The all-new Mazda MX-30 shares the same platform as the Mazda CX-30 SUV, but it brings with it a higher tech drivetrain and a greater focus on renewable materials.
Paul Maric gets behind the wheel of the 2021 Mazda MX-30 G20e mild hybrid to see if it stacks up or whether it's worth waiting for the full electric version.
Hardness tester results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE
More Mazda content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/mazda
More Mazda MX-30 content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/mazda/mx-30
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Exterior 01:01
Interior 03:20
Infotainment 05:42
Safety Tech 07:48
Practicality 08:26
On the road 12:03
Verdict 18:06
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!
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
#mazda #review #mx30
Paul Maric gets behind the wheel of the 2021 Mazda MX-30 G20e mild hybrid to see if it stacks up or whether it's worth waiting for the full electric version.
Hardness tester results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE
More Mazda content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/mazda
More Mazda MX-30 content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/mazda/mx-30
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Exterior 01:01
Interior 03:20
Infotainment 05:42
Safety Tech 07:48
Practicality 08:26
On the road 12:03
Verdict 18:06
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!
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
#mazda #review #mx30
Category
🚗
MotorTranscript
00:00 G'day, I'm Paul. So in news that will surprise pretty much nobody at all, Mazda has released another SUV.
00:06 This one here is called the MX-30. Now the name is curious because MX,
00:11 it's kind of coupe related because of MX-5, and you can see here that this has two doors.
00:16 But there are a couple of secret doors and I'll run you through those in just a second.
00:20 This competes with things like the Toyota
00:22 CH-R hybrid, the Subaru XV hybrid and also the Kia Niro.
00:27 And that's because this is a mild hybrid. They also do an electric version which is coming to Australia soon.
00:33 This one here is mid-spec. It's priced at just over $36,000.
00:37 But if that's a little bit too much, the entire MX-30 range kicks off from just under
00:42 $34,000. Today we're going to do a detailed review of this car.
00:46 If you do want to skip ahead to other parts of the review,
00:48 you can use the time codes up on the screen there, or if you're on YouTube, just scroll down and use the chapters below.
00:53 And if you haven't done so already,
00:54 I would love it if you could subscribe to our channel so you can find out every single time we review yet another SUV.
01:00 Now let's talk exterior design. You've got eight colors to pick from. It is a little bit confusing because there aren't eight actual body colors.
01:08 They're just a mix of sort of base colors and then tri-tone colors where you get different roof colors.
01:13 They are $495 extra if you don't pick white or black, which are free of charge.
01:19 Now in terms of the design, this may look similar to the CX-30 and that's because it shares a platform.
01:23 In fact, the dimensions are virtually identical.
01:25 So you can see that design resemblance and that means it's a fairly trendy design.
01:30 I think you've got that open grille here and I like how these sections are open as well.
01:34 So really just gives you that single character line along the front with a big Mazda logo there as well.
01:39 And then the radar sensor at the bottom. They haven't gone too overboard with chrome.
01:44 So you kind of expect to see that in a lot of cars today.
01:47 But it is just limited there to the Mazda logo and also this little strip just above the headlights.
01:51 These headlights are full LED headlights. You also have an LED daytime running light in there.
01:56 So it's a decent looking setup and if you put your hand there, you can actually see those light segments.
02:01 We have shot a video that compares headlight technologies today.
02:04 So if you want to see how that works and what those little light segments mean, click up here to watch that video.
02:09 Jump around to the side. So 18-inch alloy wheels. It's a fairly sort of basic design.
02:16 You would have thought with a car like this that is, I guess, prepared to be that design statement for Mazda.
02:21 They would have gone with something a little trendier.
02:22 But it is just a single wheel color there with the Mazda logo in the center and fairly standard profile tires.
02:27 Just like the CX-30, you have these giant plastic wheel arches there to, I don't know, tell people it's like an off-road vehicle or something.
02:35 So I don't think it's as big as the CX-30, but they're still quite pronounced.
02:39 Now we'll jump around to the side here.
02:41 So you have those piano black wing mirrors and like I said, you can get a whole stack of different colors.
02:46 So you can really customize the car to be exactly how you want it to be.
02:50 Now I'll run you through this door a little later on, but that is actually a door.
02:53 It's not just a coupe. Come around to the back.
02:56 So you've got more LED here with the indicators and also the brake lights.
03:00 You'll notice as well this sweeping design.
03:02 It sort of gets to the back and then it drops off dramatically with that spoiler type thing built into it.
