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Mazda 3 MPS road test report

MPS

The first Mazda 3 MPS was a pleasant surprise: it was a pretty able hot hatch, just noisy enough to encourage you to rev it just a little more than you knew was strictly necessary. That’s no longer enough, though, since the Ford Focus RS came along and changed the game. So Mazda has launched a new version, with some new technology and all the hot hatch styling cues in the design manual (rear spoilers, side skirts, air intake and twin tailpipes). It’s a look that will suit the kind of driver who wears a baseball cap backwards (even if it’s only metaphorically), but can it do the business on the road?

Road Test Reports Says 3 star rating
A front-facing image of the Mazda 3 MPS

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CRAIG THOMAS SAYS

Performance Performance - 3 stars

Power comes from a slightly tweaked version of the 256bhp turbocharged 2.3-litre, four-cylinder engine from the previous iteration. There’s a lot of power available as you squeeze the throttle and the revs start to rise, at which point you feel a thrust that’s almost brutal. The problem with all this power going through the same wheels being used to change direction is that there’s a tendency for a car to torque steer. Sadly, the MPS is another car (and we’re thinking of Vauxhall Astra VXR here) that succumbs to this phenomenon. Despite having what Mazda calls a torque management control system (which adjusts torque relative to how the driver adds steering inputs) and a front differential that can sense how much torque is being applied, the 3MPS’s steering wheel often decides unilaterally to move the car to the side instead of going straight on. This leads us to conclude that Mazda’s technology isn’t a patch on the RevoKnuckle front suspension found in the Ford Focus RS.

Ride & Handling Ride & Handling - 3 stars

Spend time in the 3MPS and you soon realise that deep down there’s a good car bursting to get out. Unfortunately, as it is currently constituted, it’s not going to emerge any time soon. For example, the steering lacks feedback - not by a huge margin, but just enough to be frustrating. Chuck it into bends and the car feels composed and flat, staying balanced and gripping the road with aplomb: however, pile on a bit too much acceleration and the tyres start spinning and the steering wheel bucks around in your hands disconcertingly. Fortunately, the brakes are effective stoppers and have a reassuring progression to them. The stiffness of the 3MPS’s suspension means that the ride quality suffers badly when driving over any surfaces that are potholed, broken or just generally uneven. As this description fits a good 70% of Britain’s roads, this makes this hot Mazda pretty uncomfortable to drive around in.

Build Quality & Reliability Build Quality & Reliability - 4 stars

Mazda has a very good record for reliability, consistently showing well in customer satisfaction surveys. The most recent JD Power poll has placed the Japanese carmaker in 12th in the league table of (29) manufacturers and most of its models show up in the upper half of the list of the most reliable cars. The company also has a reputation for producing well-built cars, and the Mazda 3 on which the MPS is based is certainly well screwed together. The hot version adds a few bells and whistles, but some of the plastics are still a little brittle for a car that’s meant to be a bit more special than the base model. Again, it falls down in comparison to the Focus RS.

Safety & Security Safety & Security - 4 stars

Euro NCAP has awarded the Mazda 3 (which the MPS is based on) the full five stars in crash tests and, under the new system introduced in 2009, scores of 86% for adult occupant protection, 84% for child occupant, 51% for pedestrian impact and 71% for Safety Assist. These are all good scores, indicating that the 3MPS would react pretty well in the event of a collision. The 3MPS also has more safety equipment fitted as standard than the base model, so there’s the full complement of passive and active safety equipment, including electronic brake assist, four-wheel ABS, dynamic stability control, an adaptive front lighting system with pivoting bi-xenon headlamps, tyre-pressure monitoring system, a rear-vehicle monitoring system that warns the driver before he changes lanes when a car is approaching from the left or right rear, and an emergency stop signal that flashes the hazard lights if the driver suddenly and strongly brakes in traffic.

Space & Practicality Space & Practicality - 4 stars

There’s a decent amount of room in the front and the driving position is very comfortable, thanks to a steering wheel that adjusts for rake and reach, plus a seat that is height-adjustable. The controls are each to reach and a lot of functions can be operated from buttons on the steering wheel. It has a sat nav system, but Mazda’s attitude to satellite navigation has always been puzzling. For years it didn’t offer any kind of sat nav in its cars and, now that it does, the screen is absolutely tiny. For a small family hatch, the Mazda 3 has a decent amount of room in the back, enough for a couple of adults to be able to sit comfortably for a reasonably long journey. Five doors also mean that entry and ext from the back are straightforward. A 340-litre boot is about average for this class of car and 60/40 split rear seats fold to make almost completely flat for an extended load floor and a capacity of 1,360 litres.

Ownership & Value Ownership & Value - 3 stars

The Mazda 3MPS, with a purchase price of £21,960, isn’t a cheap buying proposition. True, there’s a very high level of standard kit fitted (including a 10-speaker Bose stereo, iPod connectivity and Bluetooth), but it’s still pretty pricey. Running costs won’t be cheap, either. That 2.3-litre engine is thirsty, with an official fuel consumption of 29.4mpg, but in the real world of hot hatchery, that’s going to be a lot lower when owners start piling on the revs to get the most out of it. High CO2 emissions of 224g/km also mean that the 3MPS falls into Band K for road tax, costing owners £215 a year. Insurance premiums will be high, too, as the 3MPS falls into Group 17 (or Group 34 in the new 50-group system). And rounding off the bad news, residuals are expected to be low in comparison with other models in the Mazda 3 range and against competitors such as the Focus RS.

Submitted: 16/04/2010 08:45:46

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