The New Mazda 3

The new Mazda 3 Sedan has been unveiled at the 2008 LA Auto Show
and if this is how Mazda’s new corporate nose is going to look like
it looks like giant smiley grilles like the Peugeot 308’s grille is the new “in thing”,
replacing the trapezoidal shield grille of Audi fame.

the new Mazda 3 is based on the old Mazda 3 chassis
and even they admit this but Mazda claims it has made “subtle yet comprehensive”
refinements to it.
Besides, the electric power steering now has a 3-point mounting
instead of a 2-point mounting to allow reduction in stiffness of the steering gear bushes.
This can reduce vibrations transferred through rough pavements.
The unibody joints on the chassis have been improved
to reduce the transmission of road and powertrain noise
into the passenger cabin.
On the rear, a redesigned crossmember is lighter and stiffer,
also contributing to better handling. The braking system also gets an
improvment - a new vacuum booster for better pedal response.
The car has a drag coefficient of 0.29 cD and despite the huge smiley front grille,
Mazda claims its actually 20% smaller to minimize the mount of airflow
into the engine bay to only the amount needed for intake and cooling
purposes - this improves aerodynamics.
Two engines are available for the American market - both are inline-4 units.
One is a 2.0 liter unit producing 148hp at 6,500rpm
and 183Nm of torque at 4,500rpm, while the larger one is a 2.5 liter unit
producing 167hp at 6,000rpm and 228Nm of torque at 4,000rpm.
The power figures are slightly lower for models sold in states
like California where emissions rulings are stiffer.
Both manual and auto trannys are 5-speed units.