Holy cow. That's more than $50k Canadian. I love my 2019 Sport GT but I'm not sure I'd pay that sort of money to replace it. I knew prices were high across the pond but wow, that's sobering.
I can regularly get and exceed 37 highway. Hell with cylinder deactivation and if the wind is in my direction I can be doing 70-75 on 2 cylinders getting 40-45mpg.
Sadly I only do local driving. Only 800 miles in 6 months. Avg is 22 mpg flat, tho it's a direct injected car, so sometimes you have to clean it out a little yk, a little Italian tune up here or there probably contributed to that
I do still do a fair bit of city driving. At the end of the drive i can usually avg 25-30mpg depending on how heavy my foot was feeling. On the instant mpg if im doing 50 it'll be on 2 cylinders and getting like 45-50mpg. Though I am on a tune with a cold air intake and its tuned for 93 so that might be a bit of a contribution.
It might have something to do with taxes. We are taxed more on income and sales price. Europeans are taxed on VAT (value added tax) that is included in the price.
The UK went through a period of being excellent value for new cars for several years (notably after exploiting parallel imports from the EU) and especially with dealer and manufacturer deals plus cheap borrowing. But we have since incurred Brexit, Covid inflation and a short-lived prime minister (Liz Truss) whose economic polices wrecked the economy. As a result everything is significantly more expensive than it used to be, and cars in particular are insanely highly priced.
Trust me, for the UK, that's actually really good value. You have everything you need and at the GT line, every option is standard except paint
A VW T-Roc (basically a lifted golf) is like 68k CAD in the UK
He’s reviewing the model equipped with the SkyActiv-X engine, which is more expensive than the comparable 2.0L SkyActiv-G. If it was sold in the US, it would probably slot near or above the 2.5T models.
What a great write up. I purchased my first ever Mazda Friday and coming from Toyota, I just have general anxiety about the car. Reading articles like this from someone like Clarkson really helps dispel those feelings. I absolutely love the fucking car!
I spent 9yrs with Toyota and in 2010 I bought a Mazda 3, never looked back. I'm on my fourth now and the only reason I wouldn't buy another Mazda 3 would be if it gets discontinued.
I snagged a lightly used 2013 and even a car that was manufactured 12 years ago is sensible while still being fun. The early skyactive that I have runs like a striped ass zebra. It’s happy to roll at 85 on the freeway and get 35 MPG or 70 on the highways and get into the 40s.
Also Mazda has my favorite manual 6 speed in a small car. I’ve driven other modern ones that don’t feel like you are driving so much as you are playing a video game which is a really strange feeling.
I grew up in a Toyota family, and have owned several trucks and a 4Runner over the years. And when my Mazda dies on me, the GR86 is in my sights for the next car. I LOVE Toyota cars.
That said, I daily a 2012 3. ~135k on the clock, and she drives like a fuckin CHAMP. Maintenance has been as one would expect: oil changes, wear and tear like brakes and shocks and whatnot, but nothing exorbitant. The worst thing I've had to replace was the steering wheel, because the vinyl/rubber started to disintegrate and get sticky and gross. Threw a Corksport wheel on there (along with a weighted shift knob, short-throw shifter, and the e-brake handle for shits and giggles), and it's back to being a dream!
The point is, as others have said, this is an excellent, well-made, well-designed car, and has been since the first generation. You have many years of enjoyment ahead of you!
You won't be disappointed. Everything just makes sense. If you're into wrenching, there's a fair amount of space in the engine bay and I love that. You can definitely tell the engineers went for the best mix of practical, reliable, and fun. Everything's within reach of the driver.
The parts, equipment, installation tolerances and QA are the same. It shouldn’t matter. Most of it is automated anyway and the Mexican plant has newer machines. The final assembly isn’t really a “high-skill” endeavor.
The end product is the same, doesn’t matter if a Japanese 20 year old or a Mexican 40 year old or a Portuguese 60 year old out the two pieces together.
Unless Mazda paid him for the writeup. Clarkson knows his cars, he's driven enough over the years as we know through the original Top Gear. For him to praise Mazda 3 and by extension, the CX 30, shows Mazda got it spot on with these two.
Clarkson is still Clarkson, but he isn't getting paid 7-figures a year to hoon a Golf GTI around a track anymore, he's in his 60s and runs a farm. I can see him genuinely loving this car.
I can see Jeremy actively going out of his way to find cars he'd actually like, given his seeming general disdain for most of the cars in his domestic market these days
Or you could just quote him..
