2019 Volkswagen Golf vs Mazda 3

What's the difference?

Small, fast, agile, good value and iconic, the 2019 Golf GTI has stayed true to its roots. A fun car to drive which anybody can pilot easily.

The new 3 sedan is just as good as the hatch, but different. Mazda has gone out of its way to make the two body styles look different enough to cover more than a few bases. This works on a global scale - the Chinese market absolutely loves a sedan but in Australia, the 3 sedan only accounts for around 10 percent of sales.

The new 3 really is something else - it looks feels a heck of a lot more expensive than it is (especially in Soul Red), drives beautifully without being startling and in the case of the sedan, rides very comfortably indeed.

The Golf GTI's styling has always been low key and this updated version is no different. But to those that know there are obvious indicators such as the tough body kit, the red pinstripe running through the headlights and grille, and of course, the badges.

As much as I love the Hyundai i30N and Honda Civic Type R for their performance, with their wings and fins they do look a bit silly and immature next to the grown-up Golf GTI.

The GTI’s interior may not be as prestigious as you’d think, but it is outstanding for tech and the cabin design. Leather seats aren’t standard, but as is Golf GTI tradition the Clark tartan cloth upholstery is another indicator to those with their faces pressed up against the glass that this is not a normal Golf.

You can see our test car’s leather seats in the images, along with the 9.2-inch touchscreen with gesture control and the Dynaudio sound system with its speakers in the A-pillars.

The Golf’s dimensions haven’t changed in this update, it’s still just under 4.3m long, 1.8m wide and 1.4m tall. That makes it great for the city where parking spaces can be tight, but does it also mean room inside is limited? Read on to find out.

The sedan is oddly anonymous in this new Mazda3. It misses out on some of the cool detailing of the hatch, particularly the gloriously designed tail-lights - the circular sections are flatter and flush with the rest of the housing.

It's not ugly, not by a long shot and certainly isn't as polarising as the hatch. You can also see out over your shoulder. 

The front ends of the hatch and sedan are fundamentally identical, with the funky grille shape and effects along for the ride.

From the side, both have good presence but the hatch's - I hesitate to use this word - stance is much more convincing. The good news is, the choice between them is more than a boot.

Inside is visually identical to the hatch. The new dash is refreshingly button free (although still a bit colourless) and the new screen looks terrific.

There's something about the consistency of detailing in the current Mazda range - all the fonts match on the switches, the instruments and the head-up.

It sounds ridiculous but that makes a huge difference in making the cabin feel resolved. The seats are terrifically comfortable, too.

Concerned the Golf GTI might be too small for you? It depends on how you’re planning to use it. First, in terms of people moving, legroom in the back isn’t huge. I’m 191cm tall and can’t fit behind my driving position, although headroom is excellent. 

So, as long as the people in the back are under six-foot tall, I reckon you’ll have nothing to worry about, unless you plan to carry loads of stuff frequently.

That brings me to the cargo capacity of the boot which at 380 litres is smaller than the Honda Civic Type R’s 414 litres and a litre less than the i30N’s boot space. If you have kids and use a pram, then see if it fits in the boot before you buy. And even if it does, is there room for anything else?
 
If you’re looking for a little family truckster, don’t want an SUV, but do want a Volkswagen, there’s the Golf R wagon which is fast and can carry way more with its 605-litre boot.

Cabin storage in the Golf GTI is good with giant bottle holders in all doors, the centre console bin under the armrest is narrow but deep and the small hidey hole in front of the shifter has one USB port which if you have hands larger than a child is hard to plug into. 

There are two cupholders up front and two in the fold-down armrest in the second row along with air vents back there, too. In the cargo area you’ll find a 12-volt power outlet and another up front next to the driver.

The sedan rides on the same wheelbase as the hatch but the overall length is up 200mm. That might not seem like much, but that translates to a boot of 444 litres, which is a lot more than the hatch's 295 litres.

The rear seats seem slightly more roomy than the hatch. There are even air vents for rear seat dwellers, which is rather nice.

The G25 Evolve starts at $29,490 (before on-road costs) for the manual almost nobody buys, and an extra thousand takes you to $30,490 for the six-speed auto.