03:08 I think the design is quite nice. It is pretty striking and it stands out on the road.
03:12 I'm keen to get your feedback though. Do you think this looks good for the price?
03:16 Do you think it looks trendy enough or do you reckon Mazda is charging a little bit too much money for it?
03:20 So we're inside the MX-30. Let's start off with the key.
03:24 Here it is here. So you've got the Mazda symbol.
03:27 You've got some brushed chrome on the side and then blank on the back.
03:31 On the side you have lock and unlock.
03:34 It's a proximity sensing key.
03:35 So you just leave that in your pocket and there is a push button start inside the car.
03:39 Now, let's talk about the design.
03:41 So I think I love what they've done with some of those materials and I'll run you through them in just a second.
03:46 But there is a lot of black around here.
03:48 Like it is just black, black, black and then it's sort of split up with these chrome strips.
03:54 I would have just loved to see a little bit more emphasis and thought put into these sections.
03:58 I'm glad it's not piano black. That's a good thing.
04:00 But it would have been nice to see maybe some open pore wood or just something interesting up here.
04:05 Let's get on to the bottom sections though. So I'm going to shut this for a moment.
04:09 That's actually cork. I remember seeing this car for the first time at the Tokyo Motor Show when it was revealed.
04:14 And they explained the process of how this cork is taken from recycled materials and developed.
04:19 And I think it just looks spectacular.
04:21 They've got it here around the center console down the bottom there as well.
04:24 These are recycled materials inside the door.
04:27 So recycled plastics and I think that a lot of this car's sustainability really goes into the premium that you're paying for it.
04:34 So yes, it is a little bit more expensive.
04:35 But has that feel good factor and certainly more so when they release the electric version of this car.
04:40 So that way you'll have no sort of emissions while you're driving and you'll have your
04:45 recycled materials and all that sort of stuff. Transfers over to the seats too.
04:49 I know we normally discuss seats in that comfort section, but Mazda's created this material called Maztech,
04:54 which is a fake leather and then you've got this cloth material in the center.
04:58 Now just before you start feeling a little bit too good about yourself and your fake leather,
05:02 your fake leather is joined by some real leather on the gear shifter and also the steering wheel.
05:07 So it's not technically a proper vegan interior.
05:09 I also quite like the way they've done this. You can see it's like a floating center console.
05:13 We've got that back section. It's all nice and slim.
05:16 Now in terms of your materials, you have that soft touch material along the dashboard there.
05:20 The driver's binnacle here is hard plastic and then your touch points are really nice and soft. How soft are they?
05:26 Well, we've got our durometer.
05:28 We've tested the main surfaces in this car.
05:30 If you want to see how this car compares to others that we've tested before,
05:33 have a look at the link in the description below.
05:35 Now, what about build quality?
05:37 It all feels really nice and solid. So yeah, big tick on build quality.
05:42 Let's talk about infotainment.
05:44 So this is an interesting setup because you have your infotainment screen up the top,
05:49 but there's a secondary screen down the bottom here.
05:51 This is the first time we've seen this from Mazda and then another screen ahead of the driver.
05:55 So I'll run you through each of those. Up the top here is an 8.8 inch ultra wide-angle screen.
06:00 It's not a touchscreen, so it's all controlled here by this iDrive-esque controller.
06:04 You can see you get your basic information menus there.
06:09 You also have inbuilt satellite navigation.
06:11 In addition to that, there's AM, FM and DAB plus digital radio and an 8 speaker stereo.
06:17 In terms of smartphone mirroring, you have both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
06:20 Both of those are wired, so you'll need a cable to connect up.
06:23 I'll show you what Apple CarPlay looks like.
06:25 Look at that. That is a really nice and sharp integration.
06:28 But one of the shortcomings of CarPlay is the inability to use the right hand part of this joystick
06:35 to jump over to your context menu.
06:37 You've got to actually really just go through all the things before you can actually get to that side menu,
06:42 which is a little bit frustrating because you can do that quite easily in Android Auto.
06:46 Now, speaking of Android Auto, let's have a look at what that looks like.
06:49 Click across there.
06:50 So the thing I like about this is it's split up into a couple of segments when you are on a big screen
06:55 and you can also use the joystick to jump across to the rest of those menus.
07:00 Look at that. Nice setup. Very, very impressive.
07:03 Now, ahead of the driver is another display.
07:05 This contains a digital speedo and then you can also jump through two other menus,
07:10 which is your driving information and also the safety systems as well.