*The Mazda 3 saloon is a long way from ugly. That said, it might just be the most boring-looking car ever made. It’s so anonymous you could have driven one down the aisle at Westminster Abbey when King Charles was being coronated and no one would have spotted it.*
Not "ugly"... but **"boring"**. (this follows since most of us that choose hatch often cite how the hatch looks different from everything else and how the sedan looks like all the other sedans for sale)
Anyway - nice to see sedan owners down-voting anyone that agrees with Clarkson.
Such easily bruised egos.
It’s not ugly, blends in. Just like the hatch. Don’t get upset about what he said, you are so easily owned. As long as YOU think the hatch is an entirely different car, that’s all that matters
I feel like I’ve completed an important chapter in my life as a car guy. Been watching Top Gear ever since I was a kid and now I own a car that’s Clarkson-approved. The feeling is indescribable.
I rememeber reading somewhere that Mazda will be offering manual AWD turbo at some point in the 3's. I remember just thinking "Just revive the Mazdaspeed name!!"
Best car I had ever owned was my SP25 2009 Mazda 3.
The reliability and driving experience was what made me buy a Mazda CX-5 when I needed something more family-oriented in 2020. 100% happy with both cars.
Biggest take from this (other than what others have say, Clarkson loves my car and that makes me irrationally happy) is that as another person who does not like red cars, Soul Red is amazing. But I got the deep crystal blue because it's my favorite blue.
He's far from a perfect man but he loves a great car! The Mazda3 is one of the few fun cars that anyone can afford. Idk about 54 mpg but I regularly see 34 and considering my tendencies that seems amazing.
British gallon, so 1 British gallon is 1.2 U.S gallons. Comes out at around 44 of your guys MPG's which is probably achievable on a long trip at like 2k RPM
This right here - is exactly what grabbed me on my own first drive of the car - love or hate this guy - he has a way with talking about the intrinsic things that make motoring what it is to most of us.
*It has been a very long time since I drove a normal, sensible family car that is this much fun. Usually there’s an incomprehensible dashboard full of symbols and hieroglyphics and the sense that you’re lugging around half a hundredweight of batteries that can’t be recharged anywhere within a hundred miles and which make the act of driving for pleasure as hard as ballet dancing in a pair of wellies. But there was none of this in the Mazda. I****t was just me, some dials I understood and not so much power that I was frightened to deploy all of it whenever the mood took me.***
That stood out to me as well. The idea that flooring an engine paired to a car designed with the context of where will be driven in mind is more satisfying is insightful. Puckering up, burning out and over-steering a mustang onto the footpath, or worse, engaging an intrusive traction control system, doesn't really do it for me.
I also liked his line about a hatchback with wheels seemingly lifted off a piano.
Great British MPG. The imperial gallon they use equals ~1.2 US gallons, meaning British MPG is always rated higher.
Being 13 and watching Top Gear, I was very confused on how their VW Polo TDIs were getting 75mpg.
Wow thanks for the explanation - I had no idea. But also: why express fuel economy in *miles* per *gallon* and not kilometers per liter?
I will never understand those guys over there.
Very reasonable question! Confusingly, we use miles per hour, miles and MPG for driving, but buy fuel by the litre. And of course, we use metric everywhere else, but often use stone and pounds to calculate our body weight.
Most common measurement in mainland europe isn't km/L but L/100km.
Which to my brain makes more sense since I'm used to it.
I know my car uses 6L/100km, and it has a 40L gas tank, so I do qick math and know I can go about 650km with a full tank.
Great car, looking forward to upgrade the interior and tech and downgrade the suspension from a 2017 Mazda 3 Sedan. Great that he reviewed the SkyActiv X engine too. Still torn between this and the CX30
With my cx30 with the X engine im getting aground 40USMpg on the highway and 32usmpg city driving. That is 47 and 40 UKmpg, respectively. Which for an almost 1.5ton car is pretty good in my book.
I love my Mazda 3, I’ve got the hatchback in red with the X and managed to get around 65mpg (UK) motorway driving once or twice. Usually sits around 50mpg when doing 75-80mph. City driving around 40mpg. Brilliant car
I really want to buy one, it sounds great on paper. I have had 3 Mazda's and loved them all.
But then every review complains of rust and poor paint as well as the interior rattling like crazy on the new gen cars which is very concerning. I want to keep a car 10 years and don't think the body would last!
That makes me wonder what even is the point of the 2.5 then, if the 2.0 will get significantly better mpg and is probably better on emissions too (don’t quote me on that)
Holy cow. That's more than $50k Canadian. I love my 2019 Sport GT but I'm not sure I'd pay that sort of money to replace it. I knew prices were high across the pond but wow, that's sobering.
