For the first time, the Mazda 3 is available with all-wheel drive. It's a sensible move. In parts of the US that get snow with some regularity, most luxury cars are sold with all-wheel drive, and Subarus are everywhere. And among the Mazda 3's competitors, the only cars to offer four driven wheels are the Subaru Impreza and the Volkswagen Golf, but only in wagon guises.

Mazda does things differently than other automakers, though. It's always been an engineer's company, pushing for more interesting, innovative technical solutions to the problems it's facing. Unsurprisingly, its all-wheel drive system is unique.

Well, unique from a software perspective; the hardware is fairly pedestrian, largely carried over from the current CX-5 with some changes made that reduce drivetrain losses 70 percent. It's pretty basic, with a driveshaft going to the back and a clutch pack used to engage the rear wheels. According to Yasumasa Imamura, the engineer behind the 3's all-wheel drive system, almost 50 percent of the engine's torque can be sent rearwards, and all the hardware weighs around 100 pounds.

Mazda

The software is what's interesting here. Imamura-san told me the philosophy is similar to Mazda's G-Vectoring Control (GVC), a system that varies engine torque output minutely to increase load on the front tires during cornering. Mazda North America Vehicle Engineering Manager Dave Coleman explained it thusly:

We've got a vehicle-dynamics model software running inside the powertrain control module that's looking at the driver's steering inputs, the g-sensors, the yaw sensors, the pitch of the road, and it's predicting how much vertical load is on each tire. And then it's looking at a friction-circle model [to determine] how much grip is available at that tire. If you put a bunch of side load on a tire and you try to make it accelerate at the same time, you're going to overwhelm its ability to put the power down, or ability to go around corners. So, we're now looking at this vehicle dynamics model and shifting torque to where the grip is best able to help us out.

We're also coordinating with our GVC algorithm because there are certain times where the all-wheel drive algorithm is going to say, 'hey, that tire back there has the most grip, but if we engage that clutch, it's going to make the car not want to turn,' and the GVC algorithm is looking out for that. So we've integrated the control of basically everything into one computer. The engine, the transmission, the GVC and the all-wheel drive are all in one computer now talking to each other to make this work.

The system is more proactive than reactive. Where many all-wheel drive systems divert torque once a wheel is determined to be slipping, the 3's seems to prevent that sort of thing from happening altogether.

Coleman explained how the all-wheel drive system interacts with Mazda's GVC+, which adds brake-based torque vectoring into the mix. At high speeds in a straight line, most of the torque is sent to the front, with some going to the rear; during deceleration, more torque is sent to the front as weight transfers there, while it's the opposite with acceleration.

On corner entry, GVC helps shift weight to the front by reducing the engine's torque, while the all-wheel drive system holds torque steady at the rear; in the middle of a corner, GVC stops reducing engine torque and the all-wheel drive system sends more rearwards, balancing the load at each tire; on corner exit, GVC drags the outside front brake while the all-wheel drive shifts power to the front.

A lot of interesting engineering, but does it actually work? Mazda invited us to California to see for ourselves.

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The automaker set up a snow course near Lake Tahoe to show off how the all-wheel drive 3 performed right at, and beyond its limits of grip. A 3 riding on all-season tires was able to navigate the track easily with almost no interventions from the traction control system. On proper winter tires, it was even better, feeling sharp and agile. It'll even rotate on throttle, if you decide you want to have a bit of fun. You're not going to pull lurid four-wheel drifts like you might in a Subaru WRX, but for a conventional hatchback, the all-wheel drive is impressively playful.

Coleman told me that the system is basically designed to work with how you drive. That means if you want safety and stability, it'll give it to you, but if you want to have fun, it won't shut you down either, even with traction control on.

Mazda also brought out the inventor of GVC, Daisuke Umetsu, and a special 3 that could have GVC turned off (you can't turn GVC off on production cars). Umetsu-san was originally a powertrain engineer, and then he began thinking about how the engine could affect a car's handling. His thoughts led to the development of GVC. Effectively, GVC mimics what a good driver does, constantly making tiny throttle adjustments mid-corner, only the computer can make even smaller, more precise adjustments at a quicker rate.

You can't actually feel GVC doing its job when it's on, but without it, the car feels quite a bit different, and not in a good way. With it turned off, the 3 still handles well, but the steering feels slower and somewhat imprecise. Mazda says you'll need to make more corrections, too.

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On an especially twisty road between Lake Tahoe and Nevada City, California, the 3 AWD continued to impress. The chassis tuning is spot-on, with a firm, controlled ride and weighty, accurate steering. Mazda might be putting a lot of work into moving the 3 upmarket, but it hasn't forgotten how to set a car up properly. It's still an engineer's company.

Right now, the 3 is only offered with a 2.5-liter four-cylinder making 186 horsepower and 186 lb-ft of torque. In all-wheel drive 3s, it's only paired with a six-speed automatic. An all-wheel drive manual 3 is technically feasible, but Mazda doesn't think there'd be much demand for such a car.

While a naturally aspirated engine provides superior throttle response and better real-world fuel economy than a turbo motor, I couldn't help but want a snail when driving the car at 6000 feet. Otherwise, it's a solid motor. The six-speed automatic is pleasant, too. Mazda went with six ratios instead of eight or more because it wanted to generate better in-gear acceleration. If you've ever driven a modern automatic car that constantly hunts for gears, you'll be thankful for this decision. You can shift with steering-wheel paddles, but it's better to switch the car into sport mode and let it do the work.

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I just wish you could option all-wheel drive with a manual. In Sacramento, Mazda gave us a few minutes with a front-drive manual-transmission hatch, and it was a total sweetheart. The engine is well calibrated, with none of the rev hang that plagues a stick-shift Honda Civic, and the shift itself is light and accurate. The clutch pedal has some real feel, too, and the pedal placement makes heel-toe work a cinch. With the stick, Mazda clearly sweat the details, which is what we've come to expect—and admire—from the brand.

For my money, I'd sacrifice the all-wheel drive and get a front-drive, stick-shift and put the $1400 price difference towards a set of winter tires. The 3 AWD starts at $24,000 for a Select-package sedan, and climbs up $28,900 for the Premium-package hatch. The Polymetal Gray car you see here stickered for a little over $31,000 with a few extra options.

That might seem like a lot of cash for a compact, but I think a loaded 3 is a credible alternative to something like an Audi A3 or a Mercedes-Benz A220, both of which start above $32,000. All-wheel drive only strengthens its case against the baby Germans.

Mazda

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