2014 Mazda3
Mazda has been on a roll of late with great looking redesigns for the CX-5 crossover and Mazda6 midsize sedan; and with their SkyActiv technology producing noteworthy fuel economy gains without tuning out the zoom zoom fun factor the brand is known for. Well now they hope to bring all of that together in their high volume Mazda3 compact. So let’s see if the new ‘three’ can keep the good times rolling for Mazda.
2014 marks the 10th anniversary of the Mazda3. And in that brief time it’s not only become one of our favorite compacts, but Mazda’s biggest seller. And now in its 3rd generation this 5-door sees the biggest changes in its brief lifetime, being all new from the ground up.
Wheelbase is over 2-inches longer than before, yet overall length is almost 2-inches shorter, and the new proportions work great with Mazda’s KODO “soul of motion” design theme. We’re not going out on a limb when we say it’s the best looking car in the compact segment, particularly in 5-door hatch guise. If you must, a traditional 4-door sedan is also available. Both share the latest Mazda signature 5-point grille and sharply angled headlights. 16-inch wheels are standard, 18’s come on Touring and above.
Inside, the dash has been cleaned up and materials have taken a step in the right direction. We like just about everything about it, except for the gauge package which features a motorcycle-like large tach, but only a small digital speedometer. An additional flip up Active Driving Display helps somewhat by adding another digital speed readout, as well as navigation and other vehicle information, but we’d still like to see a traditional needle speedo.
Our test model came in highly equipped Grand Touring trim, which left us wanting for little as navigation, Bose sound, leather-trimmed sport seats, dual-zone climate, and push button start are all included. The GT Technology package adds a lane departure warning system, automatic high beam control, active grille shutters, and Mazda’s new i-eLoop system that stores energy generated by the brakes in a capacitor to run the car’s electrical components.
Now we doubt many buyers will option their Mazda3 this high, but even base models have great seats up front with a very sporty driving position. Rear seats are also much comfier than before, though leg room remains in short supply. But cargo room is up significantly with 20.2 cubic-ft. of space expanding to 47.1 with rear seatbacks folded.
2 SkyActiv -G 4-cylinder engines are available, a 2.0-liter and a 2.5-liter. There’s very little fuel economy penalty for stepping up to the larger four, and its 184-horsepower and 185 lb-ft. of torque up the fun factor exponentially.
How much so? Well at our test track we managed to hit 60 in 6.9-seconds. There’s a tiny bit of wheel hop at launch, but once hooked up this latest 3 pulls pretty strong through the RPMs. All Grand Touring cars are equipped with a 6-speed automatic and we found shifts very quick in sport mode, helping us reach the end of the quarter mile in 15.2-seconds at 95 miles-per-hour.
SkyActiv body and chassis enhancements have made the new 3 both stiffer and lighter, and the fully independent suspension setup consists of MacPherson struts up front with a Multi-link in the rear, twin-tube shocks all around. Brakes are 4-wheel discs on all models, but cars with 18-inch wheels get slightly larger discs up front. We averaged an okay 129-feet from 60.
Additional available safety features include blind spot monitoring and backup camera with rear cross traffic alert, and the Mazda3 also features a new Mazda Connect infotainment system which merges all of your connectivity needs into a dash top screen with an easy to use central controller.
SkyActiv provides Government Fuel Economy Ratings for our 2.5 Grand Touring automatic of 28-City, 38-Highway, and 32-Combined. We averaged a good 33.2 miles-per-gallon of Regular in mixed driving. The Energy Impact Score is also very good, with annual oil use of 10.3-barrels and yearly CO2 emissions of 4.6-tons.
Pricing is competitive for the base model at just $19,740 for an iSport 5-door. Sedans start even cheaper at $17,740. However for an S Grand Touring 5-door like ours, you’re looking at $27,290.
While somewhat pricey for its segment, the 2014 Mazda3 offers features and style of vehicles twice its sticker. Add in fine fuel economy and a fun-to-drive nature that’s hard to find in this segment, and that makes the Mazda3 a real hit with us, and we think with more discerning small car buyers as well.