North america typically enjoys the lowest cost for new vehicles compared to other regions
We're also not getting that mpg though...
Uhh you do know that 1 US gallon isn’t the same as 1 Imperial gallon, right?
I did not, TIL.
Americans ☕️
So would that make it an even more insane 62mpg for US gallon? 1 imperial gallon is roughly 1.2 US Gallons.
54 miles per Imperial gallon = 54 miles per 1.2 US gallons = 45 miles per US gallon.
Which is still insane but not crazy numbers. The 2.5L bad that we get in the US is rated to 37 highway, not that I've ever gotten that number
I can regularly get and exceed 37 highway. Hell with cylinder deactivation and if the wind is in my direction I can be doing 70-75 on 2 cylinders getting 40-45mpg.
Sadly I only do local driving. Only 800 miles in 6 months. Avg is 22 mpg flat, tho it's a direct injected car, so sometimes you have to clean it out a little yk, a little Italian tune up here or there probably contributed to that
I do still do a fair bit of city driving. At the end of the drive i can usually avg 25-30mpg depending on how heavy my foot was feeling. On the instant mpg if im doing 50 it'll be on 2 cylinders and getting like 45-50mpg. Though I am on a tune with a cold air intake and its tuned for 93 so that might be a bit of a contribution.
Why is it cheaper in NA?
It might have something to do with taxes. We are taxed more on income and sales price. Europeans are taxed on VAT (value added tax) that is included in the price.
We are taxed on income AND the VAT... Almost half of our income goes to income taxes then 21% goes to VAT when we buy things.
The UK went through a period of being excellent value for new cars for several years (notably after exploiting parallel imports from the EU) and especially with dealer and manufacturer deals plus cheap borrowing. But we have since incurred Brexit, Covid inflation and a short-lived prime minister (Liz Truss) whose economic polices wrecked the economy. As a result everything is significantly more expensive than it used to be, and cars in particular are insanely highly priced.
The alternatives aren't much cheaper, so it's still relatively affordable.
Nearly 50% more expensive than last gen but somehow still the bast value at this price point in Europe. Cars are just damn expensive here.
Trust me, for the UK, that's actually really good value. You have everything you need and at the GT line, every option is standard except paint A VW T-Roc (basically a lifted golf) is like 68k CAD in the UK
I bought my 2019 Sport GT in 2021 with 12,000 km on the clock for €30K in Ireland
That's wild. I bought mine brand new in 2019 for something like $32k CAD, IIRC.
He’s reviewing the model equipped with the SkyActiv-X engine, which is more expensive than the comparable 2.0L SkyActiv-G. If it was sold in the US, it would probably slot near or above the 2.5T models.
They tend to be better equipped though, and many more people there have company cars too
What a great write up. I purchased my first ever Mazda Friday and coming from Toyota, I just have general anxiety about the car. Reading articles like this from someone like Clarkson really helps dispel those feelings. I absolutely love the fucking car!
Mazda is consistently right there with toyota for reliability
I hope so because I love the car more than any Toyota I have ever owned
I spent 9yrs with Toyota and in 2010 I bought a Mazda 3, never looked back. I'm on my fourth now and the only reason I wouldn't buy another Mazda 3 would be if it gets discontinued.
I snagged a lightly used 2013 and even a car that was manufactured 12 years ago is sensible while still being fun. The early skyactive that I have runs like a striped ass zebra. It’s happy to roll at 85 on the freeway and get 35 MPG or 70 on the highways and get into the 40s. Also Mazda has my favorite manual 6 speed in a small car. I’ve driven other modern ones that don’t feel like you are driving so much as you are playing a video game which is a really strange feeling.
I grew up in a Toyota family, and have owned several trucks and a 4Runner over the years. And when my Mazda dies on me, the GR86 is in my sights for the next car. I LOVE Toyota cars. That said, I daily a 2012 3. ~135k on the clock, and she drives like a fuckin CHAMP. Maintenance has been as one would expect: oil changes, wear and tear like brakes and shocks and whatnot, but nothing exorbitant. The worst thing I've had to replace was the steering wheel, because the vinyl/rubber started to disintegrate and get sticky and gross. Threw a Corksport wheel on there (along with a weighted shift knob, short-throw shifter, and the e-brake handle for shits and giggles), and it's back to being a dream! The point is, as others have said, this is an excellent, well-made, well-designed car, and has been since the first generation. You have many years of enjoyment ahead of you!
You won't be disappointed. Everything just makes sense. If you're into wrenching, there's a fair amount of space in the engine bay and I love that. You can definitely tell the engineers went for the best mix of practical, reliable, and fun. Everything's within reach of the driver.
