2023 Mazda MAZDA3 Reviews, Pricing & Specs

The Mazda3 provides rakish headlights framing a large, menacing grille. It’s offered in sedan and hatchback body styles. While the sedan’s proportions are somewhat conventional, the hatchback is much more daring in its design. The Mazda3 hatchback is one of the cleanest and most forward-thinking car designs today, perhaps excluding some electric vehicles. The rear angles curve up around the rear window and rear doors, making for a futuristic design but, as we’ll learn later, this design also has some shortcomings.

The clean futurism continues into the cabin. The simplicity, combined with the organic way the infotainment system rises out of the dash, makes for a styling clinic from which Tesla designers can take a few lessons.

The Mazda3 has a conventional shifter design, which is a welcome choice in the modern car market. No proprietary shifter design here. Despite the clean cabin design, the climate controls are surprisingly conventional and easy to use. The dash features a nice, big pushbutton start. Finally, the steering wheel has an elegant design, if a bit cluttered with controls.

Trim levels in Canada include the GX, GS, GT, and GT Turbo for both trims, with the availability of manual versus automatic transmission and front-wheel drive (FWD) or all-wheel drive (AWD) varying by trim level and body style. Standard features on the GX include 16-inch alloy wheels, heated front seats, power-adjustable side mirrors with integrated turn signals, pushbutton start, keyless entry, two USB ports, and an 8.8-inch infotainment display that’s operated via a rotary dial and includes Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Moving up to the GS trim adds dual-zone automatic climate control, a leather-wrapped heated steering wheel, and when the Luxury package is selected, synthetic leather upholstery, a power-adjustable driver’s seat with memory, an auto-dimming rearview mirror, and a moonroof.

The GT adds the features from the GS Luxury package plus 18-inch alloy wheels, paddle shifters, a head-up display, navigation, and genuine leather upholstery.

The hatchback body style adds the GT Turbo trim, which includes a more powerful engine. We drove the 2.5 GT Turbo AWD hatchback, the top trim for 2023.

The base engine in the 2023 Mazda3 in Canada is a Skyactiv-G 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine making power specs of 155 horsepower and 150 pound-feet of torque. A 2.5-litre naturally aspirated (non-turbo) inline-four is optional on GS and standard on GT. It makes 191 horsepower and 186 pound-feet of torque. It routes power to the front wheels through a six-speed automatic transmission, and AWD is also available with this powertrain. In Canada, a manual transmission is standard on the GX grades with both body styles, and it’s available in the hatchback on every trim except the turbo, but only with FWD.

Our test model came with the turbocharged 2.5-litre four-cylinder engine, optional on the GT trim. It makes 227 hp and 310 lb-ft of torque using regular fuel or 250 hp and 320 lb-ft with premium fuel. The automatic transmission and i-Activ AWD are standard with this engine.

From the moment you start it up, you’re engaged with this vehicle. The turbo engine emits a fantastic sound. It won’t wow a V8 aficionado, but high-performance four-cylinder engines have been around for long enough. There are more than enough enthusiasts that will be pleased with the sound of this vehicle. It’s just the aural amuse bouche for the main course, which is the Mazda3’s driving experience.

That experience starts with incredibly well-weighted steering. There’s just enough force feedback, and it’s just light enough without tilting toward numbness. And the Mazda3 proves a performance car doesn’t have to have a big, chunky steering wheel (looking at you, BMW M).

Even with the added boost of the turbocharged engine, off-the-line acceleration is just moderately quick. The Mazda3 really shines once it gets into second gear. In Sport mode, the transmission will hold the gear longer, allowing the turbocharger to really do its thing. The transmission also cleverly jumps into lower gears on your behalf in this mode. So while there are paddle shifters and a manual tap mode on the shifter, we seldom needed it. The 300-plus lb-ft of torque means that no matter which gear you’re in, there is plenty of grunt on tap so that the transmission isn’t making too many shifts.

Sport mode also makes the steering feedback a bit more forceful and heavier. The brake feel is a big surprise here—it feels like what you would find in a hardcore sports car. There’s not a ton of pedal travel and it requires your right foot to have a good deal of dexterity, lest you stop short by quickly applying too much force.

But the Mazda3’s calling card is its handling, which strikes the perfect blend of precision and refinement. There is fantastic balance through cornering, and it’s wonderfully agile, yet not punishing. It does all this while soaking up bumps in the road with ease.

Want to know how in-tune Mazda is with performance driving? The tap-shift function for our test car’s automatic transmission was forward to downshift and back to upshift. This might seem counterintuitive at first, but it’s the exact setup used with race-car sequential shifters.

