The 1.5 High Plus proves that much of what makes the Mazda 3 special has nothing to do with power

NEARLY seven years ago, I reviewed this generation of Mazda 3 and described buying one as a fight between your mind and your heart.

The sensible part of you looked at the price, performance and rear space and pointed towards its rivals.

Then you drove the Mazda, sat inside it, interacted with everything and started making excuses for why those things didn’t matter quite as much.