I just checked the local Mazda dealer’s prices on a 2016 Mazda 3 (which you indicated was the base model) with the local Honda dealer’s prices on a 2016 Civic (which is the baseline for Honda). The Mazdas were $26k, the Hondas were $20k. That’s a big difference at that price point! Now, there’s variation in the features and there may be dealer incentives or what have you, but that’s really something to consider. (FWIW, the local Chevy dealer has 2016 Malibus for $23k and the local Ford dealer has Focuses for $17k)
So Mazda may just not be competing well on price.
What’s the trunk space and leg room like on a Mazda? I hear they’re pretty small which makes them impractical for families.
I’m sorta confused when you list as a positive “have a coherent design theme running through their whole line of cars”. Who cares? I don’t care if one model from a particular manufacturer looks like another model, I care if that model looks good regardless of the other models. I’m not buying the entire line, I’m buying just one car.
When I bought my current car a little over 4 years ago, I test drove a bunch of lower end models. Most of them felt cramped and like it was hard to look around outside the car while driving. The only one I didn’t feel boxed in by was the Civic I ended up buying.
I’m not exactly sure what you were looking at, but the Mazda3 starts at $17.5, and the top of the line Grand Touring model has an MSRP of $25.5. I’m sure you could spend $26k on a 3 if you really tried, but comparing that model to a $20k Civic is not like-for-like. In my experience, Mazda competes very well on price. My friend just bought a CX-5 which was several thousand dollars cheaper than the equivalently equipped Ford Escape he was looking at. (OK, the Ford had an extra 50hp or so, but it was as close as we could get the two).
Those little rotary engines are finding new life with the racing crowd. 1.3 liters with a turbo(s) pumping out in the neighborhood of 1000 HP, and not weighing much at all, seems to be the ticket. If that engine wasn’t such a fuel/emission hog it might have had a chance.
Just MHO opinion. I tested a CX-5. The sightlines were wrong and, more to the point, the ride everyone describes as “fun” was too bouncy and jittery for my tastes.
I have the same reaction to Honda, as well. Overall I prefer Toyotas.
You didn’t do your research right. As steronz said, the Mazda base is about $17k. That includes some nice stuff that are options for most of the other cars in its class, like a backup camera and Bluetooth. I got a decent option package which added blind spot monitors, rear cross traffic alert, rain detecting wipers, automatic on/off headlights, allow wheels and a nice exterior trim. All for about $18.3k total.
Yes, but they are rating things based on consumer preferences, not simply on things like acceleration and handling. Consumer Reports is not by car enthusiasts, and like so many other car reviewers, Mazdas are near the top there too.
They’re suffering from a not-quite-as-bad-as-Mitsubishi case of the Japanese also-ran car brand syndrome. They’ve got a comfortable little niche carved out in the US market, but to grow that niche would take some pretty substantial investments. They don’t really spend that much on marketing, their dealer networks aren’t great and, possibly most importantly, they build almost all their US-bound cars in Japan which for tariff reasons puts them at a big profit margin disadvantage compared to mostly American-built Hondas and Toyotas.
The US really is the big prize of the global car market, but it’s a difficult and expensive market. The investment required by a mid-sized global car maker to break in and really do well is enormous and risks the whole global business. That’s a big part of why fairly large global car companies like Renault, Peugot, Suzuki, etc have either left the market or never really tried. An analogue to what Mazda would need to do is VW’s big push to enlarge their US market over the past 5 years or so which, even before the TDI scandal broke, seemed to have tarnished the brand’s reputation and financial health of the company, as well as never really delivering the increased US sales.
This is a big problem, and not just for Mazda. R&D in the automotive world has become so obscenely expensive that only the biggest car makers can afford it.
Basically, the “A-list” of companies that can make it on their own consists of (in no particular order): General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Volkwagen, Mercedes, and BMW.
Everyone else is on the B-list, and can’t afford to do much R&D, unless they have partners or some other kind of backers. Volvo is doing a lot of R&D, but it’s being done with Chinese money. I’ve noticed that some of the B-listers are starting to let their car lines slide, and spend their limited budgets on SUV’s and crossovers. Mitsubishi has already discontinued most of their car lineup, and the last few will be gone over the next few years. With Jaguar/Land Rover (owned by an Indian company), it’s pretty obvious that Rover is the favored son over those sports cars. Even Chrysler is steadily becoming Jeep plus some other brands. I personally think they’ve planning to phase out the Dodge brand altogether over the next several years.
Some of you might be asking “What happens to those companies if/when SUVs fall out of favor?” A number of auto industry people, myself included, think the answer is, “They’ll be screwed.”
Every time I’ve bought a car the Mazda I tried out was just a bit more expensive than the equivalent models in a few other brands. They do drive very nicely, but for me and a lot of customers, handling is actually not a major factor of consideration.
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Basically, the “A-list” of companies that can make it on their own consists of (in no particular order): General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Volkwagen, Mercedes, and BMW.
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Hyundai is one of the biggest corporations in the world and its motor company division is larger than some of the companies you’ve mentioned. They make more vehicles than Ford or Nissan.
I’ve owned 6 Fords (all bought used-'50, '54, '57, 61, '81, '95), 4 Toyotas (all bought new-'67, '68, '69, '70), 1 Dodge K-car ('89) but bought a used 2010 Mazda 5 “mini”-van 3.5 years ago. It hit 50,000 miles this week. It gets only 21 mpg locally which is 98% of my driving, so far. They stopped producing it in 2013 ±. I wish they would re-activate the Mazda 6 station wagon.
I recently bought a used 2010 Mazda3 from a non-Mazda dealer, and this is something I noticed as well. Anything I may need from a dealer is about 15-20 miles away, while pretty much every other brand is half that. Mazda dealers do seem to be spread thin, but that comes with the territory with one of the smaller car companies - I am willing to pay that price.
I also notice there are a couple of Mazda/Subaru dealers in the region - so maybe some of the smaller brands do team-up to cut costs as well as compete in larger markets.
FWIW I know Mazdas are compared a lot with Volkswagens. My impression of VW is less reliable car, cheaper finish, less aesthetics, and less reliable than Japanese name brands like Mazda (did I mention less reliable?). I guess we all have varying impressions of the car brands.
Same here. I bought my first Mazda, a 2004, in 2006. Went into a used car dealership looking to buy a Toyota or a Honda, and he recommended I test drive a Mazda 3, so I did. I fell in love with it and bought it the next day. I’ve never had that kind of reaction to a car before. Just love the damned thing. Also, good price. $12.5K with 11.5K miles (or was it $11.5K with 12.5K miles?.) Fast forward almost ten years later, I just bought a 2014 Mazda 3 iTouring a few months ago with 970 miles for $16.6K. I love it even more than my 2004. Fantastic mileage, smooth shifting, light clutch–just FUN to drive. It’s the best car in this price range I’ve driven (and I never foresee myself spending more on a car.) I like the instrument layout and the feel of the interior. Too many cars just have instrument panels that are overly busy and piss me off. The Mazda’s is clean and simple.
Anyway, back to the OP, I actually do find that Mazdas are reasonably popular. I see plenty of them when I drive around.
