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Mazda CX 3 Review and Test Drive

03/03/2016

Having a one year old to carry about and a wife who wants a new car, compact crossovers seem to get discussed quite frequently in our house. We recently tested the Suzuki Vitara and while it looked stylish and was very competent, it didn’t have a premium feel.

This is where Mazda seems to have snuck in under the radar. They have their own unique style and design language, a reasonable selling price and have built what looks and feels like a premium product.

The CX 3 isn’t a car that I’ve noticed much on the road but when I first took delivery of our press car I was immediately impressed with the look. It’s has a slightly aggressive appearance but not one of those ‘get out of my way’ faces that some manufacturers seems to love.

Stepping inside this theme continues with lots of nice styling touches around the dash, vents and centre console. Like with many modern cars, the satnav unit does seem a little bit of an afterthought on the way it’s integrated but it does not detract from the overall package.

Getting the car out on the road and I really liked the 2.0, 120PS petrol unit that Mazda offers in most of its cars. In a world where turbocharging rules it was enjoyable to use the full rev range of the engine. Couple this with the fact that the CX 3 is 1230KG and you get a surprisingly enjoyable drive while still getting that slightly higher ride height that people seem to crave. The Mazda2 might be a better at tackling a B road but the CX 3 has nice dampening and doesn’t bounce around the road like you might expect. It seems that Mazda really has taken some of the magic that goes into the MX5 and sprinkled it onto the CX 3.

Since Mazda hasn’t came up with a way to get round the laws of physics then there has to be some trade-off for the lightness and compact dimensions of the CX 3. This comes in the form of a very small boot and restricted rear leg room. For someone with a baby seat in the back and a buggy in the boot this is a compromise too far. If your children are slightly older or this car will only occasionally be used to carry them about then this would be OK but otherwse it just wouldn’t work on a daily basis.