We review the priciest Mazda 3 on sale! 2020 Mazda 3 G25 Astina detailed expert review 4K

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Skip Ahead: Intro: 00:00 Exterior: 00:54 Interior: 02:50 Infotainment: 04:58 Features: 10:03  Practicality: 12:33 On the Road: 17:10 Verdict: 25:03  Read the full review: https://www.carexpert.com.au/review/2020-mazda-3-g25-astina-review/  Paul reviews the 2020 Mazda 3 G25 Astina. If you have $40,000 to spend on a small hatch, this is about as expensive as you can get before you reach the German brands. Is it enough to win cashed up buyers over? Watch and find out!  We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.  Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.  Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1  You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.  Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you! #mazda #review #mazda3  Follow us on social media to see what we're up to and to ask any questions!  CarExpert: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarExpertAus Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CarExpertAus Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carexpert.com.au  Paul Maric: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulMaric Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric  @MazdaOfficial @mazdaaustralia

Transcript

00:00 G'day, I'm Paul and I've got a question for you.

00:02 Have you ever been to the pub

00:03 and had old mate behind the bar tell you

00:05 your favourite drinks could be 20% more expensive

00:08 than what it was last time?

00:09 Well, that's kind of what Mazda's done

00:11 with the new Mazda 3.

00:12 It starts off about five grand more than the previous one.

00:16 Come here and let me show you why.

00:17 This is the G25 Astina.

00:19 It's like right at the top of the tree there

00:22 and it's priced at just under 40 grand.

00:24 So it is a lot of money and Mazda reckons

00:26 that it is a far more premium proposition

00:29 and they've loaded more features into the entire range.

00:31 Now you can go down to the comments below

00:33 to see the pricing of the rest of the range

00:34 and also to skip ahead if you need to

00:37 or if you're not watching this on YouTube,

00:38 you've got some time codes up there you can jump ahead to.

00:41 And if you haven't done so already,

00:42 I'd love for you to hit subscribe and also the bell icon

00:44 so you know every time we post a new video.

00:46 Look at this design language.

00:49 Mazdas have always been really good looking cars

00:51 and if you thought the grill on the new BMW 4 Series

00:55 was a whopper, have a look at this gaping mouth.

00:58 It is absolutely ginormous

00:59 and it's broken up by the registration plate.

01:01 But I do love the fact that you've got

01:03 these black highlights here,

01:05 full LED headlights with those daytime running lights.

01:08 You can get eight colors and then here the Astina

01:11 comes with these awesome looking black 18 inch alloy wheels.

01:13 It really just blends in nicely with that color.

01:16 Come and have a look at this.

01:16 This is interesting.

01:17 It's like a big landmass here

01:19 that they've done nothing with.

01:21 It looks a little bit strange,

01:22 but in person it kind of suits the car.

01:25 It doesn't look too odd.

01:26 And that brings you around to the back

01:27 where you've got that swooping line down the rear

01:29 and then it sort of cuts off nicely.

01:31 This is a design statement,

01:32 especially these concept car LEDs at the back.

01:35 Literally just a bank of four LEDs there for the indicator.

01:38 And then this all lights up at night.

01:40 It is an incredibly stylish looking car.

01:43 So the outside is stylish,

01:44 but the inside I reckon is even more stylish.

01:46 Have a look at this.

01:47 You don't normally see this kind of customizability

01:50 inside hatchbacks.

01:51 Hatchbacks are kind of,

01:53 they were I guess the runabout car.

01:54 You'd never really buy one

01:55 'cause you want it to be stylish

01:57 or have an extension of yourself,

01:58 but this is certainly it.

01:59 You can option the Astina with the burgundy interior.

02:02 So seats, doors, dashboard as well.

02:04 Or you can just go all black

02:06 and then have it offset with these chrome highlights.

02:08 What I like here that Mazda has done with the vents

02:11 is you've got your air vents as they normally sit,

02:13 but instead of just having a blank in the center,

02:15 you've actually got slats.

02:16 So it looks like it's one continuous air vent.

02:18 I think Audi did this first

02:20 and Mazda has kind of,

02:22 not gonna say copied, but copied.

