Mazda CX-30 review 2020 An SUV for when a CX-3 is too small and a CX-5 is too bi
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00:00G'day, I'm Paul. I've always tried to steer people away from the Mazda CX-3.
00:04I don't know, it's always just felt like a more expensive version of the Mazda 2.
00:08It never really had any more premium feel to it, and you couldn't really justify the extra spend.
00:13So, Mazda took that feedback on board and they've come up with a car that is more premium and is bigger,
00:18but not quite as big as a CX-5. It's this one here.
00:21It's called the CX-30, and what you're looking at right here is one up from the base model. It's called the CX-30
00:29Evolve, and it's priced at just under
00:32$32,000. It competes with cars like the Toyota C-HR, the Hyundai Kona, and the new Nissan Juke as well.
00:39Today, we're going to do a detailed review of the new Mazda CX-30,
00:42and if you do want to skip ahead to other parts of this review,
00:45you can use the time codes up on the screen, or if you're on YouTube, just scroll down to the chapters below, and if
00:51you haven't done so already, I'd love it
00:52if you could hit subscribe, and also press the bell icon, because that's going to tell you every single time we drive something new.
00:58Let's talk exterior. You've got eight colors to choose from. Three of them are metallic, and they're going to cost you an extra
01:05$495. This is one of the colors. It's called Soul Red. It's Mazda's signature color. I really like the look of this.
01:10It stands out beautifully. It's got a nice reflection to it.
01:13It's a very deep color, and it really, really suits their cars. Let's have a look at this design.
01:18Look, it's actually really nice. Where the CX-3 just really doesn't feel all that special,
01:23they've really gone that step above with the CX-30. Just check out that grille. It is cool. If I had a 3D printer,
01:28this is the type of grille that I'd be printing. It's like a cheese grater. You can go make some parmesan with it.
01:33They've got the chrome down here. The thing that I never understood, though, with Mazda is this join in the chrome.
01:38It's sort of black, and you can see it really stands out, and I just wish they could make that one single piece.
01:44I'm not a designer. I don't know how that stuff works,
01:45but that'd be nice. Big Mazda emblem there, and then the headlights over here. Full LED headlights.
01:51There's an LED strip down here, but the daytime running light is halogen, and that sits in that little socket there.
01:57It's not an LED daytime running light. On this entry-level car,
02:01have a look at these wheels. 18-inch alloy wheels, and I think they look really nice.
02:05It doesn't look like you've gone for the cheapest or the second cheapest car available.
02:09At least it gives it that nice look. Have a look at this.
02:12This cladding is just becoming bigger and bigger.
02:14It's almost like the bigger the cladding, the less it can go off-road, and I think that applies here because
02:19it's just growing. Normally, it's like a small strip like this. It doesn't look out of place,
02:23but yeah, let's settle down with all the cladding. Now, have a look at this. This is so weird.
02:28I noticed this on the other side of the car. It's like they've built this panel and went,
02:32all right, so what we'll do is just not have that meet any part of the body here.
02:36So I can lose almost an entire finger in there because this panel doesn't crease over.
02:42That just looks really crappy. I don't know why they've done that. Now, let's talk sizing.
02:48I mentioned before that this car sits between the CX-3 and the CX-5 in terms of size.
02:52It shares a platform with the new Mazda 3, but in terms of exact dimensions,
02:56it measures just under 4.4 metres long, a little over 1.5 metres tall,
03:00which makes it about 70 millimetres shorter than a Mazda 3 and 100 millimetres taller. Now, come around to the back here.
03:07I like this rear design. They've gone with a similar shape to the Mazda 3 where it's highly stylized.
03:12So you can see these taillights, LED built into there and in the indicator, and it's all just nice and 3D.
03:18They've gone to a lot of effort to give this a futuristic looking design, a spoiler built into the roof there
03:24that kind of adds a depth of style to it. And overall, it just looks really nice.
03:28And again, it's that whole image of you don't have to spend big money for this car to look good.
03:32No one really knows that this is very much at the bottom end of the range.
03:37There's no badges on here to tell you that you haven't spent a great deal of money. Let's talk interior.
