Mazda Mazdaspeed3 – 2008 Review: Cheap thrills often produce moral conflict and can literally leave a bad taste in your mouth, but that’s not the case when it comes to the tasty, exciting, and inexpensive Mazdaspeed 3. This is not a “look at me” kind of car. Rather, it is a “look at me go” kind of car. The Mazdaspeed 3 is an absolute delight to drive hard and fast, provides room for four adults when it’s your turn to be the D.D. (designated driver), and converts into a cargo-toting grocery getter with a single-handed flip of the back seats. Thrilling yet practical, the Mazdaspeed 3 is the best kind of cheap date – and you won’t want to kick it out of bed for quaffing an extra quart of oil.
What We Drove Mazda loaned us a Sunlight Silver Mazdaspeed 3 Grand Touring wearing a window sticker of $26,440 including a $635 destination charge and a $1,750 navigation system. That may sound expensive, but you can get your jollies by spending as little as $22,975 on the standard Sport model. Every Mazdaspeed 3 comes with a turbocharged four-cylinder engine, a six-speed manual transmission, 18-inch wheels, automatic climate control, and bolstered sport seats covered in sturdy fabric and black leather. What makes the $24,690 Grand Touring version special is adjustable Xenon headlights, rain-sensing wipers, a 222-watt Bose audio system, and a theft deterrent system. Buying the Grand Touring also provides access to an optional navigation system.
Performance Equipped with the same turbocharged, 2.3-liter direct-injection four-cylinder engine as the larger and heavier Mazdaspeed 6, the Mazdaspeed 3 is detuned by seven horsepower to 263 and puts power to the pavement through the front wheels instead of all four. Despite these seeming buzz-killers, the MS3 surges forward, tires breaking loose on pavement zits, steering wheel tugging from torque steer, and rocketing to 60 mph in 5.8 seconds according to Mazda. Though it launches decently, we had more fun dropping a coupla gears and whooshing past traffic on a tide of torque than tromping on the throttle from a standstill and smoking the front rubber. As an added bonus, our car averaged 22.5 mpg despite the abuse it suffered all week. The shifter is just OK: the car is relatively easy to launch but the gearbox sometimes requires wrangling to get into fifth and sixth gear.
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