2019 Mazda 3 Hatchback: 6 Month Ownership Report

It’s officially been six months since I purchased my daily driver, a 2019 Mazda 3 hatchback, and its due for my long-term impressions of the car. I’ve done just about every type of driving in the car, from backgrounds carving, to tooling around cities, to long highways trips and overall, the car has been impressive in all of them.

On back roads, the Mazda 3’s focus on driver confidence with some fun built in shows. Although it’s not a fast car, the whole package feels natural as you move through corners. The steering is direct and allows you to use all of the car’s impressive front-end grip. The brake pedal feel is linear, which is a different phenomenon than most cars. It doesn’t take long to get used to however and when driving hard you quickly appreciate its predictability.

On highways the Mazda 3 is relatively smooth and quiet for a car in this segment. It’s no Mercedes S class, but it’s not as tiring to drive long distances as other vehicles I’ve driven. The one demerit I give it is for the lack of upper back and neck support in the seats. This is a problem for me as a larger person in most cars except Volvos.

The main things that attracted me to the Mazda 3 were the quality and versatility. The quality is hands down class-leading in the compact car segment. The interior is well laid out, as everything is where you expect it to be making it easy to drive long distances. My car is a base hatchback, but still includes leatherette seats, a well laid out infotainment system with Apple Carplay, radar cruise control, and a digital gauge cluster. The only fault I give it is the somewhat cramped backseat. However, this is a reality in any compact car. If backseat room had been a large focus of mine, a midsize sedan would have been a better fit.

The quality of this Mazda 3 extends beyond the interior. Under the hood is a familiar 2.5 liter four-cylinder engine producing 186 horsepower and 186 lb-ft of torque. This engine tied to a 6-speed automatic is a carryover from prior generations of Mazda and is known for near bulletproof reliability. The power is solid for a small car and has no problem keeping up with traffic. The powerband is focuses on low end torque so around town the car feels quick, however that makes passing at speed on the highways a bit more work.

The EPA rates my car (an AWD version) at 25 mpg in the city and 31 mpg on the highway. While I’ve found the city rating to be accurate, the highways MPG easily exceeds this without trying. With a 75-80 mph average, I still managed 35 mpg. When chugging along in the right lane at 60 mph, it’s easy to get over 40 mpg.

The hatchback factor has allowed me to move most of my stuff across parts of the country with ease. Maintenance-wise all that’s been needed in an oil change, standard stuff for a new Japanese car.

Overall, the Mazda 3 has served me great. It’s fun when the road gets curvy and serious on long trips. I wouldn’t hesitate to get this car again and looking around there are certainly deals to be had with dealer incentives. Frankly, at any price it’s listed at there is a strong value proposition given all that it offers.