03:41Now, you may have noticed that I look completely different and I'm four days older.
03:45That is because the weather turned terrible when we were filming last time and we had to stop. It's now sunny.
03:50We're back in the car and that's why later on you'll see me transforming back into my other clothes.
03:54That is the magic of cinema. Let's get into the interior and look at what Mazda's done here with the CX-30.
04:00This is a big step forward in terms of the premium feel you may have seen inside the CX-3. It's pretty basic.
04:06It's based on the Mazda 2 and there's a lot of cheap parts to it. This on the other hand
04:11is really nice and they've gone for a differential in color here.
04:14You can't really notice it, but that's actually a dark blue instead of a black and it's all just really nicely laid out.
04:20It makes the car feel like it's more expensive than it is. But how soft is all of this soft touch material?
04:26We have a hardness tester here.
04:27This is for us motoring journalists to see how soft a soft touch dashboard is.
04:31It measures from 0 to 100 where 0 is super soft and 100 is super hard. Let's try it out.
04:38Okay, that's not too bad. So let's try this center console.
04:44Wow, that's really impressive.
04:47So there you go. This car does have a measurable increase in premium feel inside the cabin. What is the build quality like?
04:54Let's have a look.
04:56Actually feels really good. Everything's nice and solid. Generally with Mazdas
05:01they feel really well put together and this one is no exception.
05:04Let's talk infotainment. Mazda has a brand new infotainment system called Mazda Connect. It replaces MZD Connect
05:10which has been out for about a donkey's years and they did recently update MZD Connect to include Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
05:17But now this new Mazda Connect system has everything.
05:20It's an 8.8 inch screen and gone is the ability to use this as a touchscreen.
05:24It's now exclusively used by this sort of iDrive-esque controller down here with shortcut buttons either side.
05:31Today I'll take you through a really quick overview of Mazda Connect. If you want to see a detailed review
05:36you can click up there, but let's have a look.
05:38So on the home menu you're presented with a number of different options to choose from. I'll take you through each of these.
05:43So information is all about fuel efficiency and any status messages on the car.
05:47You then have entertainment which is AM, FM, DAB plus digital radio plus the ability to stream over Bluetooth and connected devices.
05:55Jump over to communication. This is for your telephone.
05:58You can choose from previous call history or you can just use the voice recognition function. This works particularly well.
06:04It'll find names that are hard to understand and you can also do full navigation addresses as well with a single click of that.
06:09It also comes with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, but you have to connect it with a cable. It's not wireless.
06:14Then we'll jump over to navigation. This is really easy to use. It's quick as well so you can zoom in and out easily.
06:20It's a big step forward from MZD Connect. Entering addresses is a little bit time consuming.
06:25They've kind of copied BMW here with a circular wheel instead of actually having
06:30the ability to type things in or use it as a touchscreen which is
06:34a little bit funny given, you know, they're copying it from the best.
06:36But anyway, and then the final menu there is settings and this is just where you'll find all of the car's settings.
06:41There's actually quite a lot of detail here in terms of everything you can configure. Everything from
06:45the heads-up display and what is in there through to what the car does when it switches off.
06:48So it is a really comprehensive infotainment system.
06:52Let's move on to the rest of the features that come standard in this specification of CX-30. You get dual zone climate control,
06:58paddle shifters behind the steering wheel, autonomous emergency braking that works at both low and high speeds.
07:04You get a blind spot built into the rear vision mirror, rear cross traffic alert, rear parking sensors with a pretty decent reverse view camera.
07:11You can get a 360 degree camera that's part of a $1,500 safety pack that also adds front parking sensors.
07:17You get a head-up display and then in front of the driver an 8-inch
07:21TFT display that has the speedometer and it also has other trip computer functions.
07:25It also has a camera that relays the speed sign information.
07:28So it picks up all the signs on the road and shows them on a head-up display and in front of the driver.
07:33But the only problem is that it picks up school zones, even when it's not a school zone,
07:36and then if it misses any signs, it could be misleading you with the wrong speed sign.
07:41So just make sure you're also watching where you're going and what you're doing.
07:44Finally, you also get an 8-speaker stereo and radar cruise control. What does the key look like? Well, here it is.