02:24 That's that same design there.

02:26 So that looks really nice.

02:27 I love also these knurled knobs.

02:30 Have a look at that.

02:30 That is so nice to use.

02:32 So everything here,

02:33 all the touch points really feel nice.

02:35 They're soft.

02:36 It gives you a real premium feeling

02:38 and you feel like the money that you're spending

02:39 on this car is actually worth while.

02:41 Let's talk infotainment.

02:42 So this is where Mazda has taken a massive step forward.

02:45 So MZD Connect, it wasn't the best system

02:48 and it was getting really dated.

02:49 So this is now becoming commonplace

02:51 in a lot of Mazda's cars, which is excellent news.

02:53 There are some similarities with MZD Connect.

02:55 So it shares this rotary dial with shortcut buttons,

02:58 but the biggest difference up here

02:59 is that it's no longer a touchscreen.

03:01 So you have to use the dial for everything,

03:03 which is kind of okay

03:04 because you're getting a voice recognition system

03:05 that allows you to do most functions outside of it.

03:08 In terms of smartphone connectivity,

03:10 you can hook up Apple CarPlay or Android Auto.

03:12 I'm gonna take you through each of the menus here.

03:13 So let's start off with information

03:15 and the fuel efficiency monitor.

03:17 So iSTOP is Mazda's version of a stop-start system.

03:20 And the clever thing here is that it tells you

03:22 for how many seconds iSTOP has been running

03:24 in your last drive.

03:25 That's useful because then it also tells you

03:27 how much extra range you've achieved by iSTOP running.

03:30 So that is a fantastic feature

03:32 and it does go to show exactly how much accumulation

03:35 you get in fuel savings

03:36 when that stop-start system is working.

03:38 And then there's a back button there

03:40 to take you to the previous screen.

03:41 The vehicle status monitor has all of your notifications

03:44 about servicing, any warning messages as well.

03:46 That's all going to be contained in there.

03:48 There's also a shortcut to the notifications

03:50 by pushing that dial to the left.

03:52 It brings up any notifications you have.

03:54 So the door's open at the moment because we're filming.

03:57 Let's jump over to entertainment.

03:59 FM, AM, DAB.

04:01 So you're getting the full suite of connectivity there.

04:04 And then in addition to that, you can stream Bluetooth

04:06 and you also have two USB ports

04:07 that it can stream through as well.

04:09 If you then hook up your iPhone or your Android device,

04:12 you can stream Spotify.

04:13 So you really do have full access

04:15 to a fantastic selection of audio sources here.

04:19 The other thing that I like as well,

04:20 there is a favorite button

04:22 just underneath the volume control.

04:23 Hit that and it will take you to the screen

04:26 with all of your favorites stored in an easy to find place.

04:29 Or you can just go through the list.

04:30 That is straightforward.

04:31 Let's jump into communication.

04:32 This is your phone menu effectively.

04:34 All the standard functions here,

04:35 you've got call history, contacts,

04:37 you can manually dial numbers.

04:38 It even lets you check text messages.

04:40 So if you do the permissions through your phone,

04:42 your text messages will appear on here as well.

04:45 Very handy so you don't need to take your eyes

04:47 off the road and onto your phone,

04:48 which in some states in Australia now

04:50 is like a thousand dollar fine.

04:52 So do not touch your phone while you're driving.

04:54 Navigation is massively improved.

04:56 Again, the old MZD Connect system was so slow

04:59 and so painful to use.

05:01 This is a massive leap forward.

05:03 So in addition to being able to use your voice controls,

05:05 you can enter things in manually.

05:07 And again, it is all simply using this rotary dial here,

05:10 adding a destination allows you to search home, work,

05:13 or simply entering points of interest or addresses manually.

05:16 Jumping over to the settings menu.

05:18 This is where you can configure everything inside this car.

05:21 And the Japanese are kind of interesting

05:23 because unlike most other manufacturers

05:24 that allow you to configure things here and there,

05:27 the Japanese go to town with everything that you can change.

05:30 So if we go to wind vehicle displays,

05:31 this is your heads up display and what appears in there.

05:34 The center display, you can change virtually everything

05:37 about the positioning of things and what appears there.

