The Mazda CX-3 is an SUV based on a very small car, but is bigger better in this case? It’s time to decide if you prefer practicality or poise, because the CX-3 has remained true to the recipe… Show
The Mazda CX-3 is one of the smallest SUVs on the market. Warning: header image can be misleading… Funny thing is, it looks bigger in the photos. The Hyundai Kona, new Venue and all-new Kia Seltos don’t quite suffer as badly from this warped perspective, possibly because they don’t have the bigger CX-5 sharing the family genes. So you might get a shock the first time you see CX-3 in the flesh. It's tiny: in fact, it's built off the Mazda2 platform - not the Mazda 3 which numerically speaking seems like the most logical step. That’s what the other carmakers do. What this means is you get a wheelbase that is only 2.57m long. That’s just 26cm longer than the 2.31m wheelbase in the seriously cramped MX-5 sports car. So you can understand my puzzled head-scratching at the reasoning behind Mazda’s decision to use the 2 as the CX-3’s backbone, not the Mazda3 which is a truly excellent small car and could easily make for a commodious small SUV with some raised suspension and matte black wheelarch cladding. The key benefit here is that it means the CX-3 truly is a small SUV - unlike the rest of the crowd which have grown incrementally bigger with each new generation. CX-3 sticks to the source material.
Mazda CX-3 uses the 2.0-litre engine from the Mazda3 and CX-5 for motivation, so despite the claustrophobia for six-footers-plus (quite common in this segment, to be fair) so yeah, it goes quite well. It has 320kg of less weight to haul than its bigger stablemates. If you’re especially tall you’re shopping in the wrong aisle. A Hyundai Tuscon, Kia Sportage or Mitsubishi Outlander might be better sized for you - and especially if there’s a brood to accommodate. CX-3 is not going to do a particularly great job of moving a two or three-kid family around unless you’re particularly light packers. Having done the Club Breeder thing three times, I know you’re lying to yourself if you think packing light will mean you fit into a 264-litre boot cavity. One engine option makes for an easy decision on powertrain: petrol FWD for the win Moving CX-3 up the road now is just the SkyActiv-G 2.0-litre petrol four-cylinder in auto only, and prices range from $31,000 for the accountant’s special Sport in all its glory, right up to $43,000 for the works burger Akari. The Akari LE was a more luxe spec above the Akari, but has been deleted now. CX-3 really does pull a short-barrelled .38 Smith & Wesson on the German thug competition in a dark wet alley, while wearing a Tom Ford suit. We’ll get to that. Skip down to my original CX-3 for a flashback to my younger days. Many of my broader comments still pertain to the now heavily updated model you see here - keeping in mind it’s still the same underlying platform. CX-3 has two 'must-drive' direct competitorsSee also: My Subaru Crosstrek review >> Brilliantly equipped and practical. Ideal for rural buyers familiar with dirt roads, and soggy driveways. Subaru has a system called X-Mode - on all its SUVs - to extend the all-terrain envelope. It dulls down the throttle response at low speed to minimise the chance of you provoking traction-sapping wheelspin. Hardens up the limited-slip diff and also sharpens up brake response. This is all for the slippery stuff, both uphill and downhill, under 40km/h. Under 20km/h it’s hill descent control allowing you to take your feet off the pedals and let the computer manage that, you just have to steer. It’s a real plus when traction is low - if you want to avoid becoming a toboggan - which, trust me, you do want to avoid. Ground clearance for this kind of uncivil, reckless, non-bitumen driving is an impressive 220mm: best in class. My Hyundai Kona review >> Exceptional performance from the N-Line with turbo 1.6 petrol version. In my view the most dynamically responsive to drive with a kick-arse little 1.6 turbo with seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, that would/should embarrass plenty of bogans in their shitbox-heavy, thirsty V8s of old. Even the naturally aspirated 2.0-litre ain’t bad - it shits all over the Toyota C-HR anyway. Kona’s also really good value, especially mid-range Active or Elite (see Hyundai’s range comparison tool >>) Looks are love or hate, but you can judge for yourself. You have eyes. The CX-3 is a tiny SUV, but it's built really well and benefits from that lack of excess. And