2025 Mazda3 Manual Transmission Review

Hey everyone it is Mike from AutoGuide and this week we have a rare one. Compact hatchbacks used

to be the go-to choice for commuters. They used to litter college and university campuses everywhere

but now there's just a handful left. Everyone's gone SUV crazy and these five-door cars well

they're rare and making this one even more rare it has a manual transmission. So why have all the

manuals left? Well, it's pretty simple. The vast majority of people, they don't want them and

manufacturers don't really want to make them. So this week I'm going to try to answer a few

questions. First, is the compact hatchback still relevant? Two, does it need a manual

transmission? Is there any point to it? And three, why is Mazda's sole red such an amazing color

It may be hard to believe, but this generation of Mazda 3 is now seven years old. This is probably

its last year, or at least its second last year. It's crazy though, the styling has aged so well

It could probably come out this year and still look completely modern. The sunken headlights and

the recessed grille have always been pretty cool, and things have gotten a little more rounder

but it's nice that Mazda is doing its own thing. And then you have the 18-inch alloy wheels, which

of course are wrapped in winter rubber because it's winter and I apologize for how dirty the car

is. All of our streets here are covered in salt and moving back you can just see the light

glistening off that sole red paint. I really like the taillights. I think it's my favorite part of

this car and always has been. I like that it's real 3D texture and not just some tricks using lights

embedded within the whole assembly and then down below a rarity these days a finished exhaust

poking out on its own. In fact, there's two. Mazda for a while has really been sort of form over

function and the 3 really fits in that category. It is so stylish and looks so cool, especially

compared to most of its competitors on the road, but that leads to a rear seat area that's very

tiny and I'll show you that later and look at the size of this pillar and blind spot in the back

Now before we hit the road let's just go over the interior quickly. This is one of the best

interiors for the money. In fact we call it one of the 10 best surprisingly nice interiors in an

affordable car. That wasn't the exact wording we used but you get the idea. It's very restrained

and very conservative but in a nice classy way. The dash sticks out right in the middle and that's

where a seam is with nice cross stitching that gives a little bit of color and below it is a

simple long rectangle of buttons for the climate control and dials. There's the infotainment system

that protrudes out of the dash and then it's controlled primarily by a series of buttons and

dials down in the middle between the driver and passenger. Now Kyle's commented that this is a

very similar system to a certain German manufacturer and there's nothing wrong with that. It's worked

for them, works for Mazda, but I'm still not a huge fan of the functionality of the infotainment

system. I'm getting better at it and getting more used to it. I do like that if you have Apple CarPlay

connected and you hit the navigation button in between the seats, it goes to your Apple CarPlay

navigation preference or ways for me as opposed to the system built into the car. The belt line's

pretty high and it's kind of exaggerated in the car which some shorter drivers might find is a

little too high. I don't mind it. It gives me the feeling that I'm down in the car like I'm in a

performance car and Mazdas usually are. And I love their steering wheels

They're like the right size and the way they've molded them. It's just the perfect grip and being close to everything

The shifter is right where I want it for my right hand to hit. The only downside with that is the cup holders are right in front

So if you have overly tall or wide cups that stick out I think may get in the way of the shifter but you have to have a very specific kind of cup The exposed metal speakers are nice as is the handle on the glove box It just really is a an upscale feeling interior and it done with minimal bits and pieces Sometimes luxury ends

up being way over the top and Mazda's really hit it good here. Front seat comfort's good. The way

these seats are molded fit me really well. I'm about six feet tall and I still have headroom when

I have the seat at its lowest position. I do have the power seats. Legroom is also really good. Like

I said, the car is more around you than some vehicles, but it also makes you feel more connected

to the car, although a little cramped. So back here, as long as the front seat's at least halfway

up, I have enough legroom. The cushion is a bit low, so I don't really have any thigh support. And

as you can see, I have hardly any headroom at all. And the way this giant pillar is and the way the

roof curls down. It feels very tight and claustrophobic back here. Anyone bigger than a young

teenager probably won't want to spend much time back here. On the plus side though, Mazda has

outfitted the rear area just as well as the front and that's something a lot of manufacturers don't

do. Like even the door tops have soft touch material which is pretty nice. All right enough

about that. Let's get out on the road and see how this manual really performs. I'm going to spend a

week driving and I'll be back with my impressions and my final conclusion in a couple days

