In the not-so-olden days of the Black Eyed Peas having top-ten singles, you’d almost always have to pay extra for an automatic gearbox in an economy car. Tick that box, cough up a grand or so, and you’d probably get a slushy four-speed or five-speed unit that sapped seconds from the zero-to-60 time and miles from your distance on a gallon. Over the past 20 years, that’s all changed. Automatics have become quicker, more efficient, and most importantly, standard. Without jumping up to a performance model, there’s now only one stick-shift economy car left: The Mazda 3.
However, this isn’t some sort of base model more spartan than a portable lavatory that only exists to hit an advertised base price target. Should you want to select your own gears all the time in a Mazda 3, you’re looking at a price tag north of $30,000 and an equipment list longer than those of some heavily depreciated used luxury cars. So, is there enough here to keep the row-your-own-faithful interested? I spent a week in a manual Mazda 3 to find out.
[Full disclosure: Mazda Canada let me borrow this Mazda 3 for a week so long as I kept the shiny side up, returned it clean with a full tank of fuel, and reviewed it. Fuel was paid for by yours truly.]
The Basics
Engine: 2.5-liter twin-cam naturally aspirated inline-four.
Transmission: Six-speed manual.
Drive: Front-wheel-drive.
Output: 186 horsepower at 6,000 RPM, 186 lb.-ft. of torque at 4,000 RPM.
Fuel Economy: 25 MPG city, 34 MPG highway, 28 MPG combined (9.5 L/100km city, 6.9 L/100km highway, 8.3 L/100km combined).
Curb Weight: 3,058 pounds (1,361 kg for Canadian models).
Base Price: $32,965 including freight ($37,690 in Canada).
Price As-Tested: $32,965 including freight ($37,690 in Canada).
Why Does It Exist?
If there’s one big car market story that nobody’s been talking about, it’s the resurgence of the compact car. In an age of high gas prices and interest rates, sales of economical sedans and hatchbacks are up across the board, and all Mazda had to do was keep the 3 in its lineup. This reasonably small machine certainly isn’t new, having gone on sale about two Nissan Sentras ago, but you know what they say: If it ain’t broke…
How Does It Look?
It’s been nearly eight years since we first saw the fourth-generation Mazda 3 hatchback, and it still looks fantastic. That raked nose, that almost Alfa Romeo Brera-like rear-three-quarter treatment, those clean daytime running lights, all wrapped in a handful of creases and an arsenal of compound curves. Clean and classy, this is still the most expensive-looking compact car on the market by a country mile, and its looks should continue to age like fine Japanese whisky. Fabulous.
What About The Interior?
Pull the door handle and climb inside the Mazda 3, and the interior keeps up with the desirability of the sheetmetal. It starts with one the most comfortable driver’s seats in the segment, offering a surprisingly good blend of comfort and support. The steering wheel’s beautifully thin-rimmed and wrapped in gorgeous smooth-grain leather, the sculptural dashboard’s clad in a mixture of leather-like textile and soft-touch plastic, splashes of brightwork feel quality, and just about every button and knob moves with a gratifying click. Put it all together, and it makes the inside of the brand new Mercedes-Benz CLA feel substandard. Impressive stuff for an eight-year-old cabin.
However, it’s not all perfect in here. That rakish C-pillar compromises rear seat entry and egress, and the rear seat itself is on the tight side for both passenger space and outward visibility. The load lip for the cargo area is tall enough to make loading heavy items a bit cumbersome, and the shiny black plastic around the shifter and infotainment controller ages about as well as you’d expect. Still, the Mazda 3 is roomier than a Toyota Corolla hatchback, and if you aren’t road-tripping five-up regularly, the rear seat’s workable.
How Does It Drive?
While many other small cars have speared off in directions of turbocharging, hybridization, or unusually thin engine oils, the Mazda 3 sticks with what is now the old-fashioned way: A non-turbocharged 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine that we first saw more than a decade ago. With 186 horsepower and 186 lb.-ft. of torque on tap, it’s still reasonably potent, and it enjoys a largely impressive reliability track record. Equally impressive is how Mazda’s managed to quiet its din. Below about 3,500 RPM, you can barely tell there’s an engine up front at all.
