 5-door hatch
Agreed, but they are very scarce compared to the hatch and I wonder how that might affect residual values. There seemed to be a lot more saloons around a few years ago.
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Mazda Mazda 3 - 3 Hertz rentals - Focusless
