My Ideal Luxury Car: The Mazda3 2014 Hatchback

Two words came to mind when I saw the Mazda3 2014 hatchback pull up in my driveway last month:

"Luxury Car"

Everything about it said luxury car to me.

From the titanium flash finish to the black leather seats, I felt like a boss driving this car.

I was able to test drive the Mazda3 2014 hatchback for a week in exchange for my honest review, so let's get to it.

My Ideal Luxury Car: Mazda3 2014 Hatchback

For starters, I absolutely love the design of the Mazda3 2014 Hatchback.

It's perfect.

It's a 5-door car and seats 5 people, which for me is great since I have a small family.

It has 18" alloy wheels (all season tires) and I had the chance to drive this baby during an awful snowy week back in December, and let me tell you– it did an amazing job! I didn't slide around the streets like I would have in other cars and I actually felt safe taking it out in the snow.

Bravo, luxury car.

The Mazda3 2014 hatchback features power side mirrors with turn lamps and heated side mirrors. This is great for rainy or snowy conditions, which we have a lot here in Michigan, so it was something I really appreciated.

Another cool feature I enjoyed was the rain-sensing windshield wipers. ISN'T THAT SO COOL?! I thought it was. That's one less thing I had to worry about while driving this luxury car, which means more time spent focused on actually driving and not fiddling around with the wiper speed.

The gloss black grille added a fancy touch to the design of the car as well as the shark fin antenna you can roughly see from the photo above this one. I also love how the front of the car is slightly longer than the rear, it adds a sleek aesthetic to it that sort of reminds me of the batmobile. Like I said, it's the little things.

The Mazda3 2014 hatchback also has high beam control, which allows the car to automatically switch from high to low beams when it detects oncoming traffic (or a vehicle ahead) and then back again when it's clear. I think this feature is perfect for when driving on the high way or through a wooded area during the night. If you're going up north anytime soon, this would be a great feature to have for your car. *hint* *hint*

The interior of the Mazda3 2014 hatchback features black leather-trimmed sport seats that are outlined with a red embroidery that gives it a nice touch. The front seats are heated, which I think is important when talking about a luxury car. I used the heated seats every time I drove this car because of how cold the weather was at the time. It did a great job of heating up quickly and offers warmth in all the right places. My passengers enjoyed that feature as well.

Luxury Car Safety Features

The Mazda3 2014 is equipped with 5 passenger 3-point safety belts and has front/side impact air bags and also front and rear side air curtains for added safety.
There is a forward obstruction warning that detects slower/stopped vehicles ahead and alerts you to brake.
The Smart City Brake Support helps minimize (or possibly prevent) frontal collisions when driving at lower speeds by automatically applying the brakes if needed.
The Lane Departure Warning System alerts you when the system senses the car drifting unintentionally from it's current lane. This feature is great when you're driving for long periods of time at night and you start dozing off. Yes, it happens.
The Rear Cross Traffic Alert system, which I experienced quite often, alerts you if a vehicle approaches your Mazda3 from the side when you're backing out of a parking space or driveway. This came in handy for me especially in the parking lot on campus. There are some speedy drivers that pass me so quickly I would hardly notice without the alert system.
My last favorite, the Blind Spot Monitoring System alerts you if a vehicle or object is in one of your blind spots. There is a light that turns on in your side mirrors letting you know it is unsafe to switch lanes and if your turn signal is on, the car will beep at you to ensure you don't switch lanes.

There is an auto-dimming rear view mirror feature and LED daytime running lights which are a nice touch to illuminating the accent buttons of the car. The Mazda3 also features LATCH child safety seat anchors which is important for me when installing my son's car seat. It allows me to anchor his car seat in place with the addition of the seat belt installation as well, and it's nice to have both options.

The Mazda3 2014 has power windows, locks, and auto door locks which makes it easy to use. I love that there is a child lock feature which allows me to have full control over all doors and windows. Sometimes, Zach likes to fiddle around with the windows and door handles, so this ensures that even if he's messing around, he won't actually be able to do anything in that sense.

What else makes the Mazda3 2014 hatchback my ideal luxury car is the entire driver seat area, complete with a leather-wrapped steering wheel, gearshift knob, and brake handle. The Mazda3 2014 hatchback features an advanced keyless entry system with a push to start engine. I'm not quite used to the idea of a push to start engine button, so I did find myself naturally reaching to put the key into where an ignition would exist in older models. I do love the idea of a push to start button though, don't get me wrong! But it was something I had to get used to, definitely.

There is a real-time active driving display which shows you the speedometer, driving distance, trip computer, as well as a tire pressure monitoring system, and cruise control features, among others. I really enjoyed the steering wheel mounted controls which allowed me to control various aspects of my driving experience, including handling phone calls, controlling the radio, stream texts, and more to keep me focused on the road.

My favorite aspect of the Mazda3 2014 was the 7" touch screen color display. It features Bluetooth with Voice Command, Twitter, Facebook and Yelp Connectivity, Available Turn-by-Turn Navigation system, Pandora SiriusXM satellite radio, SMS text message delivery & reply, hands-free phone/audio, Rear view camera display, Aha,™ Pandora® & Stitcher™ internet radio, and loads more.

The touch screen display was easy to navigate through, but I absolutely loved the option of having an intuitive, all-powerful commander control dial. While touch screen is awesome, I personally like having standard buttons to click on and this dial allowed me to have the best of both worlds. From the dial, I can easily access the home screen, my music option, the navigation, my favorites, and I can also control the volume from here as well.

From here I have the option for dual-zone or auto climate control. There's an option for heat or A/C and here I can also control the heated front seat settings.

This luxury car has the ability to be folded into a 60/40 split, which is great if you need extra storage space. The seats come with a drop-down center arm rest with cup holders if you only have two passengers in the back, to give them more space, and normally seats 3 people.

There is an awesome moonroof with one touch opening. Even though the weather was snowy, I did open the screen just to let the light in because it was far too cold for the real deal. I still love that it's an option, for warmer weather it would be awesome.

The Mazda3 2014 has LED combination taillights and a rear windshield wiper, and here is where you will access the fifth door. The trunk of the car has a serious amount of storage space. I was actually able to fit 5 cases of 24-packs of water bottles in the back and there was still room for more. This storage space is ideal for me because I only have two family members, so grocery/shopping wise, it's the perfect amount of space for me. If I needed anymore space, I could easily fold the seats down– problem solved.

Overall, I really enjoyed experiencing the Mazda3 2014 hatchback and I would actually consider purchasing it. It has great safety features, it's a luxury car, it's versatile, family-friendly, and is easy to navigate.

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