Following the release of information for the new Mazda 3 sedan and hatch, come these spy shots of the MPS version in testing around the famed Nürburgring Nordschleife. Mazda’s latest pocket rocket is scheduled for an official reveal at the Geneva Motor Show in early March.
The new Mazda 3 MPS is said to take its 2.3 litre engine from the predecessor, so that means a still stupendous 190kW of power being driven through the front wheels. Although, with a reduction in weight, the car should be even quicker. Presumably the second iteration of Mazda’s hottest of hot hatches will make a better fist of dealing with all that power.
From the pics above the most obvious new exterior feature is the huge WRX-inspired bonnet scoop. One thing is certain, despite the new Mazda 3 looking a bit “happy” in the face, it still looks a damn sight better than Subaru’s latest WRX.
Source: AutoExpress
9 replies on “New Mazda 3 MPS spied at the Nürburging”
I’d be surprised if it’s any lighter as I believe the regular range is heavier than it’s predecessor
If nothing else, the bonnet looks like it will weigh a bit less. 😛
Hopefully it will drive ok because it has been hit with the ugly bomb. The hatch in particular is a devastating full-frontal retinal assault.
I wonder if they will actually end up making it AWD? Given that they have all but dropped any intention of doing another MPS 6 and that they have a fairly long heritage of doing AWD small hot hatches going back to the 80’s, it’d kind of make sense.
Also, I wonder if that bonnet scoop will actually make production given that they went to such efforts to design a hidden one in both the last MPS 3 and the MPS 6 models and used it as a point of difference in their marketing at the time?? From memory, the shape and positioning of the scoop in the pictures would roughly correlate to what it would look like if it was covered by the bonnet.
AWD would be very cool.
I know what you’re saying about the scoop, and it makes sense I suppose, but it was also a bit odd with the first MPS 3 that it had a large top mount intercooler that looked as though it was designed for a scoop anyway.
Looks like the letterbox slot is indeed real and prominent (see today’s press release)
[…] recently being spotted at the Nürburgring, in full auto disguise, Mazda has unwrapped the new pocket rocket to reveal the wild new look. The […]
Indeed, thanks for the tip. 😉
i like the build quality of the Mazda 3 plus it looks very cool too.