2026 Mazda 3 G20 Touring long-term review: Conclusion

Our three months with this Mazda 3 are up, and it’s fair to say it has been a great reminder of why this small hatch remains as popular with buyers as it is.

We’ve put it through about 4000km of driving around town, on winding country roads, and a major interstate road trip to test its mettle in the conditions Australians expect their small cars to do well in.

Should the Mazda 3 still be close to the top of your consideration list for a hatchback of this size? The short answer is yes.

For the long answer – including the things it doesn’t do so well – continue reading.

Once one of the most expensive cars in its category, the rest of the small-car class has caught up to the Mazda 3 on price.

At $37,410 plus on-road costs, or about $42,000 drive-away as tested in NSW, the G20 Touring specification is about $2000 cheaper than a Toyota Corolla ZR Hybrid or Kia K4 Sport+, yet offers similar or, in the latter’s case, more equipment.

It is about $8000 cheaper than the most affordable Honda Civic, albeit now a hybrid, while similar money to this Mazda will only get you a base-model Volkswagen Golf with fabric seats.

Said generous equipment on the Mazda includes 18-inch alloy wheels, LED lights, a 10.25-inch touchscreen, wireless phone charging, dual-zone climate control, leather seats, a power driver’s seat, head-up display, keyless entry, and a 360-degree camera.

The Mazda 3 still cuts a sharp figure on the road seven years after this generation’s launch, and it’s even better inside.

Up front, occupants sit in plush and comfortable leather seats, the steering wheel feels premium in the hand, and there’s plenty of room for taller drivers to stretch out.

Soft, leather-like materials are used on the doors, dashboard, armrests, and most places you’re likely to touch – even kneepads on the centre console – and there is a sense of quality that’s lacking from the latest breed of prestige-badged hatchbacks costing twice the price.

The 10.25-inch infotainment screen offers touch support for wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, while its Mazda-designed menus – home to embedded navigation – are managed through a rotary dial that, once you’re used to it, helps keep your eyes on the road.

Small-item storage is good – a highlight is the centre console lid that slides back for easier access to wallets, keys, and receipts under the armrest – while all of the key controls fall easy to hand, including clicky dials and buttons for air conditioning.

The eight-speaker unbranded sound system is surprisingly decent for a base system, and I’ve come to appreciate features like the auto-dipping side mirrors (but not the ‘zoomed-in’ effect on the driver’s side mirror…). On the road, the Mazda 3 fits the focus on sporty, fun-to-drive cars that its maker has tried to imbue in the Australian public for more than two decades.

Around town, the suspension is on the firmer side of the spectrum for a small car, the steering is relatively heavy, and tyre roar is generally well isolated, but it isn’t whisper-quiet, either.

It pays off in the country. The springs and dampers settle at higher speeds, keeping body roll to a minimum and work with good grip from the Toyo tyres to tuck the Mazda 3’s nose into bends.

There’s enough feedback through the steering – by the standards of modern cars – to place this hatchback on the road and push it a little harder through bends than you might in one of its rivals.

The brake pedal is set up to be leaned upon – what comes across as not-so-responsive around town helps to inspire confidence on country roads – and it is a capable and assured car on winding tarmac.

On the freeway home, the driver assist systems are well calibrated: lane-keep assist doesn’t annoy you, adaptive cruise control is smoothly tuned, and while it is too prone to cancelling itself on even gentle bends, lane-centring assist does a decent job.

The speed sign recognition system does not beep at you when the car exceeds the limit it has detected – even if it has misread the sign – unless you ask it to.

The sleek shape – and price undercutting rivals – comes at a cost inside, and under the bonnet.

Space in the rear seats is tight compared to a Kia K4 or Volkswagen Golf. At 186cm (6ft 1in) tall, I can fit behind my driving position, but there isn’t a whole lot of knee room, my head bumps the roof lining, and toe room is limited.

Ingress and egress are not that easy, either – the door openings are not huge, even compared to the related CX-30 small SUV – and a "transmission" tunnel on the floor makes for an even more cramped middle-seat experience than there would otherwise be.

Rear passengers get air vents, map pockets, and a fold-down centre armrest, but there are no USB ports, and small side windows won’t be loved by kids in child seats.

The boot is also one of the smaller cargo holds in the small-car class. It will suit school bags, shopping, and smaller suitcases, but weekends away with big bags or large prams may struggle without lowering the rear seats.

At least there’s a space-saver spare wheel to fix punctures, rather than a can of sealant in a tyre repair kit.

Up front, while the multimedia system works well, its position on the dashboard – far away from you – is a symptom of being designed for the rotary dial, so touching the screen to use Apple CarPlay requires a fair stretch from the driver’s seat.

Why not use the dial, you say? Controlling an app like Spotify – with icons of different shapes and sizes, clearly designed for fingers – with a rotary controller is a pain in the neck.

More customisation of the graphics on the 7.0-inch instrument display would be appreciated, as would features such as heated seats.

On the road, while the Mazda 3 impresses with its ride and handling balance, the 2.0-litre petrol engine is not a standout.

It keeps up with traffic, and performance is adequate for a small hatch, but steep hills or acceleration onto motorways see the engine work hard to meet the driver’s demand for power, often delivering more noise than forward progress.

A larger and more powerful 2.5-litre engine is available in other Mazda 3 variants, including in a G25 Evolve SP grade that trades some of the G20 Touring’s luxuries for performance.

I’d strongly recommend stepping up to the bigger motor, especially if you intend to load the car up with passengers and cargo, as most of my impressions of the 2.0-litre’s overtaking performance were with one or two people in the vehicle.

The six-speed automatic gearbox is smooth on the move, but it’s prone to the occasional shunt when caught out in traffic, and it is keen to hold a low gear for a little too long after you’ve backed off the throttle, having called for a burst of acceleration.

Without any sort of hybrid assistance, the Mazda 3 is not especially frugal, either.

In motorway and highway driving, I observed indicated consumption in the 5.5 to 6.0 litres per 100 kilometres range, but suburban motoring pushed the trip computer up to 8.0 to 9.0L/100km, and in traffic beyond 10L/100km.

It’s a lot of fuel for a small car, though compatibility with 91-octane regular unleaded and E10 fuels will help the hip pocket somewhat.

Servicing is also more expensive than some of its peers, at $2311 over five years/75,000km – more than a Corolla hybrid ($1325), but a little cheaper than a 2.0-litre Kia K4 ($2322).

The Mazda 3 is not a perfect small hatchback – far from it – but its blend of all attributes will hit the spot for singles, couples, or as a second car for families.

It’s stylish, the interior is beautifully presented, the technology works well, it is great to drive, and its value proposition makes sense in the showroom, with a solid level of equipment for the money.

The boot is smaller than some of its rivals, and the back seats are tight, but unless you are using this as the primary family car – which for many Australians is now a larger SUV, such as Mazda’s own CX-5 – it may not be much of an issue.

Its other major weakness – the engine – can be partially addressed by stepping up to the 2.5-litre engine, if the budget stretches far enough. If it doesn’t, hybrid rivals may fit the bill better.

On balance, though, the Mazda 3 occupies the Goldilocks zone in so many attributes that it’s worth keeping near the top of your test-drive list.