Ext User(mf1@project1221.com中华人民共和国)
13-07-2006, 09:44 AM
Yeap, its THE car [hatch] of the moment Mazda's Monster 190kW MPS -
[First test...]
ON THE ROAD:
The 3 MPS story is one of serious but useable performance. Mazda says
the hatch will accelerate from 0-100km/h in just 6.1sec (0.5sec faster
than the 6 MPS) and go on to an electronically limited top speed of
250km/h.
Even more impressive is the car's in-gear urge. With boost from 2500rpm
and serious mumbo from 3000rpm (100km/h in fifth), in-gear performance
and overtaking urge is biased towards real world conditions.
On the open road (the 3 MPS was launched on a mixture of highway and
mountain roads in north-eastern Victoria), the car simply eats up the
80-160km/h range in a way previously reserved for big V8s and exotica.
Quite literally in third, fourth or indeed, fifth gear, losing your
licence for a l-o-n-g time is barely a tweak of the right ankle away.
Acceleration is seamless and addictive -- the only sour note is the
exhaust. Mazda says it's been tuned to highlight the low frequency
tones of the turbo four. To our ears it's like a big vacuum cleaner
gone wrong. The doof doof brigade might be happy but we'd rather a bit
more mechanical symphony.
The real triumph of the 3 MPS is its grace under pressure. In the case
of the 3 MPS you can forget the horror tales you've heard of hi-po
front drivers. In the mainly dry conditions we experienced there was no
appreciable torque steer in a straight line nor in the twisties and the
car could be hustled along very quickly.
>From a standing start there's very little of the hunting for traction
that other high-output front drivers exhibit -- leave the electronics
to do their stuff, grab second quickly (to avoid the soft revlimiter)
and they won’t see you for dust (not tyre smoke!).
Though it's easy to sit the car in fourth gear and go V8 hunting, the
six-speed gearbox has a quality 'snickerty' feel to it which encourages
its use. This sort of tactile quality and good pedal placement is hard
to get across with the written word. Take it from us, it's one of the
better gearchanges around.
The 3 MPS gets a conventional hydraulic steering system (from the 6
MPS) that's significantly meatier than the cooking model 3. It's not
rich in feel but nor is there any doubt about where the wheels are
pointed and what the road's doing. Ultimately it would be nice to have
a touch more subtlety in feedback but given the Mazda's also dealing
with all those horses it's a good compromise.
This is a hot hatch that turns in with precision and some alacrity, yet
in corners it remains remarkably neutral -- whether the stability and
traction control is on or off. In its raw unassisted form, there's
little in the way of nasty surprises. You can provoke a little lift-off
oversteer though it really only serves to tip the car into the corner a
touch.
Overall, handling is trustworthy -- a trait worthwhile when a car can
build speed like the 3 MPS.
Brakes as noted above were strong with plenty of feel though the test
route hardly taxed their ability.
Are we impressed with the 3 MPS? In a word, yes. The DISI turbo
powerplant is powerful and refined (it'll even return 10lt/100km on the
combined cycle according to Mazda) and in the 3 MPS it's matched to a
well-groomed body and polished chassis.
Around $40,000 might be a lot to pay for a Mazda 3, but so far Down
Under hatches don't come any hotter…
COMPETITORS
With 190kW the Mazda easily tops Ford's XR5 (166kW), Holden Astra SRi
Turbo (147kW), VW Golf GTI (147kW), MINI Cooper S JCW (154kW) and
RenaultSport Megane 225 Cup (165kW). It even betters the likes of the
significantly more expensive Alfa Romeo 147 GTA (184kW), BMW 130i and
the soon to be released all-wheel drive Golf R32!
Even Subaru's bang for buck performance icon the Impreza WRX is
eclipsed by the 3 MPS in terms of engine output -- 169kW versus the 3's
190.
And in torque the margin (WRX v 3 MPS) is also considerable and in some
of the above cases much greater. Not one of the above cars tops 320Nm
-- the Mazda delivers close to 20 per cent more.
