The 2013 Mazda 3 Sport is Mazda’s compact car offering aggressive exterior design cues, a nice interior finish and fun to drive performance, all for a respectable entry level price. With the integration of Mazda’s new Skyactiv technology in the engine and transmission, the 2013 Mazda 3 Sport outputs more power while attaining a better gas consumption.
ENGINE AND DRIVE
The 2013 Mazda 3 Sport we drove, came equipped with the 2.0 L Skyactiv 4 cylinder engine outputting 155 horsepower. The consumption for this eco friendly engine is listed as 7.7 L/100km in the city and 5.0 L/100km on the highway. Having driven the 2013 Mazda 3 Sport a total of 520kms I attained a combined city and highway mileage of 7.3 L/100km.
When sitting at idle, you can barely tell the engine is on as it was dead quiet and vibration-less. However, when driving around at speeds above 50 km/hr you can definitely hear the engine from within the cabin, making conversation for passengers a bit more difficult.
Although the new Skyactiv engine outputs more power for less fuel consumption, we still felt that the 2013 Mazda 3 lacks the accelerating power to make it a truly exhilarating driving experience.
INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR
I liked the look of the aggressive exterior styling for the 2013 Mazda 3 Sport which I think can be attributed to the large and wide front grille, the aftermarket-like front and side skirting, the rear spoiler and the bright bluish white headlights. The interior follows the same design cues with clean lines on the black dash and silver highlights.
Although the 2013 Mazda 3 Sport offers a simple and functional interior, it is lacking a few important basics. The adjustable center armrest is a nice feature for the driver and adds to the overall comfort of longer drives. I would have liked to see larger and more numerous areas for storage on the center console.
The simple and functional interior dash is a refreshing change from the standard plethora of buttons seen on the dashes of most cars these days. Also, 2013 Mazda 3 provides some classy night time lighting using white light for the gauges, an orange glow for the buttons and blue LED accent lighting.
The interior of the 2013 Mazda 3 is spacious enough for a compact car offering enough of leg and head room for front passengers but slightly less than average room for the rear passengers.
CONCLUSIONS
The 2013 Mazda 3 offers a great entry level price point of $15,995, when you consider the quality of build you are getting along with the reliability and efficiency proven over the years. The model we drove came in at $24,590 and offered a little more refinement and slight improvement on performance. I would recommend going with a price point somewhere in between to get the basic conveniences but not overdo it with the luxury features as this is after all an entry level compact car.