05:40 And then finally, the instrument cluster display

05:42 ahead of the driver.

05:43 So this is an 8.8 inch screen.

05:45 This is a seven inch screen.

05:47 You can change the appearance there

05:48 and everything that's presented to the driver

05:50 while you're driving.

05:51 Then we jumped down to sound settings.

05:53 So the sound system in this car is amazing.

05:55 I'll run you through that a little bit later on

05:57 and some of the unique things they've done in this car.

05:59 Plus the song that the engineer chooses

06:03 to tune these systems.

06:05 It'll be interesting.

06:06 See if you can guess it below before we get to it.

06:07 Safety settings.

06:08 This is again where you change all of the safety settings

06:10 unique to this car.

06:12 Collision avoidance.

06:12 It even has a pretty clever system

06:14 that prevents you running into things when you're reversing.

06:16 So instead of just a 360 camera,

06:18 front and rear parking sensors, it has rear AEB.

06:21 So if you're about to hit something and you don't notice,

06:23 it will stop the car for you.

06:25 Along with a pedal misuse alert.

06:27 A little bit frustrating for me though.

06:28 I left foot brake.

06:29 So it's always telling me I'm pressing both pedals

06:31 at the same time.

06:31 Often happens when you're at low speed.

06:33 So you can switch that off with, which is very helpful.

06:35 And then the rest of your settings such as connectivity

06:38 and also system settings.

06:39 This is everything from voice recognition,

06:41 right through to using the GraceNote database

06:43 to get thumbnails for your audio on the screen.

06:47 So let us know what you think of it in the comments below.

06:49 Have you used it?

06:50 Do you reckon it's better than the old MZD Connect system?

06:52 Can't you get your thoughts?

06:53 So at $40,000, what features are you getting

06:56 in your Mazda 3 Astina?

06:57 You'll be glad to hear that it is jam-packed full of them.

07:00 Let's start with some of the driving functions.

07:02 So you have autonomous emergency braking.

07:04 That is the tech that stops the car if you don't.

07:06 This does it at low and high speeds.

07:08 So it will do it on the highway.

07:09 It also has vulnerable road user detection.

07:12 What to cram into there?

07:14 That's cyclists and pedestrians.

07:15 So it will stop if either of those goes out in front of you.

07:18 That's really handy tech.

07:19 But it also does it in reverse.

07:21 Now I did mention that earlier,

07:22 but I have a confession to make.

07:24 Reverse AEB is the tech that will stop the car

07:27 before you hit something in reverse.

07:29 You may think to yourself

07:30 that that is the dumbest thing in the world

07:31 because you've got the 360 degree camera,

07:34 you've got parking sensors.

07:35 Why would anyone reverse into anything?

07:37 Well, I was once in a panic in a 5 Series.

07:40 I had to get out of a tight parking spot.

07:42 Thought I put it into drive,

07:43 but I didn't.

07:44 Let go of the brake and it started going backwards

07:45 into the car behind me.

07:47 All of a sudden, the brake slammed on

07:48 and it saved me from getting like

07:50 probably $2,000 worth of damage

07:52 just because the tech activated

07:53 and I didn't have to have that embarrassing phone call

07:56 to the insurance company.

07:56 So that is good news.

07:57 Dual zone climate control,

07:58 heated seats, but no seat cooling.

08:00 Despite the fact they're perforated,

08:02 normally that means they add in seat cooling as well.

08:04 Heated steering wheel,

08:05 kind of pointless for Australia,

08:06 but it is there anyway.

08:08 You've got USB connectivity up here,

08:09 also in the center console as well.

08:11 No wireless phone charging,

08:13 which is a bit disappointing,

08:14 but a very clear heads up display

08:15 that you can configure to put whatever you want in there.

08:18 In terms of the driving tech,

08:19 radar cruise control with stop and go functionality.

08:21 That means it will stop the car entirely

08:23 if you're in traffic

08:24 and have the radar cruise control activated.

08:26 And then a semi-automatic steering function.

08:28 So hit that button,

08:29 it will kind of steer through lanes for you

08:32 as part of its lane keeping assistant program.

