New Mazda 3: first reviews hit
 

These reviews should be music to Mazda's ears. The 2.5l engine in particular, which gets a power bump and torque boost together with much better mileage, is highly praised. Handling is found to be exceptional, and the interior makes the twins look low-rent. Good news for manual lovers: DIY versions will be available for both engines and body types (although not for the 2.5l for the first few months).

Most thorough review seen so far is over at Edmunds.

Mazda, you idiots! Why put the center tachometer only on the automatic and the manual has center speedometer!!! My brother is going to hate that, he was thinking of the 2014 Mazda 3 because of the overall design and really liked the center tach implementation...but it's not available on the manual?!?!. And with the 2.5L motor not having a manual initially available, with an undetermined launch time ...well the Mazda 3 is probably off his list because of those 2 things right there.

i never understood how mazda doesnt run away in the segments form the competition.

I want to test drive one of these. I was really not impressed with the 2013 I drove. Poor interior cabin noise, really busy plastic interior, engine felt sluggish compared to the previous 3 I drove.. The new model looks promising.

Unfortunately, most people don't want a "sporty" zoom-zoom ride.. they just want a "reliable", complient ride from point A to point B. And when people think of "reliable", Mazda isn't the first car to come to mind, no matter what their trend has been the last several years. That's why the corrolla & civic are still the top sellers in this segment.

This one actually looks promising though with no glaring detractors.. all the previous ones always had a few things I hated & couldn't look past, like that stupid front bumper smile for example.

I think that is a big part of it. People keep buying Honda's and Toyota's for resale and reliability. There are also far more Honda, Toyota, Chevy, Ford, etc dealers than Mazda. With Kia and Hyundai making their aggressive moves, that can leave Mazda in a tough spot. I also think Mazda styling in recent years has been, well, rather poor on many of their cars. The previous Speed3 and 3 were just, well, ugly and busy. I would say the same for the RX-8. I liked the car, but the styling, for me, was just too busy. They tried way too hard.

I do like the new 6 and 3 from the pictures, so it looks like Mazda styling has turned a corner. The CX-5 is also a decent looking vehicle.

Looking at some interior photos from the release I think you have that backwards - central speedo for the auto, central tach for the manual. There is no way Mazda would do it the other way, it's too evidently stupid on the face of it.

Look a little closer. The auto has the center tach.

http://media.windingroad.com/autos_d...0x900_q100.jpg

It seems that the tach is also on the center for manual car... Both auto and manual share the same configuration... There is no need to differentiate it. If that actually happen, it would be a pickle for Mazda to make two configurations based on transmission choice.

PS: I also saw another picture with speedo on the center. Maybe this is an option by any chance?

Yes it probably varies with model you choose - I suspect the more powerful 2.5l engined models will get the centre tach.

I really, really want to drive one of these with the 2.5 and the manual. And I can't wait to see what they do with the Mazdaspeed version.

Apparently the 2013 Mazdaspeed3 is the final year for that particular engine. Mazda was rumored to be looking at a replacement but not a turbo gas version.

Obligatory fake MS3 render.
Attachment 46528
http://www.autoblog.com/2013/07/12/n...lly-aspirated/

I heard that rumor a while back on TCL. I'm pretty sure getting rid of boost will absolutely ruin sales of the car.

They totally stole the frs/brz handbrake.