MAZDA SPEED 3 vs competitors

In the November 2006 issue of Automobile Magazine, we featured eight cars that point the way toward a new era of frugal fun. Three of them--the Mazdaspeed 3, the Honda Civic Si, and the Volkswagen GTI--are front-wheel drive compacts available right now on dealer lots. All three offer great value, reasonable fuel economy, versatile space efficiency, and a whole lot of power under the hood.

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kart1 - 10/12/2006 5:36:58 PM

+1 Boost

The Honda experienced the least amount of power loss.

Mazdaspeed 3: Loss of 17.88% hp (Total loss = 47 hp from crank to wheel)
Torque loss of 12.5% (Total loss = 35 lb-ft from crank to wheel)
Honda Civic Si: Loss of 8.63% hp (Total loss = 17 hp from crank to wheel)
Torque loss of 3.56% (Total loss = 5 lb-ft from crank to wheel
VW GTI: Loss of 11% hp (Total loss = 22 hp from crank to wheel)
Torque loss of 6.76% (Total loss = 14 lb-ft from crank to wheel)

The VW was second and Mazda third. Honda definitely has more efficiency - and also it is NA engine.

S4cabriofox - 10/12/2006 8:02:19 PM

+1 Boost

The Si, GTI and Mazdaspeed3 are all easily the best choices in the entry segment, if you can afford an extra $5K worth of fun.

Although the GTI and Si are more efficient, the Mazdaspeed3 also has significantly more power to begin with- it's either 260hp or 270hp, or something in between. Which leads us to see that it's still the most powerful, with the biggest percentage loss.

I'd take the GTI for practicality and the Si for a toy, but the 3 is still a great car.

kart1 - 10/12/2006 11:12:51 PM

+1 Boost

I'd take the Mazdaspeed 3, over the others, as well.

sewingmachine - 10/13/2006 1:52:27 AM

+1 Boost

mazda 3, u get so much for such a good price. xenon lights, lsd, 18 wheels etc... sweet car.

lewissalem - 10/13/2006 3:03:53 PM

+1 Boost

Nice car. However, I have heard that we're not getting very many of them. True?

silverarrow2 - 10/13/2006 8:51:01 PM

+1 Boost

I'll take the Civic over and over again.

Does any of you who pick the Mazda3 base on power have any idea how expensive it can be to maintain a turbo engine? And by the way they don't last as long as normal asp. engines do. Especially on a small displacement engine.

There is no replacement for displacement.

blackdiamond - 2/22/2007 6:51:00 PM

+1 Boost

"Does any of you who pick the Mazda3 base on power have any idea how expensive it can be to maintain a turbo engine? And by the way they don't last as long as normal asp. engines do. Especially on a small displacement engine." - silverarrow2

Hopefully I will be picking up my SPEED 3 in the next couple of days. I test drove an SI and it isn't worth the extra money in my opinion (It is a great car). If you have seen a dyno for it the torque stays in the 130 lb-ft range while the SPEED 3 is 200 lb-ft plus. The acceleration is not even comparable. The SI is quicker than a normal Civic ONLY because it runs at higher RPMs, but I suspect the available torque is about the same (130 range) so the acceleration "feels" the same to the driver.

2JZSoarer - 10/14/2006 8:33:56 PM

+1 Boost

I love Mazda,the Mazdaspeed-3 is very nice looking vehicle!!it's just a shame that a loser company like Ford has to own them.Ford just takes the technology away from Mazda and applies it to some of their junk products!!

njshift - 10/15/2006 4:28:01 PM

+1 Boost

I'm not even a big mazda fan but I would definitely pick the MS3 over the other mentioned cars. I love seeing big hp fwd cars. Mazda really did a great job putting this little beast together.