[jan3sobieski]

I apologize for starting a similar topic, but in the other one you seem to be talking about 2006's

My wife and I are planning on buying her a new 5 door Touring and I'm sorry but for the life of me I can't figure out the difference between them! I checked Mazda.com and other official mazda pages.
Remember we're talking about the 2007 not 06 or earlier! The ONLY difference i saw in the official brochure was the 6 speaker system with tweeters and some OPTIONAL equipment that can be added, not standard. All versions have the same airbags, all have 17inch wheels. I'm talking standard here.The 06 Sport had smaller wheels and some other little things. The GT on 2007 has wipers, lights and some little things, but the Touring and Sport differences? Help me out, I don't want to pay more for nothing.

EDIT: It appears the brochure on mazda website has been fixed. Now it correctly shows what you guys said were the differences. That's weird. For all those who were wondering, we weren't smoking anything. It did say side airbags and traction was standars on both sport and touring.

 

[drinkduff77]

Well, I started to respond to you with what I thought were the differences but wasn't sure so I went to the Mazda website and now I'm just as confused as you. According to the online brochure:

1. Dynamic Stability Control (DSC)/Traction Control System (TCS) are listed as standard for all "S" models. I thought this was only available on the Touring and Grand Touring.

2. Side air curtains, front and rear coverage is listed as standard for all "S" models. Again, I thought the rear side curtains were only on the Touring and Grand Touring.

3. Leather wrapped steering wheel for Grand Touring. Urethane wrapped steering wheel for Sport and Touring. I thought all three trims got the leather wrapped steering wheel.

Edmunds.com adds "The s Touring adds 17-inch alloys and body side sills to the mix, while the top-line s Grand Touring provides heated leather seats, automatic climate control, rain-sensing wipers and a trip computer."

I thought the sport had 17-inch alloys, not sure about the body side sills. So basically from what I thought before, the Touring adds DSC/TCS and rear side bags/curtains. According to the brochure it adds nothing. Maybe others can confirm?

 

[rk1992]

DrinkDuff77 got it right. The Only difference is DSC/TCS and side air bags and curtains. You can not get these on the sport, they are not options. The S sedan gets side air bags as an option. I bought the touring because I wanted the side airbags. The MZ3 has a poor rating for side impact without the side air bags. If you care about safety then get the touring.

 

[kendalf]

DrinkDuff, what's the link to the online brochure that you were looking at?

The specs page on Mazdausa.com does show correctly that the Touring trim adds DSC + TCS and the side impact + side curtain airbags, which are not available on the Sport trim.

One change that I did note is that now a leather wrapped steering wheel is only available on GT trim?? When did that change take place? The steering wheel and shift knob on my 2007 touring hatch (Sept. build date) is leather wrapped, and that's the way it appears in the brochure that I have. Anyone have a recently purchased Touring that doesn't have the leather wrapped wheel? Include your build date!

Edit: I just downloaded the PDF Mazda3 brochure from Mazdausa.com and it's the same as the one I got several months ago, including the leather wrapped steering wheel and shift knob on all 5-door S models. So I don't know if the specs page is wrong, of if this is a recent change to all newer builds.

jan3sobieski, are you sure that you weren't looking at the Canadian brochure or specs? All Canadian MZ3s do come with full side impact and curtain airbags. But they have a different trim naming: only GS and GT for 5-doors instead of Sport, Touring, and GT.

 

[drinkduff77]

Okay, this is weird. Yesterday I was looking at the exact same page that you linked to, Kendalf, and I swear on my mother's life that it listed the TCS/DSC as standard on all three trims. Same for the rear side airbags. Now it is changed. Maybe Mazda is reading this thread and messing with our heads?!? lol.

I don't know about the leather wrapped steering wheel. I have an '07 touring hatch and mine seems to be leather wrapped. I'm not sure of my build date but I bought it in november pretty much straight off the truck. So maybe built in July or August? I'll check later.

oops, just saw the op's edit...seems he sees the fix on the mazda website too.

 

[kendalf]

Sure seems like the webmaster for mazdausa goofed! Wouldn't be the first time....

If you have stitching on the inside circumference of your steering wheel and perforations at the 3 and 9 o'clock regions then you have a leather wrapped wheel. This member seems to have gotten a non-leather wrapped steering wheel, which is really weird since she got a GT trim. :?

Edit: DrinkDuff77, I just saw that you had already mentioned before I did about the weird change re: the leather wrapped steering wheel not being available on all 3 trims. Sorry I missed it earlier!