Overview & Reviews

User Reviews:

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  CX-3 -- what the reviews dont mention - 2016 Mazda CX-3
  By redward - May 21 - 3:06 am

  The CX-3 Touring looks great in all the reviews -- the long snout , SUV styling, AWD, loud exhaust note, nice price, etc. But after driving one for 6 months, I find that it is loaded with badly executed features and controls that are a continuing source of irritation and discomfort. The long hoodline is eye-catching but it translates to a back seat that barely has room for a young teenager, much less for a tall adult, and the rear cargo area is minimal compared to my previous hatchback, a Hyundai Elantra GT hatchback. The GT was far superior to the CX-3 in roominess, interior styling, controls, handy features and lots of storage areas. The CX-3 has almost no functional front storage areas -- the cupholders are underneath a squeaky, creaky cheap plastic armrest, which is in the drivers way whether its raised or lowered -- lots of fun to tackle when youre driving and you want a sip of your coffee. Nav system graphics features maps that are almost unusable -- road names, instead of being placed alongside or within each street they are featured in big white boxes with an arrow pointing to the street. In a crowded area, the screen is a mess of white boxes, obliterating any sense of where you are, floating aimlessly across the screen — totally amateur graphics unlike any Ive ever seen. Mazda also gets demerits for being one of the few manufacturers that did NOT include Apple CarPlay software in the 2016 CX-3 which enables you to hook up an iPhone and use it through the audio system. Mazda software takes forever to boot up on starting, showing not even a simple clock until your journey is well underway. The accelerator is jumpy and gives jackrabbit starts, which hotshot reviewers seem to love, but in heavy bumper to bumper traffic, hair-trigger acceleration is an accident waiting to happen. The brakes are fine, but grab as you come to a stop -- making it seem like youve stopped too short. The interior is filled with cheap, low quality plastics that are noisy and flimsy -- sunglasses in the overhead holder rattle like crazy since there is no rubber cushioning to absorb the considerable road vibrations. Two deep cubbyholes in the front doors allow full access only if you get down on the floor and reach backwards to retrieve the objects that have rolled back there. The standard floor mats are made of thin, tacky spun material. Cabin noise levels on smooth surfaces and low speeds are acceptable, but increase rapidly on asphalt/gravel combination roads which are common in our area. Road noise combines with considerable wind noise at turnpike speeds to make music listening or conversation a chore. The controls for the audio system are located just UNDER the front of the armrest, requiring you twist your hand down and back in order to connect with them — a really stupid design. The cool sounding exhaust becomes a screeching bellow when you hit the gas for strong acceleration -- I suspect it may be artificially enhanced since the CX-3 is not a high performance vehicle. The automatic transmission is set up to downshift even on slow accelerations -- another attempt to add "zoom zoom" to your driving experience, like it or not. Stupid things like the windshield washers hitting low on the windshield, preventing the right 1/3 of the windshield from ever getting cleaned, leaving annoying streaks every time. Two dealers checked them and said there is no way to correct the aim, and checking other vehicles showed the same problem! The drivers’ side all weather rubber floor mat pops off the guide pins repeatedly, causing the mat to shift around and tangle with the pedals -- a potentially serious safety problem. Again, two dealers checked it and said "Yup, the mat doesnt fit the pins." A new set of mats showed the same problem since the pins, attached to the floor of my car, are off by almost ½ inch, causing the mat to spring loose. (Neither dealer offered any further action on these items.) The dashboard information is conveyed by intense white LEDs creating tiny lettering that is difficult to read while driving. The intensity control for lighting is a strange, raw metal post sticking straight out of the dash that offers only too high or too low light levels. Most important information is displayed by tiny, sometimes incoherent icons that are difficult to read -- dozens of them, and their minuscule size escapes notice if you are not constantly scanning the blacked out icon area to see if anything has appeared there. None of these problems are game changers, but they add up to a car that seems like it was rushed into production without much checking to see how the ergonomics of the design worked out. The Hyundai GT had many more convenience features that were all nicely designed and rendered -- for instance, a smooth power roof compared to Mazdas cheap plastic manual slider with a glass roof panel that rises just an inch and produces too much wind noise. The Elantra GT was a lot more car for the same money.

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  Small Small Small - 2016 Mazda CX-3
  By Ed - October 22 - 3:01 am

  Not much bang for the buck, We settle on a Jeep latitude for less money and a better warranty with more room, Extra electronic gadgets, 4 wheel drive on the fly My Daughter loves her new jeep

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  General Disappointment - 2016 Mazda CX-3
  By Amy Hamilton - March 19 - 7:12 pm

  Limited Driver View (lots of blind spots). Read head rests cover seat when down jutting out and making ride uncomfortable in back seat. When up, they block driver rear view sight and leave about a 18 in view space between head rests. Controls in panel between seats and the toggle to select is annoying and while voice control works fine, radio stations take too many "clicks" to get to. As well, touch screen is disabled when driving. Annoying.

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  Great value - if you wear "S" or "M" and are agile - 2016 Mazda CX-3
  By Bug - September 5 - 2:01 am

  I really liked the design, technology, and direction Mazda is going these days. CX-3 appears exciting, safe, and incredible value. Im older and not as agile as I used to be, and I like my console space for coffee tank, phone, doodads to be handy on my long daily commutes. I was hoping CX-3 would be good fit, but awkward console placement and crampy ingress/egress (lower back issues) led to a pass on this model. If I was 20-40 and had a long commute however, Id seriously consider this! BTW, the Mazda 3 hatchback fits me much better!