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our test drives or view them all

Mazda3 2.2 D Sport Six-speed

IT’S not often I get the chance to squeeze two tests into one – but last week I managed to spend a few days with two versions of the family hatch market’s hottest propositions.

The new Mazda3 went on sale in mid-May and I got my hands on the potentially best-selling 1.6D and its exciting 2.2D Sport big sister.

According to the managing director of Mazda UK, Jeremy Thomson, great things are expected of the new family holdall – and from what I saw in Caithness last week his hopes are well placed.

"This is a really important car for us," he told me at the model’s UK launch at Ackergill Tower near Wick. "The previous model was a fantastic sales success so we’ve got a lot riding on its replacement."

He confidently expects 12,500 to be sold in its first year – and with Mazda holding the high ground in Scotland with 4 per cent of the market the new arrival seems set fair.

There are 16 hatch models and four saloons in the range. They went on sale on May 18 priced from £13,500 – all significantly improved compared to the outgoing model that sold a staggering 1.9 million models worldwide. A high-performance MPS hot hatch model is due later this year costing £21,500.

It packs incredible value. Despite sharing its floorpan with the Ford Focus the Mazda3 is a lot cheaper model for model and feels far more substantial.

The new car is lighter, sleeker and cleaner than before and blessed with two of the strongest turbodiesels on the market.

I started my few days with the new model driving a modest 1.6D TS2 hatch and piloted it through the north-west Highlands on roads that varied from A9 dual carriageway to the beautiful single tracker through Strathnaver.

The 108bhp 1.6D is a sweet and frugal little unit on this top value £15,760 family machine. I averaged an amazing 59mpg for most of my time and could not get less than 48mpg dodging in and out of Thurso’s narrow streets. It’s incredibly economical, and clean too with emissions of just 119g/km.

But what makes the new longer Mazda3 stand out from the rest is its driver enjoyment, refinement and practicality. At 4.46 metres it’s fairly chunky but dramatic styling masks its bulk and leaves a cabin that is airy, roomy and capable of converting into a load carrier with the rear seats tumbled forward.

In five-seat layout the boot is a useful 340 litre luggage area – but dropping the standard split and fold seats leaves a massive 1360 litres of cargo space with a loading floor that’s sadly not perfectly flat, but is still big and impressive.

On the road the 1.6D accelerates well hitting 62mph in 11 seconds. The car feels agile with great steering. That brisk character is down to careful weight paring. This European designed Mazda3 tips the scales at just 1.26 tonnes – light for a car of its size. But that’s where it gets its economy and lithe feel.

However, it’s not all good news.

Saving up to 15kg in the name of efficiency means there’s less structure to absorb noise and the well-equipped 1.6D TS2 generated a fair amount of decibels from the road surface as it sucked up the B871 south of Bettyhill and cruised easily along the much-improved B836 to Thurso.

The road rush is not a damning feature, just a fact. It takes nothing away from this exceptionally well-built and practical family car that slots into affordable Group 5 insurance and should be easy to run and service. Its clean exhaust means it falls into Tax Band C that costs just £35 a year.

But that noise generation was all the more significant when I picked up a much more powerful Sport model with Mazda’s new 2.2 litre turbodiesel. Why? Because road noise almost disappeared!

You’ll be able to buy this engine in two states of Sport trim tune – a 148bhp output (144g/km) costing £18,440 and the scorching 178bhp version (149g/km) I had in a £19,900 2.2D Sport.

What an engine – and what a car!

If ever an ordinary oil burning hatchback qualifies as a "jack of all trades and master of most" it has to be this astonishing 2.2D Sport. It’s refined, smooth-riding, quick, flexible and so frugal I could hardly believe my own eyes.

As any Highland driver will tell you, motoring on the ups, downs and twists of a typical Sutherland single tracker uses a lot more fuel than the average Scottish trunk road.

But try as I might this 132mph six-speed manual warm hatch would not average less than 39mpg and when I hit the easier sections of the A836 between Lairg and the Dornoch Bridge it rose to a steady 51mpg. The 178bhp model’s emissions drop it into Road Tax Band F and a still affordable annual bill of £125.

Its road refinement is excellent. It was a lot quieter than the 1.6D – something I can only put down to a superb engine, upgraded body sound deadening and – wait for it – Mazda seeing the light and equipping its good-looking 17-inch alloys with sensible 50 section tyres. If only every manufacturer took such a common sense view as Mazda!

There’s a feeling of quality with modernity on this car. The dash is bold with a lot of plastic, but the materials are of a high standard and the instruments and switchgear well-placed and easy to find.

Comfort is helped by well-trimmed seats. The Sport model’s cloth-covered front seats are excellent and provide a wide range of adjustment to get the driver just right.

Rear accommodation is good. Knee room could be better with the front seats well back, but headroom is excellent.

Class-leading levels of safety equipment is common across the range with Mazda’s DSC electronic stability control, ABS braking, traction control and six airbags all standard.

The design of the new Mazda3 is dramatic – some may find its "wide mouthed frog" front end a bit excessive. But the truth is that this is a new car that gets noticed – one step removed from the mass-production anonymity of most.

More significantly the design and build are top quality, the practicality first class, the cabin warm and welcoming and the driving experience superb with great steering feedback. And if diesel is not your "thing" take a look at the trio of smooth petrol engine offerings from 105bhp 1.6 and 148bhp 2.0 to 255bhp 2.3 litre MPS.

Whatever way you take it this is another winner for Mazda and the 2.2D Sport is a real star.

Rating: 8.5/10

FINAL THOUGHT: Mazda is continuing its family hatch roll with the new mid-range Mazda3. It’s a significant improvement on the already impressive previous model and in diesel guise – whether in 1.6D form or with the sporting 2.2D, is a comfortable, well-designed and efficient five-seater with excellent cargo capacity.

Mazda3 2.2 D Sport Six-speed

• Price: £19,900
• Capacity: 2184cc
• Power: 183bhp
• 0-62mph: 8.2 seconds
• Maximum speed: 132mph
• Economy: Combined 50.4mpg
• CO2 emissions: 149g/km
• ESP: Standard
• Insurance: Group 12