Mazda 3 or Jetta

kdkm

Member
I need some advice for my sister. She is trading in her Durango for a new car. She is choosing between the Jetta and the Mazda 3. Both 2015s.

Does anyone have any advice or opinions on these two cars?

She is looking to stay close to $20K. Are there any other cars she should look at that are similar?

She has one child who is 5.5 and rides on a FR90 but will be transitioning to a HBB in the Spring.
 
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cookie123

New member
We have an older Jetta, maybe 2010? It's way more roomy than the Mazda 3 we rented in Key West this year. One large suitcase was all you could put in the back. I think it was a hatchback? Maybe it would be different if you had an actual trunk. The Jetta has a fairly large trunk. The Mazda 3 seemed tiny overall. But guess what? It's a small car in the rental business. From now on we rent Midsize! We were supposed to get a Focus, which I think would be more on par with a Jetta.

Car seat wise, I'm no help. I've never put a car seat in there except a no back booster.

We love our Jetta but it's pretty much just DH or me and DH in it. Great seat heaters!
 

TechnoGranola

Forum Ambassador
Here's a comparison of the 2014 models (sedan version of Mazda3) http://m.automobilemag.com/reviews/driven/1402-2014-compact-sedan-comparison-review-day-5/ The 2015 Mazda3 is the same as the 14. The 2015 Jetta has been refreshed from 14 but I believe the exterior hasn't changed a ton, nor the interior size. There have been interior feature changes which is good as apparently the 2014 seemed cost cutting in the interior so the 2025 should be better. And the 2015 Jetta does better in the small overlap crash test than the 2014 did (the 2014/15 Mazda3 does great in that test as well).

The Mazda3 hatchback should give you more cargo space than the sedan, not less. And you can pop the cargo cover off the hatch area to give more height for cargo. Or fold seats down if needed. I know I can put more than a large suitcase in mine, but maybe Cookie's large suitcase is larger than mine. :) Here's an article showing the Mazda3 hatchback hauling capabilities with the seats down http://www.edmunds.com/mazda/mazda3/2014/long-term-road-test/cargo-space.html
 

TechnoGranola

Forum Ambassador
Ah forgot car seat stuff! The Mazda3 has removable headrests in all 3 rear seating positions. My booster ride is outboard and our Oobr and Parkway SGL both work well. The rear headrests curve over the seats so she'd need to be cautious of the gap created as some high back boosters don't allow any gap between the back and the seat and also require head support (which means you can't just pop of the headrest to eliminate the gap). But that wouldn't be an issue with the Frontier in booster mode and the child isn't far off from a backless booster as an option as well.

Looks like the 2015 Jetta headrests sit over the rear seats some as well so the same potential issue may be present. It's a fairly common issue in newer vehicles. They're making the rear seats safer for sear belted passengers which is conflicting with all the highback boosters that require head support.
 

aeormsby

New member
We have a 2014 Mazda3. I don't think we tested a Jetta at all so I can't compare (DH did test a friends VW sport wagon TDI something). Compared to the other vehicles we did look at I loved that the Mazda had 3 headrests! Cargo space is adequate for us (we have a 8 passenger SUV & Pickup also for when we need more space). The amount of backseat leg room in the Mazda always impresses me for the size vehicle it is.

My kids are both in boosters but we haven't had any issues with their NBB's (what is usually in there) or with DS's Performance booster when we do a longer drive.
 

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