Photos by Ulysses Ang |
Admittedly,
when the curtains were pulled off the all-new Mazda3, the reception was a bit
lackluster. Given the first-generation 3 collected numerous accolades and was
for a time, the Philippines’s best-selling compact car, expectations for the
new model was stratospherically high. Plus, since its arrival was a full two
years (and a facelift) behind schedule, everyone was expecting to be blown
away. Rumors circulated about the possibility of having a 2.0-liter hatchback,
a manual transmission option, and even the arrival of the mythical Mazdaspeed3.