2010 Mazdaspeed3: Speed With a Smile

It’s amazing how much one can deduce from what someone chooses to park in their driveway. Although some cars may possess little to no character, there are just as many that can speak volumes of their owner. A classic English sports car usually tells you the owner is fastidious and meticulous (how else does one keep a classic English sports car on the road). A lifted and locked Toyota minitruck or Jeep CJ tells you the owner is someone that values fortitude and things of a robust nature. A lifted Hummer H2, on the other hand, tells you something else entirely about the owner’s fortitude and robustness. So where does all this leave the Mazdaspeed3?

Well, the previous generation Mazdaspeed3 enjoyed a unique and undeniable status as the Q-ship of the hot hatch market. With none of the badge cachet of the GTI or Civic Si and none of the flash of the SRT-4, WRX, or Lancer Ralliart, the old ‘Speed3 was forced to rely on its own merits to succeed. This meant that anyone spotted within a ‘Speed3 could be assumed to be a relatively open-minded driving enthusiast that carefully researched their purchase and put high value in the car’s excellent and unique driving dynamics.

• Also: You’d Better Forget About a New Mazdaspeed3

But that is no longer the case. Bearing the brunt of Mazda’s new Nagare-inspired styling, the new Mazdaspeed3 has grown more than a few of the contrivances found on its competitors. The front fascia, although still wearing the familiar smiley-face grin that made the new Mazda3 so controversial, has been slicked over with a racier grill and heavy sculpting around the fog light areas. There’s also some very nice detailing around the fascia’s bottom as well, including a couple pieces of plastic that subtly hint at a splitter, while a set of ‘Speed3-specific wheels and sideskirts complete the transition from grocery getter to butt kicker. Out back, it would appear that current trend of fitting four-cylinder cars with dual exhaust is indeed infectious, as is Subaru’s love affair with ponderously gigantic wings. But even with that Airbus part number bolted onto the back, it’s the hood that draws the most attention. Very nicely shaped, just as the previous Mazdaspeed3’s was, the new model departs from tradition with the implementation of a hood scoop. Although functional (directing cold air at the top-mounted intercooler in a role not unlike that fulfilled by Subaru’s scoops), it totally changes the car’s visual personality and ensures that any and all onlookers know what it is that they’re staring it.

And that can be a good thing, or that can be a bad thing. Because under that holey hood is the same 263 horsepower, turbocharged, direct injected powerhouse that lay safely hidden away under the previous model’s hood, and when you've got that much horsepower on tap there may come a time when you might want to slink away from the alleged scene of an alleged crime. In fact, in the Mazdaspeed3, times like that might come more often that you’d like, thanks to its propensity for wheelspin. Although torque-limited through the first three gears, there’s still plenty of torque steer to wrestle with. With a relatively large turbocharger pushing all that horsepower, the power comes on like a freight train when the motor hits its stride. It’s a great motor though, and although the power is sometimes surprising, it’s got a lot of character and impresses with both its tractability and performance. The six speed transmission is, just like the engine, a little quirky in its operation thanks to some strange, seemingly made-for-the-EPA gearing, but works just fine once you get used to it. That said, the shifter does feel pretty disconnected and rubbery; a real bummer with the shift gates in such close proximity to one another.

Underneath, the new Mazdaspeed3’s suspension boasts a huge improvement over the old model. Although still more road-racer rigid than the Teutonic composure offered by market’s handling benchmarks (often considered to be the Mini Cooper S and VW GTI), the old snap oversteer issue seems to have gone the way of the dinosaur, replaced by a much more controlled and communicative suspension system that’s far less flippant with the available traction. Almost devoid of understeer, the car is still hyper-sensitive to inputs, and places higher demands upon the driver than other hot hatches; do it wrong in this car, and it quickly turns into a horribly slow understeering mess awkwardly lurching towards the nearest highway divider. Get it right though, and you can effectively channel all that power through the surprisingly wide contact patches with excellent (and expedient) results. Start pushing even harder and the ‘Speed3 really starts to reward with forward progress that’s nothing short of astonishing in its rapidity.

But in daily life, that suspension can be a little firm for some of Canada’s more heavily travelled roads. Darting into the crevasses worn in my decades of heavy truck use and crashing down Vancouver’s potholed alleyways, it’s a ride that isn’t for the faint of heart. Of course, that character is perfectly in line with the powertrain’s civility, too. The clutch take-up can be pretty rough when you rush it, and the transmission’s gearing requires ridiculously low shift points in order to quell bobble-head syndrome from infecting your passengers. But, it does return excellent fuel economy, and it’s nice to have the power and control offered by the various performance goodies the Mazdaspeed3 badge denotes when it comes time to merge in front of a rapidly approaching Kenworth.

Sadly though, there’s no way to sugar coat the effect a few year’s progress has had on the Mazdaspeed3. Initially a real barn-burner offering incredible amounts of practicality, the new model is flashier in every way… much to the dismay of the car’s weaknesses. While the turbocharged powertrain and performance suspension used to simply augment the previous Mazda3’s performance envelope, it looks relatively unpolished and uncivilized when viewed in the context offered up by the 2010 Mazdaspeed3’s very polished and very civilized interior. In the old car, puttering about town on such menial tasks as milk runs felt as natural as did trips to the local autocross, but this new one never feels as comfortable completing the daily chores. Maybe it’s the firmer suspension or maybe it’s that damned hood scoop, but it just doesn’t seem to make sense until you see the boost gauge rise above 10 psi. And that’s a shame, because underneath all those distracting (but shapely) contrivances that adorn the bodywork, and luxurious amenities inside, there really is a great car here.