Substantially reduced road and wind noise

Many improvements were made to structural rigidity and powertrain NVH performance to provide a quieter, more pleasant ride, including the reduction of high frequency booming noise sometimes heard when decelerating while further evolving a sporty engine note. Increasing the rigidity of components and joints also helped to deliver a quieter ride that rates among the class leaders. The sound pressure level of road noise was curtailed by 6 to 11 percent over the previous model, and wind noise was reduced by approximately 6 percent, to 59.0 dB at 100 km/h with a 5 m/s crosswind, placing the all-new Mazda 3 among the quietest in the class.

    See also:

    Performance
    When the Mazda6 debuted last year, I drove a powerful V-6 version called the ''s.'' That car handled like a true sport sedan, with relatively heavy steering and a pretty rough ride. It was fun, bu ...

    Rear Seat
    WARNING: Do not stack cargo higher than the seatbacks or place articles on the rear package tray or on the luggage compartment cover: Stacking luggage or other cargo higher than the seatbacks, a ...

    Defining Attributes
    On the upside, the current generation's reliability has been above average to well above average, and it's one of the most fun cars in the compact class. Fun is hard to define, but it usually invo ...