What About Me?
The 2.0 R may steal the limelight, but the 1.6 V is probably what's going to be more practical. How does it rate versus its bigger brother?

Like most other compact cars now, the Mazda3 is available with both 1.6- and 2.0-liter engines.  Although the 2.0 may get the nod for ‘best in class’, if you’re on the company payroll, chances are you’ll end up with the 1.6.

It’s not a bad thing, too.  There are only subtle differences with the range-topper mostly notably the smaller 16-inch alloys and the absence of cow hide seats.  That said its till pretty loaded with all the essential goodies.  The pinstriped red and black cloth material may not be to everyone’s taste, but remember that what counts in here is the driver-centered interior; something that can’t be said with the rest of the competition.

Though the 1.6 shares the same pin-sharp handling as its bigger brother, the engine pales in comparison with the other engines in the same class.  Though the engine tries to be lively, it's something that rarely happens below 2,000 rpm.  The lack of straight-line performance may be attributed to the 1.6-liter's rather meager 105 bhp and 145 Nm of torque. A good thrashing is needed to extract some bit of performance from the 1.6.

Despite the lackluster engine, the list price of the 1.6 variant is hard to resist.  There are two variants, and the best is the 1.6 V. There's no better way to invest 790,000 pesos in.●

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