Category: Small Family 
Price Range: £11,950 to £19,900
Taut, responsive handling, lively engines, nicely built out of well-fitting components, improved refinement from summer 2006.
Slightly overworked styling, not as roomy as it looks, still doesn't look that inspiring or sporty.
More fun to drive than you'd expect, but not quite an object of desire.
The 3 achieved a reasonable four-star result for overall adult protection and three stars for child protection (though only two for pedestrian-friendliness).
Safety equipment in the Mazda includes dual-stage front airbags, front side airbags and optional curtain airbags. The front seats' backrests are designed to move rearwards in a rear impact to reduce whiplash. The rear seats incorporate top-tether attachments to augment the Isofix child seat mountings.
Automatic headlamps and wipers are available, as are traction control and dynamic stability control.
All versions have remote central locking with deadlocks and an alarm.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Mazda Mazda3
wrote on 16 12 2006