CNET Finds the Mazda 3 Great, Slightly Spoiled by Iffy Infotainment System

By now, you have probably seen many reviews of the new Mazda 3, a car that looks, drives and feels great. However, none of the reviews had as their main focus on the infotainment and satnav systems, so CNET Brian Cooley’s angle is one you should not neglect if you're interested in this kind of stuff.

As usual, the review is tech-centric, and it immediately finds the on-board tech inadequate. The nice-looking dash-mounted screen has a complicated menu, filled with confusing terminology and extra menus and settings you didn’t think were necessary for regular users, plus it doesn’t seamlessly show traffic information or connect to the internet without a phone-hosted (or another) exterior hotspot.

The video posted below goes into detail, explaining all of the discovered issues.

Moving on, other bad points are the apparent lack of power from the (2.5-liter) engine, and the long-legged character of the gearbox that makes it not ideally suited for city driving – the manual 2.0-liter I drove had that too, and it was quite leisurely with 120 hp; you’d have struggled to call it brisk…

Aside from the points mentioned above, the review finds the Mazda hatch a true contender in the class, one of the most appealing models currently on sale in its price bracket.

Mazda Has Built More than 1 Million Skyactiv Vehicles Since November 2011

Mazda announced that it has built more than one million units of its three full-Skyactiv vehicles, the CX-5, Mazda6/Atenza and Mazda3/Axela. Production of the three models reached 1,040,000 units at the end of March 2014, two years and four months after production of the first Skyactiv vehicle, the CX-5, began in November 2011.

All three models adopt the full range of Mazda’s Skyactiv technologies which are aimed at improving the efficiency of the base components that dictate the fundamental performance of the automobile, such as the engine and transmission, while reducing vehicle weight.

“At Mazda we put everything into developing our Skyactiv vehicles, and it is because these models have struck a chord with a wide range of customers all over the world that we have reached the one million-unit landmark,” said Mazda’s Representative Director, President and CEO, Masamichi Kogai.

Mazda is currently building its three full-Skyactiv models in Japan, Mexico, Thailand and China, and selling them in over 100 different countries and regions. By March 2016, the company plans to introduce another five all-new models with improved SkyactivTechnology.

The new generation vehicles that feature Skyactiv Technology also adopt Mazda’s KODO - Soul of Motion design philosophy, which aims to express the strength, beauty and tension, found in the movements of untamed animals.