JOE goes to… Barcelona to check out the all-new Mazda3

Recently, JOE’s resident petrol head Oisín Collins was in Barcelona to test-drive the all-new Mazda3. Here’s a look at how he got on with the car.

Mazda’s all-new Mazda3 is one seriously sexy car and it has been built with the driver in mind – which, in fairness, you’d kind of expect. One of the main points that all the PR heads at the event were adamant about hammering home was Mazda’s idea of Jinba Ittai. Now, I know what you’re thinking… “Jinba wha?” During the press conference at the five star Dolce Sitges located high in the Barcelona mountains, we were told that the idea of Jinba Ittai entails being able to feel ‘at one with the car’. It didn’t make much sense at first but after a quick chat with Mazda’s Deputy Programme Manager, Takeo Moriuchi, the idea of Jinba Ittai became pretty clear.

So here's the new #Mazda3 in all its glory outside the @dolcesitges hotel. pic.twitter.com/WmqbF9nKQB — Oisin Collins (@OisinCollins) September 18, 2013

The all-new Mazda3 doesn’t come with an electronic handbrake, unlike a lot of its competitors, but according to Mr Moriuchi, the reason for a manual handbrake is so the driver can ‘have some fun’. He told us that the engineers and the higher management at Mazda love doing handbrake turns as much as the people who buy their cars and so they decided a manual handbrake was the best way to go. So the driver should be able to ‘feel’ the car in terms of stability & control and allows you to make better driving adjustments if needs be... This is Jinba Ittai. I tested the two Mazda3s that are expected to be big sellers here in Ireland: the 1.5L petrol and the 2.2L diesel in hatchback and saloon versions respectively. Both were superb to drive, but in my opinion the 2.2L diesel was the better car by far. It’s powerful engine ensured an extremely enjoyable ride while fuel economy stayed relatively low at 5.1L/100 km. Mazda says you can get this down to 4.1L/100km with some sensible driving, but we’ll have to take their word on that one… Now, while some people might be put off by the idea of owning a large 2.2L engine, the emissions come in at just 107g/km putting it in Tax Band A3. So it’s not nearly as bad as owning a 2.2L back in the day. The all-new Mazda3 is being labeled as one of the safest Mazda’s on the road, even though the higher spec versions come with some seriously cool techy bits that might otherwise be distracting. In order to keep the driver from spending too much time concentrating on the touch screen display - rather than the road - the all-new Mazda3 features a ‘rotary commander’, or “center console swively bit” as one Irish journalist put it.

The rotary commander is located down beside the handbrake and gearstick, much like in the BMWs, and it makes navigating the touch screen a lot easier while driving. This Mazda3 will also be one of the first cars on the Mazda fleet to feature a heads-up display (depending on spec) and it really makes driving the car that little bit more enjoyable. You’d even be forgiven for thinking you’re flying a fighter jet. The prices for Ireland have yet to be announced (they’ll be released in the first week of October), but you can expect the car to be priced competitively against other cars in the C segment such as the VW Golf, Toyota Auris etc. As for availability, test drives should be available in your nearest Mazda dealer by late November, while the car itself will go on sale, and be ready for delivery, on January 2 next year. All in all at first glance, the new Mazda3 is one seriously cool car and you’ll be getting quite a lot of motor for your money. Oh, and that’s before you factor in Mazda’s stellar reliability record. So there you have it. JOE will have a full review of the car on the site once it lands here in Ireland…