07:51Mazda symbol on the back and it's plastic, a little bit of metallic chrome on the side,
07:56nothing on the front end and then lock, unlock and that's it.
08:00Now the strange thing here is that this is not a proximity sensing key.
08:03So you need to pull that out of your pocket to lock and unlock the car and then you start the car
08:07with the key just in the car using the start button. It's a bit confusing not actually having a proximity sensor on the door.
08:13You can get that in upper models, but you're going to need to spend more money. So what about practicality?
08:18Where are you going to store your stuff? Let's start off with the phone.
08:22That easily slots up the front there. It even fits in there. What about your water bottle? Okay, you have two cup holders.
08:29It easily fits into there and then there's these little grip tabs as well.
08:32So it doesn't go anywhere. In the door, you've got plenty of storage for a bottle plus other bits and pieces.
08:38There is a giant center console here and I love this. It can slide forward and then also conceal that little entrance.
08:45And then there is a glove box as well. Big size glove box too.
08:47You can, you know, store lots of things in there. Plenty of room for activities.
08:51And if you have sunglasses, you're going to whack them up here. Now, what about comfort? These are very cloth-y looking seats.
08:59They are very comfortable and the steering wheel is a nice size as well. Sits good in the hand and
09:04yeah, just a nice place to be seated.
09:07Okay, let's talk back seat.
09:10A lot of leg room back here. So I have my driver's seat in my regular driving position, which is quite far back.
09:17But as you can see, you're not going to be fitting an adult back here anytime soon.
09:20My knees are well and truly inside that seat. Toe room is good though, which is positive.
09:25So I have to kind of get my feet around that. In terms of other features back here,
09:30mat pockets in just the passenger seat. You get air vents, a center armrest with two cup holders.
09:37We'll see how that works.
09:38It's got little grip tabs on the side.
09:41And then there is a little slot inside the door as well for the bottle and not much more else.
09:46In terms of headroom, I fit okay back here.
09:48And comfort is okay. It's a pretty firm seat.
09:52And I don't know, I just don't love the look of this cloth.
09:55I think it just looks a little bit dull.
09:57I would have loved to see a little bit more color or some other patterns here.
10:00But you do get ISOFIX points on the outboard seats. Now back to four days ago.
10:06Let's talk cargo space. So because it's not a full-size SUV, you're not getting a full-size SUV cargo space.
10:13There's just over 300 litres of cargo available here. Then under the cargo floor, you have a space saver spare.
10:19But it looks a bit nasty.
10:20It's like someone spray painted it and forgotten to finish painting it. And then over to the sides,
10:25you have a couple of little storage nooks and then hooks off to the edges and then an LED light.
10:30Let's see how our bags fit.
10:33Laptop bag in first. I'll give this one a crack.
10:37Okay, so that's not going to fit in there. That's going to go in that sideways and then it fits fine.
10:42I'll show you how it folds as well and how that cargo blind disappears.
10:47So cargo blind, you just detach from the top.
10:51There's no space to put that under the floor.
10:53So that's just going to sit on your cargo floor. The seats then fold in a 60-40 split folding fashion
11:00to reveal a little over 1,400 litres of cargo space.
11:05So I've hit the road in the CX-30. Under the bonnet is a 2-litre naturally aspirated four-cylinder petrol engine.
11:12It makes 114 kilowatts of power and 200 newton metres of torque.
11:18Look, it's not a great deal and you can go to a 2.5-litre in the CX-30
11:23and you can also get the 2.5-litre with all-wheel drive.
11:26But to be honest, I think it actually works well in this engine because it brings the fuel consumption down.
11:30And the official figure is 6.5 litres per 100 kilometres.
11:34We're currently doing around 8.5, which is a lot of idling, a little bit of city driving thrown in as well.
11:40So it's a pretty reasonable real-life indication of where your fuel economy is going to be.
11:44So the engine has made it to a six-speed automatic transmission. It's a pretty smooth gearbox.
11:48You've got paddle shifters on the steering wheel if you want to take control yourself,
11:51but for the most part it shifts smoothly.