There's only one way to get the 6-speed manual in the 2025 Mazda 3, and that's by selecting

the 2.5 S Premium in the US or the Sport GT in Canada

It also only comes with front-wheel drive connected to the naturally aspirated 2.5L 4-cylinder

Now, as much as I'd love it to be available with all-wheel drive and the turbo or the turbo, I get it

Mazda would have to develop an entirely new manual. And as we kind of know in looking at the market, manuals aren't exactly in high demand

So that's not going to give Mazda much return on investment. But it's not like this combination that I have is terrible

I mean, the 2.5 liter four-cylinder still makes 191 horsepower and 186 pound-feet of torque

That's the base engine in the three. That's similar power to a lot of upgraded engines and other compact vehicles, and you get a manual

The 2.5 S Premium, or the Sport GT depending on country, includes features like the 12-speaker Bose audio system

head-up display, rain-sensing wipers, the signature lighting front and rear, and a moonroof

It also has 18-inch wheels that normally come in 215-45R18 all-season tires, but mine, as I've mentioned before, has winter tires

Now, although this is a manual, it still comes with an electronic parking brake, so you're not going to be doing too many handbrake rally corners

The seats are leather. The front driver's seat is power. They're heated up front. The steering wheel is also leather

And there's wireless Apple CarPlay. In the US, the Premium comes with the 8.8-inch infotainment system, but in Canada, the GT gets the larger 10.25-inch system

Of course, there's all the usual active safety systems like blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert, lane departure warning, lane keep assist, radar cruise control, driver attention alert, high beam control, and the rear seat alert

So the manual itself, the throws between gears are actually pretty long. I'm surprised that the distance between each one, but it is so smooth in engagement. In fact, all of the manual mechanisms are so smooth

The uptake point in the clutch is pretty high up in the pedal travel, and it's so smooth with

engagement. Even if you miss by a couple hundred rpm that optimal shift point, the clutch just

smooths it right out. You don't feel sort of that jerkiness or that sudden thud. Now, the flip side

of that is someone who wants a very precise manual for spirited driving might not like this as it

just kind of smooths and numbs out the feeling when changing gears But this isn a sporty special This is a higher compact car that just happens to have a manual

It's no Mazda Speed 3. It's just a Mazda 3 with a sporty side. Leaving from a dead stop requires a good amount of RPMs for the clutch to engage smoothly

It could be prone to stalling. But even if you over-rub the engine a bit when engaging that first gear

again, it kind of smooths it out for you. Now that naturally aspirated engine itself, well, it's unusual for the fact of what I just said, it's naturally aspirated

Nowadays that's rare in pretty much any vehicle. Everything seems to be going turbo, but with this Mazda stuck to a big four-cylinder

and being two and a half liters, that is on the large side, so even if it doesn't have that low down turbo torque, it still does have decent torque

It's just we're getting so used to having that initial brunt real low that it took me a little bit to get used to having to rev out this engine

to really get the power out of it. Now, once you do get it above about 3,000 RPM

it starts to wake up and it pulls this vehicle pretty well because just over 3,000 pounds is tested

and not many compact cars are that late. I mean, the 3 is smaller than a lot of the compacts

so that's part of its advantage, but also not having the turbo geometry

or the all-wheel drive helps save weight and that makes it more spirited than I expect

Now, you're not gonna go drag race, Civic Type R's or anything, but there's more than enough power for everyday driving and even when you want to be a little more

spirited or enthusiastic the power really matches the chassis well kind of like how the miata is now

i'm not saying this is a front-wheel drive miata or anything but it's just mazda's really good at

matching the available power with the chassis so it's never feeling excessively underpowered

and at the same time the power is not overwhelming the chassis the sort of more premium than a regular

compact mission of the Mazda 3 is also reflected in the engine. It's really smooth. There's no

vibration felt through the pedals or the steering wheel. Even under full throttle at high RPM

it remains pretty quiet. And in everyday driving, you don't even hear its air. Its sophistication is maybe only matched by the Honda Civic in this class. The road and wind noise

aren't kept quite as quiet, but in fairness, this is winter, so I'm on winter tires, so I'm getting

more tire and road noise than I normally would. I did drive this on some very very windy days and

although it was susceptible to crosswinds like any vehicle I didn't hear the wind as much as I thought