it has a few quirks (such as no salient room for luggage if all the seats are in use). The CX-3 looks great but probably isn't as good value as a Mazda3, Subaru Impreza or Hyundai i30 in the context of overall practicality, for most buyers, dollar for dollar. If you have your heart set on an SUV but you really don't want to - literally - step up into the larger SUV league then the Mazda CX-3 certainly is worth a look. Especially if you need a little more ground clearance than a car, or you've got a dodgy hip/knee/back, etc. Check out the CX-3's bigger brother, the Mazda CX-5 >> Or if you’re shopping at the 99 Cents store these days, and you need the most budget-conscious options before you, try the Mitsubishi ASX >> It’s a sacrifice on all-out luxury and refinement in favour of the benchmark tech and safety you need/expect, at a better price point. Drawbacks
CX-3: Not perfect with its fairly small 264 litre boot which won’t leave much room for people (or luggage) if you take up what space is set aside for either. There’s a space-saver spare wheel across the whole range, and you can have all-wheel drive, but only the on-demand kind in the Mazda CX-3, Hyundai Kona and Kia Seltos. It’s a reactive system which waits for traction loss before engaging drive to the rear. Not ideal if you’re trying to go uphill, in which case you could look at the slightly heavier, slightly dearer - but much more capable - Subaru XV. C-HR: Exceptionally average in so many ways. The 1.2-litre turbo petrol engine is underdone and demands 95 RON premium because, I suspect, Toyota never expected to sell enough to warranty tuning it to run on our cat’s piss 91 like every other competitor. It only offers 85kW @ 5600rpm and 185Nm @ 4000rpm with a kerb weight of 1440kg, meaning a 60.3 kW/t power-to-weight ratio. Hyundai Kona Go: 81.3 kW/t; CX-3 Neo Sport: 90.9 kW/t; Kia Seltos S: 81.2 kW/t; Subaru Impreza 2.0-i: 80.9 kW/t; Mitsubishi ASXES: 82.4 kW/t. Hyundai Kona: Ground clearance is only 170mm against XV but 10mm higher than CX-3. At its heaviest kerb weight, Highlander weighs 1414kg versus CX-3 Akari’s 1309kg. That’s because it’s so well-equipped, those features, incl tyre-pressure monitoring, head-up display, wireless phone charging, glass sunroof and cooled/ventilated seats adds weight. And cost. Kona wheelbase is 2.6m, which is 30mm better than CX-3’s 2.57m. It offers wider tyres at 235/45 R18 versus CX-3’s 215/50 R18’s, therefore better handling and more grip. Front passenger also gets an electrically adjusted seat, unlike CX-3. Top-spec Highlander is expensive: $50k with premium paint. Mitsubishi ASX: No all-wheel drive - front-drive only, unless you go for the Eclipse Cross with Super-Select transmission which alloys you to run in a defacto 4-High quasi off-road mode on unsealed but well maintained roads, or even bitumen where the going might be slippery, icy or whatever. ASX is a great budget option, but doesn’t hold a candle to the premium feel in the Mazda; generally unrefined and a bit hollow. I'll help you save thousands on a new Mazda CX-3Just fill in this form. No more car dealership rip-offs. Greater transparency. Less stress.LOVE
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Popular small SUV sales, 2023Just these 7 small SUVs managed to sell over 97,970 units in Australia in 2023 MAZDA CX-3 SAFETYMazda CX-3 is very safe, even in 2024, but you need to understand it was crash tested 9 years ago. ANCAP's tests awarded it five stars and a cracking good score of 36.44 out of a possible 37 (98.5%) when it was tested in 2015. All regions on the dummies were awarded 'good' or 'acceptable', and the whiplash rating was also 'good'. Mazda CX-3 is not perfect, however: There are no chest-protecting side airbags for the second row,but there are head-protecting curtains. Nor are there knee-protecting airbags for the front occupants. But Mazda has at least kept it updated with features: There's adaptive cruise control, a 360-degree camera and parking sensors, auto headlamps, auto-dipping high beam, daytime running lights and lane departure warning systems available in the range. There are also 2 x ISOFix anchor point positions in the back row-2 outboard seats, with 3 top tether points across the back as well. See more on CX-3 safety testing >> by ANCAP or download the full ANCAP CX-3 crash test technical report >> SPECIFICATIONS2.0 PETROL Power: 111 kW @ 6000 rpm Torque 195 Nm @ 2800 rpm Economy: 6.7 L/100km Transmission: 6 sp auto (or 6 sp manual on 2WD Neo Sport) Manufactured: Japan Length: 4275 mm Width: 1765 mm Height: 1550 mm Ground clearance: 160mm Kerb weight: 1193-1368 kg (model dependent) Maximum tow capacity: 1200 kg Seating Capacity: Five Warranty: 5 years / unlimited kilometres Service interval: 12 months or 10,000 km (whichever comes first) Roadside assist: N/A Spare wheel: Space-saver