07:13 Then there is a head-up display ahead of the driver.
07:16 Let's have a look at this screen because this has me most interested inside this cabin.
07:20 So this is a 7-inch display and this is exclusively for your climate controls.
07:25 It does look very reminiscent of Audi's setup,
07:28 but the difference here is that you can actually use manual buttons on the side to adjust the temperatures.
07:33 So you can see here if we switch it on, I can use the buttons on the screen,
07:37 but I can also use the buttons on the side here as well.
07:39 So you do still have a standard point of contact.
07:42 You don't have to just rely on the screen.
07:44 It's a really nice and classy setup and it just gives this car a really premium feel.
07:48 Moving on to safety technology, you have autonomous emergency braking that works in forward and reverse.
07:54 It also has pedestrian detection.
07:56 You have a lane departure warning and a lane keeping assistant.
07:59 Radar cruise control, rear cross-traffic alert, and then there's an optional package.
08:02 It's $1,500 that includes a 360-degree camera and a driver attention alert.
08:07 We don't have that, which means it just comes standard with rear parking sensors and a rear-view camera.
08:12 This is what the reverse view camera looks like.
08:14 I'm going to have to switch the car on.
08:17 Pop that into reverse.
08:19 So the quality is actually pretty good.
08:20 It's quite high resolution.
08:22 Then you can see down the bottom there you get your little sonars.
08:24 So it's a really decent quality camera.
08:26 Okay, practicality and we'll start with connectivity.
08:28 So you have a 12-volt outlet just up here, two USB ports down the front.
08:33 In terms of phone storage, we lift these out of the way.
08:36 You can pop your phone there. You've got plenty of room to pop your phone down here as well, which is good.
08:41 Bottles, actually we'll start with our coffee cup first.
08:45 Fits beautifully into there.
08:47 So I think that'll cater for the type of people who buy coffees like I do.
08:51 Water bottle fits into there as well.
08:53 You've got the little teeth.
08:54 Storage inside the doors is good for a small bottle, but we'll see if it fits our big bottle.
09:00 Kind of, not really.
09:02 There's also a little box down here just next to the driver's knee.
09:05 Center console is interesting.
09:06 So it slides forwards and backwards, but it is quite deep and then you can drop these down as well for easier access.
09:13 I'll give you an idea of how deep that is.
09:15 There it is there.
09:15 Then you have a glove box over here, generously sized.
09:20 Fits our water bottle in without any dramas.
09:21 And finally, a sunglasses holder up the top.
09:24 On the comfort front, there's dual zone automatic climate control.
09:28 The driver's seat is electrically adjustable with memory.
09:31 Then the passenger seat is manually adjustable.
09:35 Now, what about steering wheel?
09:36 So, fully tilt and reach adjustable.
09:40 What about our reach test?
09:42 Passes. Everything is easy to reach.
09:45 In terms of the seats themselves, they're actually quite comfortable.
09:48 That cloth material hugs you in super nicely.
09:51 Now, before we jump into the back, I want to explain this.
09:53 So MX Coupe, right?
09:55 And it does look like a coupe from the outside.
09:57 But if you remember the RX-8, it had these suicide doors as well.
10:00 And they open up from the side to give you access to the second row.
10:04 Kind of like a BMW i3.
10:06 So I'm going to climb in there now and see how much room we actually have.
10:13 And then Igor, if you go around the other side.
10:15 Okay, so the answer to the question about room.
10:18 No, there is not much room.
10:20 My knees are well and truly wedged into that seat in front.
10:23 Yes, this seat is quite far back, but there really isn't much knee room.
10:27 I do have a decent amount of toe room though, and headroom is pretty reasonable.
10:30 Now, the funny thing is behind the driver's seat here,
10:32 there are buttons for me to adjust the position of the seat,
10:35 presumably so you can get in and out easier.
10:37 But there aren't the same buttons on the passenger side.
10:40 Instead, you've got to use a strap to do that.
10:42 So, bit of a strange one.
10:43 But what about the rest of the space?
10:45 Well, there are no air vents.
10:46 There's no USB charge points.
10:48 You do get ISOFIX points on the two outboard seats and top tether hooks.
10:52 You get two bottle holders just here in a center armrest.
10:57 And then you have enough room for a bottle inside that side door itself.
11:03 I don't know. I get the concept of this space and it's all great,
11:07 but it's kind of not really an entirely usable space.
11:11 I think that it doesn't feel as spacious as the CX-30 does
11:13 and that's pretty much the same size as this.
