Mazda3 sedan 2009 review

Take one look at the happy-happy nose on the latest Mazda 3 and you cannot help thinking about the star of the animated movie, Cars.

There is nothing Disney or Pixar about the design, or the sharper-edged driving experience, but Mazda admits it was aiming for something happy and cut-through when it put the bright new face on its 3 as the start of a new front-end design direction for the brand.

"Mazda3 is driven by younger customers, so we decided to take the chance on this new face. It is new, distinctive and bold, but still Mazda3," says Kunihiko Kurisu, the car's chief designer.

Explore the 2009 Mazda 3 range

• Mazda3 sedan 2009 review
• Mazda3 SP25 automatic 2009 review
• Mazda3 SP25 2009 review
• Mazda3 SP25 Luxury manual sedan 2009 review
• Mazda3 MPS 2009 review: snapshot
• Mazda3 MPS 2009 review
• Mazda3 2009 review

The rest of the new Mazda3 for 2009 is far more evolution than revolution, from a body with the same basics as today's cars to updated engines and transmissions, but it works. It has everything it needs to continue as the fifth-favourite car in Australia, although there is still no way it will have the sub-$20,000 price point to challenge the Toyota Corolla for small-car sales leadership.

Mazda Australia is aiming to have its new hero car - nearly half the Mazdas sold in Australia wear a 3 badge - in showrooms by the middle of next year and also hopes to set prices from less than $21,000. But nothing is certain, although is a five-door hatch to join the four-door sedan revealed in Los Angeles.

"It's looking like June at the moment, but we hope to have it earlier. It's still too early to talk about price, but we are having the arguments with Japan," says the spokesman for Mazda Australia, Glenn Butler.

"We are still having discussions on the specification. People are looking for more luxury in small cars and we're seeing how we can deliver that. We will set the specification once we set the pricing."

He confirms the same model lineup as today - Neo, Maxx, Maxx Sport and SP - with a diesel to follow in July and the high-performance turbocharged MPS some time after that. The first appearance of the MPS, with as much as 240kW on tap, will be at the Geneva Motor Show in Europe next March.

The new Mazda3 starter car will still come with a 2-litre petrol engine, but Mazda is claiming up to 10 per cent better fuel economy on the Neo thanks to a new five-speed automatic gearbox. Power is rated at 110kW with 183Nm of torque.

The grunter engine is now a 2.5-litre, which means the SP will become the SP25, with 125kW. And it should also bring better economy.

The engines are basically the same, but blocks are now stiffer and there has been a lot of work to improve their breathing and efficiency.

The basic mechanical platform of the new Mazda3 is also carried over, which means the same chassis numbers and cabin space, although the overhangs are longer - partly for pedestrian protection in the front. The big change is more use of high-strength steel, for safety and to sharpen the car, so the shell itself is 11 kilograms lighter.

"Basically, it is essentially the C1 architecture you are familiar with from the current Mazda3, the Volvo C30 and Ford Focus. That said, there are a number of small changes enough to call it the C1A," says Ruben Archilla, one of Mazda's research-and-development chiefs.

"We didn't seek to re-invent the car. We didn't see the need to change the fundamental concept."

Still, there appears to be more to the Mazda3 update than similar work on the Mazda6, which has not hit its Australian sales targets since arriving earlier this year - partly because of a major mid-sized sales slide - sparking a significant price cut.

Suspension has been tweaked, there is better location for the steering rack, and a lot of work has gone into cutting noise and vibration.

Most people will notice the biggest changes inside. There is a new two-level dash which puts big dials in front of the drivers and moves minor readouts to a panel closer to the dash.

There is also a man-machine interface which works with the integrated satnav now available as part of the multi-information display in the car, as well as more controls on the steering wheel. And clear dials with trendy blue rings on some cars.

Equipment should be better, with auto air-con in the basic Neo, but no-one at Mazda Australia is prepared to commit. Not even to ESP stability control in all models - it is available, but not standard today - or the Bose sound package or active bi-Xenon lamps at the top of the line.

And the Lightning McQueen smile?

Apart from giving the Mazda3 an instantly-recognisable face, it is part of a major upgrade of the car's aero package. Drag is down to a class leading 0.29 and Mazda engineers have done everything from closing air intakes to the radiator to smoothing flow around the front wheels and mirrors to ensure there is less drag to sap fuel less wind to cause noise.

Driving:

The new Mazda3 is even sweeter to drive than the car which is already doing so well in Australia.

You feel the extra tightness, enjoy the extra equipment and the fresh new dash design, and can push with the 2.5-litre motor which is going into the SP.

Quality seems good, despite driving pre-production cars during the preview drive on a loop into the hills north of Los Angeles, and both the basic 2-litre car and the quicker 2.5 are quiet.

So what about the price? And the value? And the safety?

Those are the big questions, and the ones which will not be answered until Mazda Australia can crunch the numbers closer to on-sale time - and with the very latest exchange rates on a car which is coming from Japan, not a lower-cost factory in Korea or Thailand.

So, getting back to the car, the new nose is going to be a love it-hate it proposition in Australia but there is no doubting the appeal of the new dashboard. It is clearer and much more modern, but not as over-trendy as the spaceship approach taken by Honda with its Civic.

We only drive the sedan because Americans mostly buy four-door compacts, so there is no chance for a judgement on the upcoming hatch. Still, the basics will be the same.

And there is no judgement on the automatic because none is available, although both the five and six-speed manuals seem fine for their role.

Some people might like a bit more space in the back seat, which will not come until an all-new body, and the front seats are set too high for some drivers. It's also tough to see all the nice gear in the American cars, including the multi-information display and bi-Xenon lamps and a keyless start system, and then realise it might not be coming down under or restricted to upper models beyond $30,000.

And Mazda Australia is still not sure about safety basics for the new 3. It currently only installs two airbags in the starter car, and there is no ESP. Yet four bags and ESP should be standard in the Neo, which accounts for around half of sales but less than 20 per cent of safety pack purchases.

So there are far more unanswered questions than we like. And months before we get the answers.

Even so, and making allowances for driving the car on unfamiliar roads with the steering wheel on the wrong side, the new Mazda3 already looks like a winner. And the Lightning McQueen smile definitely fits.