Safety tech - Standard
Powertrain spottingFortunately for the CX-3, you don’t have to work very hard to figure out how you want yours served. Mitsubishi could learn something here: less is more. It’s a very simple powertrain choice. You get a 2.0-litre petrol four-cylinder naturally aspirated engine with front-wheel drive only. Cylinder deactivation not available on CX-3, yet. And there’s no turbo, no reactive all-wheel drive, no performance option - just the same performance across the board. Peak power is 110kW @ 6000rpm and 195Nm @ 2800rpm. CX-3 Sport gets a 90.9 kW/t power-to-weight ratio, better than Hyundai Kona 81.3 kW/t, Kia Seltos S 81.2 kW/t; Subaru Impreza 2.0-i 80.9 kW/t and Mitsubishi Outlander ES: 82.4 kW/t. The output is particularly good because of Mazda’s quite high compression ratio of 13.0:1. Hyundai kona gets close with 12.5:1, but it does offer a full-size spare and is a touch heavier, hence the better power-to-weight. But if you want the best handler with the most poke, the CX-3 has the South Korean licked. The high compression ratio means dealing with knocking - the premature combustion of the air-fuel mixture caused by high compression and temperature - which is more likely to occur at “top dead centre” of the combustion chamber the higher the compression ratio. They’ve made the delivery of fuel even more efficient than before, so it explodes in the cylinder more evenly and with less unburnt fuel or soot. Mazda’s SkyActiv engines, particularly in second-generation SkyActiv-G form (because names are very important to carmakers), are pretty good. They’ve got plenty of years under the belt now with very few problems overall. Very reliable, refined, punchy. I’m pretty confident they’ve got the R&D right, unlike, say, Ford or Volkswagen. Unfortunately, you don’t get the cylinder deactivation feature of CX-5 on the CX-3 yet, but I wouldn’t worry too much about that. Expect it perhaps later in 2020 or early next year when they try to update CX-3 with something fresh. I think as a menial fuel-saving measure cylinder shutdown beats the shit out of stop-start systems - which I hate - for refinement and saving premature wear on ignition batteries. Unfortunately Mazda’s i-Stop stop/start ‘feature’ is standard on CX-3, even on the pov-pack Neo Sport manual for heaven’s sake. You’ll never notice the difference at the pump or on your bank balance. Lab-tested fuel economy is claimed at about 6.7L per 100km on a combined cycle (urban, suburban and freeways), but this doesn’t really mean much in the real world. It’s going to be similar to all the others in the class. How you drive will be a much bigger factor for fuel economy than the engine itself. The fuel tank is 48 litres in the base model Neo Sport but loses four litres in all-wheel drive variants. But seriously, stop thinking about fuel economy and just enjoy driving the damn thing. If you want to save fuel, don’t drive so hard - brake sooner, lift off the accelerator earlier, take off gently from the lights and keep your tyres correctly inflated. Job done. Mazda also says CX-3 has had the suspension and steering tweaked. The alleged upgrades to the petrol engine are minimal - peak power is up from 110kW to 111kW at the same revs, while peak torque is up from 192Nm to 195Nm - again at the same revs. This is not the kind of thing you'll ever feel... Note these comments about the 2019 model range re-jig if you proceed down the page to my review based on the launch of the CX-3 in March 2015. This is essentially still the same vehicle, but the modifications to the range noted above have been applied. They also changed 'Neo' to 'Neo Sport'. 2024 MODEL GRADESSport
Pure
Evolve
Touring SP
Akari
Driveaway pricing guide (may vary per state)Front drive (2WD) petrol models:
Conclusion
