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2013 Civic EX vs 2014 Mazda3 hatchback

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PeeluckyDuckee

Diamond Member
Getting a Civic is a safe bet but boring.
Getting a Mazda 3 will really put a smile on my face. But not as practical.

User: Me for now, to be passed onto wifey in 2-3yrs
Use case: For a new growing family of three (first child on the way)

Either one I get, will be automatic, because wifey will be driving it later on.

Concern: rear seat space. Will need to fit a baby seat in the back. If anybody has the new
2014 Mazda 3 and can provide pics of the rear with a baby seat that'll help ease my mind.

The Civic has a very user friendly dash for the driver. Pretty much all the guages are laid out in a manner that's easy to glance at while driving the road.

The dash on the Mazda 3 leaves me with a bad taste in the mouth. The iPad-like head unit looks like an eye sore. The digital guage that tells me what gear I am in, the fuel meter, and trip info is so tiny, and the color is so bland you really have to focus and can't really just glance at it for information. The lack of a tach is a head scratcher for me as well in the GX trim, as I am so used to glancing and having one in my Prelude. The lack of a tach makes the ability to row my own gears in Sports mode not as fun.

Exterior looks: hands down the Mazda 3. Especially the hatchback. The redesigned Civic, with its chrome, looks tacky and boring.

Value for the money: Civic costs less out the door, comparing an EX trim to the GS on the Mazda 3. 5yr financing is 1.99% on the Civic vs 2.99% on the 3. The Civic comes with sunroof, while it's an $1200 option on the 3.

Insurance: both are within $100 of each other.

The drive: Mazda 3 definitely has more pickup and go, drives, and corners better imo. The Civic does have less road noise it seems.

Gas mileage: both are within range of what I expect current generation of vehicles to be at, close enough that I could really care less. I do about 70% highway, 30% city.

The big factor: taking wifey out on a test drive in the Mazda 3. If she finds road noise and rear seat room acceptable I think I'll want to go with the 3.

Question is do I want to spend an extra ~$2000 for a vehicle that I want and not as practical, or save the money and get the vehicle that'll suffice but won't put a smile on my face?

Crap, why can't this be as easy as what kind of cereal I choose to eat for breakfast? lol
 
I would imagine that the hatch is the more practical of the options. Also which country are you in? I'm not familiar with the GX trims for Mazda as the ones in the US has a big old tac centered on the steering wheel.

Also heard that the new 3s have much improved rear room.
 
Canada. There's a Speedometer in the middle, but no RPM guage. I realise they have a digital RPM guage in the GS trim, but I'm pretty meh about it.
 
have a look at the Impreza hatchback.

Roomy backseat & hatchback + AWD. Its a gutless engine with CVT trans.

Roomiest hatchback there is and the hatch will prove much more useful than the sedan as the Civic only comes with a trunk.
 
if you don't have it yet, buy the child seat and bring it with you to the test drive so you can practice getting it in and out and see how the space is.

Sounds like you can afford either car. The question: is $2000 over 2 years worth it for you to drive the more fun car? (is it really more fun? I don't know.) Also, if you plan on having 2 kids, consider a minivan for your wife (or you) and then keep driving the mazda/civic.
 
Driving without a tach shouldn't concern you at all. The tach recently broke on my Miata, and I've raced it several times since. It's "dumbo's feather" really, the car will tell you what gear it wants to be in. Said differently, if you're staring at your tach while driving your car, you're doing it wrong. Especially in 'spirited' situations where you might actually want to control gear shifts.
 
We have a 2013 Civic LX. My wife drives it primarily. We have a 2-year-old. It can be difficult to put a wiggly kid inside because it is a smaller car. We like the efficiency of it. The 2013 redesign is actually amazing - great Bluetooth for wireless calling, a USB plug in the center console with indentations to route your cord out through, extremely smooth driving, great steering feel & good handling, nicely-sized trunk, reasonably comfortable, amazingly quiet, and 40 MPG highway. I've been averaging around 33 driving it with a lead foot on mixed city/highway. I filled it up when the low fuel light came on for $39 the other day. It's been a very affordable car (my Volvo is $85 a tank, bah! haha).

However: my wife wishes she could go back to our Honda Fit. It had a tall bubble inside with more headroom (useful when you're fighting with a child to get them strapped into the backseat). It was zippier as well - the Civic definitely feels about 20 horsepower shy of where it should be. Not slow, just not speedy. That feeling is compounded because it's so smooth & quiet - you don't feel the speed, so it feels slow, even though it gets up to speed just fine. Zero to 60 in 9 or 10 seconds doesn't sound fast, but it's plenty to merge on the highway safely, which is fine for a family hauler. The hatchback was also super handy for chucking strollers, diaper bags, etc. in the back and just felt more accessible, although the Civic's trunk is just fine. We also liked the hatchback for changing diapers in public places, like if you're out at a park and there's not a bathroom with a changing station readily available - it was easier to lay things out in the hatch and do a quick change as needed, or treat a minor wound or have the kids sit on the edge to eat a snack.

The Mazda3 hatchback is very high on my list of "next cars" because it's both a fun car and practical in terms of MPG & having a hatchback. I have not driven it so I can't comment on that, but it should be a pretty fun ride even with an automatic - out the door, the base model has 15 horsepower above the non-Si Civic, so that should help a lot. Plus it looks cool! Which for me is somewhat important, because it's fun having a cool-looking car to buzz around in. The Civic is fairly uninspiring (at least not as bad as a Camry or Corolla, haha), but it's also a Honda, so I'm getting excellent reliability, great resale value, and it's a Top Safety Pick Plus for 2013, so you definitely know your family isn't driving a deathtrap, which is comforting. The Civic is a very smart decision, especially given the 2013 model's redesign, 40 MPG highway economy, and TSP+ rating.

