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Why non-car people just chose the 2015 Mazda3 as a Best New Car
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By John Goreham Jan 13 2016 - 2:33pm

Why non-car people just chose the 2015 Mazda3 as a Best New Car

Not every person who drives is a car nut. Here’s why Good Housekeeping loved the 2015 Mazda3.
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Here at Torque News, some of our writers have the car-bug bad. One has multiple race cars. Another has an addiction to convertibles (but I’m making progress!). The rest of the writers are just as crazy about the car topics they cover. However, we realize that we need to set aside our own opinions and see cars from the perspective of those who are not fans. One way we can do that is to offer the opinions of others with our commentary. Hence, our re-report here of Good Housekeeping’s choice of the 2015 Mazda3 S five-door Grand Touring as its Best New Car Award 2016 in the Compact class. We won’t even point out that the Mazda3 was not new for the model year and is not a 2016 model (whoops).

Good Housekeeping brings to the table the perspective of a shopper looking for value and usability. Describing the “Best Standard features”, Good Housekeeping lists; “Backseats that fold flat for maximum storage space; Mazda Connect infotainment system with built-in Pandora music service and Bluetooth capabilities; high-quality Bose nine-speaker surround sound; heated side mirrors.” See, we car nuts never remember the heated side mirrors are important, but they are. We all love them.

To its credit, Good Housekeeping chose the better of the two body styles and the larger engine (denoted by the S in the model description). In fact, the Mazda3 they chose is our favorite of the many trims and two body styles. Good Housekeeping’s summary is also one we can see ourselves having written. They said.“We were amazed by how fun it was to drive. The swift acceleration and responsive handling made us feel as if we were in a sports car.” We would not be amazed though. That’s the Zoom, Zoom they felt. We know it, and we expect it.

Read Our Review of the 2015 Mazda3 Here.

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Comments

Paul C. wrote on January 13, 2016 - 11:28pm
My wife and I had a 2005 M3 hatch and loved everything about it. Truly a great car.
James wrote on January 14, 2016 - 4:34pm
Why do you reference the "Mazda3" in the headline and then delimit the car you are actually talking about to the Grand Touring, five door, 2.5L? Is the base Mazda3 itself the best or isn't it? Partly because they cost way different amounts and for the price point of the GT upgrade there are lots of other cars. But also because where does that leave the Mazda3? In the dumpster?
John Goreham wrote on January 15, 2016 - 9:31am
James, it is funny you brought this up. At another publication I write for an editor and I were just talking about this. Here's why I did it: In titles, we only have limited characters we can use. So often times we will use the "generic" model name about a vehicle and then give the full name in the body. A Honda I recently tested has a model name with 21 characters. That leaves no room for a meaningful title. Another separate reason is that many people who are doing on-line searches for a car want to read about the various trims, so we use the basic car name in titles. Note that in reviews we try to use the full name because a review is just about that exact car (usually). Your point is valid. We as a group are still trying to figure out the best way to handle it. Thanks
Paul C, wrote on January 14, 2016 - 10:05pm
In the first paragraph, it clearly states "our re-report here of Good Housekeeping’s choice of the 2015 Mazda3 S five-door Grand Touring as its Best New Car Award 2016 " This was not a TorqueNews article, they are reporting how a non-car magazine chose the Grand Touring S 5 door as the best. When you consider that for about $5000 above the base model, you get leather, bi-xenon headlamps (self leveling adaptive!), and navigation, bose sound, etc etc. Why anyone would even buy the base model is beyond me. Or the "i" model touring. Crazy good features in a crazy good car, for an excellent price. I paid 10 grand more for my 2015 WRX. Had their been a speed 3 with awd with all these features, I would have gone that route. I've also owned a 2006 Mazdaspeed six in addition to the 2005 Mazda3 I mentioned above.
Jay wrote on March 7, 2016 - 12:44pm
Right on Point Paul. And the best upgrade is the bigger stronger 2.5L engine with 184-HP and 185-FPT, and the 18' inch wheels. Those Bi-Xenon lights are awesome in real world driving too!