2010 Mazda3 has snappy appeal for a small car
MARINA DEL REY, Calif. -- Whatever formula Mazda used to jazz up its compact Mazda3 sedan for 2010 certainly included two squirts of ugly.
Open-mouth grille, like a fish, makes the front look so heavy you expect the car to tip on its snout. Gratuitous front-fender bulge. Trunk lid echoes the ugly BMW raised-trunk look.
Mazda insists that viewed head-on, the 3 looks like an exotic sports car. Reasonable people can disagree on matters of taste.
Then, move to the hardware. Has Mazda improved its keen little sedan, or just changed it?
Key question, because the Mazda3 is "the most important car" in the lineup, says James O'Sullivan, CEO of North American operations: It's Mazda's U.S. best seller and has sold 1.8 million worldwide since its introduction five years ago.
The 2010 is bigger and more powerful. Mazda plans to sell a four-door sedan and four-door hatchback (a so-called five-door) in the U.S. beginning in January. It rolled out only the sedan for journalists here (70% of four-door sales are in North America). The hatch made its debut Wednesday at the Bologna (Italy) Motor Show (70% of hatchback sales are in Europe). The primary difference is just the hatch vs. trunk configuration.
In what's quickly become a tired pitch, Mazda says it'll sell the 3 to move-down buyers weary of the fuel use and payments of bigger cars. To satisfy downsizers, the pitch goes, the 3 offers features heretofore considered lavish for small cars: high-intensity discharge headlights, leather seats, navigation systems, dual-zone climate control, etc.
Beyond the dressing up, the 3 remains a snappy, appealing small car. Two test sedans were preproduction models tuned to regular-production specifications: an S Grand Touring, a well-equipped version of the higher-priced model with the 167-horsepower 2.5-liter four-cylinder and a five-speed automatic transmission and an I Touring, a nicely furnished version of the lower-price model with a 148-hp 2-liter four-banger and five-speed manual. The latter is a hoot, the way small cars universally seemed to be back in the day. Quick, nimble, sufficiently powerful for most conditions, well-enough appointed to delight most small-car folks.
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