Europe's 107 Horsepower 2007 Mazda3 Diesel Eliminates Gas Woes

Face it, in this day and age fuel economy is everything. With the 3-5 dollars/gallon fuel prices you just can't afford to have a gas hog. You might be surprised to find that right now in the US, the average highway mpg for fuel efficient cars is 36. Now that sounds pretty good right? Until you find out about the 57 mpg Mazda3 diesel that's killing the US competition over in Europe right now.

The diesel engine does anything but sacrifice speed and torque for fuel economy. When you first get into a Mazda3 diesel co-developed by parent company Ford, you might actually be surprised by the amount of torque especially if you haven't driven a diesel fueled vehicle before. The Mazda3 redlines at a crazy 4,750 rpm, which is sure tell-tale sign that is diesel fueled. Even the 11.3, 0-60 seems quick due to the ultra short gearing and the diesel driven torque.

The 4-cylinder, 107hp turbodiesel will do very little to disappoint you while tooling around the city, back roads or the highway. The ultra light weight aluminum block engine features a turbocharger that eliminates lag and really gets the most out of its' 177 lb feet of torque.

It is notable that the Mazda3 comes in two very stylish designs, but one slightly sacrifices performance. The 5-door hatchback adds .2 seconds to it's 0-60 time, and reduces the overall top speed by 2 mph. The stylish 4-door design really excels in performance, but it's amazing 57 mpg highway fuel economy is what really shines, comparable to the 56 mpg highway of the slightly heavier hatchback version.

But it gets even more interesting. Mazda realizes the 1.6 liter 107bhp model may not be enough for some speed freaks, even though it generally compensates. So they've developed a 2.0 liter turbodiesel to attempt a relative comparison of the 2.0 liter gasoline version found in the U.S. Yes the turbodiesel sacrifices 7hp when matched up to it's gasoline counterpart, but it more than makes up for it with 266 lb feet of raw torque. The US version only has a measly 135! Again it under-performs the gasoline version in reaching 60 mph (9.9 to 9.1), but even then it makes up for it in top speed by over driving the gas powered Mazda3 126 mph to 125.

So yes, the 2.0 liter turbodiesel does have comparable performance specs, but when it comes to gas mileage it's in a whole other ballpark. The turbodiesel manages 33 mpg in the city, compared the gas fueled Mazda3's 22. Doing the math that is a 50% increase in fuel economy. Though it is not as nice as the 107hp turbodiesel it still gets a very nice 44 mpg on the highway. That is 8 mpg over the average US economy car and 12 mpg better than the 2.0 gasoline engine Mazda3.

Overall the turbodiesel only slightly under-performs the gasoline version, but with 44 mpg on the highway and 33 in the city, I think anyone could bare a small decrease in performance. So why not bring on the diesel? The US market would be salivating over the thought of 44-57 mpg. Even brand new hybrids are not hitting these marks. So called economy cars averaging 20-30 in the US make the Mazda3 turbodiesel the envy of any fuel saving officianado.