Living with the Mazda3 long-term tester: Fit for a cyclist

YAHOO AUTOS

By Ruari Griffin @ Motoramic 

 

 

                           

            

Probably easier in a hatch, but the sedan did the job admirably.

Unless you’re driving a packaging marvel like a Honda Fit, living with a compact comes with inevitable utility compromises—but hauling a bicycle isn’t one of them, as we’ve seen with our Mazda3 one-year test vehicle.

The 2014 Mazda3 sedan’s trunk passes the bike test. It handily swallowed my 60-cm, extra large frame road bike, without dropping the bike seat either. A pair of knobs just inside the trunk on the left and right drop each side of the rear seats.

 

This is all good news for those that prefer the look of the sedan over the hatch. The only down side is that I needed to move the front seats slightly forward to allow the rear seat back to drop, I could then return them to my preferred position for my 6’2” frame.

Stay tuned for more updates, and check out our previous coverage of the Mazda3 long-term test vehicle.