Napa Road Trip - 2014 Mazda Mazda3 S Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.com

Napa Road Trip - 2014 Mazda Mazda3 S Long-Term Road Test

Logging some final miles in the Edmunds long-term 2014 Mazda 3.

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grijon

Hope everything turned out well for you; thanks for the great writeup!

chol92594

Great post, Mark. I always enjoy reading what you have to say about the LT cars. I hope that things turned out alright!

allthingshonda

So how did the wipers and lights perform in the weather?

neel123

I rented a corolla recently for a 1400 mile round trip. Although it was 90% hwy, we were still driving inside downtown and streets. With two people on board and an average trunk load, I was pleasantly surprised by the 38mpg overall average. It was raining and we averaged 75-80mph speeds. It was a perfect highway cruiser with all the necessary tech aids.

From that perspective, the 32.5 mpg is a little disappointing. I love the current generation 3 otherwise!

fordson1

I would take the 3 over a Corolla if it got 22.5 mpg.

Rain makes roads slicker than dry, but not slick. On a drive from LA to Napa, it's going to put me on high alert the whole time? Um, no.

Yes, when it first starts to rain after a long time with no rain, sometimes oil can rise to the surface of the pavement for awhile. But if it's been raining all day long, like here, that stops after awhile.

mtakahashi

Thanks for the well wishes, everyone.

Fordson1: Um, yes. It was dumping rain. More water than the road drainage could handle. Standing water here and there. At highway speeds, hitting a large puddle on one side of the car definitely upsets the car. At some points traffic slowed to 40 mph, just to be able to see. It was dicey almost the entire drive. Saw an Explorer that had rolled multiple times off the side of the road, too. Ugly.

Allthingshonda: Wipers were great. No streaking or chatter. Headlights did little more than let slower traffic know I was coming up. It was a dull gray day.