The Evolve spec isn't skimpy, with 18-inch alloys, dual-zone climate control, an excellent safety package, reversing camera, rear parking sensors, keyless entry and start, auto LED headlights, auto wipers, electric drivers seat, sat nav, leather wheel and shifter, leather seats and a space-saver spare.

Mazda's 'MZD Connect' has a had a big facelift to go with the very nice interior. Displayed on an 8.8-inch screen that looks like it belongs, it has DAB+, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and in-built sat nav. The eight-speaker stereo is quite nice if nothing amazing.

The updated Golf GTI doesn’t just get more safety equipment and the virtual instrument cluster, nope, you get more grunt and gears than the previous GTI.
 
The new Golf GTI’s 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine now makes 11kW more power and 20Nm more torque for a total of 180kW/370Nm.

That output is getting close to the performance king of Golfs – the R (with 213kW/380Nm), and it’s enough to get the GTI from 0-100km/h in 6.2 seconds.

The six-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission has also been swapped for a seven-speed version which is in the Golf R. It’s a wet-clutch DSG, not the dry-clutch unit which was the focus of a recall a few years back.

It’s with a heavy heart that I also write that a manual transmission is no longer available in Australia on the Golf GTI, but fortunately the DSG is excellent.

The updated Golf GTI has been given more Golf R hand-me downs in the form of a front and rear ventilated disc brake package.

The Golf GTI has also been gifted a mechanical front differential lock in this update. And while the Golf R is an all-wheel drive, the GTI remains front-wheel drive. 

That’s a darn good upgrade, and you’d be a bit miffed if you’d bought the previous Golf GTI not long before this one arrived.

Mazda's 'SkyActiv' 2.5-litre engine lives on with a few more kilowatts into the bargain, in this case delivering 139kW/252Nm to the front wheels via a six-speed automatic.

The G20 makes do with 114kW/200Nm and feels a lot slower.

As ever, the SkyActiv engine drives the front wheels through a six-speed SkyActiv transmission. 

After driving the Golf GTI away from the race circuit I refuelled and drove it for a week as many would -   doing the daily commute to and from the city in peak hour traffic, picking the boy up from daycare, a decent amount of motorway running, and the occasional blast along my favourite roads. 

So, 283km later I measured the fuel usage at the petrol pump and found the Golf GTI drank 12.1L/100km, which is lower than the 12.3L/100km the trip computer was reporting.

The claimed (combined cycle) fuel economy figure over a combination of open and urban roads is 6.5L/100km. To get fuel economy that low, you’d have to drive conservatively.

Despite all the extra hardware south of the rear axle, Mazda reckons you'll sip standard unleaded (there's a bonus) at a rate of 6.5L/100km on the combined cycle, 0.1L/100km less than the hatch.

Our week with the car saw us average 9.8L/100km with mostly suburban driving.

As before, Mazda's has fitted 'i-Stop' stop-start which is quite clever. Most people hate stop-start, but this one covers both bases.

You can control whether it switches off the engine. Light brake pressure keeps the engine ticking over while a slight increase will cut the fuel.

Sure, the Golf GTI isn’t as hardcore as its Golf R brother, but that’s also part of its appeal: fast but not furious. This is a hot hatch you can take to a track, put down an impressive performance and then drive to work every day in, do the shopping and pick the kids up in – which is what I did.

I tested the Golf GTI in torrential rain at Luddenham raceway in Sydney and then took it home to spend the week commuting in going nowhere morning and afternoon traffic, with plenty of motorway kays thrown in.

First, the track time. I drove the Golf GTI back-to-back with the Golf R Special Edition and the difference between them in the wet weather was big. The R’s all-wheel drive meant it rarely lost traction and resisted understeer well even on downhill turns with water streaming across the track.
 
The front-wheel drive GTI struggled with the combination of slippery conditions along with me asking a lot of it. The same corners which the R threaded through beautifully, saw the GTI at the same speed get a little out of shape an instant before the traction control light flickered and order was restored.

