The CX-3 was launched in November 2015 and I just had the privilege to drive the automatic version for a weekend.
Fresh, new and alive
Visually the CX-3 offers a striking design. Perhaps subconsciously the designers were influenced by Star Wars, perhaps not, but that front-end certainly made me think about those Star Wars helmets - square, edgy and dominating? It has to do with that large grille, small headlight clusters and the edgy, wide and low bumper with the fog lights right in the corners, rounded off with the large smooth bonnet surface.
The rear end has much more of a playful cheekiness to it and again we see large body areas with small light clusters - narrow rear windows and the double exhausts. The latter is certainly not an indication or confirmation of it being a firecracker performer though.
I love the side-on view. It’s a hatch/coupé with rear wheels in the corners and a long nose, a little reminiscent of the E-Type. The CX-3 does however offer a slightly better ground clearance than the former product. This view is dominated by the roofline and the very powerful, sharp shoulder line which runs from the front wheel arches towards the middle of the car and then tapers down to the rear wheel arch. Despite the coupé-like roof line, I did not experience any discomfort in the driver position as the result of the A-pillar design. Neither did it "complicate" the all-round visibility as it often does with these sleek designs.
Personally I feel the front end is perhaps a tad too aggressive compared to the rest of the design.
The Everest of comfort
I love the interior - the dashboard and its simplicity certainly has that "handcrafted" feel to it, which adds to the overall impression of quality - the latter being an immediate impression the moment you get into the driver's seat.
Mazda refers to the layout as being human-centric. It is, but one does not feel pressured. The lack of bling, all sorts of strips, lights and the rest, is a prominent feature of the CX's interior. A seven-inch display is mounted on top of the dashboard and does not require a complete head-turn to keep an eye on it and the commander control sits right for the left-hand and on the centre console in between the front seats.
From the driver's position the CX-3 fills the space between the yellow and white lines and I was impressed with the general feel of the wide interior and good visibility. The exterior coupé-like design certainly hides this spaciousness and comfort. At the rear, legroom is good and of course with the 60:40 folding rear seats, the adequate luggage space grows by a good margin if you need more space for those elaborate shopping sprees, which we all have now and then.
The instrument cluster/steering set-up is uncluttered, clear and informative - good on the equilibrium.
Adequate vroom-vroom
The 115kW and 204Nm engine in the CX-3 will not excite the boy-racers. The engine is mated to a six-speed auto box, which I found to be in perfect sync with me. It shifted when - should this have been a manual – I would have changed gears. It is smooth and quiet and it was only when the stop/start feature (which I switched off) was activated, that one appreciated the latter.
The CX-3 also offers many benefits and features via its well-established and Skyactiv technology on which we have reported extensively in the past. Although the CX 3 offered superb road-holding and stayed level during hard cornering, the suspension is quite firm; it may even be considered harsh. Be that as it may, on good road surfaces, it offers an excellent driving experience.
Fuel consumption is indicated as 6.1 litres/100km by the manufacturer. I registered a 7.4-litre/100km average over the weekend but did get it down to 7.1 with cruise control engaged on open road driving.
Conclusion
The CX-3 is an aesthetically beautiful, simplistic, elegant and well-balanced car. With its three years unlimited warranty and service plan, we should see a lot more of them on the roads.
