Mazda3 Diesel Review: 2015 XD Astina Hatch
August 27, 2014
What’s Hot: Oodles of torque, great chassis, loaded with equipment.
What’s Not: Still a little noisy on-road, no powered passenger seat, quite pricey.
X-FACTOR: Perhaps the most well-rounded Mazda3 ever, the XD Astina is an exceptional drive.
Vehicle Style: 5-door small sports hatch
Price: $40,230 (MT), $42,230 (AT)
Engine/trans: 129kW/420Nm 2.2 turbo diesel 4cyl | 6sp manual or 6sp auto
Fuel Economy claimed: 5.0 l/100km (MT), 5.2 l/100km (AT) | tested: 8.3 l/100km
OVERVIEW
Mazda Australia has beefed up its Mazda3 range with the addition of a new flagship, the turbodiesel XD Astina, and it's a bit of an enigma.
Costing $40,230 for the manual and $42,230 for the automatic, the XD Astina is priced like a hot hatch, but isn't being pitched by Mazda as a performance car.
If you were expecting something like a diesel MPS, this isn't it.
So what is it, then? A quasi-luxury hatch? A diesel "warm" hatch?
Perhaps more importantly, is it priced right at a range-topping $40k? We travelled to Tasmania to put the Mazda3 XD Astina to find the answer.
THE INTERIOR | RATING: 4/5
- Standard equipment: Dusk-sensing bi-xenon headlamps, LED foglamps and daytime running lamps, sunroof, rain-sensing wipers, dual-zone climate control, heated front seats, proximity key, powered drivers seat.
- Infotainment: sat-nav, MZD-connect infotainment interface, USB audio inputs, iPod connectivity, Bluetooth telephony and audio streaming
- 308 litre boot, expandable via 60:40 split rear seat.
As the flagship of the Mazda3 family, the XD Astina is bulging with equipment.
The full list of standard equipment is above, but highlights include the full suite of Mazda's i-Activesense safety gear that incorporates active cruise control, blind spot monitoring and auto-braking.
2015_mazda3_xd_astina_launch_review_04