Mazda 3 2.0 Skyactiv-G 2019 first drive

The interior design has a delicate minimalism to it, with a slender dashboard broken up by attractive creases that run its full length and flow into the doors. The materials feel premium and the controls for the infotainment, stereo and climate control have the same satisfying action.

There’s a new 8.8in infotainment display on top of the dashboard, angled toward the driver. You can't control it by touch, though; Mazda's research showed that touchscreens promote gross motor movements (in other words, they make the driver lean), meaning the driver unwittingly applies torque to the steering wheel and can therefore wander out of their lane.

The same research demonstrated that the eye focuses quicker when such screens are further away, so Mazda (a company that’s never afraid to buck the trend) set the screen some way back. The main interfaces are an intuitive rotary controller and voice control.

The interior doesn’t just look or feel the part. The driving position is excellent, the redesigned seats are first-rate and the weighting of the pedals and steering is consistent. The downside is that over-the-shoulder visibility is pretty poor, because of the wide C-pillar and shallow rear windows.

There are no claims made for class-leading interior space. This isn't a big hatchback. In the back seats, adults approaching six feet tall will find their head rubs that sloping roof; high-backed booster seats are likely to be a squeeze; and the boot has lost a little capacity, now holding 295 litres.

Just as the exterior looks stylish and the interior has a premium feel, the way the 3 goes down a road feels much more grown up. Key to this behaviour is a new, stiffer platform, that has a longer wheelbase and wider front and rear track. It uses torsion beam rear suspension, MacPherson struts and rack-and-pinion steering. And boy, does it all gel together nicely.

Around the craggy surroundings of West Los Angeles, the 3 rode rippled and cracked roads impressively. Out of the city surroundings and onto the concrete freeway, noise levels were subdued and the smooth ride continued to impress. By the time we got to stretch the car’s legs in the hills of Angeles National Forest, that supple ride became all the more remarkable, because it hasn’t been achieved at the expense of stability, steering response or handling.

Mazda's engineers have played around with the tyres, ultimately opting for a softer sidewall to absorb the impact, then tuning the suspension bushes to ensure a precise response to the driver’s commands. The benefits of the softer rubber are myriad: as well as taking the edge off the ride comfort, it gives a better contact patch when cornering and braking.

The clutch, throttle and gear change work with a nice harmony to their weighting. A bit more feel through the steering wouldn’t go amiss and the top of the brake pedal’s travel is dead, but that's about as long as the list of niggles gets. Working the 3 hard through the twists and turns, it remains level, never gets upset over lumps or dips and spreads the load evenly between the front and rear axles. In our 2.0-litre test car, at least, it appears to have a surfeit of ability over power.

In the UK, customers will be able to choose from a 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol unit, now a mild hybrid, a conventional 1.8-litre diesel and, for the first time, the interesting Skyactiv-X.

This supercharged unit runs on petrol but uses a combination of spark ignition and compression ignition to, claims Mazda, deliver the driver appeal of a petrol together with the fuel efficiency and torque of a diesel.

The 179bhp, 164Ib ft engine is able to switch from compression ignition, which is ideal for day-to-day driving, to a form of spark ignition, generally when the engine is started from cold or the driver demands maximum power at high revs.