2025 Mazda 3 Turbo Hatchback AWD - What's New Review

2025 Mazda 3 2.5 Turbo Hatchback AWD model year update:

Seven years into the design of its entry model, Japanese automaker Mazda is not about to mess with success. The Mazda 3 is the gold standard for the premium sport compact segment, while encroaching on prestige monikers.

The 2021 addition of a high powered turbo all-wheel drive option, didn't quite redress the clamor for brute MazdaSpeed 3 hot hatch. Instead, it satiated a "Driver With Steed" tourer mien.

Lucky for connoiseur enthusiasts, last year brought some unfinished Kaizen, which the 2025 Mazda 3 Turbo Hatchback retains.

NEW TO MAZDA 3 HATCHBACK TURBO AWD IN '25:

• Amazon Alexa queries
• Over the Air updates for native Navigation

IMPLEMENTED ON MAZDA 3 HATCHBACK TURBO AWD IN 2024:

• New "Carbon Turbo" trim
  • Terra Cotta (tan) + black suede insert seating & panels (exclusive to Zircon Sand paint)
  • 8 speaker MazdaHarmonic Acoustics streaming audio + HD radio
• 10.25" inch center dash top landscape LED + Mazda remote rotary Commander controller media display (8.8" display, atmospheric models)
  • Touch capacitive control for Android Auto, Apple CarPlay projection
  • Wireless Android Auto, Apple CarPlay phone app projection
  • Qi inductive charging tray
  • illuminated USB-C x 2 (replaces USB-A)
• Head Up Display traffic sign recognition (all 2.5 Turbo models)
• Cruising and Traffic Support, fore & aft park warning (2.5 Turbo Premium Plus exclusive)

CARRIED ON, UNCHANGED ON 2025 MAZDA 3 HATCHBACK TURBO AWD :

• two row, 5 occupant, five-door, compact grand touring hatchback
• Skyactiv G turbocharged (or standard atmospheric) 2.5L DI DOHC petrol I-4 engine + 6-speed torque converter automatic transaxle + PTU to viscous clutch all-wheel drive.
• Power steady at 250 hp, 320 lb-ft (227 hp, 310 lb-ft running 87 RON unleaded fuel), i.e. a 59 hp, 133 lb-ft increase over the atmospheric engine. Observed combined driving fuel economy registers at 26 miles per gallon (3.8 gal. / 100 mi.). Highway range is 380 miles.
• Front strut, rear torsion beam suspension + four wheel disc brakes, front vented.
• "Top Safety Pick Plus" rated by Insurance Institute for Highway Safety ( 2024 MY)

BOTTOM LINE:

• $38,720 price, as tested 2025 Mazda 3 Hatchback 2.5 Turbo Premium Plus AWD in Snowflake White Pearl + red leather (Carbon 2.5 Turbo from $34,435, Mazda 3 2.5S FWD from $26,135)
• 3 years / 36,000 miles bumper to bumper warranty; 5 years, 60,000 miles powertrain warranty

LIKES ABOUT THE 2025 MAZDA 3 HATCHBACK TURBO AWD:

• Quick and so luxuriously finished unlike anything else at its price point or in the volume subcompact crossover SUV segment
• Sensuously sleek hatchback silhouette
• Versatile five-door packaging
• Lustrous exterior colors, impressive panel fit, inside and out
• Turbo power impresses in the low to mid power-band, along with throttle braking capability
• Lively steering, without excessive heft, mellowed taut damping, lean resistant, authoritative slowing
• Middling fuel economy
• good advanced driver assist, sharp surround camera display (only in Premium Plus)
• Excellent headlight beam + available steering swivel
• Elegant interior trimmings, clear concise instruments, minimalized precision feel & action controls, remarkably isolated cabin
  • Standard heated steering & front seats, w/ driver 2-memory setting power adjustment
  • Power reverse tilt wing mirrors
• 12-speaker Bose audio high fidelity
• Quick learning curve for infotainment

NOT PREFERRED ABOUT THE 2025 MAZDA 3 HATCHBACK TURBO AWD:

• Far from the roomiest cute ute, with tight rear seat occupant knee & head room
• Externally unchanged since 2019 debut
• Torsion beam rear suspension jostles on alternating bumps
• Small -ish fuel tank (12.7 gallons)
• 360 degree surround camera, rear cross traffic braking, available only in top 2.5 Turbo Premium Plus trim
• Advanced Driver assist (without Cruising & Traffic support) in lower trims not as effective as in competitors
• Not a fancy instrument cluster
• Inductive charging pad overheats certain phones
• No glovebox lock

2021 Mazda 3 2.5 Turbo Hatchback - Bottom Line Review

DESERVED DYNAMISM DROPPED IN: Increasing the power of a motorized device by one-third and its rotational torque by three-quarters will definitely be noticed. Roadblazing.com editors’ favorite premium sporty compact car steed was already brimming with ingredients such as unexpected refinement and more than adequate grunt which could be reigned

RoadBlazingGeorge Straton