2014 Mazda3 looks as good as it drives (pictures)
The new Mazda3 is an extraordinarily good car, and easily competes with up-market compacts.
Wayne Cunningham
Wayne Cunningham reviews cars and writes about automotive technology for CNET's Roadshow. Prior to the automotive beat, he covered spyware, Web building technologies, and computer hardware. He began covering technology and the Web in 1994 as an editor of The Net magazine.
Mazda completely rebuilt its Mazda3 compact for the 2014 model year.
The Mazda3 can be had as a hatchback or sedan.
The rear window is a thin strip across the back.
Cargo space isn't large, but the rear seats fold down, more than doubling the volume.
Mazda imbues the Mazda3 with organic curves.
This 2.5-liter direct-injection engine produces 184 horsepower.
The Grand Touring model gets power adjustable seats.
Rear seat space is average for a compact.
Mazda doesn't offer options in the Mazda3, instead giving trim lines standard tech.
The single gauge is a tachometer, with speed shown digitally.
The six-speed automatic transmission includes a manual mode.
The head-up display projects on a panel sticking up from the dashboard.
Among the driver assistance features is this rearview camera.
The home screen for Mazda Connect shows icons for major vehicle functions.
The map display includes rendered buildings.
Oddly, Mazda does not integrate live traffic with navigation, instead including this separate traffic map.
You can tether the Mazda3 to a Wi-Fi hot spot for external data services.
The playback screen for USB drives and iOS devices shows album art.
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