The Mazda3 is a well-rounded vehicle that checks all the right boxes for a midsize sedan. One of its standout features is its handling, which is impressive considering its size and weight. As our test driver notes, "the steering feel makes it feel like it's heavier than it really is." This is due in part to the car's relatively lightweight 3,250-pound curb weight, but also because of the way the suspension handles bumps and potholes. While the handling is certainly responsive, our tester mentions that there may be some understeer in the corners, particularly when pushing the car hard.

However, this is a minor complaint compared to the overall driving experience. The Mazda3's steering feel is heavy and weighted, which can make it feel like you're driving a heavier vehicle than it actually is. This is something our tester appreciates, as it adds to the car's sense of solidity and presence on the road. "I like the way the steering feels," they say. "It's just for some people I would imagine they would have maybe a minor complaint about the effort being a bit high." But overall, the Mazda3's handling is one of its strongest suits.

One feature that sets the Mazda3 apart from other sedans is its paddle-shifted automatic transmission. While it may not be the fastest or most responsive system out there, our tester notes that it "has to be one of the smoothest gear changes" they've experienced in an automatic transmission. The car's use of a planetary gearbox helps to reduce shift times and make the overall driving experience feel more refined. Even when shifting gears manually, the Mazda3's paddle shifters are well-documented and intuitive, making it easy to adjust the gearing to suit your driving style.

When it comes to stopping power, the Mazda3 delivers decent performance, particularly considering its relatively small engine size. Our tester floors it on a wet road and notes that "it pulls above 4,000 RPM" before slowing down. While this may not be enough for some drivers who prefer more aggressive braking, the Mazda3's traction control system does a good job of smoothing out the ride and preventing wheelspin.

Another feature worth noting is the car's adaptive cruise control system, which operates like a human driver would in most situations. Our tester praises its intelligence and sensitivity, saying that it "operates a lot like a human" and "does a much better job of driving like a person would." The system will slow down or brake smoothly if necessary, but won't slam on the brakes unless absolutely necessary. This makes for a very smooth and relaxing drive on the highway.

Finally, our tester notes that the Mazda3 is also remarkably practical, considering its size and segment. It has usable rear seats with plenty of leg room and head room, even for larger drivers. And while it may not have an enormous trunk space, the cargo area is still quite large and versatile. Overall, the Mazda3 is a solid choice for anyone in the market for a midsize sedan.

One last note to consider when shopping for a Mazda3: the car's paddle-shifted automatic transmission can be slow to engage at first, but it becomes smoother and more responsive as you get used to it. And while the adaptive cruise control system may not operate below 0 mph (which is actually a good thing), it does provide a smooth and relaxing driving experience on long highway trips.

