Mazda3 updated with Bluetooth and USB; styling tweaks for MPS

By Tim Beissmann
September 25th, 2012

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Mazda Australia has upgraded its top-selling Mazda3 small car, making Bluetooth and USB connectivity standard across the range and bringing a number of styling enhancements to the high-performance Mazda3 MPS hot-hatch.

The Mazda3 Neo scores Bluetooth phone connectivity with audio streaming, bringing the base model into line with the rest of the line-up, while the USB port is new to all models (except the MPS), having previously been a surprising omission from the specification list.

Mazda’s Bluetooth system allows drivers to make and receive phone calls hands-free and stream music from their smartphones wirelessly, while the USB port lets owners connect smartphones and memory sticks to play music and display song, album and artist information on the car’s multi-information screen.

The sporty Mazda3 MPS benefits from a fresh look with black paint across the side mirrors, lower rear bumper and parts of the rear spoiler, dark metallic alloy wheels, and a shark fin-style antenna at the end of the roof.

All of the specification updates to the Mazda3 range come at no extra cost, with the Mazda3 Neo still priced from $20,330 and the MPS topping the line-up at $39,490 before on-road costs.

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Monk

I would consider getting an MPS once it gets the new 6 face on it – wife had the original 3 MPS and it was a cracker – torque steer was ‘interesting’ at times but in all, it was a fantastic car. Value for money and bang for your buck sh**s all over the VAG offerings.
- Martin
  
  Too much about VAG’s and STI’s in car industry. Some people have dirty minds.
Yetiman

Both are excellent cars, but I prefer the Golf Gti in manual. A perfect a everyday car.IMO
- Monk
  
  Golf undoubtedly drove better but the MPS had the extra internal size to make it much more practical and standard/good value optional features to increase its value for money.
  The Bose stereo is the best I have heard in a $40,000 car.
  - Zaccy16
    
    Yeah your right about the bose! my grand mother owns a sp25 luxury and the bose stereo is fantastic!
- Legnab
  
  Iam with you yetiman , not into arm wrestling , mazda should have fixed the torque steer when they released this variant , not good enough with the stiff competition out now .
  - http://www.ozmazdaclub.com/ Tien – OzMazdaClub.com
    
    The torque steer is still there but it’s a lot better than in the original MPS IMO
  - Lotsamoolah
    
    If the Golf GTi has as much power/torque and accelerate as quick as the Mazda, it would have more torque steer.
    - Legnab
      
      No stage 1 188kw 400nm , no torque steer and quicker than the mps , corners no tug tug .
      - Garrywhopper
        
        188kw, is that what the add on eBay for the chip said, some people will believe anything
      - Legnab
        
        Floppy got his scooter chip in a coco pops packet , your slipping no nether region comment .
      - windyzz
        
        ECU tune is one of the easiest gain for european Car. It took just around 20 minutes to upload a new software and up you go. I have A Golf R before and after dyno tuning.
        Before it makes 150kw at 4 wheel, after GIAC stage 1 it makes 178kw at 4 wheel.
        
        please don’t comment if you don’t know anything about ECU tune
      - ABCDEFG
        
        windyzz:
        “ECU tune is one of the easiest gain for european Car. It took just around 20 minutes to upload a new software and up you go. I have A Golf R before and after dyno tuning.
        Before it makes 150kw at 4 wheel, after GIAC stage 1 it makes 178kw at 4 wheel.
        
        please don’t comment if you don’t know anything about ECU tune”
        
        Oooooooh I wouldn’t do that overboosting it given the reliability of the modern VW’s. The air cooled VW’s from the 1950′s were ultra reliable as when their head gaskets let go, only air (and not water) seeps in and they could still drive.
        
