I don't want to beat a dead horse, but I just want to put in my 2 cents. Being a Mazda loyalist, I can honestly say I didn't like the car from the beginning and the grill just made it even worse for me to look at. I don't agree with the interior layout, it just seems like it's too busy. Maybe if they consolidated everything in the center of the dash like the other Mazda vehicles with a touch screen like the new 6, 5, CX-7, and CX-9, that would've solved the small nav irritation everyone is having including myself. Why do for all the others and not one? I dont think the cost would've gone up much more than a fully loaded 3 is right now, but that's my opinion.
My only two gripes are the grill and busy interior. Other than that, it's starting to grow on me. Granted I would never buy one, but if I was in the market for a new car, I'd get the sedan. I think it's an awesome car and I'll congradulate anyone for buying one, but I don't feel it's any better than the outgoing model. Just different and has more options than it's predecessor. Either way, I like my MS3 more.
As said earlier, there's always people who will take to new designs and others won't. I applaud Mazda for trying something different, it's just not something I want. This was apparent on this forum when the 3 replaced the Protege. Everyone argued about the design, some liked it and some didn't. I didn't like it at first, it grew on me, bought a MS3, got rid of the Protege.
Here's some chopped pics of a sedan I found, which makes me like it even more. The grill is a little easier to look at, but the grin is still there. He also did one of the interior with a touchscreen from the new 6. Looks way better. He even did a MS3 sedan version. Sorry for jacking your thread
Rockin03mp5 and flooding it with all these pics, I just found this subject interesting to talk about.