Four things you should know about the 2019 Mazda3

The all-new Mazda3 arrives Down Under in the second quarter of 2019; and there are a few things you should know about it…. Not least of which is that while the MPS badge won’t return, there is almost certainly a hot 3 on the way.

Here are four take-outs from our first look at the new 2019 Mazda3 hatch and sedan at the 2018 Los Angeles Auto Show.

Quite a bit bigger. The all-new fourth-generation Mazda3 introduces the company's second-generation SKYACTIV chassis concept and along with it a 25mm stretch in the wheelbase, an increase in width and a slight increase in height.

Interestingly, the couple distance between front and rear seats is unchanged despite the extra wheelbase. That additional 25mm (which means the new car is fully 50mm rangier between the axles and the original Mazda6) sits between the rear seat and the rear axle line.

The main factor in the stretch is to provide room for Mazda to pack in a battery bank for the mild-hybrid model that will lead the 3 range in some markets. The battery is sandwiched in the floor of the new hatch and sedan.

Sedan and hatch styling are quite separate with reputedly only the bonnet and windscreen shared. The hatch’s polarising styling has taken most of the press to date but the new sedan in handsome in the metal. It’s 80mm longer than the five-door and in many aspects resembles its larger Mazda6 stablemate.

Although few dimensions have been released so far, Mazda promises the 3 hatch will have equal or superior luggage space to the existing model. The sedan’s boot should be substantially larger.

One of the key areas targeted for improvement in the fourth-generation 2019 Mazda3 was noise and refinement. A key part of the solution is the car’s new platform but as we detailed in our drive of a prototype 3 last year there have also been changes to rear suspension design.

Front-wheel drive versions of the Mazda3 ditch the independent rear suspension of the outgoing model. Mazda3 program manager Kota Beppu told carsales.com.au the simpler torsion beam design of the new 3 significantly contributed to its improved refinement.

This flies in the face of conventional wisdom, so we will wait until we drive the new Mazda3 in early 2019 to decide whether the improved refinement offsets the potential ride and handling shortfalls.

But Beppu is bullish about the car's performance and in terms of refinement says it is better than any mass-market hatch and even tops the Audi A3 and Mercedes-Benz A-Class that were his NVH (noise, vibration and harshness) benchmarks for the new 3.

The all-new 2019 Mazda3 will introduce the world’s first spark-controlled petrol compression-ignition engine. Mazda calls the technology SKYACTIV-X.

We’ve driven a prototype and on the surface it seems to do what’s on the tin -- that is, provide high levels of refinement and drivability coupled with diesel-style fuel consumption and therefore reduced emissions.

The SKYACTIV-X engine should be available around six to nine months after the conventional petrol-engined Mazda3’s arrival Down Under.

While the engine features a small supercharger, it is not a high-performance engine. The reason for this technology is to provide Mazda with a means to meet ever increasing global emission requirements.

In the Mazda3, SKYACTIV-X will be coupled with a mild-hybrid system that features a belt-driven integrated starter generator and the above-mentioned 24-volt lithium-ion battery pack. Mazda may combine this small hybrid system with conventional petrol and diesel powertrains sometime in the future.

Although all-wheel drive has been added to the 3 in its fourth generation, it’s unlikely Mazda Australia will offer an all-paw variant – until the MPS replacement arrives (see below). Mazda remains committed to offering manual gearboxes across appropriate models – the new 3 is one of those.

…Just don’t call it an MPS. The resurrection of the MPS badge for Mazda’s high-performance models was firmly ruled out all the way to the top (ie: CEO Akira Makumoto) at the Los Angeles Auto Show debut of the new 2019 Mazda3.

But that doesn’t rule out the return of a fast, turbocharged model to the Mazda3 line-up. In fact, Mazda head of design, Ikuo Maeda, and the company’s boss of powertrain and vehicle development, Ichiro Hirose, both professed a desire to see such a vehicle on sale.

The car will be fast, not furious, however, if it’s up to Hirose. When quizzed on the potential of a more powerful version of Mazda’s turbocharged 2.5-litre four (which currently has a modest 170kW/420Nm) he very much stayed on the ‘Mazda Premium’ script.

“Our focus is to provide human-centric driving dynamics in terms of the rpm and load. We would like to control them rather than recklessly increase those [power and torque] numbers. [But] In future it may be a good thing to have such a model,” Hirose hedged.

Mazda3 program head Kota Beppu also pointed towards the launch of a more polished performance 3.

“If we were to consider a high-performance version, we won’t be looking to introduce something that has brute force which is beyond the driver’s ability to control the car. Nor would we go to such an extreme where it’s got a go-kart like feel,” Beppu-san told carsales.

“[But] There’s two different answers that I always say to this question. The official comment is there is high anticipated need for this product and we are investigating many different avenues.

“And my personal comment: I definitely want to have one!” he enthused.

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