08:34 Works okay,

08:35 but it's something that I prefer not to rely on.

08:37 Other safety mechanisms,

08:38 you've got driver attention monitor.

08:40 So there's a camera there

08:40 that's looking at us all the time

08:41 to make sure we're not falling asleep.

08:43 I almost forgot, sunroof too, standard.

08:46 Let's chat comfort and practicality and storage first.

08:49 So phone, where are you gonna put it?

08:51 Well, it sits fairly easily up the front here.

08:54 There is no wireless phone charging though.

08:55 It is available on the Mazda 3 in other markets,

08:58 just not Australia, strangely.

08:59 Two cup holders up the front there.

09:01 Massive door pockets,

09:03 so you can put all your bottles

09:04 and whatever other rubbish you and your family generate

09:08 into the door pockets there.

09:09 This is a whopper of a center console as well.

09:12 And then this slides too.

09:14 Oh yeah, look at this thing as well,

09:15 little coin slot.

09:17 What about build quality?

09:18 It is pretty good,

09:19 but if you go over here to the glove box,

09:21 that's all fine.

09:23 But then it sits kind of loose on the other side.

09:25 The center console is a little wonky.

09:28 This whole thing isn't really all that secure.

09:30 So look, it is good,

09:31 but it isn't exactly a Rolls Royce in here

09:34 in terms of the build quality

09:35 and how it all feels put together.

09:37 The standard sound system in the Astina

09:39 is pretty impressive.

09:40 It's a Bose sound system, 12 speakers.

09:42 There is a secret speaker that I'll show you later on,

09:45 but what the engineers did in this car,

09:47 especially the sound engineer who developed

09:49 the way the sound system interacts with the user,

09:51 instead of having the subwoofer on the doors

09:54 placed at the bottom,

09:55 they've moved it right up to the top

09:57 beneath the window cowl.

09:58 So it adjusts the sound and the frequency

10:01 inside the cabin.

10:02 So you're always hearing bass

10:03 and it feels a little stronger as well,

10:05 'cause it is sort of in that chest area.

10:07 The song that the engineer plays

10:10 to tune these sound systems

10:11 is Hotel California by the Eagles.

10:14 Let me know in the comments below

10:15 which song you love playing in your car.

10:17 What is your ultimate driving song?

10:20 Hotel California is up there for me,

10:22 but so is Darude Sandstorm.

10:24 (upbeat music)

10:26 But we won't go into my terrible choice of music.

10:30 Mazda 3 has never really been the height of backseat space

10:34 and not a lot has changed.

10:36 Have a look at this,

10:37 my knees are literally into the back of that seat.

10:39 I've got no toe room at all.

10:41 And this seat is in my normal driving position.

10:43 And I keep saying this,

10:44 but I've got these gangly long legs.

10:46 So if you are shorter than me,

10:47 you're probably gonna fit okay here

10:49 and your driver's seat isn't going to be that far back,

10:51 but it is a pretty cramped space.

10:53 Headroom is reasonable,

10:54 but again, if you're taller than me,

10:55 you're gonna find it a bit of a struggle to fit in.

10:57 You do have handles to hold onto, which is fairly handy.

11:01 You then have mat pockets

11:02 in the back of the passenger seat,

11:03 none in the driver's seat.

11:05 Rear air vents, thank goodness for this.

11:07 A lot of people,

11:08 they just don't get our complaints about this.

11:10 If you've ever been in the back of a car in Australia

11:13 on a 42 degree day, you will thank rear air vents.

11:17 So you've got to have them there.

11:19 Center armrest here,

11:20 so you can have division between you

11:22 and whoever's stuck next to you.

11:23 Two cup holders in there too.

11:25 Look at this, ISOFIX points.

11:27 And then you have the tether mounts

11:29 on the back of the seats as well.

11:30 So this is a pretty decent place to be seated

11:34 with enough door storage there for odds and ends,

11:37 but it isn't a place you really wanna be spending

11:39 a great deal of time.

11:40 So back to my analogy of old mate at the pub,

11:42 giving you less, but costing more.

11:45 It's kind of the same story here with the Mazda 3

11:48 and also the new Corolla.

11:49 Boot space is less.

