2012 Mazda 3: Design by Exchange Rate

Maybe they'll start assembling more vehicles in America then; just like BMW, Honda and a few others.

@louiswei: It looks like most manufacturers are moving in that direction. It seems that the high Japanese yen will have a strangely beneficial side effect, as it will probably turn US into a larger manufacturing base... and also turn it into an auto exporter.

The Mazda 3 really needs a good interior for the next generation. It really says something when everything you touch in the car sort of creaks and bends (and the AC knobs feel like they're going to snap off). Don't even bother touching the maplights! I still remember the crunchy backside of the steering wheel when you wrap your fingers around it. Yuck...

I still see the bunny:
http://blogs.insideline.com/roadtests/2011/12/2012-mazda-3-separated-at-birth.html

I don't see this at all. The current Mazda3's interior is a vast improvement over the previous-gen, which I own (a lot more soft-touch materials, for one). And the previous Mazda3 was considered to have a best-in-class interior. Of course, the competition has improved as well, and cars like the Cruze, Focus, and Elantra match or best it. However, a lot of the competition is still significantly worse: the Civic, Corolla, and Jetta come to mind.

I saw the bunny when I got in my 3i Touring sedan this morning, thanks Donna! This interior doesn't bother me on mine since I got it for $18k, but the sticker in IL's 3 is almost 26k therefore too cheesy for this price point. The Focus interior is a lot more upmarket. Question to the IL staff: How does the new Civic and VW Jetta interiors stack up to the 3's interior?

You mean like black carpets and tan seats. One color carpet for all vehicles must simplify assembly and reduce costs.

It could be one of the factors, but I suspect it largely offsets with the lower cost of manufacturing and selling in the U.S.

Companies will always try to save money, independent of exchange rates. Lower quality materials are usually lighter, therefore enhancing performance.

I still remember sitting in the back of a 2004 Honda Accord Coupe EX V6 (guy bought it for >$30k. Nuts!)... the rear arm rests are hard hallow plastic! Cost cutting has been in the works for years.

While not the best quality plastics all around - some areas are prone to easy scratching and scuffing, and black really shows it - my 08 Mazda3 also has several high quality areas. And more importantly, it is tight as a drum and squeak and rattle free through 65K miles.

"You can see the evidence of the same issue in the Mazda 3’s interior.

Once you’re behind the steering wheel and take a look around the Mazda 3’s cabin, you find places where things don’t look quite right. Sometimes it’s the materials, sometimes it’s the architecture, and sometimes it’s simply the color. These are places where money is being saved. And whenever you make similar observations in other cars, you’re seeing evidence of the same issues."

I don't feel as though you've made your point well about the Mazda 3 within the post. Maybe you could provide some specific examples, perhaps with pictures that clearly show the evidence of which you speak?

@michael jordan:

i dont understand this...aside from the focus and golf, this is like the only other c segment car with a soft dash, and you guys lauded the interior when it first came out...you admitted the golf was better and now the focus, but i dont see how this isnt noticeably nicer than any of the other c segment vehicles.

the last mazda3 i saw in person was a 2010 gt hatch....top of the line...maybe some cost cutting was made on the skyactive version?

and if you guys post the SAME DAMN PICTURE OF THE INTERIOR again i'm going to flip out. its a freaking stock photo!

Any car will have cheap touches here and there...the important thing is that the 3 is solidly built and reliable. Mazda has good build quality - my 6 is rattle-free and tight as a drum at 100k miles.

I'd like to know which details you are talking about, because in my experience the 3's interior is expensive looking and well-built, with a padded dash, door panels, armrest, nice gauges, and thoughtful touches.

@eldaino2: I don't know if the honeymoon is simply over, but when I sat in a rental Mazda 3 a few months ago, I thought the same thing basically- I remember a Mazda 3 hatch I drove 2 years prior and I never remembered it being so cheap looking and feeling as it was nearly as good as the 8th generation Civic's.

