Hello Mazda!
2010 Mazda3 Sport:
The article said Mazda5 will have 7 seating for 2011.
Its oh-so-Japanese exterior notwithstanding, the new Mazda3 Sport is both fun to drive and practical
April 12th 2010, by Jeremy Freed
Initial Thoughts
It’s hard to say when exactly this happened, but in recent years the little Mazda3 has become almost as ubiquitous as those Civics and Corollas that once ruled the roads. With their swooping lines and front and rear fascia borrowed from Hello Kitty, as well as Mazda’s brilliant Zoom-Zoom marketing campaign, the Mazda3 has successfully carved out a niche for itself in the ultra-competitive compact segment. A satisfying blend of sportiness and practicality, the Mazda3 Sport (the five-door hatchback version) appeals to people who want an affordable, dependable automobile, but don’t want something vanilla.
Performance
Mazda made a big splash in the performance compact segment with its fun-to-drive first generation Mazdaspeed3, and it’s good to see elements of that car carried over into this more pedestrian model. While the available 167 horsepower inline four-cylinder in the Mazda3 Sport won’t make your pulse pound, it’s certainly peppy enough for city driving and gives you great fuel economy in return. A 148-hp 2.0-litre comes standard, and while will certainly get you where you’re going (with even better economy). That said, the larger engine is definitely preferable. The car feels remarkably solid on the road and handles well, cornering with very little body roll.
Ergonomics/Comfort/Quality
Everything inside the Mazda3 Sport is simple and functional, with just a hint of Japanese flair (a little too much for me, but it’s mostly subtle enough to let slide). Some of the interior finishes, like the vertical gate on the automatic shifter, look cheap and flimsy, but for the most part things are as they should be for a compact car. The two upper trim models, the GS and GT, come with a host of great standard features, like automatic lights, rain-sensing wipers, keyless entry and Bluetooth.
Functionality/Usability
The cloth seats in the Mazda3 Sport are understated and supportive, and the centre stack is well organized and easy to use - you can even get a sat.-nav. system in the '3' - albeit on a very tiny screen. The rear hatch is a great practical feature for hauling stuff and making runs to Ikea, and the split folding rear seats make the back big enough to throw a bike in without issue. City dwellers will note the turning radius of the Sport is an impressive 5.2 metres, smaller than both the Golf and the Matrix. The front-wheel drive Mazda can be had with a rare-in-this-segment five-speed automatic transmission and will return a respectable 8.7/6.0 L/100km City/Highway for the 2.0-litre and 9.2/6.8 for the 2.5.
Safety tech on the Mazda includes ABS, Electronic Brake Force Distribution (EBD) and Dynamic Stability Control (DSC). It's also the first car in its class in Canada to feature bi-xenon headlights with a pivoting adaptive front lighting system.
Conclusion
The Mazda3 Sport, for the most part, attracts a younger buyer who wants some sportiness with their practicality. A nicely equipped GS model starts at $20,895, making it an excellent value for a dependable, practical car with a little attitude.
http://autos.sympatico.ca/reviews/37...rt-hello-mazda
Mazda5:
Over at the Mazda booth, the curtains rose on an all-new Mazda 5 wagon/minivan.
With seven seats and dual rear sliding doors, it hits the target for family transport, but the styling is a welcome to change to something more dramatic than what we have come to expect in this segment.
Styling cues were taken from the Mazda Nagare concepts shown at various auto shows in recent years. Nagare is a Japanese word meaning flow, denoting how wind and water flow around objects in nature
In Europe the new Mazda5 is offered with a new 2.0-litre gas engine that will emit about 15 percent less CO2 than the mill it replaces. It is also equipped with i-stop, which powers down the engine when the vehicle is stationary, increasing fuel economy and reduces emissions.
The North American version of the Mazda5 should be fitted with the same 2.3-litre four-cylinder engine used in other products and will likely not have the i-stop feature.
http://autos.sympatico.ca/geneva-aut.../3131/mazda5/6
Reply With Quote
I guess this makes sense for the 5 so that it can technically compete with regular minivans....but I don't see how it's gonna be comfortable to fit seven people on a platform designed of the mazda 3?