This just meant having to drive the GTI a bit differently, I couldn’t hold the same speed through corners as the R and when it came to the main straight the power difference between the two was stark. The R can throw itself from 0-100km/h almost 1.5 seconds faster than the GTI at 4.8 seconds. 

Still, the GTI felt quick, and so did the seven-speed dual clutch, which in Sport mode climbs hard and fast up through the gears and instinctively knows when to shift down.

The lowered sports suspension is excellent with the body kept flat and controlled. Under brakes the GTI remained composed, pulling up straight and up fast – even on that greasy wet track.

I then drove the Golf GTI home and as the roads dried out, was reminded why the hatch is so popular – it’s a car which quickly felt as though it’d become an extension of my own body. From the seats which hugged me (but not too tight) and the steering which feels just right, to the pedals perfectly placed under my feet and the response from the turbo four which was strong and always there. 

Like wearing a suit, you could turn, move, change lanes and steam ahead quickly without any effort, all with great visibility thanks to the big windows and well-designed pillars.

The Golf GTI sounds great. In Sport mode the exhaust note is low and tough. Blip the throttle and it barks beautifully, but not as viciously as the Golf R Special Edition.

The GTI we tested rolled on 19-inch wheels shod with 225/35 Pirelli P Zero rubber, and despite those super-low profile tyres the ride was comfortable, even on Sydney’s poor excuse for roads.

A special note about the auto parking. I know it’s been around a while, but in my street where everybody seems angry it’s brilliant. The system finds you a space and then parks itself quicker and more perfectly than I reckon most people ever could.

Mazda tells that the set-up of the sedan is identical to the hatch. Sure there are differences like, say the tyres, but the idea is that the two drive identically. I, uh, I don't think so.

Plenty is the same. The engine and transmission do a good, less frantic job of moving the 3 along than the lower-powered 2.0-litre.

I can't stress enough how much better the 2.5 is. The 2.0 does a good enough job, it's just that you'll find it wanting with a load on about halfway up that steep hill. The 2.5 is much happier in traffic and the difference in fuel consumption is negligible, so the only real extra cost is the up-front spend for the G25.

The steering is just as keen and quick as the hatch's, too. The wheel responds very quickly to inputs and you don't have to do much twirling to get the car into a park.

It's not too quick a sneeze will send you into orbit, though, which is handy. The clever 'G-Vectoring' system is along, too, rapidly building driver confidence in the car's abilities.

What felt a lot different to me was the ride, something I noticed moments after picking up the sedan. I had a hatch overlapping with the sedan so was able to jump in and out over a couple of days to ensure I wasn't making it all up.

It seemed a little less busy than the hatch which felt a bit more loaded for bear. The sedan felt like it had a little more roll and carried a little more weight. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, a scaled-down 6 isn't a bad idea at all.

In town and at speed, the 3's past problems with road noise are a distant memory. No doubt strategic use of foam, carpets and other clever bits and pieces are a big part of the improvement, as well as stiffer bits and pieces.

The sedan is a bit easier to get around in as the vision over your shoulder is a bit better, unencumbered as it is by that slab of metal that is the hatch's C-pillar. 

Mazda's (very welcome) preoccupation with safety continues. The new 3 has seven airbags, ABS, stability and traction controls, forward and reverse AEB, lane keep assist, reverse cross traffic alert, forward collision warning and a blind spot monitor.

Out back are three top-tether anchors and two ISOFIX points.

The new 3 scored a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating in May 2019.

The Golf GTI is covered by Volkswagen’s five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty. Servicing is recommended every 15,000km or 12 months. You can expect to pay $377 for the first service, $572 for the second, $464 for the third, $1160 for the next and then $377 for the fifth.

Mazda offers a five year/unlimited kilometre warranty which, like the clutch of advanced safety gear, is very welcome indeed.

Since the start of April 2019, you also get five years of roadside assist. In the past, you had to pay for that.

The company continues with the weird 12 months/10,000km service intervals, so clearly it doesn't seem to bother its customers too much.

The 'Service Select' program lists the price of each service up to the fifth. Total cost over five services is $1581 at an average of $316 per service (you'll pay either $299 or $342, plus extra items listed on the website).