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Sedans Toyota Corolla Toyota Corolla XRS vs Nissan Sentra SE-R SPEC V vs Mazda3
64 messages, Last post on Oct 13, 2005 at 6:22 PM
You are in the Toyota Corolla Forum. Your Hosts are pat & karens
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"When the car mag guys test these cars to the limit and some then chart out their observations you have trust what they say - your tests are limited." Here's what the car mag guys say about the Mazda3: MotorTrend: "From the moment you drive away from the curb, you'll notice a certain sophistication in how the 3 isolates, steers, shifts, and stops. It feels European. This is a good start..... ....You might think a car that can corner with 0.87g lateral grip and speed through the slalom at 65 mph would offer a tooth-chattering harshness of a go-kart. Not the Mazda3. Fluid-filled suspension bushings and an electrohydraulic-steering system help reduce noise, vibration, and harshness.... ... Mazda's 3 glides over the court on sheer talent...." As a matter of fact, the "car mag guys" just picked the Mazda3 over the Corolla XRS in a comparison test, but it's not available online yet. You have to trust what they say........ |
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Replying to: pat (Apr 21, 2005 8:18 am) Motor Trend declared that XRS was too extreme for most of the people to realize the full capabilities of the XRS atleast for those people who buy a car of this class while Mazda 3 was more friendly and easy to drive while offering a more city friendly drive. XRS is not a volume seller or appeal to mass customers. It has only 6 speed manual transmission with no automatic transmission available considering 80% people buy auto. It is only for the people who like hard edged naturally aspirated performance with the practicality and reliability and economy of a Toyota Corolla. Proof?? Well, pick up the July Edition of Motor Trend (not surprisingly there are references to it here) and flip to page 114. You will see a head to head comparo of Corolla XRS and Mazda 3. Here is the brief specs: Motor Trend July 2005 5 Sport Compact Cars Comparo July 2005 PG 114 Cars: Corolla XRS, Mazda 3, Focus ST, Cobalt and Spectra 5 Corolla XRS 0-60: 7.0 secs Quartermile: 15.4  92 mph Lateral Acceleration: 0.85g (Handling) Slalom Speed: 67 mph (Handling) Braking 70 - 0 : 123 ft Curb weight: 2650 lbs Mazda 3 0 - 60: 8.4 secs Quartermile: 16.0 88 mph Lateral Acceleration: 0.81g Slalom Speed: 62 mph Braking 70 - 0: 132 ft Curb weight: 2800 lbs Reading the complete article, it has 5 pages of tests and reviews about the tests. They pretty much admitted that the XRS dominated every performance test and if you go up in mountain twisties, XRS is the only car you want to take. It explains every different aspect of 5 sport compact cars and how the compare. XRS did better in every handling and acceleration test than rest of the 4 other cars. They did give Mazda 3 high points on more options available i.e HID lights, Optional Navi etc. Corolla XRS does not have a 60/40 split seat in the back to strengthen the chasis and hold the strut brace across the shock tower (for handling) so they marked it down on that and they liked the styling on Mazda 3 better. Nissan Sentra Spec V (car and driver, Featherweight Serial thrillers Comparo) 0-60: 7.8 secs Quartermile: 15.6secs lateral Acceleration: 0.87g Curb weight: 2740 lbs The comparison is simple.
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Replying to: fa1 (Jul 13, 2005 8:37 pm)
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| The Mazda3 is not part of the topic here, Todd, so let's let it drop now. Thanks. | |
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Replying to: newcar31 (Jul 14, 2005 1:05 pm)
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Replying to: fa1 (Jul 14, 2005 2:14 pm) No, you said the XRS dominated every performance test. You shouldn't have posted the acceleration figures without mentioning that the Mazda3 was an automatic. That makes a HUGE difference. "Even with manual to manual comparison for straight line performance, the margin is still big." No it's not. Other mags have tested manual versions of the 3s and they did 0-60 in the low 7s. The 3s hatch did 0-60 in 7.4 seconds and the sedan is lighter than the hatch. Around town, the 3s is going to be faster than the XRS because the XRS needs to be wound out more than the 3 to accelerate. Pat----I know the Mazda3 isn't in the discussion title, but it's a very similar car to the Spec-V and XRS. Can you add the Mazda3 to the title?
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Replying to: newcar31 (Jul 14, 2005 2:27 pm) I was talking about quartermile and not 0-60 because first two gears do not mean anything in racing. XRS does a 0-60 in 7 secs flat while Mazda 3 does it in 7.5 - 7.7 secs range (manual transmission). However, this difference gets bigger as both cars get into 3rd and 4th gear where XRS's superior top end and closer ratio gearing and smaller final drive takes charge. Manual XRS quartermile is 15.4 and XRS traps at 5 - 7 mph higher in the quartermile. |
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Replying to: newcar31 (Jul 14, 2005 2:27 pm) |
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"I was talking about quartermile and not 0-60 because first two gears do not mean anything in racing. XRS does a 0-60 in 7 secs flat while Mazda 3 does it in 7.5 - 7.7 secs range (manual transmission)." You posted 0-60 figures and then said: "As a matter of fact Mazda 3 does not hold a candle to the XRS in any performance test." I just thought it was kind of shady to post those 0-60 figures without disclosing the fact that the 0-60 figure on the Mazda3 was from an automatic and the 0-60 figure for the XRS was from a 6 speed manual. Like I said before, Car and Driver tested the hatchback version of the Mazda3 and they did 0-60 in 7.4 seconds. Since the sedan is lighter, it should be a tenth or two quicker. Was the original poster going to race these cars? I think it's kind of silly to be shopping for a Sentra or Corolla and be worrying about trap speeds and 1/4 mile times. All of the cars are pretty close.
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Replying to: newcar31 (Jul 15, 2005 4:08 am) 1 - It comes with summer performance Michellin tires (winter tires/all season radials are needed in winter) 2 - Minimum of Octane 91 premium fuel required 3 - No automatic transmission available. Only 6 speed manual transmission. 4 - No 60/40 split because of the rear strut bar and light weight fixed bench to strengthen the chasis. 5 - Stiff ride because of sport tuned suspension. 6 - 26/34 mpg (c/h) gas mileage as opposed to 34/40 mpg for other Corolla models. 7 - Close ratio 6 speed manual requires a lot of shifting in city driving to keep the revs from climbing since the needle zooms upto 6000 rpm in no time. I could go on. All of these things are absent in other Corolla models and the Mazda 3 as well. All in all, Mazda 3 should be compared to Corolla S, LE and CE because like I said before XRS is not a volume seller. It will appeal to only the people who are into compact performance and tuning and want some serious performance (though not as extreme as an SRT-4 or WRX etc.). That is why yes when XRS comes in quartermile times and performance numbers do matter because it will defeat the purpose of sacrificing so much that other Corolla models offer. When the performance components and portion is taken out of the equation, XRS looks like a souped up Corolla with good bells and whistles i.e electronic optitron guages, sport seats etc., but not that much different from other Corollas. As a compact sport sedan, performance is the main strength in it's class where it outshines most of the other cars in it's class.
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