Speaking of old-fashioned, let’s get to the reason you clicked: The six-speed manual transmission. The last one standing in the compact car segment that isn’t mated to some sort of high-performance engine. An épée to face the morning commute with and declare ‘en garde’, a savior of the mechanical soul. Right? Well, Mazda does make one of the best shifters in the world, but it isn’t attached to this car. Actually, there’s rather little MX-5 DNA to the gates of this Mazda 3. It’s an easy shifter, certainly, but smooth rather than snick-snick positive. Plus, execution beyond the shifter feels a bit compromised. The first three gears are on the long side, but fourth-through-sixth are stacked relatively tightly. What’s more, there are all manner of hidden helping hands that will make driving stick easier for newbies but a little confusing for those used to older machinery. For instance, the Mazda 3 will help you smoothly get off the line even if you let out the clutch on a modest incline without feeding in any throttle. How strange.
Still, it’s hard to argue with the general effect of the manual, in that it adds a little bit of engagement without taking away much performance. Acceleration’s on the level with the automatic (figure zero-to-60 mph in the low-seven-second range), fuel economy’s about there, and you get the satisfaction of matching your own downshifts. On a similar pleasantly whelming note, the steering feels rather natural, cabin noise is nicely controlled, and there’s a quiet competence to the taut damping that deftly dispatches with expansion joints and frost heaves.
If there’s a fly in the ointment, it’s the torsion beam rear suspension. Instead of a fully independent setup like you get in a Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla hatchback, Mazda’s semi-independent setup can still transmit bumps hit with one rear wheel across the entire rear axle. As a result, it’s not quite as compliant over potholes as some of its rivals. Oh, and there’s a little torque-steer present when your foot’s to the floor in lower gears. That’s a vice, but a weirdly charming one because it means there’s enough power on tap to make it happen.
Does It Have The Electronic Crap I Want?
There’s only one way to order a manual Mazda 3: Pretty much loaded to the gills with equipment. This means you get a power moonroof, heated front seats, a power driver’s seat, a full brace of driver assistance systems, a head up display, wireless phone charging, satellite radio, dual-zone automatic climate control, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, leather upholstery, rain-sensing wipers, auto-levelling LED headlights, and a full brace of driver assistance systems. Canadian-market cars add a heated steering wheel too.
The 10.25-inch ultrawide infotainment screen is mounted high in the line of sight, and unlike in most rivals, it isn’t a touchscreen. You’d need a wingspan like Gronk to even reach it in the first place. Instead, Mazda relies on a rotary knob to navigate the infotainment system, which works great on the native software but comes with a bit of a learning curve for phone mirroring. Still, once the numbers of clicks needed to do what you need to do becomes muscle memory, it’s reasonably user-friendly and prevents fingerprints on the screen.
As for the 12-speaker Bose sound system, it’s fine. Above-average for the compact car class, but not quite as good as the Bose system in loaded Civics and unlikely to blow you away. Low-end extension is limited so this isn’t the ideal vehicle to be crankin’ some filthy drum-n-bass in, but those with more mainstream music tastes will likely be perfectly satiated.
Three Things To Know About The Manual Mazda 3
- It’s so quiet at idle, you might not know the engine’s on.
- Don’t expect a Miata-like shifter.
- Still the nicest interior in the entire compact car segment.
Does The Manual Mazda 3 Fulfil Its Purpose?
Nearly eight years on, a stick-shift Mazda 3 is still a lovely compact car for keener-than-average drivers. Its shape still elicits desire, it’s still beautifully made, and now it’s your only choice if you want three pedals without hot hatch thirst. Is it perfect? No, but even with minor quibbles like being slightly more active over bumps and having a shifter set up more for ease than fun, it’s still an upscale-feeling machine for normal money. While $32,965 ($37,690 in Canada) seems expensive for a loaded compact car, that’s about the going rate for many optioned-up competitors. Of course, no regular competitor offers a manual gearbox, so for now, the Mazda 3 is in a league of its own.
What’s The Punctum Of The Manual Mazda 3?
