• HOME
• 
• AUTO LISTINGS
• 
• FINANCE
• 
• NEWS
• 
• DIRECTORY
• 
• REVIEWS
• 
• FORUM
• 
• BLOG
• 

2007 Mazdaspeed3 Road Test

The Mazda3 is arguably one of the best compact cars on the planet.In the U.S. it's a popular purchase, and in some markets it's one of the best selling cars overall. Conclusion: the world loves it. It looks good, drives well, offers fair reliability and a comfortable and stylish interior, not to mention the practical option of a five-door hatchback. It can even be considered peppy thanks to a 148-hp engine in its most basic form, and a 160-hp upgrade with plenty of go for s models.

But wait a minute, Honda has their antisocial Civic Si with 197 hp, VW has a pretty kick-ass 200-hp turbocharged menace called the GTI, not to mention Subaru and its 230-hp rally-bred AWD Impreza WRX (we won't mention Subaru’s other Impreza with 300 hp and a pricey $40K winder sticker, but oh, we're so tempted to), all ranging between $20 and $25 grand. Even Saturn sells an ION with more than 200 horse. Isn’t Mazda the Zoom-Zoom company? Shouldn't they have something to compete with the new generation of sport compacts? Shouldn’t

Behold, the wild, the Mazdaspeed3. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)

they put the turbocharged 2.3L inline four from the Mazdaspeed6 into their best-selling 3? Yes, Yes, and oh yeah, they already have.

Mazdaspeed3 was born a Mazda3 5-Door (er, hatchback, or wagonish thing), and then it had a heart transplant courtesy of Mazda’s racing and tuning arm, Mazdaspeed, bringing to life a 263-hp front-wheel drive hatchback that beats the rear-wheel drive rotary-powered RX-8 and AWD Mazdaspeed6 for straight-line jump. It’s young, it’s brash, and it’s fast. I would say that it has no respect for its elders, but the interior is very much an homage to the bigger 'Speed6's badging and all-black trim, not straying too far from the base 3 either, that it's one of the most refined in its

For the power that it's got, we're surprised it doesn't torque steer off the line. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)

segment. I can respect anyone who loves a Mazda interior, but nevertheless to me it seemed a little blasé, though well made and easy to live with.

The 'Speed3 does without the leather seats (remember those two-tone white and black leather seats in the 'Speed6), opting for a back-ventilating fabric that was much appreciated on a long drive to Cayuga where I was fortunate enough to be able to sample its abilities within the safe confines of a closed course. On the way down, I really came to appreciate its comfortable and supportive seats, and particularly the cloth fabric, which kept my backside from getting clammy and sweaty on the long drive. I also appreciated the Bose sound system that turned the drone of traffic into a scream-along with some classic AC/DC and a bit of warbling Neil Young thrown

The Mazdaspeed3 is a car that communicates through sound. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)

in for good measure.

Despite lowered ride height on shorter, stiffer springs, reinforcedroll bars and 18-inch low-profile rubber, the 'Speed3 sorted out potholed city streets and highway dips and dives without getting unsettled thanks to excellent work of damping and delicate tuning from Mazdaspeed’s suspension department. I noticed pretty much every pothole and regularly heard the suspension sorting it all out, but I didn't get any body roll and wallowing that normally comes from a typical tall hatchback.

I’m still having a hard time wrapping my mind around how Mazda can take 240 horsepower and feed it all to the front wheels and not end up with wheels flying in every direction every time you get the pedal to the floor in second gear. But no, the wheels stay attached to the car, and though they may spin (yup, even in second gear) and pull (yeah, there’s some torque steer, but its not the evil, launch-you-into-the-next-lane

Interior is straight up and no-nonsense. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)

torque steer like in some FFs I’ve driven), the net effect is a surge of acceleration and the attendant velocity that will force you to become extremely intimate with the seat that is cradling you in its bolsters.

“Wait,” you say, “What about first gear? And aren’t the official numbers 263 horsepowerand 280 lb-ft of torque?” Well, it looks like you’ve done some of your homework Johnny, but you missed the extra credit assignment. You see, Mazda has rather wisely created a torque restriction program that only allows up to 79 percent of the engine’s full snort in first gear, and up to 92 percent in second gear, although depending on conditions you may be allowed even less. It’s not that they’re trying to wreck your fun, but I guess Mazda’s engineers wanted to keep the wheels attached to the car the majority of the time.

