@@TravelBreakthrough because I bought many manual cars from many different brands including Mazda, and absolutely every mechanics i have met at the different dealers said the exact thing: do not coast on neutral. Coasting in neutral means the engine is still idling, burning fuel. In a modern fuel injected vehicle (virtually anything less than 30 years old), coasting in gear saves fuel because the system will completely turn off the injectors until throttle is added. Coasting downhill is also much safer in gear than in neutral, coasting downhill in neutral means the brakes must be used to maintain speed, which can cause them to overheat and drastically reduce their ability to slow the vehicle. Coasting in gear lets engine braking do the majority of the work and keeps the brakes cool and ready to work when needed. This is true regardless of whether the vehicle is FWD, AWD, or RWD. Flatland coasting in neutral also means that if you do have to suddenly accelerate for some reason, they'll be a small delay as you put it back into gear. 99% of the time, not really an issue, but strictly speaking, being in gear is a little safer. As for the wear, you're not breaking a transmission by coasting in neutral, not saving it too. They're literally engineered to coast in gear. Even then, you have more chance of breaking a transmission by trying to put it back into gear and not matching the engine speed with the transmission, than just keeping it into gear. The only way to make a transmission last, is to change the fluid on time.
This sounds super educated but I’m not drag racing. I’m traveling 0 to about 70MPH on average and the breaks handle that load just fine on my 2005 colbalt I had for many years. But I’m team stick it makes you one with the vehicle and keeps you aware at all times.
@@TravelBreakthrough My answer is exactly applying to street driving situations at legal speeds with normal cars, not drag racing. I had a 2005 Cobalt too, base 2.2 ecotec and 5 speed manual, averaged 37 MPG city/highway combined for the 4 years i had it. 30k miles each year, not a single issue, just maintenance, loved that car.
I am from Europe and watching this video made mw think how different the average driver in America is. First of all the engine is not small and 190Hp is not low by any means. I mean this is a small car it is relatively light, it can go from 0 to 100km/h in less than 8 seconds. What do you need more in a sense of speed? It is not a heavy SUV so you'll need bigger engine and many Hp's. What would you do, race or what exactly? As far as i know the highways in US have speed limit so it is not that you can drive as fast as the car can. And about costing in neutral, this is a good way to fail your driving exam, not only that but they will probably forbid you to take the exam for some time. First of all it is not safe, you increase the reaction time, you don't have motor braking and you are not saving fuel, you probably spending more fuel. Also there is no such thing as neutral driving :)
Well you got a good point there, would I be happy with 510 HP ? And get a traffic ticket for taking off fast in a 30MPH street ? Surprisingly it does take off fast for the engine it has tho
This guy does videos about Philippino cuisine and travel vlogs. It's clear that he doesn't do car reviews because he doesn't know how to drive and doesn't know the power/weight ratio. He forgot to review the obnoxious features that are now required by the unelected NTSB and EPA for safety and fuel economy. Hopefully it has none. Mazda 3 looks great for a manual shift car, love the saddle brown interior.
You don't put stress on the transmission by slowing down to a red light and this doesn't hurt the transmission in any way... you're missing out on recharging your MHEV battery though.
@@TravelBreakthrough The alternator only charges the regular flooded battery but not the 24V one, as far as I know. You can monitor via efficiency display. If you slow down in gear and light brakes you gain highest efficiency of loading the battery. Coasting in neutral you get nothing plus what some other guy said in another comment, in neutral the engine needs to burn fuel to not die. I only go neutral for the last few meters.
Small Engine?!! It’s the largest in its class! Naturally aspirated 2.5L 4c, that’s the best recipe, nice and big engine compared to all of the other engines in the segment. It has plenty of hp compared to the rest of the competitors. There’s also a turbo variant of the Mazda 3 which is much more powerful
I also have a 2022 manual 3, just hit 87,000 miles on it lol. Have you replaced the gear oil? I did around 70,000 miles and I think it was worth it. Seemed to feel a tad better after the new stuff went in. I used Redline MTL.
@ericspooner9199 I have not. I love cars but I don't really consider myself a car guy because I'm clueless about a lot of the mechanical stuff on your own, even if it's simple. I just have mazda service my car, and choose to have done whatever the mazda manual recommends on whatever intervals.