11:51 How do you go to a new car and have less boot space?

11:54 It's weird.

11:55 So 295 litres, 13 litres less than the last one.

11:57 So about 5% less,

11:59 which is just really strange thing for a new car.

12:01 But anyway, under here, we have a space saver spare tyre.

12:04 The trend in Australia was to have full-size spares,

12:06 but we now seem to be all going down the path

12:08 of space savers.

12:09 People seem very confident they won't be getting

12:11 flat tyres out in the middle of nowhere.

12:13 Oh, and also, you're gonna be the envy of your mates

12:15 because inside your spare wheel is a Bose subwoofer.

12:19 That is seriously cool.

12:20 This thing is interesting too.

12:21 This is the cargo blind.

12:23 Now, it's interesting because it is in two parts.

12:26 So normally this is just a one part thing,

12:28 but this has a fold in it.

12:29 So it's a much bigger space there to cover,

12:32 and that comes off fairly easily.

12:34 And then you can store that,

12:35 or even just leave it at home if you don't need it.

12:36 But remember, this stops thieves from looking inside

12:40 and then stealing all of your things

12:43 while you're not inside the car.

12:45 And that fairly easily clips back onto there.

12:47 Now, how much space is usable here with 295 litres?

12:51 Let's get our gigantic suitcase.

12:52 Stick that in.

12:55 That fits in nicely.

12:57 And then our little bag fits in next to it.

13:00 What you'll notice here is that boot lip

13:01 doesn't sit too high.

13:02 So you can load things over and then slide them in.

13:05 And that type of packaging arrangement is pretty decent.

13:08 On the back of those seats there, they fold down.

13:10 There's a lock button here.

13:11 So this isn't a power tailgate,

13:13 but it does allow you to lock the car as you close it.

13:16 But have a look at this.

13:17 I found this interesting.

13:17 When you close it, this glass shakes.

13:19 (car door slams)

13:21 See that?

13:21 (car door slams)

13:24 Yeah, not great.

13:26 So driving the Mazda 3, it's a beautiful place to be,

13:29 but I've got a problem.

13:31 Every time I turn left, I kind of can't.

13:33 My hand gets wedged in between this centre armrest

13:37 and the steering wheel.

13:38 It is a really, really bad design.

13:40 But that aside, the rest of this experience is sensational.

13:43 The biggest advantage of this car

13:45 is the two and a half litre engine.

13:47 So 2.5 litre, four cylinder petrol.

13:49 Why is that so important?

13:51 Well, most two litres in this segment

13:53 are either turbocharged or supercharged.

13:55 This one on the other hand is naturally aspirated,

13:57 but because it is a bigger volume,

13:58 it means you get a lot more torque out of the package.

14:01 So that's 139 kilowatts of power

14:03 and 252 newton metres of torque.

14:05 That is pretty much bang on for a car

14:07 that weighs just under 1400 kilograms.

14:10 It means that it is nimble, it is nice to drive,

14:13 and it never feels like it's lacking oomph.

14:15 The other thing that I really love about this

14:17 is the gearbox.

14:18 It doesn't use a dual clutch gearbox.

14:20 Thank goodness.

14:21 Most other cars in this segment

14:22 have some kind of nonsense gearbox

14:24 to save fuel.

14:25 What Mazda has done on the other hand

14:27 is simply gone with a torque converter

14:29 and then built it around the car.

14:31 So the car is lighter and that's the reason.

14:33 It only uses six and a half litres of fuel per 100 kilometres.

14:37 That is excellent efficiency for a car this size.

14:39 Visibility.

14:40 This is probably the only concern I've got about this car.

14:42 So the wing mirrors, I don't know,

14:44 they're decent in size,

14:45 but this kind of just makes everything look

14:47 like it's really close

14:48 and you're not afforded the visibility

14:50 out the sides of the car.

14:51 The front's good, the rear's okay,

14:52 but there is quite a decent blind spot there

14:55 on the C pillar because of that sweeping design of the car.

14:57 But look, it is fine.

14:58 You get blind spot monitors and all the safety aids

15:01 to overcome all the bits you can't see.

15:04 Mazda has absolutely nailed the ride here.

