As a long-standing member of the tribe known as Save the Manuals!— some would say long-standing enough to be its elder statesman—I'm always chuffed to learn of a car that offers a gearbox requiring you to stir your own cogs. There's something about coordinating the actions of your right arm and left leg with those of your throttle foot, all in the pursuit of smooth forward progress, that engages the mind and ratchets up involvement in the act of driving in a way that triggers small, steady doses of happiness. That's likely why the part of my brain that anticipates pleasurable experiences clicked on when I pulled open the door of the Mazda 3 2.5 S Premium Hatchback and spied a stubby manual shifter sprouting from the center console. Eureka! We already like the funky little hatchback for its aggro looks and pleasant demeanor, but this is the one model ...
As a long-standing member of the tribe known as Save the Manuals!— some would say long-standing enough to be its elder statesman—I’m always chuffed to learn of a car that offers a gearbox requiring you to stir your own cogs. There’s something about coordinating the actions of your right arm and left leg with those of your throttle foot, all in the pursuit of smooth forward progress, that engages the mind and ratchets up involvement in the act of driving in a way that triggers small, steady doses of happiness.
That’s likely why the part of my brain that anticipates pleasurable experiences clicked on when I pulled open the door of the Mazda 3 2.5 S Premium Hatchback and spied a stubby manual shifter sprouting from the center console. Eureka! We already like the funky little hatchback for its aggro looks and pleasant demeanor, but this is the one model in the 3 lineup that offers something our favorite hot hatch, the current 10Best-winning Volkswagen GTI , does not: a manual gearbox.
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Andi Hedrick | Car and Driver
Could the do-it-yourself six-speed transmission be the piquant arrabbiata sauce that transforms the pleasant Mazda 3 recipe into something mouthwatering—a viable alternative to the spunky Vee-Dub? Time for a taste. While I admit that the presence of a DIY gearbox elicits a subtle Pavlovian response deep in my gut, it does nothing to guarantee that the driving experience is going to be out of the ordinary. Any gearbox, no matter how rewarding its shift action, has to work harmoniously with the engine, clutch, and throttle.
The rest of the car that it lives in counts too: A slick gearbox can’t make a bad car good, but a bad car can make a great manual transmission irrelevant.
No worries about any of that with the Mazda 3 2.5 S Premium Hatchback. Almost everything about it feels, well, premium, more like what you’d expect if it were wearing a BMW, Genesis, or Mercedes badge. More on the Mazda 3 – 2026 Mazda 3 Details, Pricing, and Specs
The feel-good starts the moment you slip inside. From the driver’s seat, you survey an interior covered in soft materials: faux black leather on the dash and doors, with chocolate-brown inserts in the black leather seats. French seams in contrasting color abound—on the doors, dash, center console, and center armrest. Harder materials are largely kept below eye level. Touches of metal trim brighten the cabin. The instrument cluster is home to round tach and speedo gauges in traditional white-on-black.
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It’s just plain fun to snick-snick your way up and down through the Mazda’s gearbox. And because you are doing the shifting—rather than a computer programmed for maximum fuel economy—you tend to naturally move through in-town traffic with the revs higher and out of the lazy, low-rpm lug zone. In traffic, the 3 answered even slight movements of my right foot without delay, which makes it feel zippier than its 60-mph time would lead you to expect.
The 3 Hatchback’s little-luxury-car feel plays out in the way it goes down the road too. Its steering is precise and comfortingly progressive but light. Its suspension eases over the larger swells and bumps—the ride is on the soft, compliant side of “sporty”—though it registers the sharp impacts of pavement seams and blemishes with a crisp “thunk.”
Of course, with just 186 horsepower, the Mazda can’t match the 241-hp VW’s performance. The GTI lost its manual as of the 2025 model year, and with its standard dual-clutch automatic, the current GTI charges to 60 mph in just 5.6 seconds; for the record, our 2022 long-term GTI with the six-speed manual did the deed in 5.8. The stick-shift 3 takes 7.0 seconds to get to the mile-a-minute mark. The gap widens further in the quarter-mile, with the current GTI zipping through in 14.2 seconds at 100 mph, while the manual-gearbox 3 gets there in 15.6 seconds at 91 mph.
Numbers aside, the GTI is easily the more dialed-in driver’s car; it steers sharper, corners more sure-footedly, rides more tautly, and is all-around sportier—the one that’ll make you grin wider when the road wiggles. Which makes this a tale of two cars. Both are harmonious, complete packages, each with its own distinct character.
Dressed for success and blessed with the allure of a stick-shift, the Mazda 3 Hatchback is an intriguing GTI alternative. The Mazda 3 2.5 S Premium Hatchback is a sweetheart in its own right, a softer, gentler, more luxurious car that’s still plenty of fun to drive and at a price that undercuts the GTI by several thousand bucks. All good. And then there’s its well-honed six-speed gearbox. For this avowed member of the Save the Manuals! tribe, that’s enough to make it a viable alternative to VW’s hot hatch.
**Specs Panel Specs panel icon Specifications Specifications 2026 Mazda 3 S Premium Hatchback Vehicle Type: front-engine, front-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door hatchback PRICE Base/As Tested: $32,685/$34,045 Options: Soul Red Crystal Metallic paint, $595; illuminated door-sill plates, $575; all-weather floor mats, $190 ENGINE DOHC 16-valve inline-4, aluminum block and head, direct fuel injection Displacement: 152 in 3 , 2488 cm 3 Power: 186 hp @ 6000 rpm Torque: 186 lb-ft @ 4000 rpm TRANSMISSION 6-speed manual CHASSIS Suspension, F/R: struts/torsion beam Brakes, F/R: 11.0-in vented disc/10.4-in disc Tires: Toyo Proxes A40 215/45R-18 89V M+S DIMENSIONS Wheelbase: 107.3 in Length: 175.6 in Width: 70.7 in Height: 56.7 in Passenger Volume, F/R: 51/40 ft 3 Cargo Volume: 20 ft 3 Curb Weight: 3052 lb C/D TEST RESULTS 60 mph: 7.0 sec 1/4-Mile: 15.6 sec @ 91 mph 100 mph: 19.5 sec Results above omit 1-ft rollout of 0.3 sec. Rolling Start, 5–60 mph: 7.4 sec Top Gear, 30–50 mph: 11.4 sec Top Gear, 50–70 mph: 10.8 sec Top Speed (gov ltd): 125 mph Braking, 70–0 mph: 164 ft Roadholding, 300-ft Skidpad: 0.88 g Interior Sound Idle: 38 dBA/3 sone Full Throttle: 74 dBA 70-mph Cruising: 69 dBA/25 sone C/D FUEL ECONOMY Observed: 25 mpg EPA FUEL ECONOMY Combined/City/Highway: 28/25/34 mpg C/D TESTING EXPLAINED
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