The Mazda3 sedan provides 374 litres of cargo space, which is small compared to other compact sedans like the Honda Civic, Kia Forte, or Nissan Sentra. The hatchback provides 569 litres of cargo space, which is not a ton compared to many new small SUVs, but it’s still usable space.

What’s hardly usable is the rear seating area. There is little to no rear seat legroom when the front seats are set up for taller adults. The sloping roofline cuts into headroom in both the sedan and the hatchback. In practice, these cars are really designed for front-seat use, with back seats to be used in a pinch only.

The front seating area has a decently sized centre console compartment, though the lid is a bit frustrating. The lid also slides, and it will only flip up if the lid slides all the way back. Luckily, the Mazda3 provides helpful ergonomics and sizable cupholders.

The Mazda3 comes standard with an 8.8-inch infotainment display that rises organically out of the dash. It is not a touchscreen, but rather is operated via a dial in the centre console. This is a major weak spot for the Mazda3. There are a number of ways in which the menu navigation is clumsy, and that’s only made more confusing by the fact that you simply can’t press on the screen to select what you want. The dial scrolling is unintuitive and jumping from radio presets to other radio controls is maddeningly confusing. The learning curve for this system is painfully steep.

The worst part is when you try to use the standard Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. There is a Home button along with the dial controller. Pressing the home button should jump you out of Android Auto or Apple CarPlay, but instead, it takes you to the home screen for those programs.

The Mazda3 comes with two USB ports, HD radio, Bluetooth connectivity, and voice control. Our test model came with upgrades such as navigation, satellite radio, and a 12-speaker Bose premium stereo system. The Bose stereo has great sound and looks just as good with its brushed aluminum speaker covers throughout the cabin.

In Canada, the 2023 Mazda3’s standard safety equipment includes blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert, but not much else in the realm of driver assistance. The GS adds a whole host of safety features. These include forward automatic emergency braking, automatic cruise control, pedestrian and cyclist detection, automatic high beams, lane-departure warning, and rain-sensing windshield wipers. The GT grade adds features such as adaptive headlights, traffic-sign recognition, traffic jam assist, and a 360-degree parking camera system.

The traffic-sign recognition feature is helpful and even presents a stop sign in the head-up display. Our test model also featured side mirrors that tilt down when in reverse, which is ideal for avoiding curbs when parallel parking.

The big safety issue with the Mazda3 hatchback is a major element. The C-pillar (the pillar aft of the rear windows) is simply massive, which makes for an equally massive blind spot. This design element is actually dangerous. And not to continue to harp on the infotainment system, but the fact that there is little to no logic to some elements of its layout actually presents a safety issue. There’s no rhyme or reason when cycling through the icons when using Apple CarPlay. This forces you to constantly take your eyes off the road and is an actual distraction and safety issue.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) rates the 2023 Mazda3 as a Top Safety Pick. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) gives the 2023 Mazda3 five stars in its front crash tests and in its rollover test.

Natural Resources Canada fuel economy ratings for the Mazda3 with the base 2.0-litre engine are in the same neighbourhood regardless of body style or whether you select FWD or AWD. Estimates range from 8.4 to 8.7 litres per 100 kilometres in the city, 6.4 to 6.7 on the highway, and 7.6 to 7.8 combined. Figures for the non-turbo 2.5-litre are in a similar range, from 8.6 to 9.0 L/100 km in city driving, 6.4 to 7.0 on the highway, and 7.6 to 8.1 combined. Opt for the turbo and you’ll pay more at the pumps: both the sedan and the hatch average 10.1 L/100 km in city driving, while the sedan does better on the highway at 7.3 versus the hatchback’s 7.5, and the sedan averages 8.8 combined while the hatch averages 8.9 L/100 km combined.

Base MSRP for the 2023 Mazda3 is $21,900 for the sedan and $22,900 for the hatchback. The GS trim level starts at $25,700 sedan/$25,400 hatch, the GT starts at $32,000/$31,700, and the Mazda3 Turbo starts at $36,400/$37,400.

The Mazda Mazda3 is a car of highs and lows. The infotainment interface is not the best and is among the most frustrating on the market today, and the hatchback design creates some seriously unsafe blind spots, but this car is great to drive. In a digital world, it’s impressive that Mazda has been able to dial in such a communicative driving experience. Many modern performance cars think they have to punish the driver with a brutal ride and extra-heavy steering. But the Mazda3 shows you can have a rewarding driving experience that is also refined and comfortable for the daily commute.

The Mazda3 makes you ask yourself how much you care about that driving experience. Is it enough to overlook the poorly implemented technology? If you’re on the fence, the Mazda3’s impressive luxury could push you over into falling in love with this refined and engaging premium compact car.

Note: Images show a US model.