2022 Mazda 3 G25 Evolve SP sedan review

Mazda is doing a thing. Quietly, confidently (it would seem) shifting its entire range upmarket. You can’t buy a Mazda for less than twenty grand anymore. Not even the 2. Apparently, people want to spend more on their Mazdas and the company has been more than keen to oblige.

I don’t know anyone who begs to pay more for their car that isn’t in a straight-jacket and a rubber room (or, curiously, a chap I once knew who once bragged about paying more for dealer delivery on a Bentley than their friend did), but it’s 2022 and that’s how the world is now.

The idea doesn’t seem to have harmed Mazda too much, although looking at the price rises on the 3 since this generation’s launch, prudence has been the order of the day. There are many variants to choose from but this one is kind of new, the Mazda 3 G25 Evolve SP, replacing the plain old G25 Evolve.

You get all the goodness of a Mazda 3 but with a light smattering of visual sporting intent, no doubt to keep up with the Joneses – or more accurately, that nice Korean family across the road – who have got a shiny, striking turbo-powered i30 Sedan N-Line for suspiciously similar money…

Pricing and Features

You can have the G25 Evolve SP in hatch or sedan and rather wondrously you can choose between a six-speed manual or a six-speed automatic. Before on-road costs there's just $1000 between the two transmissions – $31,190 for the manual and $32,190 for the automatic, a very modest increase for the self-shifter.

On pure bang for buck terms, the sedan is the one to have because the boot is massive rather than the glorified parcel shelf of the hatch, but is less adventurous than the hatch in terms of styling. Okay, the hatch’s boot is bigger than that, but you see what I’m saying.

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Tested here is $32,190 – plus on-road costs – G25 Evolve SP auto, which comes with 18-inch alloy wheels, an eight-speaker stereo, dual-zone climate control, reversing camera, keyless entry and start, active cruise control, sat-nav, auto LED headlights, leather steering wheel and gear selector, cloth upholstery, head-up display, electric windows and mirrors, auto wipers and a space-saver spare.

The newer version of MZD Connect that you’ll find in CX-30 and upper versions of the CX-5 is present and correct here. The screen is too far away for you to touch, which is handy because it’s not a touchscreen. Instead, you control everything with a rotary dial. The Mazda interface is exceptionally slick and easy to use and while not feature-packed, it has everything you need and looks great doing it.

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A pair of USB-A ports connect your phone for Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, too, both of which look splendid on the screen but the rotary dial control can sometimes be a little frustrating to work with. Even after a week in the 3 and a subsequent week with the same system in a CX-30, it still wasn’t intuitive.

You get all the goodness of a Mazda 3 but with a light smattering of visual sporting intent, no doubt to keep up with the Joneses

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The safety package is impressive – seven airbags, ABS, the usual stability and traction controls, blind-spot monitoring, forward collision warning, forward and reverse auto emergency braking, reverse cross-traffic alert, driver attention monitor, road-sign recognition and speed alert. All of that adds up to five ANCAP stars, awarded in 2019.

A further $495 gets you one of the three premium colours, Machine Grey, Polymetal Grey or Soul Red Crystal. The two greys look brilliant but I’m less convinced – unusually so – by the sedan in the otherwise lovely Soul Red.

Comfort and Space

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There’s a really nice balance to the space on offer in the 3 Sedan. Rear leg and knee room is quite good and plenty for me at 180cm when sitting behind my own driving position. Headroom is good too, which is handy given it looks quite low and swoopy. I’d like a bit more firmness in the cushion for longer trips but it’s otherwise very comfortable. You get a centre armrest with cup holders, too, as well as rear air vents. Huzzah!

Up front, the seats are very, very comfortable and have plenty of adjustment. You sit quite low in the 3, which is entirely deliberate to distinguish it from the higher-riding CX-30. It’s a lovely dash in front of you too, beautifully built and it’s all integrated nicely. You know a lot of midnight oil was burned to ensure even the fonts were consistent. The thin-rimmed steering wheel is very nice, too, and feels like it was plucked from an MX-5.

The sedan’s 444-litre boot is a very good size and rather more than the hatch’s marginal 295 litres. There isn’t an official figure for when the rear seats are folded down, though.

On the Road

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As the G25 name suggests, the Evolve SP comes with the 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, one of three available powerplants in the Mazda 3 range. The 2.0-litre is best avoided as it needs a good thrashing to make things happen – unless you’re never in any kind of hurry or just droning up and down freeways – and the 2.0 X version with a combination of spark and compression ignition that hasn’t set the world on fire.

The 2.5 spins up 139kW at 6000rpm and 252Nm at 4000rpm. Both are respectable figures and have less than 1400kg to haul, which is excellent going in these tubby automotive times. The claimed combined cycle figure of 6.5L/100km is not really achievable, but 8.3L/100km in almost exclusively city driving isn’t a terrible result either.

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Although I concede that the smaller engine is not available without the SP additions in Evolve spec, the 2.5 is so much better than the 2.0 and is worth the extra money if your shopping for other variants. While it’s not what you’d call a strong performer – the 2.5 turbo from some of Mazda's larger models would be perfect in the 3 – it’s more relaxed and happier to go up hills and drag a full load of people and things.

The lovely big thin steering wheel has plenty of feel and the car is beautifully set up for a crowd-pleasing ride and a driver-pleasing handling compromise.

Mazda has gone to great lengths to continue honing its entire range to steer, brake and turn really well and the 3 is no exception. It really does feel a lot more upmarket than before because it’s so smooth and easygoing.

The steering has plenty of feel and the car is beautifully set up for a crowd-pleasing ride and a driver-pleasing handling compromise … it really does feel a lot more upmarket than before

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On the highway, it’s so quiet and composed, even on crappy surfaces. The tyres on the SP do arc up a bit as they’re a bit stickier than the standard but they’re more than worth it for the extra grip. The fact that this car rides on torsion beams at the rear never ceases to amaze me. Where most other cars so equipped are not much fun over speed humps, the 3 just breezes over them.

Some people – my wife included – find the way the rear-vision mirrors are set up to be mildly irritating. The driver’s side mirror is quite close to your face so takes a bit of getting used to.

Ownership

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​Mazda offers a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty and five years of roadside assist.

Annoyingly for a non-turbo engine, the company continues with its weird 12-month/10,000km service intervals.

Mazda’s Service Select program lists the price of each service up to the fifth. Total cost over five services is $1700 at an average of $340 per service (you'll pay either $322 or $367, plus extra items listed on the website).

Verdict

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It’s a very neat experience, even down to the way the indicators engage. The 3 doesn’t shout about itself – especially in the more demure detailing of the sedan version – and it has the effect of being a scaled-down 6, meaning that Mazda has two of the best front-wheel drive sedans on the market today.

I quite like the SP additions, too, adding a bit of class in the way only a black pack can. The current 3 might have looked expensive when it launched, but as everyone else has gone upmarket with them, it’s now quite clearly in the mix again. While I’d love to see it with the 2.5-litre turbo, I think this particular 3 has just become the sweet spot of the range.

2022 Mazda 3 G25 Evolve SP sedan specifications