Drove our 2010 Mazdaspeed 3 last night and had much the same feeling of euphoria Kurt did. I haven't driven a Mazdaspeed 3 in ages, and this is the best one yet. Everything just seems a little more refined, a little better sorted out in this car.
I particularly like the six-speed manual gearbox. The shifter's gates are well defined and there's solid, positive feel as you move between gates -- you can tell this hardware comes from the company that builds Miatas.
Along with that, heel-and-toe downshifting couldn't be any easier. The pedal spacing and clutch takeup are dead-on on for this activity. In fact, if I was going to teach someone to heel-and-toe, our Mazdaspeed 3 would be a great choice. Close gear ratios make it easy to find the right amount of throttle blippage. Big four-cylinders (turbo or not) are also good for novices -- a good amount of torque, but not too much, so you don't have to worry much about underdoing or overdoing your blips.
Erin Riches, Senior Editor @ 2,960 miles
fuhteng says:
12:13 PM, 11/18/09
Where do I sign up for heel-and-toe lessons?
e90_m3 says:
12:20 PM, 11/18/09
If only my girl could heel-and-toe....
(If only I myself could heel-and-toe somewhat decently....)
subytrojan says:
12:51 PM, 11/18/09
Heel-and-toe how-tos:
Article:
http://www.edmunds.com/ownership/howto/articles/45792/article.html
Video:
http://www.edmunds.com/apps/vdpcontainers/do/VideosCategoryIndex/category=How%20To#2
zcalvert says:
01:24 PM, 11/18/09
it's good to hear that the transmission is as good as the rest of the car.
but unless i'm missing something, shouldn't the credit for the transmission itself go to the company that actually made the tranny? i'm not going to research it more carefully now, but i seriously doubt mazda makes their own gearbox for this car.
rick8365 says:
01:47 PM, 11/18/09
My kina girl!
:-)
crowb says:
01:52 PM, 11/18/09
My wife is learning to heel/toe. Its hot.
compliance says:
03:10 PM, 11/18/09
But can she heel/toe in heels?
charlesncharge says:
03:40 PM, 11/18/09
I guess Mazda has improved the shift quality immensely on this new 2010 MS3, because both the '06 MS6 and '07 MS3 (which share the same trans., albeit MS6 was AWD), that I previously owned, had terrible shift quality. One of the absolute worse in my opinion of any car that I've ever owned, and I've owned several cars over the years - 40 and still counting!
jkavanagh says:
05:32 PM, 11/18/09
Our long-term '10 MS3 here shifts noticeably better than the '10 MS3 we had here a few months ago.
Methinks that the earlier one had seen its share of hard, fast shifts during its time leading up its arrival here... and that not all of those shifts were necessarily executed well. It would grind synchros pretty easily, whereas our longtermer shifts like buttah.
yellowmiata says:
07:24 PM, 11/18/09
jkavanagh - man, it was hard to discern what you were writing amid all of the snazzy phrases and pho-english. Glad I took 7 classes in pseudo-typing to understand what was going on there.
roadburner says:
07:41 PM, 11/18/09
The gearbox on my '07 MS3 isn't all that bad; it's the on/off action of the clutch that I really despise.
SadButTrue says:
12:21 AM, 11/19/09
@yellowmiata,
"pho-english"...what's that, noodle soup with a cup of Earl Grey?
-JS
sgude says:
05:47 AM, 11/19/09
I hated the shifter and clutch in my sister's Mazda 3 (not an MS3, but I believe their trannies are closely related) until I drove it like my Bimmer. As I pushed it, the shifter began slotting into its gates solidly and rapidly -- even better than my BMW's. But the clutch still sucked.
jkavanagh says:
10:53 AM, 11/19/09
roadburner, yep, the clutch in our '10 MS3 is similar to the one in your '07 -- it's more like a switch than a rheostat.
I hope that sentence wasn't too snazzy or noodle-draped for some of our readers...
redwoodaggie says:
12:04 PM, 11/19/09
The '08 MS3 I test drove had a vague shifter. It was sometimes hard to tell what gear I was in. As mentioned, the clutch could have been a little more gradual too (MS6 had the same issue).
marcvill says:
12:12 PM, 11/19/09
@roadburner
I feel the same way with my MS6. The clutch is like an on/off switch. It makes launching the car difficult and slow. I wish they could make the clutch feel like the one I have in my '04 Mazda3 hatch. Soft, smooth, and forgiving. Sounds like qualities I am looking for in a potential mate.