Specifications
- Engine: 2.5-liter
- Horsepower: 184
- Torque: 185 lb-ft.
- 0-60 mph: 6.9 seconds
- 1/4 mile: 15.2 seconds @ 95 mph
- EPA: 28 mpg city/ 38 mpg highway
- Energy Impact: 10.3 barrels of oil/yr
- CO2 Emissions: 4.6 tons/yr
2025 Subaru WRX tS
Subaru’s “World Rally eXperimental” Gets Tecnica-Tuned Tech
Building on its global rally heritage, WRX has been a standalone Subaru nameplate, marketed separately from garden variety Impreza, for two generations now. And while the current WRX still lacks the full STI treatment, this WRX tS serves up some of that high-performance spice we’ve been longing for.
Before we go flat out into our Track Test of this 2025 Subaru WRX tS, lets open the Subaru dictionary so we’re all on the same page. “tS” stands for “tuned by STI;” and “STI” is an acronym for “Subaru Tecnica International,” the brand’s high-performance sub-group best known for upgrading the WRX— oh, that stands for “World Rally eXperimental,” in case you didn’t know.
All that said, STI has been largely dormant for this WRX generation, but this tS sprinkles more of their engineering magic into the mix. No, that doesn’t mean extra power, but does mean significant chassis-related improvements.
First, electronically controlled dampers, adjustable through the 11.6-inch tablet-style infotainment screen. That meant a softer “comfort” mode on the 10+ hour commute to and from Savannah’s Roebling Road Raceway. But once we were there, it was the firmer “Sport+” setting all the way, heightening response from the WRX’s throttle and already quick dual-pinion power steering system. There’s still some body roll for rally-esque weight transfer, but it’s well sorted and provides the “toss-ability” you want in a WRX.
Though if you do autocross your tS, which we implore you to do, you might feel the six-piston front, two-piston rear Brembo brakes first. The bite is strong, giving good rotation in the corners and plenty of “halt” for this 3,400 lb. compact with minimal fade, keeping us on track all week…until some unfortunate winter weather passed overhead. No worries here, as Subaru’s Symmetrical All-Wheel-Drive system got us to the track for some powdered deserts: Frosted donuts served up Michelin style, a set of winter tires different from the grippy Bridgestone Potenza S007 rubber the tS typically rides on. Some prior hot laps of California’s Sonoma Raceway gave credence to those Bridgestones, and showed us what this hot-compact can do in ideal conditions.
It’s well sorted and provides the “toss-ability” you want in a WRX.
Other tS enhancements are cabin-based, namely these beautiful blue Recaros. Most of our staff appreciated their moderately-aggressive bolstering on both street and track. And they’re even heated, too. Another tS-only appointment is this 12.3-inch digital gauge display. It mimics the standard analog gauges with some additional info, but can switch to a navigation mode for more convenient route guidance.
We do wish our tS came in the new Galaxy Purple or the trademark World Rally Blue, but this Crystal White paint wasn’t too shabby, contrasting its Cherry Blossom Red badging and blacked-out lip spoiler. Otherwise, the tS is like any other WRX, down to the hood scoop funneling air to the top-mounted intercooler.
Underneath is the same turbocharged 2.4-liter flat-four in all other trims, boxing at 271 horsepower and 258 lb-ft of torque. The freak winter weather stopped straight-line testing, but a 0-60 time estimate of 5.5 seconds is about as spry as you realistically need, pulling strong through most of the tach; though the 6,000 RPM redline required attentive shifting of the six-speed box, which the tS comes exclusively with. The throws are precise, if a little long, and the clutch is wonderfully weighted.
With discontinuation of the Base trim, pricing for the WRX now starts with Premium at $36,920. The tS is at the top of the lineup with the automatic-only GT, both starting at $46,875. All WRXs continue to be made in Gunma, Japan.
If you’re an enthusiast itching to do the tuning yourself, perhaps the 2025 Subaru WRX tS is not for you. But if you want a plug-and-play experience, this is it. While it won’t exactly bestow the loose-cannon, top-level driving skills exhibited by famous WRC drivers upon you, the tS moves this WRX’s game in a direction we’ve so desperately wanted Subaru to take.