A good car seven years ago is still a good car now.
Top graphic image: Thomas Hundal
Owned a 1st gen 3 that I bought used in the late 20-teens and it was a fantastic warm-hatch. Sadly this car offers roughly the same straight line performance with less liveliness than my 2004, and is relatively expensive for what it is. I don’t need a full on Speed3 but I do wish they had a slightly hotter version 20+ years later. The shifter in the 1st and 2nd gen 3 was fantastic so it’s kind of sad to hear that’s gone down. Overall it’s just hard not to feel that besides the fantastic styling this car is a relative downgrade compared to its predecessors. Which sadly seems to be almost all the Mazda stuff these days.
All that being said I can’t imagine picking a Corolla over one of these, imo still seems like the best car in its admittedly limited class, still chafes me Honda doesn’t offer the Si as a hatch.
You might not consider he Civic Si an economy car, but surely the Civic Sport Touring models are, and last I checked they’re still available with a manual. At least in theory.
Might want to check. I believe those got axed.
In the US, the only powertrain options for the base civic are 150hp 2.0L with a CVT, or the hybrid. No stick unless you get an Si or Type R. I think this change happened when the hybrid got introduced with the facelift since I know the 2.0 and 1.5T both had the 6-speed on the base hatch prior.
The manual transmission got discontinued on the sub Si/R Civics with the 2025 facelift, and the Sport Touring trim is now hybrid-only.
My last three daily drivers have been manual hatchbacks, so this is relevant to my interests. My current daily driver is a 2015 Mazda 3 2.0L 6-speed, and just yesterday I was thinking about what I’d eventually want to replace it with down the road. I don’t think the new 3 would be high on the list because I don’t really want a fully loaded car just to get a 3rd pedal. Used Civics are appealing but the 1.5L turbo doesn’t have a great track record.
A really good friend has a 2023 Civic Sport Hatchback with the 2.0L NA engine and 6-Speed stick, and even that has its issues. He’s up to 70k miles and out of warranty, but after 2 valve cover gasket replacements and an entirely new valve cover, it’s still leaking. Not to mention it seems like every Honda engine that isn’t a V6 is prone to head gasket failure, the rock solid reputation of the Mazda 2.5L does go a long way.
The stick 3 hatches I’ve seen for sale locally seem to sit and get heavily discounted before moving, so there could still be very strong value there.
FWIW the main 10.25 inch screen IS a touch screen, but only when you’re in phone mirroring modes (Apple CarPlay / Android Auto).
The inner critic in me wants to quibble at the poor rear sightlines, the relatively spendy price, the narrow model range the manual is offered in, and Mazda continually sanding off the edge of their handling finesse.
But this might be it, everybody. Mazda3 sales have done a swan dive from their halcyon mid-2010 peaks and manual transmission cars have evaporated. This is a seven-year old model, released before (in old Obi-Wan Kenobi voice) ‘the dark times’ of the last few years.
Hey Thomas, did Mazda give you any hints if there would be a new model of the Mazda3 on the horizon? Or do you read the fact that we’re at the longest refresh interval without much fanfare from Mazda a sign that we should be heading to dealer lots while we can?
On our 3, the throttle would hang on the 2->3 upshift, which wore out the 3rd gear synchro pretty quick. I assume that was some kind of emissions thing and hopefully your test vehicle didn’t do that. A joy to drive otherwise.
“Economy” car for $33K, more of a “Compact” car. K4s and Chevy Trax are $10+K cheaper (a full 1/3) Sadly those are not manuals, but they are more “economy” cars.
I’m ok to pay a tax to get a manual, but in the Mazda3 case you need to get nearly the top-trim to open it as an option.
It’s also one of the lowest functional headroom vehicles in the segment.
Arguably, at the price tested, the Subaru WRX is also a ‘stick shift economy car’ with a 6MT at the same level. Just, uselessly, without a hatch.
The Civic Si and Hyundai Elantra N still have available manual transmissions as well. They are in a similar ballpark, price-wise.
Civic Si starts under $32K as well
Surely this can’t be the final economy car with a manual transmission… checks notes… welp, that’s incredibly bleak.