Short test drive in Mazda 3 today

[fb88]

At first I drove Mazda 6 on local road because it looked nice, but it drove like a boat. The tiny nav screen is also a down side. 6 also had worse rear visibility -- definitely deleting from consideration.
Then I drove Mazda 3 hatch and it's nimbler and more fun, steering is more springly.

However I noticed it had a kind of bad rumble on the back tires - I am not sure if it's because the engine hasn't been warmed up, but it was bumpier than the 6 for some reason. I did not check the tire psi of the test car.
Also the head up display is a bit low, I have to adjust the angle of my seat so I can see it better. [Thanks LennyR mentions angle is adjustable through menu]

Didn't get time to drive on the highway that's where I read about complains about excess noise? My highway commute is at 75mph-80mph.

 

[LennyR]

You don't need to adjust your seat to position the image in the heads-up display -- you can adjust the angle of the display itself using the settings menu on the dashboard screen.

 

[lowincash]

I think the 6 has a longer wheelbase so that helps gives it a better ride. As for tire noise, they are okay and do roar and drone a bit but after getting rid of the stock Dunlops for some Michelins, the road noise has decreased drastically. Ride is still bumpy but bumps are absorbed a lot better. There's wind noise at highway speeds but it's not something that is bad enough that you can't carry a conversation inside. Honestly, the road noise was not much different than my friend's 3 series tho they have lesser wind noise. It's not that bad in the new 3.

 

[cburrell]

If you think the Mazda 6 drove like a boat, than what would the Camry, Accord or Sonata drive like, a cruise ship?

 

[caf2461]

I drove the mazda6 and the Accord sport back to back. Both with 6 speeds. The 6 I had unsupervised and was able to really test it out on back roads and curves. The Accord had the salesman in the car but that did not stop me from pushing it down the same roads. The 6 had a better ride and shifting. The Accord sport really shocked me as the clear winner in the handling and steering department. The clutch however just did not feel right.

After the test drive I jokingly told the salesman that I need to drive a Camry next and he got all upset and told me "you drive a Camry like that and you would have been in the trees back there!"

Anyway to make a long story short I bought the 3.

 

[Chibana]

All the car mags sure seem to prefer the new Mazda6 over everything else in its class from a steering and handling perspective (and just about everything else).