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2005 Mazda MAZDA3 Review
Mazda matures.
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Mazda is a growing car company. Not so much in a sales sense - though there's no shortage of action there - but rather in spirit. Like an undeclared college student, Mazda has been a part of society for longer than it has known its place within it. It spent two decades as the "rotary company," then got daring and experimental in the early 90s, then redesigned its cars into invisible blandness shortly after. The corporate logo got swapped twice within six years. Only recently has Mazda started to form an identity that works, and as the latest model to get a makeover, Mazda's junior sedan is a reflection of the new order.
It's a bit ironic that the Protégé name got shelved just as the car has become more of one than ever. While the styling and many key parts - engines and transmissions among them - are Mazda's own, the 3 is heavily based on the second-generation Ford Focus platform that also spawned the new Volvo S40. Since the Focus we get here is still the older version and the Volvo starts thousands higher, this Mazda might be the best Focus that money can buy. Next Page
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