11:53It's never really hunting for gears and, I don't know, just a good gearbox.
11:57The entire 2.0-litre range is only available with front-wheel drive
12:00and this car shares a platform with the Mazda3.
12:03So inherently, it's quite dynamic. You do get a couple of drive modes to choose from.
12:07So in this normal comfort mode, if I give the throttle a punch,
12:12it's actually pretty responsive.
12:14So it gets along and goes okay.
12:17Look, it's not a race car, but it feels fast enough for your city commute.
12:21And then if you ever need to do any overtaking or get out of a situation in a hurry,
12:25it's got more than enough guts to get you there.
12:26If you do pop it then into sport mode, you can feel the gearbox go down a gear.
12:31It's primed and ready for you to punch the throttle.
12:33Throttle becomes sharper. It's more eager to kick down through the gears.
12:36I actually quite like the fact that there's decent feel through the steering wheel.
12:40It is light, but it's not too light,
12:43and you kind of feel everything that's going on there with those front wheels.
12:46And then in sport mode, it's engaging enough to make this car feel sportier than it actually is.
12:51Part of the reason the car feels so dynamic and doesn't use a great deal of fuel is
12:55because of the weight. It weighs under 1400 kilograms.
12:57So despite the fact that it's SUV in shape,
13:00it doesn't carry the extra mass that an SUV typically tends to have.
13:04Not that I would recommend towing with this particular car,
13:06but if you do need to for whatever reason,
13:08you get a brake towing capacity of 1200 kilograms.
13:12Now let's talk about ride.
13:14This is the part that I guess impresses me the most about this car.
13:18It is damn good. The ride is fantastic in and around the city.
13:22Out on country roads where you have rutted,
13:25corrugated sections of road that are poorly done,
13:27the car just soaks it up beautifully.
13:29It doesn't feel overly sporty. It doesn't feel overly soft.
13:32It's at that happy middle ground.
13:34So you're getting that sporty demeanour behind the wheel
13:37without having to sacrifice the ride quality.
13:39And unlike Mazdas of old, there isn't a great deal of road noise.
13:42So it is nice and quiet in here, even when you are on a coarse chipped surface.
13:46The only criticism I'm going to point out here about the driving is the brake pedal.
13:49It's a really firm pedal. If you step on it hard, the car stops.
13:52It's not a problem, but I don't know,
13:54there's just not really a great deal of confidence in the pedal feel.
13:57Let's talk visibility. It's quite a low slung driving position.
14:01So you feel like you're cocooned by the car.
14:03With having said that, I can see great at the front there.
14:05The heads-up display is sort of perfectly positioned.
14:07It's got decent size wing mirrors for a car of this size,
14:10with that blind spot monitor built into it.
14:12Visibility out the side is okay, but this sill is quite high.
14:16Visibility out the back isn't very good.
14:18It's an extremely narrow envelope out the rear there,
14:22and then the headrests kind of get in the way of your vision out the back.
14:25So that is worth keeping in mind.
14:26In terms of turning circle, 10.6 metres, which means it will turn on a dime.
14:32There's no all-wheel drive system there complicating things.
14:34So that's going to have you doing U-turns in the city
14:37without having to do the additional three-point turn.
14:40So that is the Mazda CX-30.
14:43Really, really impressed with it.
14:44It is a nice premium step up from the CX-3, and it's just a good size.
14:49It doesn't feel as big as a CX-5 or as small as a CX-3.
14:53They've bridged that gap just in the centre there.
14:55The 2.0-litre could use a little bit more pep,
14:57but then you can step up to the 2.5-litre if you need a little bit more punch in the back.
15:02Outside of that, I don't know, the seats maybe don't like the cloth on them.
15:05I'd prefer to have leather or some kind of a leatherette material.
15:08But let me know in the comments below.
15:10Did you buy a CX-30?
15:11What do you think of it?
15:12What's it been like to own?
15:14And let me know in the comments below whether you think that Mazda
15:17has gone down the right path by creating a CX-30.
15:20And if you did enjoy this video, I'd love it if you could hit the like button,
15:23follow it up with subscribe, and also don't forget to press the bell icon.
15:27Until next time, take it easy.