2015 10Best Cars: Mazda Trio
The Mazda three is as discreet a pigeon as you could imagine, part of the cityscape, nothing evidently fascinating or flamboyant about it. But did you know that the pigeon is one of just six species that can recognize its reflection in a mirror?
The three likewise harbors hidden talents, including its capability to illustrate the difference inbetween style and design. Style is how something looks. Design speaks to how something works. Unlike most puny cars, the 3’s interior is not simply in thrall to the former.
Underneath the cabin’s cautiously trimmed sculpting lies a functional integrity that goes beyond how slickly the vents stir or how precisely the central-command knob clicks under your right arm. The 3’s interior is designed to manage distractions visual, cognitive, and manual—interruptions that have infiltrated the modern driver’s car, turning what should be at-the-wheel joy into a long, punctuated stream of annoyance.
To overcome visual distraction, Mazda placed its information array—a seven-inch screen on the center console and a flip-up “active driving display” over the instruments—in the driver’s existing view picture, thereby minimizing the time required to refocus and readjust the eyes.
The car metes out relevant information in a way that keeps cognitive distraction at bay, too. The central screen shows just seven lumps of information at a time, and they are spaced so that drivers don’t have to stare at the screen. Making or taking calls, for example, doesn’t cause a mental scramble.
This is enabled by the way the interior eliminates manual distraction. The driver sits with his elbow planted on the armrest, his forearm controlling a dial that obviates the need for confusing touch screens or frustrating voice guidelines.
You usually only find this sort of haptic virtue in European luxury cars. But shouldn’t every manufacturer be thinking like this? With an unprecedented amount of information coming through to today’s driver, Mazda makes the orderly coordination of tasks a priority, not a luxury.
That said, if the three had only a well-thought-out interior, it wouldn’t have made it onto this list. The cabin’s true function is to permit the driver to concentrate on the chassis and powertrain, and what a combo they are. Take the steering; most modern electric-assist systems are failed attempts to replicate the sensations of hydraulic pumps, which are familiar but generally nonlinear and numb. But the 3’s electrically assisted wheel is set up to mimic the directness and response of manual steering. By switching suspension geometry—nearly doubling caster angle and trail—Mazda matches the rise in steering effort to rising g-loads in the tires.
The result is a car that makes utter use of its engines. Our dearest powertrain is fresh for 2015, a naturally aspirated Two.5-liter inline-four making one hundred eighty four horsepower and driving the front wheels through Mazda’s neat six-speed manual. The four is as forthright and linear as the steering, which makes the entire car feel harmonious, matched, and slick, and not like some intemperate hot hatch. But a hot hatch is what it is. Joy fact: Pigeons can hit ninety mph.
Mazda Three: two thousand fifteen 10Best Cars – Feature – Car and Driver
2015 10Best Cars: Mazda Trio
The Mazda three is as modest a pigeon as you could imagine, part of the cityscape, nothing evidently fascinating or flamboyant about it. But did you know that the pigeon is one of just six species that can recognize its reflection in a mirror?
The three likewise harbors hidden talents, including its capability to illustrate the difference inbetween style and design. Style is how something looks. Design speaks to how something works. Unlike most puny cars, the 3’s interior is not simply in thrall to the former.
Underneath the cabin’s cautiously trimmed sculpting lies a functional integrity that goes beyond how sleekly the vents budge or how precisely the central-command knob clicks under your right palm. The 3’s interior is designed to manage distractions visual, cognitive, and manual—interruptions that have infiltrated the modern driver’s car, turning what should be at-the-wheel joy into a long, punctuated stream of annoyance.
To overcome visual distraction, Mazda placed its information array—a seven-inch screen on the center console and a flip-up “active driving display” over the instruments—in the driver’s existing look picture, thereby minimizing the time required to refocus and readjust the eyes.
The car metes out relevant information in a way that keeps cognitive distraction at bay, too. The central screen shows just seven lumps of information at a time, and they are spaced so that drivers don’t have to stare at the screen. Making or taking calls, for example, doesn’t cause a mental scramble.
This is enabled by the way the interior eliminates manual distraction. The driver sits with his elbow planted on the armrest, his palm controlling a dial that obviates the need for confusing touch screens or frustrating voice guidelines.
You usually only find this sort of haptic virtue in European luxury cars. But shouldn’t every manufacturer be thinking like this? With an unprecedented amount of information coming through to today’s driver, Mazda makes the orderly coordination of tasks a priority, not a luxury.
That said, if the three had only a well-thought-out interior, it wouldn’t have made it onto this list. The cabin’s true function is to permit the driver to concentrate on the chassis and powertrain, and what a combo they are. Take the steering; most modern electric-assist systems are failed attempts to replicate the sensations of hydraulic pumps, which are familiar but generally nonlinear and numb. But the 3’s electrically assisted wheel is set up to mimic the directness and response of manual steering. By switching suspension geometry—nearly doubling caster angle and trail—Mazda matches the rise in steering effort to rising g-loads in the tires.
The result is a car that makes utter use of its engines. Our beloved powertrain is fresh for 2015, a naturally aspirated Two.5-liter inline-four making one hundred eighty four horsepower and driving the front wheels through Mazda’s neat six-speed manual. The four is as forthright and linear as the steering, which makes the entire car feel harmonious, matched, and slick, and not like some intemperate hot hatch. But a hot hatch is what it is. Joy fact: Pigeons can hit ninety mph.