There's a time and place to coast in neutral but if you're going faster than 20mph and touching the brake pedal at all, you're doing it wrong. Coasting in neutral is a zero pedal activity. The exception is when you are rapidly approaching a stop and will be stopped within a 100 feet or so. The moment you need to actively slow down, you ought to shift into a gear. Downshifting gently won't damage the transmission or clutch at all, and if you rev match, you can have downshifts that are both smooth and fast. Appropriate downshifting gives you the best of all worlds. Being in gear with the engine over 900 rpm causes fuel shutoff which improves fuel economy when deceleration is needed anyway (though the difference between idling and using no fuel at all is admittedly incredibly tiny at around 1 gallon every 5 hours), enhances engine braking which saves brake wear, and allows you resume acceleration more readily if need be. They key is to be smooth with it though. Herky jerky downshifts are absolutely harmful to the entire drivetrain.
Coasting is dangerous, you don't have much control of the car at all. And how does the transmission have wear and tear if you leave it in one gear for example?
I've been strongly considering getting one of these if/when I finally get rid of my Civic sedan. I know it's no race car, but compared to my 1.5l 102hp engine paired to a 4-speed automatic, I'm sure it would feel a lot faster, even if it is a lot heavier. I really do wish Mazda would offer the Mazda3 sedan with a manual again though, but I'll settle for a hatchback if it means I can get it with a manual.
First, I must admit that I like Mazda products especially since 2010 having had 3 Mazda6 (2010 GS manual, 2012 GT, 2018 GS-L 2.5 turbo) and a 2019 Mazda3 GS sedan manual. My wife also had several Mazdas (CX-7 GX FWD, CX-5 GX FWD, CX3 GS AWD and Mazda3 GS). So, I just purchased a 2024 Mazda3 Sport GT 6 spd manual (35000$ CAN) after trying the 2023 Nissan Sentra SR manual (lower power and finish), 2023 Civic Hatchback SPORT TOURING Manual (more expensive for price and insurance). On the other hand, if space is an important criterion for you, I must admit that the Honda Civic Hatchback offers more space for the rear seats and cargo space. 🙂 (Canada)
I've had manual cars my whole life and have always coasted in neutral. Literally for any stop sign or traffic light or just going down a hill. Idk why everyone's freaking out like you have no control, you have your breaks to break, it takes less than a sexond to put it back in gear, it's way more expensive ro replace a clutch than brakes. I've never had an accident, in fact I've never even came close
I don’t think coasting in neutral saves gas since in neutral, the engine still needs to burn fuel to not stall, where in gear it doesn’t need to burn fuel
@@TravelBreakthroughHaving it in gear and not providing power will burn less since the engine does not need to keep itself alive. It takes the rotation from the wheels and generates its rpms that way. That way it cannot stall and so doesn't need fuel to stay working. In neutral however the wheels are detached from the crankshaft and the engine can't rely on their rotation to stay alive. This means that the engine will have to generate its own rpms, and thus consume fuel.
It depends. You're not always comparing coasting in neutral to engine braking in gear. Sometimes you are comparing coasting in neutral to applying the gas in a lower gear. In that situation, you will save gas by coasting.
So many brands are switching to paddle shifting especially Corvette and Mustang stick shifting cars need to stay they are good on gas and keeps you more alert when driving. Not like other automatics that warm you massage you when you drive and make you so comfortable you fall asleep when driving.. they are super fun to drive makes you one with the car
When you’re coasting down a hill with the car in gear, the engine no longer injects fuel. Consequently, the engine is consuming no fuel when rolling down a hill and is only turning over because the wheels and transmission are forcing it to. If you were to coast in neutral, you’d use a little more fuel. This is because the engine requires fuel to keep a vehicle idling.
@@TravelBreakthrough If your foot is off the throttle, and you are engine braking, the injectors stop feeding fuel to the engine. This only works above a certain RPM, though. At very low RPM's, they have to inject fuel to keep from stalling the engine.
@@TravelBreakthrough If you put the car in neutral, then the engine gets enough gas to keep it idling (or it would just stop). If it's in gear it's the momentum of the car that feeds power to the wheels, transmission, and engine that keep the engine turning over, and no fuel needs to be injected into the cylinders.