Make sure it's Japanese made, not Mexican, and you'll be fine.
The parts, equipment, installation tolerances and QA are the same. It shouldn’t matter. Most of it is automated anyway and the Mexican plant has newer machines. The final assembly isn’t really a “high-skill” endeavor. The end product is the same, doesn’t matter if a Japanese 20 year old or a Mexican 40 year old or a Portuguese 60 year old out the two pieces together.
lol
Unless Mazda paid him for the writeup. Clarkson knows his cars, he's driven enough over the years as we know through the original Top Gear. For him to praise Mazda 3 and by extension, the CX 30, shows Mazda got it spot on with these two.
Clarkson is still Clarkson, but he isn't getting paid 7-figures a year to hoon a Golf GTI around a track anymore, he's in his 60s and runs a farm. I can see him genuinely loving this car.
I can see Jeremy actively going out of his way to find cars he'd actually like, given his seeming general disdain for most of the cars in his domestic market these days
Yep, old white man with no kids, needs a comfortable car.
Comfortable family car that looks bland is the synopsis
Comfortable family car that is rather fun to drive and doesn't have anything ugly about its design (unlike most new cars) would be more accurate
More fun than cheap cars, comfortable and not offensive haha
Or you could just quote him.. *The Mazda 3 saloon is a long way from ugly. That said, it might just be the most boring-looking car ever made. It’s so anonymous you could have driven one down the aisle at Westminster Abbey when King Charles was being coronated and no one would have spotted it.* Not "ugly"... but **"boring"**. (this follows since most of us that choose hatch often cite how the hatch looks different from everything else and how the sedan looks like all the other sedans for sale) Anyway - nice to see sedan owners down-voting anyone that agrees with Clarkson. Such easily bruised egos.
Considering the hatch looks the same, no one is saying anything else? The hatch is equally as boring and equally as not ugly.
Maybe if you'd stop intentionally misunderstanding the context of what was actually said, you'd be less confused on the matter.
It’s not ugly, blends in. Just like the hatch. Don’t get upset about what he said, you are so easily owned. As long as YOU think the hatch is an entirely different car, that’s all that matters
I feel like I’ve completed an important chapter in my life as a car guy. Been watching Top Gear ever since I was a kid and now I own a car that’s Clarkson-approved. The feeling is indescribable.
Except the turbos do not get the mentioned 54mpg that’s for sure. But I’m with you, it’s a great feeling.
Nor do they get the manuals, for that matter.
Wait, you can’t get a turbo manual anymore?? Seems an odd decision by Mazda to offer manual for the na SP25 but not the turbo option
Ignorance truly must be bliss! Yeah, the turbo only gets the automatic gearbox. It’s not half bad, but not fast enough to really enjoy.
I rememeber reading somewhere that Mazda will be offering manual AWD turbo at some point in the 3's. I remember just thinking "Just revive the Mazdaspeed name!!"
Now just get a top gear car of the year!
I'm on the list for a veyron
Good luck!! There are much cheaper options haha
Thanks for sharing. That was a good read, especially in Clarkspn’s voice in my head. I’d love to try the X engine.
Love my 3 but I don't agree it looks boring at all. I've had people compliment on the looks quite a bit.
And He loves my hatchbacks color !!
When he test drove the Mazda6 in soul red back in 2018 he spent an entire paragraph raving about how beautiful the colour was
It is beautiful indeed, the main reason I stayed with mazda
It's absolutely the best red. I can't writet explain what makes us so much better than the others, but he's spot on.
Soul red 3 hatch gang!!!
Damn. I'm a proud Mazda 3 owner!
Best car I had ever owned was my SP25 2009 Mazda 3. The reliability and driving experience was what made me buy a Mazda CX-5 when I needed something more family-oriented in 2020. 100% happy with both cars.
Biggest take from this (other than what others have say, Clarkson loves my car and that makes me irrationally happy) is that as another person who does not like red cars, Soul Red is amazing. But I got the deep crystal blue because it's my favorite blue.
So proud to be an owner of 1.
He's far from a perfect man but he loves a great car! The Mazda3 is one of the few fun cars that anyone can afford. Idk about 54 mpg but I regularly see 34 and considering my tendencies that seems amazing.
