Category: Mazda

If you are a fan of the Mazda3, or just like having a sticky beak at the information manufacturers put together for their cars, then you will love this. Click on the image above to view an online digital brochure of the Mazda3 which has been prepared by Mazda UK. It includes pictures, video and information for all the models in the current UK range, including the goes-pretty-damn-fast MPS model.

Normally, I would have thought sharing information like this in the public arena was a bit frowned upon, but the brochure includes a drop down menu encouraging readers to share the link across various forms of social media, so, well, I thought I may as well share it with you guys, too.

The new, smiling, Mazda3 MPS has gone on sale in Australia. Entry level pricing undercuts the old model by a couple of hundred bucks and starts at $39,960. If you want the fancy pants Luxury model you’ll need to cough up an extra $3,330.

For your money you get a racier looking MPS these days, mainly due that stonking big scoop in the bonnet. Although, apart from that, the rest of the body plays an understated Q-car tune.

The tune from the 2.3 litre turbo four cylinder is common to the previous generation. Well, kind of. The specs on paper are virtually the same—190kW at 5500rpm and 380Nm at 3000Nm—but the Mazda propeller heads have fiddled around with a few bits to make it a smoother drive, with less torque steer. These tweaks have also yielded some ever so marginal improvements to fuel economy (9.9l/100km, reduced by 0.1l) and exhaust emissions (235g/km, reduced by 3g/km). Mazda say the MPS can sprint from rest to 100km/h in 6.1 seconds, and if you’re a motoring journo from WA, you’ll probably be willing give the 250km/h top speed a good nudge, too.

The 3 MPS comes standard with a fair bit of kit, including a six speed manual transmission, Dynamic Stability Control, Traction Control System, Anti-lock Braking System, Electronic Brake-force Distribution and Emergency Brake Assist, six airbags and active front head restraints. There’s also an in built sat-nav system, featuring a 4.1″ screen with maps stored away on SD cards. The unit also ties in with the car’s on board computer and Bluetooth phone prep. Dual-zone climate control and a 3-position memory electric front seat complete the major list of goodies on the inside.

Mazda reckon they’ll sell a bit over 800 MPS models a year, with around 60% of those being the Luxury spec. For their extra cash Mazda obliges Luxury owners with bi-xenon headlights (including Adaptive Front-lighting system), auto dimming  rear view mirrors, auto wipers and a 10 speaker Bose stereo. Although, strangley, Luxury owners do lose 32 litres of rear boot space, while gaining an extra 14kg in weight. Presumably this is due to the subwoofer that comes with the Bose stereo.

Like the first generation Mazda3 the new model has been selling extraordinarily well. So, despite the latest Mazda3 MPS lacking some interior refinement next to its German rivals, one can assume Mazda will have no trouble shifting it’s newest and hottest 3 out the door either.

There are plenty of new pics after the jump and if you want to pore over all the marketing guff you can download Mazda’s press doc below:

• New Generation Mazda3 MPS (1.4mb PDF)

Australian pricing and specifications for the all new Mazda3 were released last week. The previous model was a roaring sales success for Mazda, it was the best selling car in the country in January, and one would expect the new 3 to keep Mazda near the top of the charts.

The range at launch is a four-prong lineup consisting of the Neo, Maxx, Maxx Sport and SP25. The hot-hatch hero Mazda3 MPS model will be launched in Australia in the second half of 2009.

Pricing for hatch and sedan models are identical and 6-speed equipped manuals start at $21,990 (Neo); $24,990 (Maxx); $27,690 (Maxx Sport); $30,690 (SP25). A 5-speed Activematic transmission is available for an extra $2060 (Neo and Maxx); $2260 (Maxx Sport and SP25).

Mazda were all too aware of the task at hand when making the new model. Program Manager for New Generation Mazda3, Yoshiyuki Maeda, said, “There was no mistaking the direction we had to take in developing the New Generation Mazda3. We wanted to exceed the expectations of customers all over the world again, just like the original Mazda3 has done.

“To achieve this we wanted to provide drivers with an exhilarating experience that they would sense directly whether they were driving the car, as a passenger or even simply looking at it.”

Which brings me to the exterior looks. After seeing the car at the Melbourne International Motor Show I concluded the car actually looks better in person than in photographs. After going through the images for this piece, I was reminded of this several times. I’ve no doubt the Mazda3 will find many fans of its visual language, however, I’m still to be won over by the somewhat cutesy pie looks. To be fair, it cuts a unique form in its segment, and that is most likely what the customers are looking for.

The Mazda3 is reasonably well specced with Dynamic Stability Control standard across the range, along with other usual acronyms including ABS and EBD, plus more. The press guff tells me that the Mazda3 is more efficient than the old model, but while the fuel consumption and emissions figures from the DOHC four cylinders in the range are respectable enough, they’re nothing too spectacular.

For example, the 6-speed manual 2.0 litre entry level Neo, with 108kW/182Nm, uses 7.9l/100km while emitting CO2 at 187g/km. The 2.5 litre SP25, with 122kW/227Nm, uses 8.6l/100km and emits 204g/km of CO2. Bump all figures up ever so slightly for the Activematic models. In contrast, the recently launched Volkswagen Golf VI, with three different engines available at time of writing, use 6.5l/100km of fuel or less with the highest CO2 emission figure being 150g/km.

A full suite of images and a brief press statement can be viewed after the jump. More detailed specs and pricing can be downloaded in the PDF below:

• Mazda3 pricing & specs (160kb PDF)