Mazda3 v Toyota Corolla 2014 Comparison

There was a time when, if a car-maker wanted to climb to a dominant position on the Australian sales ladder, a big family sedan was a prerequisite.

How that has changed. Today, there's no chance of hitting the top unless you have at least one SUV in your line-up – and a very competent small car.

In fact it is small cars that have displaced the once-dominant Commodore and Falcon. Small cars regularly swap the top position when the monthly sales figures are released. So regularly, that it's difficult to find a particular month when a vehicle from any category other than small has topped the charts.

Identifying the two top small-car contenders today is not difficult. While market leader Toyota has been a constant presence on the top rungs of the ladder with the Corolla, it has for a long time been playing a game of swap-the-lead with Mazda, and its ubiquitous 3.

And now the game is hotting up with a new Mazda3 – in hatchback and sedan form – to take on the current Corolla. Toyota has just added a sedan to its eleventh-gen Corolla line-up, joining the hatch which went on sale late last year.

Mazda and Toyota have done their benchmarking so well that finding a clear advantage in any one aspect of the Corolla or the 3 is not an easy task. And if you do find one, it's likely to be balanced just as quickly by a compensating advantage in the other.

We tested both sedans in comparable specification levels: the Mazda 3 Touring at $27,490 (plus on-road costs) and the Toyota Corolla ZR at $30,990 (plus ORCs).

The Mazda3 was fitted with an optional Safety Pack, adding $1500 more to the list price, and Soul Red metallic paint, adding a further $200.

By contrast, the top-grade Corolla ZR was a case of “what you see is what you get”, the only option Blue Mist metallic paint at $450.

But the Corolla ZR is still dearer when matched par for par with the Mazda3 Touring, and even ignoring the Safety Pack, is slightly less well specified.

The Mazda3 offers a punchier engine and, should you be so inclined, is available with an even stronger 2.5-litre unit. By contrast, the Corolla offers a 1.8-litre unit with less power and torque. More on that soon...

The Mazda3 is fitted with dual-zone climate control in place of the Corolla’s single-zone system, but as we said earlier, any offset in one is compensated in some way by the other. The Corolla for example offers power-adjustment on the driver’s seat where the 3’s adjustment is mechanical.

The Corolla also gets an electrochromatic (self-dimming) mirror as standard, which comes only as part of the Safety Pack on the 3. This $1500 pack also adds high-tech safety electronic aids such as blind spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert and city brake support – none of which are available in the Toyota.

The Corolla does, however, have a driver’s knee airbag, while the Mazda3 gets idle stop-start.

Otherwise, equipment levels are identical. Both have sat-nav with voice activation, USB connectivity, Bluetooth telephony and audio streaming, cruise control, power windows and mirrors, rain-sensing wipers, auto headlights, and remote central locking with keyless start.

Infotainment screens see the Toyota endowed with a 6.1-inch display against the Mazda’s eight incher.

While both Mazda and Toyota were generally beyond criticism where the standard of finish was concerned, and offered a comparable front-seat experience in terms of space and comfort, the back seat was a slightly different deal.

The Corolla offered measurably more legroom than the 3 (1051mm v 909) and was marginally easier to get in and out of. Though we did find the 3’s seat to be better contoured, and consequently more supportive.

Up front, the driver’s controls were similarly intuitive although the 3 presented more cleanly, and more tastefully than the Corolla. The Toyota’s touchscreen landing buttons were a little fiddly, and its steering wheel felt harsher to the hand than that of the Mazda.

We also found the Mazda’s ventilation outlets better placed than those of the Toyota’s, the air reaching the front-seat passengers’ faces, rather than their hands. Disappointingly, neither car offered face-level rear-seat ventilation outlets.

In terms of luggage space, each car outpointed the other in some ways, and then lost the advantage in others. The Corolla sedan offers a very usable 470 litres, 62 more than the Mazda3. However, the 3 did offer a cargo area less compromised by its structural members, even if it failed to offer a full-size alloy spare wheel beneath its floor.

Although the Corolla’s smaller 1.8-litre engine should theoretically surrender ground to the much more contemporary engineering evident in the 2.0-litre SKYACTIV-powered Mazda, the cars are actually much closer than we had expected.

The Toyota’s 103kW and 173Nm looked to be at a clear disadvantage to the Mazda’s 114kW and 200Nm, especially as both cars are quoted at the same 1260kg kerb weight.

And the Corolla did lack comparative spiritedness, both from a standing start and in the passing acceleration test. But it was marginal. The intermediate 80 to 100km/h dash took 2.8 seconds in the Mazda, and 3.0 seconds in the Corolla, while zero to 100km/h took the Mazda 9.6 seconds and the Corolla 10.1 seconds.

The standing 400 metre sprint came up in 17.1 seconds (at 137.3km/h) and 17.3 seconds (at 132.8km/h) respectively.