Yes, the Mazda has some soft touch materials, but it looks like it was plunked on the dash like a toupee (I'm talking about the huge expanse on the top of the dash). That alone doesn't make a great interior. The center stack is a mess, every surface bends under slight finger pressure and every switchgear feels like an early 90's Chinese toy. It's so incredibly cheap it makes the Corolla feel substantial. There were some nice touches though- the instrument cluster is pretty good, especially at night (too bad the matte silver surrounds are cheesy); and the cubbies were lined.

The interior was perfectly acceptable for the price point until they added the non-matching tan seats and door inserts (on your particular 3). Seriously, what were they thinking? It throws the whole thing off. No one does tan seats and nearly-all-black everything else coupled with a light gray pillar/headliner scheme. It's not 'contrasting.' It's simply harsh. The all-black interior comes off much nicer. The tan seats might work if anything else in the interior was also tan -- especially the carpet/lower dash/headliner/pillars.

Take away the color thing though and I don't really see what's wrong with this interior. I've been in the Cruze and the new Focus. Both have well done interiors. Butr are they 'better' than the 3? No. Not really. They're 'different.' I think maybe it's architectural preference for some more than anything. Compare to the Cruze, for example, the 3 interior looks 'busy' (so does the Focus if I'm being honest), but I don't think it's poorly made at all. And there are plenty of soft touch materials. The Focus SE I drove really didn't have any more 'soft' trim nor was it particularly better assembled. It was simply nice in its own way. The Cruze had a lot of soft-touch panels and was decently assembled, but then negated some of that with the green displays and cloth panel on the dash. In the end it all balances out.

I do notice some parts missing though from the somewhat-loaded 3 Skyactiv though. Namely a third pedal and a gear selector with more lateral movement. Ahem. (Hey, I was on-topic for 80% of the post).

Last point of contention: The seats. Or at least, the non-tan regular seats.

Try doing this: With your back against the backrest, let your head thud against the headrest. At least when I did that, you could feel the two legs of the headrest moving against your middle back. The seat is also really thinly padded. I'm 6'/150 lbs and the back is a bit too narrow.

Honestly, I think that if you are used to cheap cars, the 3's interior is no big deal. I had the (misfortune) of coming into work and benchmarking the Cruze, Elantra and Civic, and the Mazda 3 had by far the worst interior, The Cruze had the best interior of the bunch (great seats!), even if it also had some fiddly knobs and stupid AC vents. Don't know about the Focus though.

This is a great example of ppl hopping on the band wagon (cough duck87) because an EXPERT said so.....except the EXPERT is wrong so the joke is on you...

The 3 interior is one of the nicest even compared to midsized family sedans, it is nicer than the 6 for example.

Maybe Michael Jordan normally drives a Rolls Royce but for $20k or less the 3 is as nice as it gets other than Golf, in fact its really one of the nicest economy car interiors EVER, we forget just how basic they use to be.

-Rod

Yeah, while my previous gen Mazda3 was overall an okay compact car, it had the worst headliner and carpet i had ever seen. It was like felt sprayed on cardboard.

I will agree the headliner and carpet are particularly chintzy. But also not that important.

All I see is that Bunny Donna posted.

@rod_stewart: I don't know why you have to be defensive and say things like that. It's not really hard for me to hop down to enterprise and rent a car, and stuck between the choice of a Mazda 3 or a Kia Forte for a week, the choice was fairly obvious to me. These are my honest impressions... and if you're skeptical, I have a couple of photos of what I'm talking about.

Anyways, a chintzy headliner and carpet are pretty important to me. If it wasn't, I'd be driving a Dodge Caliber.

eldaino2, that photo is not a stock photo.

Photo Editor Kurt Niebuhr shot it for the long-term introduction.

Photo URL:
http://www.insideline.com/mazda/3/2012/photos/2012_mazda_3_fint_lt_1206111.html

Long-term Intro:
http://www.insideline.com/mazda/3/2012/long-term-test-2012-mazda-3-skyactiv.html

As announced earlier, Mazda will solve the exchange rate issues by building a new factory in Mexico while
ending production in Michigan.