The Mazda CX-3 is not perfect, and while it's my job to jab its flaws mercilessly with a pointy stick (and also having a bit of fun with the ludicrous marketing concepts getting awfully lost in translation) you should be aware that this is a very impressive compact SUV. Whatever other vehicles you might be considering purchasing, make sure you test drive the Mazda CX-3. And make sure you’re okay with a space-saver spare wheel before pulling out the plastic. Mazda is way ahead of most competing brands, and if I were you, I would be looking very hard at the all-wheel-drive, petrol Mazda CX-3 Maxx or sTouring if you desperately need the awesome LED headlights (maybe because you live in regional Australia). The Maxx however, is just sensational value, for under $30,000 - and it has proper, intuitively understood instruments, the MZD Connect seven-inch screen, satnav, blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert, and cloth seats you can live with. CX-3 really is a nice car to drive. Genuinely. The engine is a belter and is a real step forward for mass market internal combustion technology which normal people can ascertain. And the on-demand AWD will get you out of most questionable driving situations you’re likely to encounter in the real world. It’s not the most practical among its competitors, but if you can make-do with the space available (and who doesn’t just chuck half their stuff in the backseat anyway?), you won’t go home disappointed. More reportsFeatured Hyundai Tucson looks futuristic and drives very nicely on Australian roads. It offers grunty, reliable engines, plenty of features and 5-seat practicality at a modest price that makes it an ideal, safe family SUV. Kia Sportage is a medium SUV that can handle both family duties in the suburbs and regional holiday travel. This affordable, reliable and well-equipped five-seater is very comfortable and safe to drive every day on Aussie roads. The soft-roading Subaru Forester packs a punch, and is one of the safest, most practical and capable SUVs on sale today. It’s also a great value, nicely driving and popular five-seater. The Mazda 6 is a smart, affordable and practical family sedan and wagon with lots of modern features, an elegant cabin and capabilities that rival any medium or small SUV. Popular doesn’t always equal better and Mazda 6 proves that. The new Triton is a 4x4 ute that offers excellent value, benchmark towing capacity and off-road capability that puts more expensive utes to shame. Here’s what tradies, families and general buyers like you need to know about Mitsubishi’s smart pick-up. The Toyota Camry is a medium sedan with a high-value, modest pricetag. If reliable, economical and mundane daily driving is your family’s mission, before SUVs came along, a proper Camry sedan got the job done. If you’re shopping for an exciting medium-size sedan but need practicality, affordability and reliability rolled into an efficient, compact vehicle, the Hyundai Sonata is excellent value… and goes like stink. The Hyundai Palisade is a big, bold and comfortable holiday machine for growing families. Palisade is excellent value offering generous 8-seat SUV space, practicality on par with LandCruiser, but at a much more affordable price. The Kia Sorento is as close to a prestige SUV as you can get, only without the big price. You would pay thousands more for an equivalent Mercedes or BMW, but a new seven-seat Sorento will be far more reliable and better value. If you’re in the market for a hardcore 4X4 wagon that can tow, climb and haul, the Isuzu MU-X is not a bad idea. But here’s why you should take a good hard think before dropping up to $65K on this three-row four-wheel drive… Is Mazda CXThe CX-3 clings to the Mazda brand's sporting ethos and is without a doubt the most athletic offering in this class. Its fun-to-drive character is composed of many elements, including a lively chassis, well-controlled body roll, and masterful suspension tuning that walks the fine line between firm and too firm. Is it worth buying a Mazda CXIf you have your heart set on an SUV but you really don't want to - literally - step up into the larger SUV league then the Mazda CX-3 certainly is worth a look. Especially if you need a little more ground clearance than a car, or you've got a dodgy hip/knee/back, etc. Is there a new Mazda CXThe CX-3 Touring SP (previously sTouring) introduces sportier styling with 18-inch black machined alloy wheels, a black painted roof and black leather and Grand Luxe suede interior with blue highlights. A black chrome signature wing and gloss black front grille are also new for 2023. What is the difference between Mazda CXWith the Touring trim level of the 2019 Mazda CX-3, you get the same great powertrain that's offered on the Sport trim level, but you get a lot more features both inside and out. The wheels on the Touring level are upgraded to 18 inches, which improves the look and the performance slightly. |
