When I think of Mazda I instinctively think of the old 1980’s 323 hatchback.
I relate to that car because my uncle owned one, back in the day, and it was a
brilliant car, it went everywhere with no problems. Over the years there have
been vast advancements in the products that Mazda has to offer, but it was done
quietly, without attracting much attention to itself, and somehow they remain
one of the strongest competitors to the likes of Toyota, VW and Nissan.

Darryl, a work colleague, had just taken delivery of a new Mazda 3 1.6
Dynamic, and I was given the opportunity to take it out for a test drive. The
1.6 litre engine of this model produces 77kw of power and 145nm of torque. As I
approached the car it was hard to deny the fact that this is truly a
beautifully designed car, the looks alone can convince you to buy one
immediately. Honeycomb grill, fogs and 17” alloys is standard attire for this
variant.

The 1.6 Dynamic comes with keyless operation, so as long as you have the
remote on you, all you have to do is approach the car and open the door, jump
in and push the ‘Start’ button, as a safety precaution you have to hold the
clutch in before pushing the start button.

Inside I found that there was the right combination of chrome and leather. This
model comes factory fitted with leather seats, which gives it that quality feel
and finish to it, as opposed to aftermarket leather. The circular instrument
panel behind the steering wheel housed the speedometer and rev counter, but the
on board computer screen and information panel was set in the middle of the
dash a tad bit too far for my liking, and what made it worse was its location
at the bottom of the windscreen, the glare from the sun made it almost
impossible to see the screen from time to time. I found that the gear shift was
nicely located, and by resting my hand on it I could operate the aircon and
radio with ease, although the Dynamic does come with satellite controls on the
steering wheel. Space wise there is absolutely nothing to complain about, for a
hatch this cars legroom competes with that of sedans.

As we navigated out of the parking and out onto the road I gave the
accelerator a little push just to get a feel of the engine response and was
pleasantly surprised, the car pulled away nicely with a sporty growl. We did
the route to Sibaya and back, and I found that the suspension was a bit stiff
but not too much that it compromised comfort, as a result of which the Mazda perceived
a sensation of trustworthy handling, which I decided to put to the test on the
bends around Sibaya. The Mazda 3 had passed the test and had earned my trust.

Back on the highway 5^th gear was all I needed, up hills and
overtaking where done with minimum effort from the 1.6 litre engine. All I had
to do was put my foot down and the hatchback surged forward to do my bidding, although
I noticed a considerable increase in fuel consumption whenever I put my foot
down. But cruising at 120km gave me a satisfactory 7.2l/100kms fuel consumption.

The 1.6 Dynamic is priced at R244000, but due to a in house finance discount
Darryl picked it up at R194000, a massive discount that made it impossible to
pass up. A 5 year 90000km service plan and 4 year 100000km Warranty is
standard. I personally believe that the warranty is a year short on itself and
should at least be equivalent to the years on the service plan. All in all I
had fun testing the Mazda 3 1.6 dynamic, a brilliant mixture of luxury and
power.