I would. So I briefly touched on handling and I won't go into it too deep because again it's winter

winter tires but you can feel that eagerness that's in a lot of Mazda vehicles. We've complained

about the steering being too heavy and stiff in some of their larger SUVs but in the three

the weight's great. It's exactly where it should be. I can feel that this was meant for drivers

For those who want a little more engagement with their vehicle, it's more exciting to drive than

say a Kia K4 or a Nissan Sentra. Now that said, it doesn't quite have the same connection or

levels of performance of a Elantra N or a Civic Type R. So I know what you're thinking. You're

saying, well Mike, what about the medium performance vehicles like the Civic SI or the Volkswagen GTI

Well that's where things get a little interesting. In isolation the Mazda 3 is

a really good premium compact car that offers a little more fun and engagement

with the manual transmission. But when you start to look at competitors and

include price, it starts to lose some of its shine. So in the US this costs $32,430

with destination charges. For several hundred dollars less you can get a Honda

Civic Si, which also has a six-speed manual, which is a nicer manual, and it has a slightly more

powerful turbocharged four-cylinder engine, and it's even more engaging to drive. Now, that said

that might be a detriment because maybe it too sporty for some people But if that the case then you probably not buying a manual Mazda 3 to begin with In Canada it a bit of a better sell against the Civic as it now about a thousand dollars less

than the Si and the Si doesn't have performance tires at that price point. So does the Mazda 3

then have a sophistication advantage? Well unfortunately for Mazda we're talking probably

the other compact cars that equal this in terms of refinement and quality and style

So one last thing to discuss before I wrap this up, and that's comfort

We've complained over and over again that a lot of Mazda SUVs are too stiffly sprung

because, well, they are. The rides are way harsher than they need to be for what, at the end of the day, are family vehicles

Surprisingly, the three hatchback, which you'd think is a sportier vehicle, it's got a way more comfortable, compliant suspension

Now, a lot of that probably has to do with the fact that it has a lot less weight. it can be more softly sprung

Again, I'm bringing up the MX-5 Miata comparison where that's got one of the best ride comforts

for a performance vehicle because it's just so lightweight. The seats up front are super comfortable too

Long drives, I don't have any complaints. Nothing went numb. I wasn't uncomfortable

The rear seat actual comfort wasn't bad. My son passed out on two of our longer drives

It's just, as I mentioned earlier, you don't have the most airy feeling back there

So yeah, the 3 2.5 S premium or sport GT depending on your country, it's a pretty comfortable vehicle to drive

And Mazda's really nailed that balance between handling and comfort because this also handles really well

Not many manufacturers nail that formula perfectly on smaller cars as they usually just go all in with a super stiff ride to get optimal handling

You know the cars I'm talking about. Let's go back to the three questions I posed at the start of this review

First, I don't know why Sol Red is so good compared to other Reds

There's some sort of wizardry that Mazda's using to make it have such depth and shine

Question two, is the Mazda 3 still relevant after all these years? And the answer is yeah

It's still wholly competitive against the best class leaders. And that's because Mazda's continued to update it and they had such a good vehicle to start with

Of course, it doesn't compete in space inside, but it never has. And that's never really been its mission

But if you're looking for a premium small car, this is right up there with the best anyone else has to offer

And then there's the final question. Does the six-speed manual still make sense in the Mazda 3

Well, that, like a lot of things in life, all comes down to perspective

If you're looking for a sporty small car with a manual up against the Civic Si

it's sort of a hard sell as they're sportier and pricing isn't much different

But if you're a big fan of the three, albeit exterior styling, interior quality, refinement, whatever

and you want a little more performance and a manual transmission, well, this is a really good package

This isn't just Mazda slapping a six-speed into a random package or a base model just to appease a couple enthusiasts

It's a well-thought-out, well-put-together car and should make those folks happy. I could even see this being a value alternative to something like the Integra with the manual

It gives near the same performance with near the same equipment for a lot less money

Heck, even the Mercedes CLA, there's some sort of value play there potentially

although you're probably not getting the manual. But if you wanted a CLA with a manual, you can't get one

So again, this comes into play, maybe. So what are my final thoughts on the manual Mazda 3

Well, it's a well put together car and I quite like it. I'm just not certain Mazda's going to find enough customers for it, but I hope they do