Overall, the Mazda3 is a fun-to-drive and practical vehicle that checks all the right boxes for midsize sedan shoppers. Its impressive handling, smooth paddle-shifted automatic transmission, and intelligent adaptive cruise control system make it a standout in its class.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhello everyone and welcome in this video we're going to be checking out the 2016 Mazda Mazda 6 now I'd be doing the Mazda 6 a great diservice if I weren't to discuss the many superlatives relating to just how efficient this vehicle is in comparison to all of the other vehicles which I've tested first off it has the highest highway fuel economy rating of any of the purely gasoline vehicles which I've tried out at 40 MP gallon this also gives it the second highest range of any vehicle I've tested at over 650 Mi assuming 40 MP gallon add an estimated $1,400 per year it also has the lowest annual fuel cost of any of the non-hybrid vehicles which I've tested it's the most aerodynamic vehicle I've tested today tying with the gc's 26 drag coefficient however having a smaller frontal area surprisingly this is also accomplished with better than average ground clearance for a sedan at 6.7 in the Mazda 6 along with the MX5 has the highest compression ratio of any gasoline engine which I've tested at 13 to1 however unlike the Miata the 6 only recommends regular octane fuel finally the Mazda has the best smog rating of any vehicle I've tested scoring a 9 out of 10 meaning very low nitrogen oxide or hydrocarbon emissions other than a fairly aggressive first gear the transmission is designed for efficiency keeping revs low at decent highway speeds the Grand Touring which I'm in also includes Mazda's IE Loop which improves fuel economy by as much as 5% through strategic use of the alternator to charge a capacitor when you're not on the gas pedal for example when you're braking a capacitor is used because it can charge much more rapidly than a battery to store energy for use on the vehicles on board Electronics put all of this efficiency Tech together and you reach the Mazda 6's 28 m perg city 40 MPG Highway rating which I was very close to achieving in my own testing combining both City and mostly highway driving the power plant under the hood is a 2.5 L inline 4 cylinder engine with dual overhead cams variable valve timing and aluminum block and head it produces 184 horsepower at 5700 RPM and 185 lb feet of torque at 3250 RPM the Mazda 6 starts at about $21,500 and as tested we're looking at $ 33,6 195 so what's it like to drive well as far as the interior actually it's pretty beautiful in here I do really like the interior there's plenty of space for the driver my knees aren't coming into contact with anything and there's a good amount of adjustment in both the seat and the steering wheel so you can get a nice comfortable position as far as visibility in pretty much every direction looking out the front the sides your blind spot looking out the back you've got good visibility in here so that's nice as well and you also do have a heads up display up front which shows you your speed and also the adaptive cruise control information as far as the ride itself it's actually pretty quiet in here I measured on the highway going at 65 75 DB which was the same as the Audi S4 which I tested which is a much heavier vehicle so it's pretty impressive that this is able to keep a pretty quiet anterior it also has a fairly smooth suspension in here so you don't really notice the bumps on the road it does a nice job of absorbing those and overall the ride quality is pretty smooth as far as the steering wheel it actually does have a decent amount of weight to it but it does feel pretty precise and it actually feels really responsive as far as when you turn in and overall it does a decent job of providing feedback so I've been impressed with it for the most part now the car has 184 horsepower so it's not really overwhelming when you do put your foot down uh nothing too spectacular but it will do a nice job of downshifting getting you into an appropriate gear for more torque coming into some Corners here you do have a nice build of weight in the steering feel as you come into the corner which I do like um you know it's pretty wet outside and there's leaves all over the road so I'm not going to be pushing it very hard I imagine you're going to be getting a little bit of under steer in the corners here which is to be expected for something like a sedan the vehicle you know the steering feel makes it feel like it's heavier than it really is the vehicle only weighs 3,250 lb which is still a decent amount but it's not all that much for a sedan but the steering feel is fairly heavy weighted so you feel like you're driving something a bit heavier even though you're not again though I do like the way the steering feels I think overall I wouldn't change it it's just for some people I would imagine they would have maybe a minor complaint about the effort being a bit high now you do have the ability to use paddle shifters to switch gears um so I'll demonstrate that here down into second put it into third now this system isn't very fast like most of these automatic manuals where you put it into these padal shifters but you have a planetary gearbox um it tends to be pretty slow to change gears but that said this has to be one of the smoothest gear changes especially the upshifts many times you don't even feel the gear shift happen uh it's an incredibly smooth system the downshifts you can feel a little bit but much less than some of the other automatic transmissions which I've tested so they've done a really nice job of making sure that the shifts are smooth even if they do take a decent amount