        BTW the correct term is “firmware” and not “software” in this instance.
      - Force-15
        
        The only time there’ll be no ‘tug tug’ is when you need to have both hands on the steering wheel or change gear…
      - Pro346
        
        Stage 1 ????? I think you’ve been playing too much grand turismo….. I love listening to people talk about mods to their cars ” its got a stage 6 turbo” that could
        mean anything.
      - windyzz
        
        Do you know anything about ECU tuning in European car (especially Volkswagen and Audi) ? If you don’t please dont comment. it just makes you look stupid honestly.
      - Legnab
        
        GEE Windyzz bag its pretty simple APR , and 10 years and 3 cars , its you who looks stupid ,now back in your crummerdore .
      - Dom
        
        3 VWs in 10years Legnab. I’ll assume you are turning them over that quickly before they blow up outside of the warranty period
      - Pro346
        
        @windzz like said stage 1 means nothing! I have a stage 27 turbo kit on my car and what is that? Means nothing
      - ABCDEFG
        
        Slap stage 1000 on the Golf and it will beat everything on the planet. But it will also blow up 200m down the road lol
      - Amlohac
        
        You’ve driven one to confirm this?
        
        Why does the Sirroco do it then?
        
        make sense you dont.
      - Jober As A Sudge
        
        Please explain “stage 1″ upgrade and how they eliminated the torque steer?
      - Monk
        
        In stage 1, Legnab greases his palms and lowers his strides while unrolling the GTi poster.
        You can only imagine what stage 2 and 3 comprise.
      - Legnab
        
        SLOBERING JUDGE READ THE SPECS , tricky electronics take care of it even with stage 1 , 188kw /400nm , i have one and i hammer it , its not an issue ,was on the mk5 , sirocoo has same tech , not an issue and i have driven it .
        
        Mean while back in your crummerdores boys .
      - Legnab
        
        Monkfish is getting like gary floppy all obsessed with their nether regions , i would say your peter brock poster is a bit sticky .
      - Monk
        
        Well, if Legnab has it and has driven it, the mystery is solved.
        
        As for my Brock poster – when did you soil that?
      - Jober As A Sudge
        
        I’ll assume it’s the APR tune then…nice. Since we are throwing around numbers, my Japanese “Crummerdore” with 170kw atw will take you to town anyday
  - Amlohac
    
    Such as? The MPS stands up against the competition quite well I think. Pricing, power, specs, handling all very decent. Have you driven one? The tourque steer is muuuch better than the last varient, besides when you start pushing that much power through any front wheel drive car you’re gonna get some tourque steer, no matter how many fancy diffs or computers you ram into it.
    - SSV
      
      I had the current shape 2009 model and agree that the torque steer is not that bad, but it is present. My biggest gripe was that the way the electronic nannies would substantially drop the power further (torque is already reduced in 1st & 2nd) if it detected the front wheels not completely straight. There were times that I went to pull into moving traffic and it was actually dangerous – an auto Mazda2 would have been way quicker to 50km/h.
      Driven at 8-tenths it is a very rapid car, especially on the highway. But then the interior noise levels killed it. And the Bose sound system is very ordinary.
      … but I still kind of miss it.
      - Amlohac
        
        I’d agree, I miss mine. Just something about it, its a giggle to drive.
Zaccy16

The Mazda 3 is great value in the small car class with these updates!
ABCDEFG

The $400 bluetooth option is suddenly included for free. Either Mazda is very generous or the bluebooth costs $20.
- Guest
  
  prob cost to them literally $30-$50 max. nothing to them.
  - Sydlocal
    
    $30-50 over around 41,000 cars a year (going off last years annual sales figures) which equates to around $1.23-2million, nah, that’s nothing for a struggling company…
    
    Note: I am only giving it perspective that you have to consider the cost over the total numbers rather than just one car. The cost of it would have most likely been absorbed by the strong dollar. Mazda have often of late adjusted spec rather than adjust price during periods of large currency fluctuations.
    - ABCDEFG
      
      $30 out of a $30,000 car is only 0.1% ….. just putting things into perspective.
      - Sydlocal
        
        I am not disagreeing, but over many thousands of cars the total financial outlay can add up to quite a bit….. just giving a little more “real” perspective……
- TG
  
  2 different kettles of fish there mate. The Bluetooth option on old spec Mazda3 Neos (and earlier Maxxs) was basically a aftermarket kit made by Lumen for Mazda Australia with a cr_ap looking mic with buttons double-side taped to the windscreen.
  