Mazda is also generous in trying to keep the power at the wheels transferred effectively to the ground, so a limited

Nice and supportive. You'll need those bolsters... (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)

slip differential will balance power to the wheels so that both will haul you forward at the same rate. And haul it does...

Every stomp on the right pedal is rewarded with a deepexhaust note that belies its turbo-four configuration and a steady, chest-compressing surge of power and a battle of wills with the steering wheel that will wake you up in a hurry. The clutch is heavy, but it picks up a gear in a twitch, and is so precise that it became a mindless balance of zen and adrenalin while slotting through the gears. The gears are evenly short and the huge power gets you to 60 mph in about a six-second blink, but it’s the constant push from 2,500 rpm to well north of 5,000 that will keep you in your own personal sweet spot for a seeming eternity. Gear up and you’re still there, and again until you feel you’ve challenged authority as much as is reasonably sane or you settle into a long, cruising sixth that helps keep highway mileage to 28 mpg - you can forget about the city rating because it would take an automaton to stay off the thrill-ride within whatever limits you think you can get away with.

Just as

Short stopping distances thanks to big brakes. Let the world know this too, with standard LED taillights. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)

the power gets you away from stoplights, the big wheels and stickyrubber keep you well planted on the road and enable full-speed turns to a degree of recklessness I wasn’t quite brave or stupid enough to discover. With my skills, stupid is what it would take to push this car into understeer, because I found that in my comfort zone, the car snapped into turns with authority and had stockpiles of torque ready to come charging out with exhaust blazing. When I did get a little stupid, the unfortunate arrangement of a large mass (in the form of an engine) at the front of a car and all the power at the front end meant the front wheels would spin in vain and the car would simply lead me towards the dirt until a good dose of throttle lift and a bit of steering correction kept me from getting the wheels dirty or the undercarriage grassy. That’s mostly track-day stuff, but the same principles would apply on rainy or snowy days, so approach corners with caution. Braking was just as purposeful, leaving seatbelt bruises, although repeated hard stops left the rotors gasping for air and needing a bit of a breather to get them back to full force.

While track performance is all well and good, the Mazdaspeed3 is capable of being incredibly docile

A wailing banshee... of the Japanese variety. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)

in and around town. Settle into the throttle softly, upshift at 2,500 rpm, and you’ve got an agreeable little hatchback that only stands out from its Mazda3 siblings for its almost-white alloys and rooftop spoiler.

It’s everything I love in a car: practical space, good looks, supportive seats, a real manual shifter and clutch setup, and unjustifiable, untamed, juvenile power. What most enamoured me with this streaking red hatchback was the great relationship I immediately developed; steering is firm and incredibly direct, with lots of feel to help communicate just how much the tires will suffer before they start to whine, never feeling slack even when cruising long, solitary roads. Find a snaking, deserted backcountry road and you'll likely turn around at the end and start the process over again, because it’s as if you’re giving the road a massage, feeling every subtle twist and knot, yet you’re the one that is relaxed and slack-jawed grinning stupidly at the end of it.

Then again, I was pretty much slack-jawed and grinning dumbly from the first wave of torque felt while reversing out of my parking lot, so several days of testing it going forward and around corners left me with a perma-grin that people at work might have mistaken for an overdose of Prozac. No Prozac, though, just 'speed. Mazdaspeed.

Page:  1

AUTOMOBILE REVIEWS BY MAKE

Acura  Audi   Bentley   BMW   Buick   Cadillac   Chevrolet   Chrysler   Daewoo   Dodge   Eagle   Ferrari   Ford   Geo   GMC   Honda   Hummer   Hyundai   Infiniti   Isuzu   Jaguar   Jeep   Kia   Lamborghini   Lexus   Lincoln   Lotus   Maserati   Mazda   Mercedes-Benz   Mercury   MINI   Mitsubishi   Nissan   Oldsmobile   Plymouth   Pontiac   Porsche   Saab   Saturn   Scion   Subaru   Suzuki   Toyota   Volkswagen   Volvo