2012 Mazda3 Facelift arrives in the UK. Price from £13,495

The 2012 Mazda3 arrives in the UK

The 2012 Mazda3 Facelift arrives in the UK this month with minor tweaks and a starting price of £13,495.

The Mazda3 is a car you can easily overlook when scouring the market for a compact family car, which is a shame. It’s a good car and, with the facelift for 2012 chucking in a few tweaks, is more appealing than before.

The 2012 changes for the Mazda3 aren’t huge, but there’s a new nose and back bumper and some new alloys. Inside sees a bit of a jump in quality, new colour options and, say Mazda, more peace and quiet thanks to extra sound deadening.

Even the entry-level Mazda3 S has decent equipment levels, with AirCon and electronic windows; the TS spec adds Climate,  heated folding mirrors and 15″ alloys; the TS2 adds 16″ alloys, Fogs, auto lights and wipers, Bluetooth, heated screen and Cruises; TS2 Nav does what it says on the tin; Mazda3 Sport gets 17″ alloys and body kit; Mazda3 Sport Nv gtes Nav and Mazda3 MPS gets all the goodies thrown at it.

Under the mildly tweaked skin lurks mildly tweaked oily, bits with new suspension and steering settings to improve handling. There’s a choice of three petrol engines – 1.6 litre with 105PS and 44.1mpg, 2.0 litre with 151PS and 42,2mpg and 2.3 litre with 260PS and 29.4mpg.

There are also three diesel option on offer – 1.6 litre with 115PS and 65.7mpg, 2.2 litre with 150PS and 54.3mpg and the 2,2 litre with 185PS and 52.3mpg.

Mazda are offering a Mazda3 Tamura Limited Edition (based on the TS trim)  to kick sales off, which gets a Sports Styling Pack, Fogs and 17″ black gloss alloys which costs £15,995.

The whole 2012 Mazda3 range is now on offer in the UK, with a limited offer on the 1.6 TS model at £13,495 (saving £2,300).

(41 photos – click any thumbnail for full gallery)

By Cars UK