As much as I hate to say it, if you're planning on keeping it for awhile and your wife is going to be driving it eventually, I'd lean toward the Civic. It just feels like a much nicer car than it should be for its class & pricerange. The 2013 redesign did wonders. It feels as nice as an Accord now - stitched interior, very nice steering wheel, dead quiet even at highway speeds, smooth ride. It doesn't feel like you're in the Civic of yesterday, that's for sure. We are leasing ours right now and are considering buying it, although we're also looking at the redesigned 2014 Forester instead of making the leap to a minivan.

HTH.
 
I bought a big full size family sedan for hauling a child because it's safer, you have more room and it's just a hell of a lot easier in general. I watched a lot of crash test videos and I don't think I'd ever be willing to put my kid in the back of a Civic or Mazda3. Nice cars, but eh. And mount the baby seat in the middle, not against either door. I don't get why people do that with a lone baby seat. Do you seriously want to expose your child to more risk?
 
I have a 2013 Civic EX and if I had the option of trading it for a 2014 Mazda 3 hatchback, I'd take the Mazda 😀
 
nerp said:
I bought a big full size family sedan for hauling a child because it's safer, you have more room and it's just a heck of a lot easier in general. I watched a lot of crash test videos and I don't think I'd ever be willing to put my kid in the back of a Civic or Mazda3. Nice cars, but eh. And mount the baby seat in the middle, not against either door. I don't get why people do that with a lone baby seat. Do you seriously want to expose your child to more risk?
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Yeah, I've become more paranoid about car safety as a parent. And having been hit multiple times :biggrin: I never really understood the whole giant SUV thing until I had kids, because you definitely want to feel like your kids are safe & protected while you travel. In particular lately, because I've seen some horrible car accidents in recent months that didn't always leave survivors.

Funny how your priorities change over time. I was perfectly happy driving deathtraps until I started leasing (primarily for reliability reasons), but I won't put my kiddo in the '99 Ford Escort because that thing is a bucket of bolts 😀
 
ElFenix said:
maybe i didnt catch it, but how is the mz3 less practical?
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Hatch, backseat for kids, road noise, less smooth driving, etc. Although I'd imagine in the 2014 model, those will be minimal issues. The 2014 3 hatch looks like a pretty great car to me :thumbsup:
 
JCH13 said:
Driving without a tach shouldn't concern you at all. The tach recently broke on my Miata, and I've raced it several times since. It's "dumbo's feather" really, the car will tell you what gear it wants to be in. Said differently, if you're staring at your tach while driving your car, you're doing it wrong. Especially in 'spirited' situations where you might actually want to control gear shifts.
Click to expand...

This. I feel the tach is pretty useless if you're really driving. You should be able to feel when the trans needs to shift. A tach is especially useless for an automatic.
 
How is a hatchback less practical? You've got more room for stuff. I would imagine the 3 gets better mileage as well.
 
Vetterin said:
Seems as though you have it narrowed down but have you even considered the Chevy Cruze?
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A coworker has the Cruze, had a brief look, not feeling it at all.

Test drove the Mazda 3 again with the wifey. She is short (5'3"), the way the seat is designed , with the seat angled down like sports seats do to wrap around the body, it makes it harder for her to get out of the vehicle. Being four months into her pregnancy, she feels slight discomfort, but it'll only get worse. I'm thinking getting a cushion for the seat to level things out may be a fix until she's due. The seat height is low, but alas only the driver seat has height adjustments. Nothing a pillow can't fix, right? Heh.

Road noise and ride comfort is on par with the Civic we test drove. With her butt dyno-metre, she notices it's got more pull to it than the Civic. As slight as it might be, I do appreciate the extra torque in the Mazda 3 over the Civic for around town driving (128 lb.ft. on Civic vs. 150 lb.ft on Mazda 3).

Again, the Civic is a fine run-of-the-mill daily commuter, but I don't like the way the front AND the back looks, and the grey interior looks so bland. The Mazda 3 for sure is more expensive car, but it looks much more appealing (outside anyways) and has more practical power for city use. With her being so short, and the seat adjusted to a comfortable seating position for her, there appears to be sufficient room in the back still for a baby seat. She's OK with the cargo space in the rear of the hatchback.

In the end I guess this purchase decision is strongly biased on what I want, rather than what she needs, lol. She's looking for a value proposition, something reliable and practical, while in my mind if we're going to spend ~$25k after all is said and done I damn very well want a car that a looker, has more torque, and puts a smile on my face, even if it means throwing an extra $2000 out the window. She's indifferent to us getting a sedan or a hatchback.

I'm really good at convincing myself on sh!t I really want, and making myself feel good eh? 😉
 
For something you own for a long time and spend that much money on, the extra happiness you get from buying what you want is worth the $2,000. Both are practical cars. I still say get a bigger car for safety reasons, but you can't say that the Mazda isn't a practical car. Five years from now when the car is paid off and sitting in the driveway, that $2,000 extra you spent won't really be felt. But the numbing feeling of driving a car you hate will always be felt.
 
$25K for an economy car is an awful lot of money. At that point it would make more sense to buy something like a Camry Hybrid as you'd get more power, room, fuel economy etc.
 
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