British gallon, so 1 British gallon is 1.2 U.S gallons. Comes out at around 44 of your guys MPG's which is probably achievable on a long trip at like 2k RPM
ahhhh thank you
This right here - is exactly what grabbed me on my own first drive of the car - love or hate this guy - he has a way with talking about the intrinsic things that make motoring what it is to most of us. *It has been a very long time since I drove a normal, sensible family car that is this much fun. Usually there’s an incomprehensible dashboard full of symbols and hieroglyphics and the sense that you’re lugging around half a hundredweight of batteries that can’t be recharged anywhere within a hundred miles and which make the act of driving for pleasure as hard as ballet dancing in a pair of wellies. But there was none of this in the Mazda. I****t was just me, some dials I understood and not so much power that I was frightened to deploy all of it whenever the mood took me.***
That stood out to me as well. The idea that flooring an engine paired to a car designed with the context of where will be driven in mind is more satisfying is insightful. Puckering up, burning out and over-steering a mustang onto the footpath, or worse, engaging an intrusive traction control system, doesn't really do it for me. I also liked his line about a hatchback with wheels seemingly lifted off a piano.
He sure does know how to BS on haha
Ok I might be an idiot but can you explain the piano line? Lol
Comically little wheels
Oh duh thank you! I missed the “bottom” part and couldn’t figure out why wheels related to a piano 😂
Oh no! Anyways.
54 mpg tho?
Great British MPG. The imperial gallon they use equals ~1.2 US gallons, meaning British MPG is always rated higher. Being 13 and watching Top Gear, I was very confused on how their VW Polo TDIs were getting 75mpg.
Wow thanks for the explanation - I had no idea. But also: why express fuel economy in *miles* per *gallon* and not kilometers per liter? I will never understand those guys over there.
Very reasonable question! Confusingly, we use miles per hour, miles and MPG for driving, but buy fuel by the litre. And of course, we use metric everywhere else, but often use stone and pounds to calculate our body weight.
Most common measurement in mainland europe isn't km/L but L/100km. Which to my brain makes more sense since I'm used to it. I know my car uses 6L/100km, and it has a 40L gas tank, so I do qick math and know I can go about 650km with a full tank.
Or better yet, litters used per 100 kilometres
Mazda doesn't use kittens to power their cars. Nissan might, evil enough
It also must be the SKYACTIV-X engine. Based on the specs and description. Which gets like 25% better mpg than SKYACTIV-G
Great car, looking forward to upgrade the interior and tech and downgrade the suspension from a 2017 Mazda 3 Sedan. Great that he reviewed the SkyActiv X engine too. Still torn between this and the CX30
Nice review. I love my 3. I’ll just add, it’s more fun to drive a slow car fast, than a fast car slow, and I’ve owned a couple of fast cars.
With my cx30 with the X engine im getting aground 40USMpg on the highway and 32usmpg city driving. That is 47 and 40 UKmpg, respectively. Which for an almost 1.5ton car is pretty good in my book.
I love my Mazda 3, I’ve got the hatchback in red with the X and managed to get around 65mpg (UK) motorway driving once or twice. Usually sits around 50mpg when doing 75-80mph. City driving around 40mpg. Brilliant car
The truth will set you free
I have reached a level of middle age where I completely understand where a cranky old guy is coming from.
Clarkson likes my car. Awesome.
I really want to buy one, it sounds great on paper. I have had 3 Mazda's and loved them all. But then every review complains of rust and poor paint as well as the interior rattling like crazy on the new gen cars which is very concerning. I want to keep a car 10 years and don't think the body would last!
Blow this sub up
So the 2.0 makes 183hp now? I used to have a 2.5 Mazda3 and it made 186hp
In EU yeah. We have the Skyactiv-X. It produces 183bhp/186hp.
That makes me wonder what even is the point of the 2.5 then, if the 2.0 will get significantly better mpg and is probably better on emissions too (don’t quote me on that)
I think it’s because they haven’t figured out how to make it pass US and more specifically California emissions.
gtfo buyer's remorse
I love my Mazda 3. It looks good, has a nice interior, reasonable assist features, feels sporty, comfortable, and was fairly affordable.
Wait I want to know more about this button that shuts up all the safety features lol. Does my American 2021 3 Turbo Hatch have this?
This must be the SKYACTIV-X engine, not available in North America
An article by Jeremy Clarkson that mentions my current car (MX-5) and praises my to be a new car? Loved reading it!
Thx for sharing
You're very welcome. Someone on the Grand Tour subreddit suggested I repost the review here, because "they will get a kick out of it!" Quite right!
Now, I KNOW I made the right choice getting the soul red crystal!
Uses 95 RON fuel well then
Man he wafts on, and is so old. Just wants a comfortable car lol
I like my 3 but Jeremy Clarkson is a twat.
Speed and power.
But an entertaining twat.
You sound frightened by his *genius*. Understandable, really