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2019 Mazda3 AWD First Drive Review | Unconventionally incredible

Here's some quick consumer advice: If you were considering buying one of those "premium" AWD compact sedans like the Audi A3 Quattro or the Mercedes CLA250 4Matic, don't you dare, because the 2019 Mazda3 AWD is a far better car than either. And you can have one for under $25,000. Not only does the little Mazda have an interior far nicer than any of its actual competitors, it also drives better than almost all of them, and it's prettier than any car at this segment has a right to be. (I'm talking about the sedan here, not the Mazda3 Hunchback Hatchback.) In short, if you need all-wheel drive but hate the idea of a wasteful, copycat SUV, or if you want a compact sedan and don't want your friends to think you're in a rental car, buy a new Mazda3. Got it? Good. That was easy. But for those of you who want to know how the Mazda3 AWD became so special, I need to give you some background information. Specifically, I need to tell you about my friend John, because we all have a friend like John, and Mazda is like John. John is a genius. Like, a certified, bona-fide human supercomputer. He understands more about most subjects than experts on those subjects. And he walks straight into a wall three times a day. Mazda and John have a lot in common. You might look at some of the things they do and think they're not paying attention. But if you take the time to dig deeper, you learn that there's amazing stuff going on beneath the surface. For example, you might wonder why the Mazda3 has two fuel gauges, one analog and the other a digital facsimile of that analog gauge, four inches apart. Or you may scratch your head that Mazda finally installed Apple CarPlay and Android Auto functionality, only to get rid of the touchscreen those systems are designed to use. You might wonder why a powertrain designed from stem to stern in the name of efficiency — we're talking cylinder-deactivation on a four-cylinder! — can't match the fuel economy of most of its more traditionally engineered competitors. And then you walk towards this car and momentarily forget all of this. The Mazda3 sedan oozes sex appeal. Open the door, get in, and you'll plunk yourself into a seat that's positioned like it's in a sports car: your hips are low, the steering wheel is squarely in front of you, and your legs aren't bunched against a firewall that's a foot too close.

The redesigned 2019 Mazda3 moves way upscale

Mazda didn't lie — the 2019 Mazda3 is a gently reworked production version of the Kai concept shown at last year's Tokyo Auto Show. In hatchback and sedan forms, you'll still quickly peg this a Mazda3. The dimensions barely change: The wheelbase grows by an inch, but the hatchback width and length carry over, while height decreases by an inch; the sedan is the same width but 3.2 inches longer and 0.7 inches lower. Nevertheless, the look and details have evolved throughout, yielding a much more potent and piercing hatchback, and a more sophisticated, accomplished sedan. Instead of using hard shoulder and swage lines to "draw" contour onto a flat profile, Mazda designed a car with contours that create real shoulders and hips. Shedding the illusion of surface depth for reality redefines the look and presence of the Mazda3. The new model erases the hash of lines and embossed panels in back of the current car so that the S-curved hatch has only its shutline for framing. After that, the highlights enhance the theme. On either side of the larger grille, single-lens headlamps get new accents; instead of a just plain silver bar, streaks of amber turn signals decorate the more dimensional units. The contoured taillamp housing holds highly structured, highly embellished twin circles that probably look even more sinister at night. On the sedan, those naughty taillights are surrounded by a refined rear valance with a more angled, muscular lip along the trailing edge. It's the same inside, a design based on results of Mazda's in-depth studies of human mechanics. The flatter instrument panel stresses clean lines along the horizontal. Trimmer steering wheel spokes with silver buttons line up with the central span across the dash housing the climate control buttons and vents. The new shift panel sits higher and more forward, making it easier for the driver to move a hand from the steering wheel to the lever. To raise perceived luxury, the center tunnel trim is a clear layer laid over a laser-engraved black layer, said to produce a "look of deep transparency," and similar to the effect found on the new BMW X5 and X7. The cupholders are now in front of the shifters, and the armrest is longer. There's no mention of that digital gauge cluster that leaked earlier this year, though. Buyers who opt for fabric will get a new "Greige" hue, a mix of gray and beige. Mazda designed a new leather grain with creases of varying depths and shapes depending on where it's placed.

Mazda CEO says rotary not viable, so don't look for a new one

We have some very sad news to report, rotor-heads fans: Don't expect a new rotary-powered vehicle anytime soon. This comes straight from Masamichi Kogai, the CEO of Mazda, which is the only company to ever market a commercially successful rotary-powered automobile in the world. The issue, as it has pretty much always been, is environmental.
While the Wankel rotary engine does indeed make a lot of power in a small, lightweight package, it does so while burning lots of fuel and emitting lots of noxious gases into the atmosphere, at least when running on gasoline. And that means the rotary engine will likely only ever be able to power niche vehicles. And that, in turn, means that it is very difficult to turn a profit on vehicles with rotary engines, particularly for a small automaker like Mazda.
"It has to be a viable commercial proposition. If we are going to adopt it, it has to be a product that can generate at least sales of 100,000 units a year. We have to be able to achieve a profit," said Kogai in an interview with Automotive News. Mazda sold 56,203 RX-7 models in the United States (the automaker's biggest market) in 1986. Sales of the RX-8 peaked in 2004, its first full year on the market, with just 23,690 units.