Mazda has launched the all-new Mazda3 compact sedan. The highly anticipated car made its debut with some style as it looks great and drives great. However, fans and consumers agreed that the Mazda3 comes with an exorbitant selling price.
For a C-segment vehicle, the Mazda 3 is only $1000 short of a D-segment car like the Honda Accord. Mazda reiterate that the price is justified because the Mazda3 comes with the award winning SkyActiv technology. To find out if Mazda is right with the pricing, we have decided to take the compact sedan for a spin.
Unfortunately, Mazda was right. We drove theMazda 3 around the hilly areas and it manoeuvres fluidly. It simply managed to maintain grip on the road even if it weighs lightly. Furthermore, our 1 hour driving session concluded with an average fuel consumption of 7.5L/100km. This is pretty decent and the achievement is owed to the SkyActiv technology.
On the downside of things, the Mazda3 actually feels underpowered. There is that one moment where we wish to overtake a road hogger but accelerating from 80km/h takes too long.
In addition to that, the Mazda3 failed to offer a quiet a pleasant driving experience. Even when cruising at 60km/h, the cabin is filled with so much road and wind noise. Clearly, the Japanese carmaker paid no attention to this requirement. Also, the interior is developed with hard plastic that actually frustrate us.
After all, the Mazda3 is overvalued and overpriced by Mazda. The least the carmaker could do is offer better garnishing for the interior and insulate the car properly. As such, we strongly disagree with the Mazda3’s price tag. This is our judgement, what’s yours?
