It was the last hot-hatch built by Mazda before departing from Ford.
Its compact size and powerful engine were impressive for those times.

The otherwise economical and simple Mazda 3 had a sibling who was anything else than that. It was the fastest Mazda 3 and promised the other hot-hatches on the market to put up a good fight with them.

The era of front-wheel drive hot-hatches was still on top of its game. Vehicles such as the Golf GTI, Focus ST, or Honda Civic Type R were highly appreciated on the market. The Megane RS was considered the king of them all. But the Japanese Mazda was closing in.

The Mazda 3 MPS was offered in a regular, 5-door, hatchback form. The hood was slightly risen to make room for the big intercooler. The roof-spoiler in the back was bigger than on a regular version. The only two details that could tell the difference were the bigger light-alloy wheels and the bigger exhaust in the back.

Inside, the car featured a new design with sport-bucket seats and the same dashboard as the rest of the range. The aluminum pedals and the colors used for the dashboard were some of the interior details that mattered.

The big difference was under the hood. There, an inline-four engine was turbocharged and offered 260 hp. The car was front-wheel-drive and, to prevent wheelspin, it was fitted with a standard front self-locking differential. Due to that, the car became very violent when turning into a corner and floor the gas pedal. The six-speed manual was very precise but not as sleek as some of its competitors. And no automatic was on the options list. The full-independent suspension featured stiffer dampers than the rest of its siblings, who were just economical and family-oriented hatchbacks.