11:15 So, a little bit disappointing here in terms of how much room is on offer.
11:18 Let's talk cargo space.
11:19 So, being based on the CX-30, they have pretty much the exact same cargo space.
11:25 You are talking about just over 300 litres here without the seat folded.
11:30 Underneath the cargo floor, you have a space saver spare tyre,
11:33 plus a jack and a couple of other bits and pieces,
11:35 and then hooks off to the side.
11:37 Show you what it looks like with our bags inside.
11:40 Here we go. See if that will fit long ways.
11:43 Nope. So, you've got to turn that to actually fit that in.
11:46 But then what you can do to expand the space a little bit more is drop that second row
11:50 and you can remove this cargo blind fairly easily as well.
11:53 You just get rid of those clips, pull that up, get that out of the way.
11:57 And then once you drop the second row, space expands here too, just under 900 litres.
12:05 Okay, so we have hit the road in the Mazda MX-30.
12:09 Now, I mentioned in the intro that this is the hybrid version.
12:12 Now, I have to use that term very carefully because it's not actually a hybrid.
12:17 A hybrid like a, you know, Toyota Corolla Hybrid or something like that,
12:20 that can actually drive on just electric alone.
12:23 This is what they call a mild hybrid.
12:25 But, I don't know, I think Mazda's a little bit cheeky the way they do it.
12:28 They call it an M-Hybrid, and unless you actually look into what that means,
12:31 you're just going to think it's a hybrid, and I think that's ever so slightly deceiving.
12:36 Now, this is powered by a 2-litre, naturally aspirated, four-cylinder petrol engine.
12:42 It makes 114 kilowatts of power and 200 newton-metres of torque.
12:47 Now, that may not sound like much, and look, it honestly isn't all that much,
12:52 and that's because this car doesn't weigh a great deal.
12:54 It's around 1,400 kilos, and that's what Mazda does.
12:57 They don't really make big forced induction engines.
13:00 They try and minimise weight as much as they can so that you can actually get the benefit
13:04 out of weight reduction and not having a giant engine up the front there.
13:07 What does it feel like behind the wheel, though?
13:08 So, let's give it a little kick here.
13:13 Look, it's okay.
13:14 It doesn't sort of pull the skin off your face, but it moves along fine.
13:19 It's not going to set any world records, but it's really nice and responsive.
13:22 That six-speed transmission is incredibly smooth, and it's quite an impressive setup.
13:27 Now, the reason this is called a Mild Hybrid is because it uses a 24-volt lithium-ion battery
13:32 along with an integrated starter generator, and I'll show you what that means.
13:36 When we come to a stop here, it's able to switch off from around 20 k's an hour, and
13:41 then when you restart, it's almost imperceptible.
13:44 You can barely feel that.
13:45 So, when you come to a stop, it'll just kill the engine, roll out of the brake, and it
13:50 restarts.
13:51 So, you barely feel anything happening there, and that's the whole point of a Mild Hybrid.
13:55 It's meant to use the car's momentum to store energy for later use, and then that later
13:59 use is being able to power your components instead of sapping energy from the engine,
14:04 which then uses fuel.
14:05 Now, in terms of fuel, 6.4 litres per 100 kilometres is the claim.
14:10 Let's have a quick look at what we're sitting on here.
14:13 So, we're sitting on 10 litres per 100 kilometres.
14:16 That is significantly higher than the claim.
14:18 We had this exact same thing when we tested the Mazda 3 with this similar technology,
14:24 and I remember coming away from that not being overly thrilled.
14:27 To put that into context, an actual hybrid - we're testing the Toyota Kluger at the moment
14:31 - that thing weighs just over 2 tonnes, and it's using just over 6 litres of fuel per
14:37 100 kilometres.
14:38 So, you can see here that the benefits don't really stack up with this Mild Hybrid system.
14:42 I will also have one last caveat here, and that is that today was extremely cold.
14:46 So, both the Toyota that we're testing today and this Mazda were running for a little bit
14:50 longer so that we could have the heaters running.
14:52 So, this is probably around 10% higher than where I'd expect it to be with a standard
14:56 mix of city and highway driving.
14:57 Now, let's talk drive modes.
14:58 So, pop this into Sport.
15:00 There is only just that Sport mode.
15:02 Give it a little punch through here.
15:04 God, the engine is super thrashy.
15:08 It's quite noisy inside the cabin and not really in a nice way, but for the most part,
15:12 it actually feels fun through corners.
