As good as Mazda’s current crop of Skyactiv diesel engines are – and they are good – they’re too big. At the moment, they only come in 2.2-litre guise with 150 or 175hp. The low of 104g/km on the 3 (107g/km for our model) is exceptional given the heft and power of the engine, but it leaves the Mazda trailing established lower medium rivals that duck well below the 100g/km mark.
That could be about to change though, because the firm debuted a 1.5-litre version of the same engine at last month’s Geneva motor show. Details are still thin on the ground but it will supposedly emit less than 90g/km when it appears the next 2 supermini, so surely a sub 100g/km 1.5-litre 3 is a dead cert?