Nonetheless, these are the current hot hatch brigade (granted with a
few ring ins) against which the 3 MPS will be pitted. Expect to see a
number of comparisons in print and on the web before too long.
[First test...]
ON THE ROAD:
The 3 MPS story is one of serious but useable performance. Mazda says
the hatch will accelerate from 0-100km/h in just 6.1sec (0.5sec faster
than the 6 MPS) and go on to an electronically limited top speed of
250km/h.
Even more impressive is the car's in-gear urge. With boost from 2500rpm
and serious mumbo from 3000rpm (100km/h in fifth), in-gear performance
and overtaking urge is biased towards real world conditions.
On the open road (the 3 MPS was launched on a mixture of highway and
mountain roads in north-eastern Victoria), the car simply eats up the
80-160km/h range in a way previously reserved for big V8s and exotica.
Quite literally in third, fourth or indeed, fifth gear, losing your
licence for a l-o-n-g time is barely a tweak of the right ankle away.
Acceleration is seamless and addictive -- the only sour note is the
exhaust. Mazda says it's been tuned to highlight the low frequency
tones of the turbo four. To our ears it's like a big vacuum cleaner
gone wrong. The doof doof brigade might be happy but we'd rather a bit
more mechanical symphony.
The real triumph of the 3 MPS is its grace under pressure. In the case
of the 3 MPS you can forget the horror tales you've heard of hi-po
front drivers. In the mainly dry conditions we experienced there was no
appreciable torque steer in a straight line nor in the twisties and the
car could be hustled along very quickly.
>From a standing start there's very little of the hunting for traction
that other high-output front drivers exhibit -- leave the electronics
to do their stuff, grab second quickly (to avoid the soft revlimiter)
and they won’t see you for dust (not tyre smoke!).
Though it's easy to sit the car in fourth gear and go V8 hunting, the
six-speed gearbox has a quality 'snickerty' feel to it which encourages
its use. This sort of tactile quality and good pedal placement is hard
to get across with the written word. Take it from us, it's one of the
better gearchanges around.
The 3 MPS gets a conventional hydraulic steering system (from the 6
MPS) that's significantly meatier than the cooking model 3. It's not
rich in feel but nor is there any doubt about where the wheels are
pointed and what the road's doing. Ultimately it would be nice to have
a touch more subtlety in feedback but given the Mazda's also dealing
with all those horses it's a good compromise.
This is a hot hatch that turns in with precision and some alacrity, yet
in corners it remains remarkably neutral -- whether the stability and
traction control is on or off. In its raw unassisted form, there's
little in the way of nasty surprises. You can provoke a little lift-off
oversteer though it really only serves to tip the car into the corner a
touch.
Overall, handling is trustworthy -- a trait worthwhile when a car can
build speed like the 3 MPS.
Brakes as noted above were strong with plenty of feel though the test
route hardly taxed their ability.
Are we impressed with the 3 MPS? In a word, yes. The DISI turbo
powerplant is powerful and refined (it'll even return 10lt/100km on the
combined cycle according to Mazda) and in the 3 MPS it's matched to a
well-groomed body and polished chassis.
Around $40,000 might be a lot to pay for a Mazda 3, but so far Down
Under hatches don't come any hotter…
COMPETITORS
With 190kW the Mazda easily tops Ford's XR5 (166kW), Holden Astra SRi
Turbo (147kW), VW Golf GTI (147kW), MINI Cooper S JCW (154kW) and
RenaultSport Megane 225 Cup (165kW). It even betters the likes of the
significantly more expensive Alfa Romeo 147 GTA (184kW), BMW 130i and
the soon to be released all-wheel drive Golf R32!
Even Subaru's bang for buck performance icon the Impreza WRX is
eclipsed by the 3 MPS in terms of engine output -- 169kW versus the 3's
190.
And in torque the margin (WRX v 3 MPS) is also considerable and in some
of the above cases much greater. Not one of the above cars tops 320Nm
-- the Mazda delivers close to 20 per cent more.
Nonetheless, these are the current hot hatch brigade (granted with a
few ring ins) against which the 3 MPS will be pitted. Expect to see a
number of comparisons in print and on the web before too long.