2010 Mazda MAZDA3 - Features Review

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Mazda has built quite a reputation lately for offering high-end features in price ranges that typically don't see many luxury items. The 2010 Mazda3 carries on that tradition with a wide selection of standard and optional features spread across the trims that should appease almost any sport compact customer, though some options aren't available on all trims.

The 2010 Mazda Mazda3 comes with an impressive list of standard features, even in its most basic trim level. Car and Driver reports that the 2010 Mazda3 offers "gadgets galore," including the Multi-Information Display that Jalopnik reviewers say "is positioned high on the center portion of the instrument panel" and shows "navigation, audio, and trip computer information." AutoWeek points out that, for the 2010 Mazda3, the "already sharp interior lighting goes interactive," and that "upon opening the door, foot well and door handle lamps illuminate, followed by the instrument cluster, center stack, audio and climate controls."

Based on TheCarConnection.com's research, base models of the Mazda3 2010 should start in the $17,000 range, but checking the numerous options boxes can move that price north in a hurry. Automobile Magazine deems the Mazda3 2010 "a compact car that offers many of the features available only in larger, more expensive cars," including "a 10-speaker Bose Centerpoint surround system, dual-zone automatic climate control, and an eight-way power driver's seat." Jalopnik adds that "connectivity for cell phones and portable media players," featuring a Bluetooth hookup, is available, while the 2010 Mazda Mazda3 "options list also includes rain-sensing wipers [and] heated side mirrors." The only major downside to all the available features, at least based on research conducted by TheCarConnection.com, is that they aren't universally available across the 2010 Mazda Mazda3 lineup. Automobile Magazine, for instance, states that "many of these options are available only with the top-spec Grand Touring trim level, which is available only with the larger 2.5-liter engine"; thus, "if you want the small motor, you can't have the heated leather seats, power driver's seat with memory, heated mirrors, rain-sensing wipers," or other features such as the navigation system on your 2010 Mazda3.