If you want a large analog tachometer on a 2014 Mazda3, like the one shown on Mazda’s website, the only way to get it is to equip your car with an automatic transmission.

Huh?

Otherwise, I’m really impressed with our new Mazda3 test car and love running through the gears of its sweet shifting six-speed manual. But instead of a large analog tachometer that you get with almost every new car these days, Mazda insists on giving you a thumb-sized digital rev counter that devotes more real estate nagging you to upshift than informing you of the engine speed.

I took a quick trip to the Mazda3 website and saw an alternative gauge cluster that places a large tachometer right in the center and displays the vehicle speed digitally. While this setup would be much better for those of us who like to shift ourselves, it is only available in Mazda3s that are equipped with an automatic. It turns out that the only the “real” tachometer is on the Mazda3 s, which can only be had with the larger 2.5-liter engine paired to an automatic. Work this stuff out, Mazda!

—Jake Fisher