Its an upsell to Mazda3 buyers.

Exactly. I expect Mazda to sell literally dozens of these things. Now if they do it to a CX-3, different story. 

Golf GTI competitor. With AWD, all that torque, and the vastly superior interior. this thing will eat Golfs alive. The sedan will steal all 10 of the potential Jetta GLI customers. 

I don’t love the analogy, but I still think you’re correct.

This seems to be what most people are missing with this announcement. Even though the numbers look similar, this isn’t a hot hatch rival for the GTI or Civic Si or the Veloster N - they’re taking on the luxury compacts from the Germans. An A3 and WRX might look comparable on paper but are vastly different vehicles to…

Disagree. if you can hook all of that torque it will be a rocket. These do not weigh much and the AWD will help with grip (I can blow the tires off even with torque limited in 1 and 2).

It’s not an autobahn cruiser. It’ll be zippy from the light or on the on-ramp and that’s just about right for a car like this IMO.

The Mazda6 Wagon exists in the current version. And as always the US will never get it

New autos aren’t like old ones. My wife’s 2016 3 has a pretty great transmission even if I try to smash a clutch pedal at least once every time I drive it. There is minimal power loss in automatics anymore and they aren’t a penalty to drive unless you specifically want a manual (which I do....but I’m clearly in the…

It does come with a manual. It’s right there in the glove box.

This is not the manual Mazdaspeed3 you wanted but Mazda has been clear about moving towards Premium, They’re going after the A-CLasses of the world.
 Mazdaspeed is over. They have confirmed that multiple times over the years.

That is an absolute shit ton of torque for that car....my MS3 came with ~280 and it’s a riot. 310 is nuts with that power figure only 227.

No idea, but in the United States, Apple is still the #1 phone seller.  

Hyundai/Kia systems tend to offer both standard whether you’re driving a Kia Rio or a Genesis G70

“A first for Kia, wireless Apple CarPlayand Android Auto cuts the cord on charging cables, meaning drivers can enjoy being connected without being plugged in”

“moist clutches”
If you’re famous, they let you do that.

Apple carplay is standard, as is dual-zone temperature control, in case you were curious.

Can we start calling them “moist clutches” instead of “wet clutches”? Just putting it out there.

DCT would be great if you were the only car on the road and stop lights/stop signs didn’t exist. At least every one I’ve driven has been that bad. People love to hate on CVTs, but I’ve had no issue with them in real world driving conditions. You won’t win a race or feel “sporty” with one, but your car won’t violently…

Low-speed driving is the Achilles heel of any DCT, whether it’s from the master (VW) or the apprentice (Ford). Acura even went so far as to attach a torque converter to their DCT to smooth out low-speed driving dynamics.