The IT Nerd

You’re looking at the Skyactiv 2.0 L engine inside the Mazda3 Sport that puts out 155 horsepower and 150 pound feet of torque. A six speed automatic transmission takes the power from the engine and uses it to motivate the front wheels. Now my head knows what the spec sheet says, but my right foot and the seat of my pants weren’t convinced. That’s because the Mazda3 Sport felt way more powerful than than what the numbers would suggest. Off the line there was plenty of power on tap. If I needed to pass another car on the highway, all I needed to do is put my foot down and I could blow by the slower vehicle. The transmission was completely smooth and always had me in the right gear. Handling is first rate. You sit low in the car (in fact it feels like you drop into the car when you get in) so you can fully feel what the car feels which allows you to duck and dive between cars on the highway with ease. At the same time, it’s exceptionally easy to handle at slow speeds such as what you would find in a parking lot. I keep saying this every time I drive a Mazda vehicle, but the weight of the steering is perfect and the suspension is absolutely perfectly dialled in. It filters out anything that would be jarring, but it lets the right amount of road feel through to the steering wheel. But what really got my attention is the fuel economy. So far in mixed city and highway driving, I am getting 7.9 L/100 KM. Mazda’s SkyActiv suite of technologies that encompasses the engine, transmission, and body are clearly coming through to give you plenty of Mazda’s trademark “Zoom Zoom” while saving you gas. If you want to go into finer details, check out my in depth look at SkyActiv technology here. But take it from me it works exceptionally well in the Mazda3 Sport.

The only thing that makes it way into the cabin in terms of sound is some wind noise at highway speeds. Tire noise is at very low levels on most surfaces. There is a growl from the exhaust under acceleration that sounds cool, but disappears when the Mazda3 Sport is up to speed. That’s a very nice touch. Visibility is also good from the drivers seat. The rear window is on the small side, but that didn’t really affect my ability to see out the back. Though I had to play with the position of my rear view mirror to feel truly comfortable. Other than that, there was nothing that impaired my vision in any direction. Finding a position that allowed me to drive comfortably was easy.

Tomorrow, I’m going to give you an overview of the interior which is a very good one. Stay tuned for that.

This entry was posted on June 24, 2014 at 7:00 am and is filed under Products with tags Mazda. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.