Certainly looks like a happy car! ... powered by E?
Australia's favourite Mazda increases in size and comes with the option of the 2.5-litre four-cylinder from the mid-size Mazda6. By JEZ SPINKS in Los Angeles.
The world's biggest-selling Mazda has made its public debut in next-generation form at the 2008 Los Angeles motor show.
Pictures of the new Mazda3 were first revealed at the 2008 Sydney motor show, but the Japanese car maker confirmed at the LA show that the small car will be bigger than its predecessor when it goes on sale in 2009.
The second-generation Mazda3 sedan is 115mm longer than the outgoing model that replaced the 323 in 2004. Height increases by 5mm, though width (1755mm) and wheelbase (2640mm) measurements remain unchanged.
New styling gives the Mazda3 sharper, sportier looks, including a revised front end that brings the small car into line with the car maker's corporate face common to most current Mazdas – notably the wider, gaping grille.
The hatchback version of the new 3 will debut at the Bologna motor show in early December.
There's also an all-new interior, though the 3's underpinnings are retained from the outgoing model that will be replaced locally in mid 2009.
Mazda says it has carried over the outgoing model's strut-front, multilink-rear suspension (shared with the Ford Focus) with only subtle tweaks because it already believes the Mazda3's driving dynamics are the benchmark for ride and handling.
Mazda's global design chief, Laurens van den Acker, told Drive at the LA motor show, however, that the new 3 is sufficiently new in every area.
"The new 3 is much more than a top hat [a new body on old underpinnings]," says van den Acker. "There are significant structural improvements even to the [basic structure]."
"The quality of the materials in the new 3 is also a significant step forward over the current model."
Mazda says it has increased the 3's overall rigidity to further improve ride quality and dynamics.
A 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine continues under the bonnet of most Mazda3s, including volume selling ones. There are no changes to power (108kW) or torque (182Nm), though the optional automatic transmission will become a five- rather than four-speeder.
Mazda says the extra ratio improves the US-spec 2.0-litre 3's fuel economy by 10 per cent during freeway driving, though overall efficiency improvements have been limited by the car's size increase.
Mazda Australia says there will be noticeable improvement in fuel efficiency for the new Mazda3 sold locally.
As previously reported, Australia's Mazda3 SP23 will make way for an SP25 model that employs the Mazda6 medium car's 125kW/226Nm 2.5-litre four.
A range-topping MPS version - complete with a turbocharged engine - is yet to be confirmed officially by Mazda, but insiders have already revealed to Drive that the car is in the pipeline.
Mazda has sold 1.8 million Mazda3s in its five years, and it's a car that accounts for a third of the Japanese car maker's total global sales.
Van den Acker summed up the 3's significance in the Mazda empire.
"The 3 to Mazda is like what the F-150 truck is to Ford, the Golf to Volkswagen. It's hugely important."
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