@duck87 - regarding the headrest/backrest interaction, I believe that's deliberate as a lot of cars do that these days. I believe the intent is to reduce whiplash by forcing the headrest forward using the mass of the seat occupant during a rear end collision. I may be wrong, but I believe Volvo was first to do this sort of passive anti-whiplash setup.

Now, maybe you shouldn't be able to feel individual legs of the headrest, but if you thump the headrest hard enough, these systems are going to be noticeable.

northsparrow-

You obviously haven't been to Mexico in the past three years, or even read an article about the place in the last year and a half. The country is a warzone. No one's building factories there until the state and the druglords decide who's who and who's going to be in charge.

I just tried the "thump headrest" test on my 2010 iTouring. Didn't feel anything on my back.

I find the interior of my car pretty good. Everything fits nicely together. I remember reading reviews back when the car was announced, and most rated the interior as best in class, not cheap. I agree the headliner and carpet are on the thin side. The sun visors are rock hard. And I would have preferred map pockets on the back of both seats, but that's a rarity in this class of cars nowadays.

Has the 2012 model changed that much?

As for architecture, it's very thoughtful and driver-centric. The center stack and information brow are canted slightly toward the driver. I like the sweeping dash. And the tach and speed-o are housed in two barrels -- a clean, simple, no nonsense design.

This interior is by no means tops in class, its been overrated for awhile. But that's OK. The seats are nice, the steering wheel shaped properly, the driving position excellent, and the materials & design midpack. If Mazda wants to spend more money on getting the chassis, steering, and drivetrains right, that is a smart allocation of resources to me.

You know I have never seen edmunds post 3 days of no driving impression or anything of the sort. The interior discussion isn't abig deal to me. The 3 is functional and simple which is all one would ask at this range. I own a TL and I defintely dont expect much when I just in a 20k-ish car. For all the cars flaws its still an outstanding drive.

Is there an equivalent Jetta/Passat post? I think it's more evident in those cars and they are cheaper so seems they're still making money regardless (with volume).

I think continuous trend is rather trying to maximize profits and sales than currency exchange since many cars with cheap looking interiors are built in the US. Also look at new Camry: better interior but design and engine was almost carry over and that's how you max profits.

Trend is that most people are not even that critical about these things and carmakers get away with it (for now). Hopefully that will change.

I mostly agree. The interior feels well-built where it counts. The door panels and materials feel secure. However Mazda clearly wanted to focus on the driving rather than interior design. Examples: The cup holder lid opens the wrong way-- problably never changed when swapping the driver-passenger sides. The console has buttons that are for features that don't exist on my car (6-disk changer, RDS). It's funny to me that they are still there yet do nothing. The stereo display uses only half the screen because it doesn't have auto climate control, yet you can see the outlines of the non-lights. The info screen was obviously added on after, as it shares redundent info with the stereo display, and that too looks awkward next to a display that had different colors and less resolution. This morning I had to borrow someone's keys to get my mints out of the console bin because my hand doesn't fit, and I could only access it anyway with the shifter moved back, requiring my key's to be in the ignition. In my opinion, all of this matters, but solid workmanship is still more meaningful.
Hyundai did a better job at interior details with the Elantra, but at the expense of driveability. (The manual transmission feels terrible, ect...). It's nice to have a choice when shopping this segment.

@lucien4: yes, there was a post regarding the Jetta's "simple or cheap?" instrument panel (you only need to read the comments on that one to see what pretty much everyone thought).

@unhdsm: The cupholders work great on the Mazda 3, at least imo, and I like the "cockpit" feel. What I didnt' like was the little cubby in front of the shifter. I appreciate that it has a cover and a accessory port inside; unfortunately, when the car is in park you can't really put in or grab things from it... I was also confused as to why there was a giant button panel on the left side of the steering wheel, with the sole button on it being traction control (I was driving the base sedan w/ AC).

