CIRCULATING IN WANGARATTA, BENALLA, MYRTLEFORD, BRIGHT, MT BEAUTY, BEECHWORTH, YACKANDANDAH, RUTHERGLEN, CHILTERN AND DISTRICTS
NORTH EAST
March 6, 2015
available online - wangarattachronicle.com.au
PRINTED FORTNIGHTLY — VOLUME 468
2015 Mazda 3 Touring Storypage3
MAZDA3 XD ASTINA: The new model provides an attractive combination of performance and fuel efficiency.
Oil-fired power in upmarket Mazda 3 I
t’s a measure of the worth of diesel power in passenger vehicles over the past decade that Mazda has anointed its popular Mazda3 with an oil burner, the XD Astina. Powered by a 2.2-litre turbo-diesel engine mated with either a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic, the hatchback offers an attractive combination of performance and fuel efficiency – all at a cost of $940 below last year’s launch price. With class-leading power output of 129 kW, and 420 Nm of torque, the diesel
By DEREK OGDEN engine also takes i-Stop and i-Eloop, Mazda’s regenerative braking system, to help the manual version achieve fuel efficiency as low as 5.0 litres per 100km, an improvement of 12 per cent over the previous, less powerful, diesel engine. Among price cuts this month across much of the Mazda3 range, the XD Astina manual, now at $39,290 and Astina automatic, $41,290, have both come down by $940.
Up there in stylish street presence with the petrol-powered Mazda3 SP25 Astina, the new XD Astina holds its own with 18-inch bright alloy wheels, LED foglamps, a black painted lower rear bumper, a red accent around the front grille and black leather seats with suede trim. The present Mazda3 introduces head-up windscreen display, projecting driving information onto the windscreen directly in front of the driver without he or she having to look away from the road ahead. The focal point is 1.5 metres in front of
the driver’s eye point and requires minimal eye movement to focus. Info displayed includes vehicle speed, automatic cruise control speed settings, navigation turn-by-turn, plus various safety alerts among other things. Aboard a Mazda3 for the first time is Commander control, which accesses vehicle systems via a knob and cluster of switches on the centre console linked to the 7-inch display screen on the central dashboard. Continued page 2