2024 Honda Accord Hybrid vs 2024 Mazda MAZDA3

The 2024 Mazda MAZDA3, despite its last redesign in 2019, felt remarkably modern with swooping lines and beautifully scalloped bodywork. Mazda aimed to place this model alongside more luxurious vehicles, which was evident in its aesthetic appeal. The front featured squinting LED headlights with stylish round lighting elements that extended up the front fenders, adding to its dramatic and expensive look. The headlight housings were strategically set under the car's hood lip, enhancing the vehicle’s sophisticated design.

Mazda offered the 3 in both sedan and hatchback body styles with six trim levels each, although the hatchback was deemed the more attractive and practical option due to its increased storage space. Our test car was the 2024 Mazda3 Hatchback with Turbo Premium Plus trim, priced at $38,210. With its Snowflake White Pearl Mica exterior and red leather interior, it presented a high-quality finish comparable to luxury brands like Audi or BMW. The vehicle's interior boasted abundant leather trimmings across the doors and dashboard, wrapped in soft red leather, and featured a delicate black leather steering wheel and shift knob, making the 2024 Mazda3 a beautifully designed and richly furnished car.

The 2024 Honda Accord Hybrid, comparably, offered a clean and technical look with its 2023 redesign that replaced previous sporty styling. Available in Sport, EX-L, Sport-L, and Touring trims ranging from $32,895 to $38,890, the Accord Hybrid boasted a simple but elegant design. The machined-finish 19-inch wheels, especially on the Sport and Touring trims, complemented the car’s aesthetics.

Our tested Honda Accord Hybrid Touring came in a Canyon River Blue metallic paint, matched with a mandatory black leather interior. Despite this limitation, Honda lightened the cabin mood with gray contrast stitching, a gray headliner, and artful mesh trim hiding the dashboard vents. Although the lower cabin plastics appeared shinier than expected for a $40,000 vehicle, the Accord Touring’s “Acura Lite” interior left a strong impression.

The 2024 Mazda MAZDA3 provided two engine options. The standard naturally aspirated 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine on all “S” trims generated 191 horsepower and 186 pound-feet of torque. The Carbon Turbo and Turbo Premium Plus trims featured a turbocharged 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine with 250 horsepower and 320 pound-feet of torque on premium fuel (227 hp and 310 lb-ft on regular fuel). While front-wheel drive (FWD) was standard on lower trims, the upper trims came with all-wheel drive (AWD). Additionally, a six-speed manual transmission was available exclusively on the Hatchback S Premium trim with FWD.

Our Mazda3 Turbo Premium Plus test vehicle delivered an exhilarating driving experience with its turbocharged engine. Rated at 23/31/26 mpg city/highway/combined, the AWD Turbo Mazda3 was exceptionally agile on back roads despite a torsion beam rear suspension, showing almost no body roll and providing precise steering. The Mazda3’s stiffer suspension may have been less comfortable on rough surfaces, but it generally excelled in performance-oriented driving scenarios.

Conversely, the 2024 Honda Accord Hybrid housed Honda’s latest two-motor hybrid powertrain, merging a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine with two electric motors. This setup produced 204 horsepower and 247 lb-ft of torque, offering smooth and zippy city driving and effortless highway cruising. Despite lacking a conventional automatic transmission, the hybrid’s operation felt normal, thanks to simulated gear changes.

The Accord Hybrid, only available with FWD, provided impressive fuel efficiency, with the EX-L trim achieving 48 mpg combined, while the larger-wheeled trims like Sport and Touring rated at 44 mpg combined. During testing, the Touring trim delivered 43.1 mpg. The driving dynamics of the Accord Hybrid were refined, effortlessly blending ride comfort and handling, making it an excellent daily driver.

The 2024 Mazda MAZDA3, while visually striking, was less practical. The hatchback offered 20.1 cubic feet of cargo space, competitive with models like the Subaru Impreza and Toyota Corolla Hatchback but less than the Honda Civic Hatchback. Total cargo space reached 47.1 cubic feet. However, rear passenger space was limited. Rear legroom was cramped for a six-foot adult, and headroom was equally tight. The sedan provided even less cargo space at 13.2 cubic feet and similarly tight rear quarters. Rearward visibility in the hatchback was poor due to its design elements, including the sloped rear window and large C-pillar blind spots.

In contrast, the 2024 Honda Accord Hybrid emphasized comfort and space. Though taller drivers might have wished for more seat adjustment range, the Accord featured a 10-way power-adjustable driver’s seat, with higher trims offering heated front seats and ventilated front seats as well as heated outboard rear seats in the Touring trim. Rear passengers benefited the most, with abundant legroom, headroom, and a supportive seating arrangement. Additionally, the Accord provided 16.7 cubic feet of cargo space, surpassing rivals in its class.

The 2024 Mazda MAZDA3’s technology revolved around its rotary controller interface, which, while safer as per Mazda, could be less intuitive for new users. Most trims retained the 8.8-inch infotainment display, with the top trims upgrading to a 10.25-inch screen. The system included essential features like wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a wireless charging pad, and Mazda Connect services offering Wi-Fi, remote services, and navigation. Despite some limitations, such as touchscreen functionality only when using Apple CarPlay or Android Auto and truncated display text, the system was comprehensive.

The 2024 Honda Accord Hybrid excelled in tech offerings with a standard 10.2-inch digital instrument display and a 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system, featuring wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, Alexa Built-in, and HondaLink services. The Accord Touring added a 12-speaker Bose premium sound system, wireless smartphone charger, and Google Built-in services. Despite some issues with voice recognition, the system was practical and user-friendly, highlighting crucial vehicle statuses clearly.

The 2024 Mazda MAZDA3 earned five stars from the NHTSA and was named a Top Safety Pick+ by the IIHS. Standard safety features included automatic emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, lane-departure warning, lane-keeping assist, and adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go. The Turbo Premium Plus trim added Cruising and Traffic Support for enhanced traffic assistance.

The 2024 Honda Accord Hybrid also received a Top Safety Pick+ rating from the IIHS. Standard Honda Sensing features included automatic high-beam headlights, forward collision warning, automatic emergency braking, lane-departure warning, lane-keeping assist, lane-centering assist, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, and adaptive cruise control with traffic-jam assist. The EX-L trim added parking sensors, while the Touring trim included low-speed automatic braking.

During testing, some Honda Sensing features struggled with bright sunlight, and the traffic-jam assist worked intermittently. The adaptive cruise control allowed gaps that irritated other drivers, and the lane-centering system required frequent steering corrections.