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Holy sheep!
How does the Mazda3 fare with long-distance country road driving?
Richard Bush
I’ve lauded the Mazda3 constantly these past five months for its ability to offer fun in a family-friendly package. Packed supermarket trips and lengthy treks up and down the motorway have helped me come to this assessment. But one journey type I hadn’t explored with the Mazda3 was the prolonged country road excursion. A top-to-bottom trip in Wales soon sorted that out.
Liverpool to Swansea is about 4.5 hours, and the vast majority of that time is spent navigating winding country roads, with a few treacherously narrow hamlets thrown in for good measure. Completing most of this trip at night time added an extra level of trickiness. The Mazda3 feels completely at home in the twisty stuff. The steering is responsive, quick and precise, and the snug, wrap-around driving position helps the car shrink around you and feel less intimidating when squeezing between tractors and hedges.
The sharp steering not only makes meandering roads more enjoyable, but it can be essential when dodging potholes, pheasants and sheep – the latter of which
jumped out in front of my car in the pitch black and nearly became a sweater. I genuinely think that I would have hit it if it wasn’t for the quick responsiveness of the Mazda3’s steering.
The fact that the 2.0-litre petrol on-board is naturally aspirated helps when climbing hills too, as it allows you to more accurately dial in power without the bubble of a turbo jolting you forward when you rev it out. Having precise power input on hills is particularly crucial when you’re in slow-moving, country road traffic.
There’s a few other smaller elements that made the trip more leisurely. I’ve mentioned the impressive heated seats before, but honestly, the Mazda3 really does have the warmest, fastest-acting, most consistent toasty bum settings I’ve ever experienced. And with the winter we’ve been having, that’s not to be scoffed at. Even the door bin size and cubby space make the Mazda3 a more habitable long-distance vessel. The door bins fit a massive gym water bottle, the centre console is wide and deep and will fit a variety of snacks, and the two central cupholders sit abreast of each other, so there’s no chance of you and your
“The Mazda3 feels completely at home in the twisty stuff.”
46 | March 2024 |
www.businesscar.co.uk
passenger mixing your drinks up. The large space behind the cup holders is a perfect dumping ground for your phone, keys and wallet too.
The high-beam control of the headlights is also an excellent safety feature, automatically throwing up your full-beam headlights when the road ahead of you is open, and then subsequently dipping them when oncoming traffic is detected. This system detects traffic early too, so there’s no chance of oncoming traffic getting a momentary glare – which cannot be said for some Volvos and Mercedes I’ve driven. And if you ever feel that the auto high- beam is too much, there’s a button on the
Why we’re running it
to see if the humble hatchback is fit for a family of four.
Mazda3 2.0L E-SKYACTIV G 122ps Centre-Line
P11D price £24,780 As tested £25,615 Official consumption 51.4mpg Our average consumption 39.1mpg Mileage 4,096
end of the headlight stork that allows you to toggle it on and off in a flash. One aspect of the Mazda3’s safety tech that I'm not a huge fan of is the lane keep assist. As with many other cars, this feature can feel quite intrusive, beeping away whenever you get anywhere near the lane markings on the road. I find it distracting most of the time – however, when driving in heavy rain, at night, on poorly marked country roads, the Mazda3’s lane keep assist actually made me feel safer and more alert.
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