In this episode of Drive Radio, host John Rush and car expert Richard take you through an insightful review of the 2026 Mazda 3 hatchback. This episode will uncover Mazda’s journey in terms of innovation and build quality, offering listeners firsthand experiences with the vehicle’s luxurious finishes and powerful performance. If you’re in the market for a reliable and stylish ride, catch our detailed walkthrough and why it’s a must to visit your local Mazda dealership for a test drive.
But Richard’s back with us. Richard, let’s do our car review like we do each week. And what have you driven lately?
SPEAKER 01 :
you know drove a really fun car dad actually kind of still in it right now and that is a 2026 mazda 3. this is the hatchback version the carbon edition which i’ll kind of talk about here in a second this is the 2.5 s i guess it hatchback and it’s all-wheel drive dad and so again yes this is a hatchback that is all-wheel drive with a turbocharged engine dad and for obviously for our uh i guess our climate here that’s a really valuable thing in my opinion that you can have and and yes are you going to go through eight inches or a foot of snow with this thing no you’re probably going to be a snowplow at that point in time but is this going to handle most of what we get here dad as far as that you know a three to four even five inch snowstorm with some good tires on it being an all-wheel drive vehicle absolutely it is which i really really like As far as kind of this vehicle itself, Dad, it’s part of the, I think it’s a fifth generation now that was introduced back in 2019. It’s a little bit crammed in the back seat. I’ve been driving around two kiddos, and they are a little bit tight. You definitely got to, especially if you’ve got a taller one, you’ve got to move it forward. I would be a little bit reserved to put a full-size booster seat in the back seat of this car. Outside of that, Dad, everything that we’ve come to expect from Mazda, and you know exactly what I’m talking about, which is you get a lot of really, I think, luxury-type feels, Dad, as far as soft-touch materials. Just the way the buttons click, folks, and I know some of you are going to say, Richard, what do you mean? Just how you push these buttons and kind of it feels, Dad, it doesn’t feel cheaply made. And I just don’t know how else to put it. than that is it just feels really nice it feels like you can you know push a button and it’s not going to fall off it’s not going to continue to make whatever it might be really great in that sense of the word um the infotainment system is easy to use it’s got a lot of standard safety features as part of it dad as this vehicle is priced dad with some options and delivery on here 33 860 and you can get this car dad you know kind of starting at just the 2.5 s trim level for about 26 000 and so i would say when you and i had talked about cars i think what the average price of a new car these days is 50k plus now it’s over 50k yeah and and real quick dad fuel economy 25 and 34 for an average of 28 um does it have a very big fuel tank no it doesn’t but again you’re also getting a smaller this in the sedan if you fit depending on how you want to option this car out you can go all the way up to the turbo premium plus dad which get almost forty thousand dollars depending on what you want on the car i just think this is a really great car for folks who maybe live in an urban setting maybe you’re looking to kind of get that first car or maybe you just need something to tool around right and you want a good all-wheel drive vehicle to do so dad mazda if i will say this If folks haven’t driven a Mazda in a while, Dad, and I think you’ll probably second this, I would encourage folks to get out and test drive them because I think that they’ve really made some improvements over the past few years that not a lot of people would know about.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, no, and I will say this. Mazda’s always built a solid car. I’ve got some really good friends that, you know, Dan, who used to be my cohort here, driven Mazdas for years and years and years. I mean, once you become a Mazda owner, typically you don’t change out of it because it is a very solid quality car at the end of the day. And for the money, I should add that into it, for the money, it becomes a very competitive car. So, yeah, absolutely, Richard. I have nothing bad to say whatsoever on any of their cars.
SPEAKER 01 :
No, I absolutely don’t. Again, it’s one thing where I really enjoy driving this car. Again, the acceleration, that’s the last thing I’ll mention. At this altitude, the looks of this car, it’s a really exciting vehicle to kind of be in and drive in and kind of get looks from people. So I encourage folks that head to their local Mazda dealer if they’re interested. Test drive this vehicle. Get in it. Again, check the room because that’s maybe one of the complaints is it’s a little bit smaller than some of the other competitors in the past. But that may not matter for you. So we encourage folks, get out, test drive this vehicle. When you do that, let them know that John and Richard Rush from Drive Radio and Rush to Reason sent you.
SPEAKER 02 :
This is John Rush from Rush to Reason and Drive Radio. Thank you so much for listening. Check out more of our podcasts at RushToReason.com or Drive-Radio.com.
