Beware the car that companies buy you because they feel as though they have to; it will come with stupid conditions to make sure you don’t enjoy yourself. That is a generalised view, with no particular relevance to the Mazda 3 1.5D, except that it was devised to look as though it belonged to a mid-range marketing executive and to fit into a low carbon bracket at the same time, which is like wanting a handbag that is chic but will fit your wellies.
Now, that is unfair: this looks a lot like the rest in the range, which is to say, slightly sharkish in the exterior styling, but with narrow, elegant features and an air of reliability – a bit like a slim, reasonable shark. It’s hard to imagine, but you’ll know it when you see it.
This is a smaller-engined model, but you will only notice that when you try to accelerate: how much you mind depends on how often you do. It’s unlikely you’ll feel moved to race anyone at the lights, but on a motorway it will plough along just fine – it just won’t dart or zip. It’s relatively quiet once you get going, too, which is a relief after the moaning and griping acceleration in the lower gears. It’s a bit like those men who complain incessantly about everything, from their colleagues to their soft furnishings, and it takes you ages to realise that the complaints are actually a masculine display of enjoyment. That is the Mazda all over – I suspect it of genuinely enjoying city driving, with its nose-down, grippy handling, but it would see you in hell before admitting it.
I liked, nay, respected the cabin, which was intuitive without being boring: spacious, touch-screeny, not wildly classy in the finish, but better equipped than you’d expect at the price point. Adults could sit happily in the back without looking as though wedged in as part of a kidnap, and the boot is shopping-friendly.
The barrier for me would be falling in love, and this is common with fleet cars; since it’s a marriage of convenience brokered by an employer, rather than a love match, there’s always the tendency to play it too straight. This can deliver a car that is perfectly serviceable, but not one whose flaws you would gladly overlook because of its cute chassis or its unexpected poke. You end up without so much a feeling about it as a list of pros and cons, which – in the absence of some startling USP – is never enough to give a car an edge.
Mazda 3 1.5D in numbers
Price £23,685
Top speed 115mph
Acceleration 0-62mph in 11.0 seconds
Combined fuel consumption 74.3mpg
CO2 emissions 99g/km
Eco rating 9/10
Cool rating 4/10