I've been driving manual cars since the 80s. I've never had a manual that you didn't have to push down to put in reverse. It's a safety feature so that you don't accidentally put it into reverse. Which manuals are not like that? i haven't purchased a modern car in a while. And you can definitely have a rear wheel drive car with a manual transmission. Just look at the Porsches, for example.
Just traded my 2007 corolla with stick shift. It was a 5-speed and reverse was bottom right. What did I trade it in for you ask? Why, the 6-speed Mazda3 hatchback of course!
@@kevinnorris6558 Interesting. I was about to say that maybe it was a Japanese car thing. I guess not. Perhaps the design changed at some point. After all, I had no idea what rev matching was or why someone would need it. I'm having a hard time recalling a manual that I had that I didn't have to push down. Maybe, possibly, my Isuzu Impulse... been so long that I can't recall.
Its not down shifting that puts wear on the transmission, its improper down shifting. Same with improper upshifting... as you do with this review. I know the newer mazda manuals are hard to drive, I have one myself. Adding too much gas (while upshifting), or staying on the gas for too long while shifting is much more likely to wear out your clutch. Additionally, starting from a dead stop and revving the crap out of it will destroy the clutch. Modern Mazda's and manual in general, don't need more than 1200 rpm to get going.
No because it automatically changes the gears for us. Stick you have to do it manually. You put more stress on the clutch transmission and gas. Your free to downshift all you want tho lol
@@TravelBreakthrough but if you put it in neutral then it wouldn’t be doing all that extra downshifting adding more wear and tear to your transmission. Isn’t that your argument, shifting=bad?
@@TravelBreakthrough I feel like if you truly believe 75% of your argument, you should be neutral driving automatics. I think there’s something else going on here.
Neutral coasting is the worst of all worlds... wastes fuel, disconnects you from near instant throttle adjustments, etc etc. Reaction time to move your foot to adjust throttle (in or out) v.s. needing both feet (left clutch, right throttle and/or brake), right arm to grab the shifter, brain to calculate what gear to put it into, blip the throttle to not botch the clutch/driveline/engine mounts/etc, and then left foot again to release the clutch... just don't do it. It's foolish. If you're going to drive a manual for the connected feeling, stay connected. End rant.
You know nothing about Mazdas- easily the best powertrain and most fun to drive compared to their similar priced competitors. Also, nothing wrong with downshifting, dude- you save the brakes, and if you don’t ride your clutch there is nothing to replace in the transmission. I’ve never replaced a clutch (while driving various Mazda’s for hundreds of thousands of miles).
I also coast in neutral to a stop even if that is 1 mile down a hill. Regardless of saving gas or safety, my theory is you are extending the life of the engine as it is rotating less than 1000 RPM. I coast as much as possible and average 40 miles per gallon so I don't know. But I disagree with a 2.5 L 190 hp being weak.
That’s a good question, this car right here drives smoother then a Mercedes C300 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Pc1mmaz6aek.htmlsi=CzRnRbAMfUDnDZpk
@@harmanhameed6286 Mazda has double soundproofing on the doors so rubber on the door and the cabinside - very very quiet. It is definatly bang for buck! I am in the proces of leasing one in my country ( Denmark ) - we have insane prices on cars here so it sells for 60.000 dollars here - but an A3 goes for 80k so still a good bang! :D
If you put 100 people in a room, and they all drive manual transmission, you will find 100 different ways to approach and execute driving manual. We all do something to irritate other manual drivers.
I wish I could tell Mazda that I know how to roll up my own windows and I can lift a parking brake. I'd rather the money went into a slightly bigger naturally aspirated engine with the manual. It would be nice to have such a version. I'd call it the no bullshti model. No electric bullshit that breaks. I bet this car could sell for at least 5k less if the power windows etc were taken out.,
Bro, power windows are a must. I have to disagree with you on that one. If you an enthusiast and a speed junkie, then that's totally fine. I just got rid of my base-model corolla and a reason for that was its shitty crank windows. It cramps my style when I'm transacting at the drive-through and grabbing my flat white at Starbucks.
@@parnpichate eer, okay, so maybe Toyota should have made a better crank instead? I also drive a 2009 Patriot with no power windows. Dude, it's not hard to go to the drive through. You start rolling down the windows a tad before you get to the window. With a manual, you'd be in first gear with no need to shift with your other hand.
