Mazda hasn’t been that generous with details when it
comes to the all-new Mazda3’s specs. Besides announcing the engines’
displacements, the offering of a manual transmission, and the availability of
all-wheel drive, the automaker kept most specs hidden.
As usual, the U.S. market will get fewer engines
than other regions such as Europe. At launch, the 2019 Mazda3 will be offered
only with a 2.5-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine. It’s essentially the same
naturally aspirated unit with cylinder deactivation that equips the CX-5 SUV
and Mazda6 sedan.
In the Mazda3, the engine will produce slightly more
power and torque, though, namely 186 hp and 252 Nm, up 2 hp. Mazda will offer this engine with front-wheel drive as standard whole
all-wheel drive will be optional. The report also says 2019 Mazda3 SkyActiv-G
2.5 will return 27 mpg city, 36 mpg highway, and 30 mpg combined. The AWD model
will, logically, have a slightly worse fuel economy.
The second engine Mazda will offer on its new
compact car is the SkyActiv-X 2.0 compression-ignition unit which will arrive
later in 2019. It will first be rolled out in states with stricter emissions
regulations before launching in other states. Both engines are compatible with
manual and automatic transmissions, although Mazda will announce later on
exactly which combinations will be offered.
As for turbo engines, Mazda did confirm the
2.5-liter turbo-four fits in the engine bay of the new 3. However, the company
would not comment on whether the SkyActiv-G 2.5T unit might end up in its
compact car eventually. If we corroborate that with another report that
dismissed the possibility of a Mazdaspeed 3 hot hatch, it looks highly
unlikely.