  This update with Bluetooth standard in the Neo is factory-integrated. About time too Mazda.
http://www.ozmazda.com/ Dave

great add mazda this will keep the 3 selling at the top……the MPS is an awesome hot hatch….the torque steer is all about the mongrel feel…
- Sante Clause
  
  Nope. It’s about a failure to fix an issue.
  - Benji
    
    Have you driven an MPS Sante Clause? I have and I’d hardly call it a failure.
  - http://www.ozmazda.com/ Dave
    
    Santa Clause are you sure your not a Princess……..
MisterZed

It’s hard to believe that they’ve added so many features to the 3 over the years, yet the price has actually come down. Consider that 8 years ago, the 3 had wind-up windows, no power mirrors, no ABS, and only 2 airbags. Yet it’s about $300 cheaper today than it was back then.
- Chris
  
  Thanks to the strong Australian dollar, not so much to mazda bringing the price down.
  - Sumpguard
    
    Yeah it’s more about the dollar than Mazda for sure.
  - Amlohac
    
    Probably more to do with the fact mazda now sell a LOT more of them and dont need to squeeze as much cash out of each unit. Also the tech they use in the cars is now more common place and hence cheaper to add on. Every monkey and his iPood needs bluetooth now.
    
    If the aussie dollar took a dive they wouldnt raise the price.
    - Sydlocal
      
      Shouldn’t be every monkey and his iPood(sic) WANT bluetooth? They don’t need it as it is not something that a car or driver need to be able to drive…
Chevrons

Mmm, I’m not sure why the streamed music misses out on the ability to display artist and song information on the screen and just the manually connected USB jack offers it. If that’s true it’s already out of date.
- SM
  
  Inexplicably, it doesn’t work with iPhones (the artist and song information) – yet it does work with other devices (a friends Galaxy SII using the stock android media player)… it seems like there’s some weird incompatibility between the AVRCP in iOS and that in the Mazda3 – I’ve emailed them before about it, but gotten no response. How hard can it be to fix the problem?
  - Chevrons
    
    No, not good. Audio streaming with my iPhone shows artist and song info without a problem and my car is 2 years old.
- Amlohac
  
  The mrs has a new mazda 3 and it displays song and artist via streaming just fine with an iphone 4?
  - SM
    
    Interesting – I wonder if there is a firmware update for the head unit – how new is your Mazda3? (mine is an April 2011 built MPS)
Cam

My 2011 MPS displays also with iphone???
- SM
  
  Hi Cam, is that streaming over bluetooth – you can view both the Artist and Track names on the display? Is it a Gen 1 or Gen 2 MPS?
- SM
  
  My above comment should’ve said “Series 1 or Series 2″ – ie Mazda 3 MPS BL Series 1 (2009-2011) or Mazda 3 MPS BL Series 2 (2011-current)
Luke Brinsmead

Bluetooth should be standard on all new cars to prevent holding a mobile while driving. Another benefit is that it allows friends to easily stream their music from their phones from the back seat while on road trips.
- Amlohac
  
  Its also cheap as chips to have added to a vehicle from the factory now.
ABCDEFG

Listen Mazda ………… the Mazda3 seriously needs a reverse camera because of the very high boot. A 23″ LED screen is only $99 retail. A 10″ screen is around $15 wholesale. A camera is around $10 wholesale.
- Sydlocal
  
  The same can be said for so many other manufacturers etc. Something like a Commodore, Cruze, Lancer, Corolla or Falcon aren’t any better in NRMA/RACV etc testing. They all failed miserably. Are you going to make the same statement on any article about them too or do you just dislike Mazda (going off other previous comments on various postings about Mazda products etc)?
http://www.ozmazda.com/ Dave

Isn’t driving all about concentrating on what you are doing not playing with your songs let alone talking to someone on the phone……I would give these things up for a better safety package anyday……not that the Mazda 3 needs a better safety package……
- Sydlocal
  
  I agree Dave, people seem to have their priorities all wrong.
  - Amlohac
    
    WHat!? The pie warmer in my car is NOT a distraction thank you vey much!
    - Sydlocal
      
      LOL, nice one!
      
      PS: What is wrong with just leaving it on the dash in the sun to keep it warm?! TIC
TG

I think Mazda may have had quite a brain explosion with this new spec Mazda3, the centre wheel caps on all models are black! Just doesn’t look right on a silver alloy wheel… :/
Viv

And last of all add a touch screen and reverse sensors