2017 Mazda3: Staying Fresh
Canada’s car sales war is primarily waged in the compact segment. One such automobile has owned the title of the best seller for as long as most of us can remember, the Honda Civic. Never too far behind are the Toyota Corolla and Hyundai’s hero, the Elantra. Rounding out the Top 4 is, and has been for a while, the Mazda3.
The funny thing about the Mazda3 is that auto critics regularly praise it as being the best driving and looking of its segment, but somehow consumers are far more interested in appliances. This may have been true until recently. Honda’s new Civic is, as far as we’re concerned, damn near untouchable now.
Even so, the Mazda3 is and has been an incredibly competent car since it replaced the Protegé almost 15 years ago. The current, third-generation Mazda3 is three years old and has recently been revamped. The changes are subtle to the untrained eye, but its fascia is now a mirror image of the CX-3’s and CX-9’s.
The cabin is updated as well, but the true piece of news is the addition of G-Vectoring Control, designed to sharpen the driving experience. Powertrains are unchanged, but we find no issue with that.
We’ll be heading north of Montreal, to the gorgeous Esterel area, to get a first-hand look and experience Mazda’s updated 3. The stakes are always high for the smaller Japanese brand when it comes to its hyper-popular compact—one false move could be detrimental.
If the recent past has taught us anything about Mazda, it’s that they’re on fire and can literally do no wrong. Check back in a few days for a full review.