Read the full review: https://babydrive.com.au/reviews/hatches/2019-mazda3-g20-touring/

The Mazda3 looks like a seriously fast car on the outside and the dash and driver's seat feel like you're in a cockpit. From all the styling, I was expecting the Mazda3 to rocket but was surprised on my initial drive that although it's a sporty ride, the looks and the speed don't match up. It's not as nippy as you'd think.

The cockpit-style dash wraps around you, which I actually found with the dark and quite small interior made me feel a little hemmed in and cramped. This definitely continues in the back of the car where the roofline is LOW, making installing child seats tricky and getting little ones in and out of child seats difficult too as well as bending in to fasten their harnesses. The rear doors do open nice and widely though, which is good.

Apart from these things the Mazda3 does seem to have swallowed a BabyDrive manual, with a lot of the features inside the car being spot on, like the fuel gauge that shows the distance to empty in kilometres on the actual gauge, THANK YOU... AMAZING!! This is the first time I have seen this in a car and it is perfect!

There are air vents in the front and back of the Mazda3, the front ones are in this new style that seems to be all the rage in car interiors as I see it in every car I test at the moment, where it looks like one long vent running the length of the dash but is in fact two small vents and a mock vent between them. I like the styling and think it gives the dash a sleeker look.

The dash of the 2019 Mazda3 is minimal which is lovely and apart from the aircon controls everything is within the media screen which is a great balance.

The new media system in the Mazda3 is excellent, it is much more modern and user-friendly than the previous systems and it has Apple CarPlay.

Although the Mazda3 still has the rotary dial in the central console to control the media screen while driving, it feels much better integrated with the media system and more intuitive to use than the previous design.

You can adjust the sound settings within the screen, which is a great BabyDrive feature, to make all the warning sounds and beeps quieter.

Easy positioning of which speaker the music comes out of, so you have nursery rhymes coming out of just the speaker near your child.

Installing child seats in the back of the Mazda3 is quite tricky with the low roofline, but I found once I got them in I could comfortably fit two child seats in the back. I could not fit between them though.

The rear doors do open nice and wide, so that is helpful with getting little passengers in and out of the back. Legroom in the Mazda3 we found a bit tight. With a reaar-facing child seat installed, I could sit in the drivers seat and I'm 162cm. With a forward-facing child seat installed we found we could fit a 180cm driver.

Storage is good throughout the Mazda3 and for a small sporty car like this everything is very practical in size, such as the cup holders and door bins. The central console box and glasses case are both lined, preventing lenses getting scratched and things rattling around.

The boot of the Mazda3 is also of good size for a small family, holding 10 shopping bags when empty, which is the same as the same in the Hyundai i30, one more than the Toyota Corolla, and one less than the Kia Cerato GT Hatch.

A small dog would fit in the boot of the 2019 Mazda3 or single, twin and tandem strollers and prams fit in the boot of the with a good amount of shopping bags while using the parcel shelf.

The 2019 Mazda3 is a very nice car inside and out, the styling is beautiful and it has a lot of very practical BabyDrive features. However, I did find the low roofline at the back a consideration with child seats and bending in to do harnesses up multiple times daily was a little tricky.

The 2019 Mazda3 is given a five-star ANCAP safety rating and it has seven airbags as standard.

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