Specifications
As Tested
- Engine: 2.4-liter flat-four
- Tranmission: 6-speed manual
- Horsepower: 271
- Torque: 258 lb-ft
2025 Porsche 911 Carrera
Ever Evolving 911 Reaches New Heights
The Porsche 911 has existed for 60 years now! Amazing! And, you could argue that major changes over all those years have been relatively few, as constant incremental improvement is more the way that Porsche does business. With that in mind, let’s hit the track in the latest 911 and see what constant improvement means for 2025.
We’ve driven so many 911s here at MotorWeek, each seemingly more special than the last, so it’s a bit refreshing to be ripping around Savannah’s Roebling Road Raceway in a 2025 Porsche 911 that’s about as close as you can get to base these days. And the fact that it’s just as fun as all those exclusive pieces says a lot about how far the 911 has come. Perhaps it also speaks to how much a base 911 will set you back today as well; more on that later.
For now, we’re just thinking about the next apex, holding steady throttle as we approach, and getting on it way sooner than you’d expect without upsetting anything, as the 911 rockets off the corner thanks to tremendous grip and a PDK trans that finds the perfect gear before we even gave it a thought. Even with very cold track temps, we never struggled for grip or battled any wheelspin coming off of corners. And trying to land it in that perfect spot in braking zones is easy with strong brake performance that was predictable and consistent lap after lap; no wandering, and great feedback too.
Yes, even the standard 911 is near pure perfection on a racetrack. It gives you all the right feedback, stays incredibly flat through corners, makes you always feel totally in control, and again is just plain fun. Unless you’re chasing lap times, there’s really no need to head further up the 911 tree. Though it is worth noting the few upgrades that were on our Carrera did help the situation a little. The 20- and 21-inch Carrera S wheels enabled plenty of grip from the 305 Pirelli P Zero tires, the Sport Chrono Package allows 0-60 sprints of 3.7 seconds, an extended range fuel tank meant we could lap all day without having to fill up, and the fantastic Sport Seats provided great support and better comfort than we remember experiencing in a 911. The Sport Exhaust system didn’t add anything to performance, but made things sound a whole lot better, and the oval silver tips look great too.
We never struggled for grip or battled any wheel spin coming off of corners.
Our track time got cut short thanks to a rare snowstorm in Coastal Georgia, but the white stuff and blue sky made the perfect backdrop for our Guards Red Carrera. Exterior tweaks for what is officially the 992.2 include a reshaped front fascia with improved aerodynamics. All front lighting is now contained within the Matrix Design LED headlight housing. The rear fascia has also been smoothed out, the license plate moved higher, and Porsche 3D block lettering spelled out across the back beneath the active rear spoiler and new decklid grille.
Even without Turbo in the name, the standard 911 engine is indeed a turbo these days, a 3.0-liter flat-six twin-turbo delivering 388 horsepower and 331 lb-ft strictly to the rear wheels in the Carrera Coupe.
Inside the cabin, the 911 continues its slow crawl towards the modern, now including a 12.6-inch fully digital gauge display and a start button located on the left side of the steering wheel, with drive modes easily accessible on the wheel itself. In another no brainer move, Porsche now makes the rear seat a no cost option, so you can choose if you want it or not.
Government Fuel Economy Ratings are 18 City, 25 Highway, and 21 Combined. That’s only slightly worse than average for the Energy Impact Score; 14.2 barrels of annual oil consumption with 7.0 tons of CO2 emissions.
The good news is this 911 had the fewest number of options of any Porsche that we’ve tested in some time, and it was still plenty awesome; the bad news is, a base Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe now starts at $122,095.
But can you really put value on “the force,” this mythical power that Porsche seems to have, that somehow turns average drivers into great ones? It’s useless to resist as far as we’re concerned, as it only gets better with the 2025 Porsche 911 Carrera.
Specifications
As Tested
- Engine: 3.0-liter twin-turbo flat-6
- Transmission: 8-speed PDK
- Horsepower: 388
- Torque: 331 lb-ft