Okay, let’s talk about that 323. Do you remember what the last edition looked like without searching? One tip: Fastbreak. The chance that you can still vividly remember the first Mazda 3 is considerably greater than that of its predecessor. The new name, modeled on the 626 successor Mazda 6 that came a year earlier, really meant a lot of news here. The 3 looked and felt much more modern in everything than the 323. In fact, to this day, such an original 3 is a fairly modern-looking car, especially in a nice color. You could optionally further enhance the appearance by choosing the top Active version. This resulted in a unique front and rear bumper, but also a special grille, larger wheels, a roof spoiler, side skirts, xenon headlights and, yes, LED rear lights. In 2003!
As an ‘Active’, the first Mazda 3 looked even thicker than standard. Note the LED taillights!
In the autumn of 2003, the Dutch press was invited for the first time to become acquainted with a Mazda 3. The result clearly shows that it took some time to get used to the newcomer. “In any case, there is a car with its own face. The curves of the body are almost voluptuous, the 3 has a noticeably bulbous nose and, like its bigger brother, it’s the taillights that draw attention. At first glance the 3 looks big. Remember that it will have to compete against the Peugeot 307, the Opel Astra, the Volkswagen Golf and the Ford Focus.”
Wings
That Focus was important, because the Mazda 3 shared its platform with it. You could even say it is the other way around, because this concerns the platform of the second generation Focus. That car only came in 2004, later than the Mazda. The engines were also shared, but are originally from Mazda and are considered extremely reliable. At its introduction, the Mazda 3 was available as a 105 hp 1.6 and as a 2.0 with 150 hp, and we drove both. The 1.6 was already seen as sufficiently powerful, the 2.0 even as downright fast. “With 150 hp, it almost gives the 3 wings, you are really one of the faster road users,” we wrote. It clearly shows how standards have changed in this area, because nowadays we consider a 0-100 time of about 9 seconds to be okay at most.
In addition to the engines, we were also pleased with the driving behavior of the Mazda 3. We characterized the chassis as sturdy, but were praising the good cornering behavior. The steering was also well received, although there were sometimes some noises coming from the steering system. The noise pollution did not stop there: the chassis turned out to be quite noisy. Was there anything else to complain about? Well, the interior was characterized at the time as very dark and very ‘Italian’, partly due to the meters housed in tubes and the round ventilation grilles. Looking back, we think the dashboard is nice and modern, thanks to the almost completely black finish (instead of gray) and the cool, large buttons. Taste changes over the years, so to speak.
Sedan
The sedan (left) had a completely different nose than the hatchback. Note the hood, grille and headlights. This is the facelifted Mazda 3, from after 2006.
We can’t talk about the Mazda 3 without mentioning the 3 sedan. In 2023, this Mazda is one of the last compact mid-sized cars that you can still get as a four-door, and is also one of the few sedans in this segment that is really pleasant to the eye. This has actually remained the case unchanged since 2003. Even the first generation of the Mazda 3 was already available as a sedan, also in the Netherlands, with a harmonious and even quite sporty appearance. The hatchback was and is of course much more popular, but the sedan still generated quite a few orders for Mazda. Scoring in an unexpected way: leave that to Mazda.
2023-10-29 16:19:53
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