2021 Mazda 3 vs 2019

What's the difference?

FEW cars have been as complicated or controversial as this current-generation Mazda3.

Launched in early 2019, it would have garnered stellar reviews if Mazda hadn’t decided to ditch the base Neo and kick things off instead with the mid-spec Pure. Consequently, the price of entry jumped by $4500, with predictably many buyers feeling abandoned by the brand. Sales have since declined, but that’s the general small-car trend anyway as the SUV’s stranglehold tightens.

Some enthusiasts weren’t too keen on the rear suspension’s switch from a sophisticated multi-link to a simple torsion beam either, claiming it didn’t align with Mazda’s sporting reputation.

Then the long-awaited, much vaunted Skyactiv-X models arrived in mid-2020 – a compression-ignition supercharged eco model promising diesel-like petrol economy without the noxious fumes and with improved performance and refinement to boot. Years in the making, the hype had perhaps been overblown because what eventuated wasn’t a Prius-rivalling yet GTI-like saviour, but something altogether… more nuanced. 

Now, as the dust settles, we take another look at the Skyactiv-X-equipped 3 (X20) in flagship Astina auto guise, to see if the mainstream small car has evolved as much as Mazda has us hoping.

And, more importantly, whether the Mazda3 can cut it as a premium proposition.

If you will indulge me, I'd like you to cast your mind back to the mid-90s. If you're too young, ask your parents or Google to do the same.

Have a peek at the pretty but not especially amazing 323 Astina. Some folks call it a four-door coupe, but it's a sedan. It was not nearly as attractive as the more adventurous hatchback.

The 323 went dull for almost a decade and then when the 3 arrived, it was the sedan that I thought was the looker. Sure, they weren't completely different like the old days, but the proportions were nicer and it was just a better thing to look at.

Then along came the most recent fourth-generation 3, the BP. The hatch, I think, is the gorgeous one while the sedan is a more sober. And while still made of lovely proportions, it seems to have been... flattened a bit.

Thorough as we are here at CarsGuide, I spent a week with the new sedan to ponder not only its looks, but whether it's much different to the hatch.