2019 Mazda3: The crossover car everyone is talking about – and liking

Okay, first off, know that the backseats are tight and really aren’t meant for bears or even human baby bears.  That said, the Mazda3 has always been a smallish, kinda grownup, some-call-it-a-crossover car that everyone seems to like because it has just about everything you’d want in a car.  Well, for Americans, that is….

This year’s Mazda3 is completely redesigned.  It’s sleeker looking and has a stealthy, healthy look to it. As you go up the food chain, the “premium interior materials in the upper trim levels provide a classy vibe,” according to Edmunds.com.  Well, there ya go…..

It’s a small car, perhaps not a compact car, but this is one you can park easily and can afford with relative ease, assuming your student debt stems from having chosen one major and sticking with it for three years while getting CLEP credit and paying no tuition for the fourth year.

Prices for the sedan start at $21K US, which a long, long time ago used to be the full cost for a four-year degree at an in-state public American university (back last century when Sophia, Dorothy, Blanche and Rose were all wearing sweaters in Miami). Mileage is 27 city and 36 highway, which is darn good. A hatchback starts at $23,600 US, and just so you know, there are some differences:

Some of the press material I received about the ‘3’ declared that “Mazda styled the hatchback with a more emotional design, while the sedan aims to present more elegant proportions.” Hmmmm. When you are gay, emotional and elegant just naturally go together because they have to – rarely did we, as LGBTQ+, ever get the chance to separate out all our traumas and talents – but take my work for it: when it comes to the ‘3’, emotion and elegance combine nicely as long as YOU are behind the wheel. (Of course, I always blend my traumas and talents wherever I go!)

Mazda really gets a lot of praise throughout the automotive geek world for its brand-named, trademarked ‘SkyActiv’ technology, which, according to Wikipedia, helps “increase fuel efficiency and engine output”. This year’s Mazda3 features a standard SkyActiv-G 2.5-liter engine, which was only optional last year.  It’s impressive, to be sure.

According to Dublin Mazda, “SKYACTIV-G works by increasing the compression ratio without a result in knocking, (which is) an abnormal combustion in which the air-fuel mixture ignites prematurely due to exposure to high temperature and pressure, thus creating an unwanted high-frequency noise.” Sounds gay to me, but leave it the Irish to figure that one out.

Anyhoo, this technology really puts the drag race back in the raciness of the Mazda3 and you will indeed feel the difference. Not that you should be racing with this car, mind you, because, well, you might spill your nachos or your funnel cakes while you are spilling the tea on your boss or someone with whom you should be a bit more careful. Still, you will enjoy the 3, along with the now available All-Wheel Drive for those of you who live in more uncertain climates.

U.S. News and World Report ranks this year’s Mazda3 as Number 1 in Compact Cars, and in the automotive web, you can’t get much better than that, at least when it comes to credible journalism.  And when it comes to the backseats, this group of researchers were kind enough to say those were just “mediocre”. Talk about soft to the touch!

I’d honestly give the 2019 Mazda3 a spin if you need four doors, something new and you can afford the car payments and the insurance – and you have at least a half decent chance of finding a regular place to park it.

Anymore, those are considered luxury items in many cities…….