In either case that’s not particularly fast, although in many ways the figures are a tribute to the Corolla’s refined continuously variable transmission (CVT). Although it was not totally silent, and there were some signs of over-eager low-rpm throttle response, the CVT played a large part in squeezing the best out of Toyota’s four-cylinder engine.

In most circumstances the CVT mimics pretty well the characteristics of a conventional automatic, with rising and falling revs accompanying seven artificially induced up-shifts.

It is usually only when the Corolla confronts a long upward gradient that the familiar slipping-clutch CVT effect becomes noticeable. This can be avoided, if the driver is so inclined, by activating the steering wheel shift paddles to move up and down the ratios.

We also noted an occasional light ‘thump’ when stopping, and then setting off again suddenly.

But although it is rarely far behind, the Corolla never sounds quite as feisty as the crisply efficient Mazda. The conventional six-speed transmission is a sweet, decisive shifter for the most part, though there were times when it was reluctant to ‘kick down’ under acceleration.

On the plus side, the 3 is said to consume less fuel and emit less CO2 than the Corolla with combined figures playing 5.7L/100km and 134g/km against 6.6L/100km and 153g/km. On test, the cars averaged an identical 7.7L/100km.

In terms of handling and response, the differences again are marginal.

A full day on remote country roads with a variety of surfaces and challenging twists and turns demonstrated a generally incontestable lead for the Mazda.

Even though cabin noise was slightly higher (we recorded 78dBA at a constant 80km/h in the Mazda, 75dBA in the Corolla), the Mazda's faster, more communicative steering and well-matched spring and shock absorber rates contributed not just to more predictable behaviour in corners, but also to a more pleasant ride.

The Corolla's slightly slower steering (3.2 turns lock-to-lock) was at odds with its tighter turning circle (10.0m) and contrasted the 3’s sharper steering (2.6 turns lock-to-lock) and wider turning arc (10.6m).

Feedback and feel were also quite different. The Corolla’s more heavily weighted steering, firmer damper rebound and slightly lower profile tyres (205/55 v 205/60) created a choppy, almost nervous feel on patchy surfaces that simply didn’t exist in the Mazda. In short, this meant the driver was required to pay constant attention in keeping the car tracking true on a straight road, while more sawing at the wheel was necessary in corners.

The Mazda stopped hard and straight, and so did the Toyota, albeit with a touch of sponginess in the brake pedal. That said, the Corolla took less time to stop, covering 14.8m when stopping from 60km/h against 15.3m for the Mazda3.

Where the Corolla is covered by a straightforward capped-price servicing programme for the period of warranty – three years or 60,000km – Mazda lists a (higher) base servicing price which is added to by variables relating to the vehicle’s age and distance travelled.

However while Toyota only offers capped-price servicing for the warranty period, Mazda lists prices for 160,000km, which equates to 16 services.

But while the Mazda3’s base servicing alternates between $290 or $316 over the maximum 160,000km, additional charges are incurred along the way. For example the Mazda3 will require a new cabin air filter and brake fluid replacement every 40,000km (40,000km or two years for brake fluid) which respectively add $64 and $61 to the base service price. At 120,000km a new set of spark plugs will add a whopping $269 to the $316 base service price.

Toyota simply quotes a capped price of $130 for all services during the warranty: The big difference is in flexibility: Mazda’s Service Select option enables owners travelling less than 20,000km during the year to reduce their servicing intervals accordingly. For example if an owner only covers 13,000km in a year, then servicing will only be required every nine months.

Toyota is less flexible: A Corolla requires servicing every six months or 10,000km, whichever comes first.

At face value though it appears Corolla owners have a distinct edge: Even if a Mazda3 owner qualifies for once-a-year servicing, the cost is still marginally more than servicing a Corolla twice in the same period.

THE FINAL CUT
Given Mazda's reputation for flinging down challenges to its opposition, the new generation 3 came with big expectations.

And it has delivered, with impressive new levels of technology, safety and design that should carry the car through its life cycle, and maintain an ongoing competitive advantage in this viciously-fought segment of the new car market.

The surprise was that the Corolla makes such a good fist of answering practically every challenge the 3 can throw at it. A relatively old 1.8-litre engine is made competitive, basically thanks to an effective new CVT transmission, and the packaging is generally more commodious than the Mazda, both for passengers and the luggage they might want to carry.

However, the Mazda's more refined road behaviour, with its slightly superior performance and claimed fuel economy/emissions, as well as a better interior with more comfortable seating are more promising for long-term ownership.

The significantly lower purchase price means something too, as do the available high-tech safety aids.

As we discovered from the moment we started familiarising with these two highly proficient cars, any advantage or disadvantage from one to the other was always incremental. In no aspect did either car gain a big lead over the other.

So it's a win for the Mazda3 Touring, but by the very slimmest of margins. There are reasons why some customers might prefer the Corolla, but in the end, it was still the Mazda3 that floated our boat.

2014 Toyota Corolla ZR