The other annoyance is that the accessory and aux port is located inside the center armrest. My preference would be if they simply integrated the aux port into the cubby in front of the shifter (perhaps it's a good thing that Mazda is keeping your phone out of sight, out of mind while you're driving).

Oh yeah, I thought the radio interface was stupid.

The cupholders are a switch around from the previous generation and wouldn't cost much of anything to switch over if that was the case.

All of these comments about the interior are insane. Chevy can't even stick two interior panels together so they align properly but tan seats and tan inserts in the doors and OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGgggggg the horror!

Tan carpet looks and gets nasty after a while. Tan dashboards reflect on the windshield too much. I love the contrast, and the lack of tan easy-to-show-dirt interior panels.

The Ford Focus doesn't have covered seat rails, has no bright trim work in the back seat even on the highest trim level, has many OPTIONAL functional features like a center armrest in the back and foldable seats, reflector headlamp housings, and a bunch of other cheap touches I'm forgetting. It's not that great and the Mazda3 is not bad especially when you actually consider the target audience and the way it drives.

Sometimes I use the dash console bin to hold my cell phone. During allergy season, a tissue pack fits in there nicely. The lid over the cup holders work fine for me. I never got the sense that it was on backwards.

While no longer class leading, the interior of the Mazda3 is still a comfortable place to be, clashing colors in the 2012 model not withstanding. :)

Looks like we are calling out the writer to take a second look.

@subytrojan: i retract my remark about it being a stock photo, but i will leave my anger on how they have used this pic like 3 or 4 times out of the 9 mazda posts we've had so far.

and i 2nd bcjm's comment: where are the driving impressions?

@duck87: if you were driving a rental 3, it must have been a base i model...i'll admit that the one i saw in person was a top of the line s 2.5 hatch....maybe that trim level is put together more nicely, because all the praise insideline has given the 3 was after testing a similar trim level.

@bonzjr: i actually love the contrasting leather...light tan with a blue exterior reminds me of the blue hue you can get on a 3 series with a similar looking inside...maybe the contrast isnt there, but i'd rather have black in places that get dirty easily (by the door pulls and the carpet) like it is here in the 3

i think we are just going to need more light shed on the matter...maybe the current 2.5 s is still just as nice? and with the exception of leather, this is built just like any other i branded 3? if thats the case thats a shame...

look at the golf...both the tdi and the base model have almost identical interiors, the latter doing one better by having leather on the wheel and gearshifter. but its basically the same interior. if anything, the more fuel minded version has a NICER interior than the base model, whereas if my feelings on what the 2.5 comes with on the inside are true, would prove mazda is doing just the opposite.

it sure does make a lightly used golf an appealing buy.

@barich 1: one of the biggest turnoffs, to me at least, about the last gens interior was that with the exception of the leather, it felt no more nice than my 07 honda fit, which was too lauded for its interior quality at the time. edmunds made such a big deal about the new 3's interior, i figured it was beyond reproach now. car and driver even made mention of how nice their long-termers interior was...though they did note they felt the golf was still better quality-wise.

I noticed cheap and chintzy cost cutting touches throughout my 2010 RX-8. The instrument cluster buzzed and rattled from day one (most likely exacerbated by the dealer installed cold-air intake), the metal frame of the seat frame actually broke and the seat collapsed at one corner, and when removing the floormats in the rear seating I noticed large patches of carpeting bald-spots - nothing but the backing material showing in patches. This was on a newly purchased car.

The flip side is that I got a car with a standard torsen limited slip rear - something that even the IS-F at it's price had to wait years to receive - that drove and handled like cars way above its pricing level. So there's some give and take. Let's just say that post BK Saab isn't the only one giving discounts into five-digits on new inventory, so I couldn't complain too much. Dealer service department was excellent to deal with.

Have you noticed reading automotive review outlets that one of the go-to descriptors is "well screwed together" I used to think this meant a quality car but now I know it's kind of a backhanded compliment, like the spirit is willing but flesh is weak.