of time to occur compared to you know a dual clutch or something like that for an automatic transmission I do have to say it's one of the better paddle shifting systems okay so we're going to get our 0 to in the ground is a bit wet so I'm just going to leave it in sport mode leave the traction control on and just floor it and see let the car do all the work let it sort it all out and see how good of a time it gets so that's what we'll be doing come to a stop right up here floor it and see how it does little bit of wheel slip decent pull above 4,000 RPM and there's 60 now one of the things I like about Mazda's adapt cruise control system is it's a very intelligent system it operates a lot like a human and what I mean by that is a lot of the cars I've tested they're pretty aggressive so if someone gets in front of you even if they're going faster than you if they're really close the system will kind of Slam on the brakes and be overly aggressive about keeping a set distance and so you as a driver would probably never do that if you saw someone jump in front of you but they were speeding you know they're going faster than you there's no need to slam on the brakes um also like if you're going into a corner or if there's a car in front of you and it's taking a turn and it's slowing down for that turn some cars will slow down really really aggressively and make a huge gap between you and that person taking a turn and so in those scenarios you know you slow down a lot more than you need to and so what I say you know this is a lot more like a human I feel like it does a much better job of driving like a person would where in these situations you know you don't need to slow down that much and the car itself doesn't seem to slow down that much so it's a very smooth adaptive cruise control system it doesn't aggressively break unless you know you're in a scenario where the person in front of you Slams on their brakes or something like that now it does cut off at low speeds though so once you get below a certain speed the system shuts off it gives an audible warning it says Hey adapter cruise controls canceled and then it hands it over to you so some cars you know they'll operate even down to 0er mph and then you tap it and get back on it this one does not but I do really like the way it operates on a highway uh where you know it's a smooth system the car is decently fun to drive all things considered you know it doesn't weigh all that much and it does have a nice steering feel to it so I like that you also have a very practical vehicle here I mean it's capable of insane fuel economy and you know you've got usable rear seats I had leg room and head room back there even with the seat adjusted how I have it I'm about 61 and you also have a really large trunk in the back so as far as midsize sedans are concerned uh this certainly makes sense it's certainly something worth considering in that segment so thank you guys for watching and if you have any questions or comments feel free to to leave them belowhello everyone and welcome in this video we're going to be checking out the 2016 Mazda Mazda 6 now I'd be doing the Mazda 6 a great diservice if I weren't to discuss the many superlatives relating to just how efficient this vehicle is in comparison to all of the other vehicles which I've tested first off it has the highest highway fuel economy rating of any of the purely gasoline vehicles which I've tried out at 40 MP gallon this also gives it the second highest range of any vehicle I've tested at over 650 Mi assuming 40 MP gallon add an estimated $1,400 per year it also has the lowest annual fuel cost of any of the non-hybrid vehicles which I've tested it's the most aerodynamic vehicle I've tested today tying with the gc's 26 drag coefficient however having a smaller frontal area surprisingly this is also accomplished with better than average ground clearance for a sedan at 6.7 in the Mazda 6 along with the MX5 has the highest compression ratio of any gasoline engine which I've tested at 13 to1 however unlike the Miata the 6 only recommends regular octane fuel finally the Mazda has the best smog rating of any vehicle I've tested scoring a 9 out of 10 meaning very low nitrogen oxide or hydrocarbon emissions other than a fairly aggressive first gear the transmission is designed for efficiency keeping revs low at decent highway speeds the Grand Touring which I'm in also includes Mazda's IE Loop which improves fuel economy by as much as 5% through strategic use of the alternator to charge a capacitor when you're not on the gas pedal for example when you're braking a capacitor is used because it can charge much more rapidly than a battery to store energy for use on the vehicles on board Electronics put all of this efficiency Tech together and you reach the Mazda 6's 28 m perg city 40 MPG Highway rating which I was very close to achieving in my own testing combining both City and mostly highway driving the power plant under the hood is a 2.5 L inline 4 cylinder engine with dual overhead cams variable valve timing and aluminum block and head it produces 184 horsepower at 5700 RPM and 185 lb feet of torque at 3250 RPM the Mazda 6 starts at about $21,500 and as tested we're looking at $ 33,6 195 so what's it like to drive well as far as the interior actually it's pretty beautiful in here I do really like the interior there's plenty of space for the driver my knees aren't coming into contact with anything and there's a good amount of adjustment in both the seat and the steering wheel so you can get a nice comfortable position as far as visibility in pretty much every direction looking out the front the sides your blind spot looking out the back you've got good visibility in here so