15:07 It is so comfortable behind the wheel,

15:09 despite the fact it's got fairly big alloy wheels.

15:11 It's soaking up bumps on our little country circuit

15:15 here nicely.

15:16 And that means that you are always comfortable steering.

15:19 It's kind of a spot where Mazda used to be

15:21 a little wooden in the past,

15:22 but this new Mazda3 is fantastic.

15:24 So it's an electrically assisted steering rack,

15:26 plenty of communication through the wheel,

15:28 and it's just so nice and easy to drive,

15:30 both in and around the city

15:32 and also on these windy country roads.

15:34 There is a system here as well called G-Vectoring Plus.

15:36 You're never ever gonna see it in action

15:38 because it works in the background.

15:39 The engine's able to vary torque to the front two wheels

15:42 so that when you're turning,

15:44 you require less steering input

15:46 and it's less tiring on the driver,

15:47 even when you're going in a straight line.

15:49 It then also combines that with brake torque vectoring

15:52 on each wheel too for dynamic driving.

15:55 Find yourself a corner, throw it in, get on the throttle.

15:58 Nice amount of torque from that engine.

16:01 Really sings.

16:02 It's happy to be around that 5,000 RPM mark,

16:04 pulling you along nicely.

16:07 And then when you do tip it into a corner,

16:08 it's nice and flat.

16:10 It's communicative.

16:12 It's actually really fun to drive.

16:14 One of the biggest things you'll hear

16:15 a motoring journalist grumble about with the new Mazda3

16:17 is the torsion beam rear suspension.

16:19 Now, torsion beam is an easy way to save a lot of money.

16:23 The more sophisticated competitors in this segment

16:25 use independent rear suspension

16:27 because it gives you more control,

16:28 especially when you're cornering.

16:30 A torsion beam is effectively a fixed link

16:32 between the two wheels on the rear axle.

16:34 Now, that may seem all straightforward,

16:36 and yes, they do have springs and dampers

16:38 on each individual wheel,

16:40 but ultimately, if you're going around a corner

16:42 and you hit a bump mid-corner on one side of the car,

16:45 you get a slight acceleration moment on the other side,

16:48 and that can unsettle the car

16:50 and make it feel a little uneasy.

16:51 So obviously, this isn't a sports car,

16:53 so they've gone down that path

16:54 to not only save money and weight,

16:56 but also to make it as simple as possible.

16:58 And look, it doesn't really affect the car too much.

17:00 No one's ever really going to be able to tell the difference.

17:03 It just drives really nicely to me anyway.

17:05 So you'll notice that I'm not yelling at you,

17:07 and that's because this car is finally quiet.

17:10 Mazda has gone down the path

17:12 of adding so much extra sound deadening around this cabin.

17:16 There's different engine mounts and dampers

17:18 and different seals in and around the car.

17:20 And that means that now when you drive

17:21 on a course-tripped surface,

17:23 you don't feel like you want to stop the car and walk,

17:25 because that is what every single Mazda

17:27 used to be like on a highway.

17:29 They have really improved that,

17:30 and it is such a good place to be seated.

17:32 Oh, God, it looks good.

17:35 The new Mazda3 seriously ticks all the style boxes.

17:38 It looks fantastic.

17:39 It looks premium and expensive, which is good,

17:42 because it is $40,000.

17:44 But for that, you are getting a five-year warranty,

17:45 cap-priced servicing, and they have done such a stellar job

17:49 with making it quiet on the highway.

17:50 Seriously, these were so loud previously

17:53 that it was like you're at a rock concert

17:54 just without any decent music.

17:56 So it certainly nails all those boxes.

17:58 The engine's great, the ride's good.

18:00 Infotainment is good, but could be a little bit better,

18:02 but it really does achieve everything

18:04 it sets out to achieve.

18:05 Now, if you like this video, hit like.

18:08 Don't forget to subscribe, and also hit the bell icon

18:11 to get notified of all our future videos.

18:13 Let me know if you bought one of these as well,

18:14 because I'm keen to see what people in the real world think,

18:18 outside of us muttering journalists,

18:19 and we will answer as many comments as we can below.

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