SA Road Tests

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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. I drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under real-world South African conditions. Most, but not all, the vehicles driven are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you get where you live.

My most recent drive is on the home page. Archived reviews and opinion pieces are in the active menu down the left side. Hover your cursor over a heading or manufacturer's name and follow the drop-down.


We drive the 2015 Mazda3, 2.0 Astina sedan

Sports a few quirks

Posted: 23 March 2015

The cheat sheet
Price: R326 300
Engine: 1998 cc, DOHC, 16-valve, four-cylinder petrol
Power: 121 kW at 6000 rpm
Torque: 210 Nm at 4000 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 10.4 seconds
Maximum speed: 195 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 7.7 l/100 km
Tank: 51 litres
Boot: 408 litres
Warranty: 3 years/unlimited mileage; with roadside assistance
Service plan: 3 years/unlimited; at 15 000 km intervals

Let’s cover some highlights:
It’s called Mazda3 across most of the world but Axela in its home country. Since 2012 it has been built on Mazda’s own SkyActiv chassis rather than the Ford C1 platform it used previously. This goes with the KODO design language and SkyActiv engines, bodies and gearboxes.

After fitting a broader range of engines in days gone by, SA versions have settled on two petrol motors displacing 1600- and 2000 cc. These plus five levels of trim and two gearboxes cover seven models; duplicated as sedan and hatchback versions at like-for-like prices to provide a total of 14 choices. It is Mazda SA’s top selling range, averaging about 200 units monthly. One wonders about diluting such small volume over that many choices, but I’m not in Marketing.

It won both Car of the Year and National Business Review’s Supreme COTY awards in New Zealand last year and carried off the Scottish Family Car of the Year trophy for 2014 as well. SA’s Car magazine, unrelated to the English publication, pitted the hatchback version of our Astina test car in a head-to-head shootout against a Golf 1400 turbo for the title of Top Hatch. Despite coming close, the Mazda finally had to cry “uncle”.

As suggested by the fact that Car bothered to do the test in the first place, and its awards history, the Three deserves to sell more robustly than it does but South Africans are, generally, conservative and fiercely marque-faithful. The average family- or business person would find the Astina sporty in spirit, performance and handling; acceptably fitted and finished; decently spacious with a usable boot and very well equipped for the price. It even sports a few quirks to lift it beyond the sameness suffered by many of its contemporaries.

These include the stop-start button hidden behind the lighting and indicator switch, a big analogue rev counter accompanied by a tiny digital speed readout, the Mercedes-style seven-inch touch screen that looks like an iPad, and the fact that the only way to adjust the heads-up screen is via the central menu where it’s called an active driving display (Home – Settings – AD Disp). For a family and business car with potentially more than one driver, that could be a source of irritation. Or it could be just left switched off.

Equipment includes the expected six airbags, fog lights, automatic headlamps, alloy wheels, powered windows and folding mirrors, auto-dimming interior rearview, keyless entry and starting, ABS brakes (discs all around) with EBD and EBA, dynamic stability- and traction control, hill start assist, rain sensing wipers, leather upholstery, radio with CD and sockets, sunroof and an onboard computer.

Extra kit to distinguish it from the preceding “Individual” trim level includes dual zone climate control, cruise control, the above mentioned active display, electrical adjustment with unpowered lumbar support on the driver’s chair, the analogue tacho rather than digital, SD-card satnav, a nine-speaker Bose sound system, blind spot monitoring, 18” alloys and a reversing camera. These add R26 700 to the price and the only transmission option is automatic.

Although Mazda punts this six-speeder as combining all the best features of torque converter, CVT and twin-clutch, it’s safest to simply call it a competent, electronically controlled, torque converter ‘box. Because that’s what it is. Noticeably better than most CVTs but not as intuitive as a twin-clutch, it shifts up and down almost imperceptibly, holds gears when it detects that you would like it to, does not scream or flare and generally gets on with the job it’s designed to do. Override is by means of the shift lever; no paddles.

On the road it has more than enough power for its design brief, accelerates nicely, is comfortable, maintains cruising speed up most hills, brakes reassuringly and handles well. It’s not quite an Audi or BMW but it does its job competently. And all the kit you need is included in the base price.

Test car from Mazda SA press fleet

Catch the 2017 update here

 

What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material. If I ever place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with that vehicle at least once already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.

Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. As quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so they can see I do actually exist.

Comments?
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