that's nice as well and you also do have a heads up display up front which shows you your speed and also the adaptive cruise control information as far as the ride itself it's actually pretty quiet in here I measured on the highway going at 65 75 DB which was the same as the Audi S4 which I tested which is a much heavier vehicle so it's pretty impressive that this is able to keep a pretty quiet anterior it also has a fairly smooth suspension in here so you don't really notice the bumps on the road it does a nice job of absorbing those and overall the ride quality is pretty smooth as far as the steering wheel it actually does have a decent amount of weight to it but it does feel pretty precise and it actually feels really responsive as far as when you turn in and overall it does a decent job of providing feedback so I've been impressed with it for the most part now the car has 184 horsepower so it's not really overwhelming when you do put your foot down uh nothing too spectacular but it will do a nice job of downshifting getting you into an appropriate gear for more torque coming into some Corners here you do have a nice build of weight in the steering feel as you come into the corner which I do like um you know it's pretty wet outside and there's leaves all over the road so I'm not going to be pushing it very hard I imagine you're going to be getting a little bit of under steer in the corners here which is to be expected for something like a sedan the vehicle you know the steering feel makes it feel like it's heavier than it really is the vehicle only weighs 3,250 lb which is still a decent amount but it's not all that much for a sedan but the steering feel is fairly heavy weighted so you feel like you're driving something a bit heavier even though you're not again though I do like the way the steering feels I think overall I wouldn't change it it's just for some people I would imagine they would have maybe a minor complaint about the effort being a bit high now you do have the ability to use paddle shifters to switch gears um so I'll demonstrate that here down into second put it into third now this system isn't very fast like most of these automatic manuals where you put it into these padal shifters but you have a planetary gearbox um it tends to be pretty slow to change gears but that said this has to be one of the smoothest gear changes especially the upshifts many times you don't even feel the gear shift happen uh it's an incredibly smooth system the downshifts you can feel a little bit but much less than some of the other automatic transmissions which I've tested so they've done a really nice job of making sure that the shifts are smooth even if they do take a decent amount of time to occur compared to you know a dual clutch or something like that for an automatic transmission I do have to say it's one of the better paddle shifting systems okay so we're going to get our 0 to in the ground is a bit wet so I'm just going to leave it in sport mode leave the traction control on and just floor it and see let the car do all the work let it sort it all out and see how good of a time it gets so that's what we'll be doing come to a stop right up here floor it and see how it does little bit of wheel slip decent pull above 4,000 RPM and there's 60 now one of the things I like about Mazda's adapt cruise control system is it's a very intelligent system it operates a lot like a human and what I mean by that is a lot of the cars I've tested they're pretty aggressive so if someone gets in front of you even if they're going faster than you if they're really close the system will kind of Slam on the brakes and be overly aggressive about keeping a set distance and so you as a driver would probably never do that if you saw someone jump in front of you but they were speeding you know they're going faster than you there's no need to slam on the brakes um also like if you're going into a corner or if there's a car in front of you and it's taking a turn and it's slowing down for that turn some cars will slow down really really aggressively and make a huge gap between you and that person taking a turn and so in those scenarios you know you slow down a lot more than you need to and so what I say you know this is a lot more like a human I feel like it does a much better job of driving like a person would where in these situations you know you don't need to slow down that much and the car itself doesn't seem to slow down that much so it's a very smooth adaptive cruise control system it doesn't aggressively break unless you know you're in a scenario where the person in front of you Slams on their brakes or something like that now it does cut off at low speeds though so once you get below a certain speed the system shuts off it gives an audible warning it says Hey adapter cruise controls canceled and then it hands it over to you so some cars you know they'll operate even down to 0er mph and then you tap it and get back on it this one does not but I do really like the way it operates on a highway uh where you know it's a smooth system the car is decently fun to drive all things considered you know it doesn't weigh all that much and it does have a nice steering feel to it so I like that you also have a very practical vehicle here I mean it's capable of insane fuel economy and you know you've got usable rear seats I had leg room and head room back there even with the seat adjusted how I have it I'm about 61 and you also have a really large trunk in the back so as far as midsize sedans are concerned uh this certainly makes sense it's certainly something worth considering in that segment so thank you guys for watching and if you have any questions or comments feel free to to leave them below\n"