15:15 It's not really like a race car, but it kind of has that MX-5 vibe to it.
15:19 You know, that feeling where it feels sporty but not fast, if that makes sense.
15:24 And it's coupled with decent steering feel as well.
15:27 So, as you sort of line up some of these corners, you can feel enough feedback through the steering
15:31 there to make it feel engaging.
15:33 And I think this is where it really differentiates itself from the CX-30.
15:37 It feels just a little sharper behind the wheel there.
15:40 It's just really, the downside is the engine just really doesn't sound all that interesting.
15:44 I'll be really keen to see what this feels like as an electric car though, because when
15:49 it is an electric car, you're going to have a lot more instant torque, and I'll be curious
15:52 to see whether that makes it a little bit more engaging behind the wheel.
15:55 Mazda doesn't provide an official 0-100 time for the MX-30, but we've put it up against
16:00 our stopwatch.
16:01 This is how it went.
16:14 Let's talk ride, and I think this is where Mazda just keeps doing what it does best,
16:18 and it provides a ride that is really comfy in and around the city, and quite compliant
16:23 out on country roads.
16:24 You really don't get that a lot with the rest of the cars in this segment.
16:27 They're either really good in the city or just really good out in the country.
16:30 Mazda sort of strikes that balance.
16:31 So you still get that sportiness to the suspension feel, but it's not firm or overly sporty,
16:38 so you're really sitting in that perfect middle ground, and I think that it suits the demeanour
16:42 of this car.
16:43 Now in terms of road noise, for the most part it's okay in terms of tyre noise, but you
16:47 do get road noise infiltrating into the cabin through these sides where the doors meet,
16:53 and the problem is you've got a gap there, and you need a gap to allow the flexibility
16:57 inside the doors, but the problem is you're hearing a lot of wind coming in through there,
17:01 and you're also picking up things like gravel as you're driving over stony bits of road.
17:05 It comes in and you really notice it from both sides of the car.
17:08 So a little bit disappointing that they didn't spend a bit more effort on making the cabin
17:12 quieter, and I think the engine, like it's just not a very pleasant sound, so when you
17:17 do step on it you're really getting that thrashy noise inside the cabin, and it's not really
17:22 an appealing noise.
17:23 Now what about visibility?
17:25 So out the front it's good, out the sides it's not amazing.
17:28 So the wing mirror is huge, but it's a really narrow field of view.
17:32 The thing I hate the most though is the blind spot.
17:34 My God, when I go to do a head check and look over my shoulder, you really don't see anything.
17:40 There's a window further back, but you just can't see a thing, which is really disappointing.
17:44 Looking out the back, there's also a really narrow envelope too, and you can only really
17:48 see the tops of those seats.
17:50 So visibility out the car isn't amazing.
17:52 Now this is a front-wheel drive, so you're not going to be doing any off-roading, but
17:55 you do have 180mm of ground clearance.
17:58 Then in terms of the turning circle, 11.4 metres.
18:02 So not the tightest turning circle, but it's going to be enough to get you in and around
18:06 the city.
18:07 OK, so the Mazda MX-30, what do we think?
18:10 Well look, I think Mazda has done an incredible job with the interior.
18:13 I love the recycled materials, the cork's pretty cool, and they've really pushed the
18:17 envelope in terms of giving this an appearance that's completely different to the CX-30,
18:22 and to justify the step up in price as well.
18:26 But where I think they really miss the mark is when it comes to the engine.
18:29 Yes, it's a mild hybrid, but you really don't see the fuel economy benefits, and you would
18:34 think that that being the inherent point of them fitting it with all of that hybrid technology,
18:39 you would actually see the fuel economy benefits as a result of it.
18:43 So I think it is worth waiting for the electric version of this.
18:45 It's not going to have a massive amount of range, but there is a range extender version
18:49 coming, and I think the electric version is going to make a whole lot more sense than
18:53 this one here, which is just effectively an internal combustion engine with a slightly
18:56 more efficient mild hybrid system.
18:58 So let me know what your thoughts are in the comments section below.
19:01 Would you spend a bit of extra money for the MX-30 in this form, or are you going to wait
19:05 until the electric comes, or are you just going to get something completely different
19:08 altogether?
19:09 Let me know your thoughts.
19:10 Now if you did enjoy this video, make sure you hit the like button, and if you haven't
19:12 done so already, subscribe to our channel so you can find out every single time we drive
19:16 something new.
19:17 But until next time, drive safely.