Riding the Mazda CX-3

Atty. Jerome G. Neri
The Scrutineer

THE Mazda CX-3 is a compact crossover that I recently tested. It was better than I expected and I enjoyed a weekend with it. The main rivals of this car would be the Subaru XV and the Honda HR-V.

First off, I found the seats very comfortable. One of the few cars that I felt had adequate back support, especially for a person like me with a bad back. This made a very good first impression on me. And, yes, I think this car has one of the most comfortable seats among all the cars that I have tested to date.

It has a top-notch in-car entertainment that is easy and understandable to use (actually I do not know if in-car entertainment is still the proper term as it is a computer that does a lot of other stuff apart from entertaining the occupants). Another great feature was that this car has two USB ports and blue-tooth. The system is very neatly packaged in the dashboard. The downside to their system is that it looks so nice that the driver might be looking at it instead of looking at the road.

The engine is an impressive piece of work. It is a 2.0 liter that has good power, as expected. What surprised me was the amazing fuel economy this car has. On normal driving I was able to do 9km/liter in heavy traffic and 10 km/liter in traffic in the city. This car has the fuel economy of a Toyota Vios! The engine has a downside to it though: it is loud when running at wide open throttle that it is very audible inside the cabin.

The car drives well. Everything responds quickly, a characteristic that I find very important in a car. Steering is responsive and quick, the transmission downshifts at the right time when you gun the gas pedal coupled with the instant acceleration. Cornering in the slow and medium speed corners are excellent and good on the high-speed corners.

The i-stop feature works great. The i-stop feature turns the engine off when you are in a stoplight or in traffic and on full stop with your foot on the brake. The moment the brake is released, the engine turns on instantly. The i-stop feature keeps the occupants comfortable. If you go to a complete stop but the air-con is not cold yet, the i-stop will not trigger. If you are in a stop light for a long time, before the cabin gets hot the i-stop turns the engine on. In short, passenger comfort comes first.

This is no car, so it is not as comfortable as a car nor does it handle like a car, but it is pretty damn close to riding and driving like a car. It is the compromise that is needed given the road conditions and flooding threats we have in Cebu. A little comfort and handling is sacrificed for good ground clearance. It is the same for all crossovers.

For some time now, I have always thought that the best car in this class is the Subaru XV, but after testing this car, Mazda has answered Subaru very well. The top model for the Mazda CX-3 and the Subaru XV are both AWD with 2.0 liter engines with Mazda having the better engine in both power and economy. The low center of gravity of the Subaru XV gives it better comfort and handling. In both cases, one is only slightly better than the other.

For the crossover market in the P1.5-million price range, the Mazda CX-3 is a car that should be test driven and given a lot of serious consideration. This is one of those cars that where the engineers who designed and built it got it absolutely right.