Mazda CX-30 SkyActiv-X - long-term review

I try to keep abreast of developments in the fast-paced, ever-changing world of family crossovers, but I confess that, until a couple of weeks ago, it had completely passed me by that the CX-30 doesn’t replace the CX-3 in the Mazda line-up. No, according to Mazda, the CX-30 ‘slots into the range between the CX-3 and the CX-5’.

You can see the confusion. If you’re looking to christen a car that slots between CX-3 and CX-5, it strikes me there’s a more obvious name for it than CX-30. (Apparently Mazda couldn’t call it CX-4 as it already sells a CX-4 in China, which is an entirely different car and also an excellent example of just how confusing the world auto industry has become nowadays.)

But anyhow, point is that Mazda now offers three SUV-crossover-thingies you could literally throw a blanket over, provided (a) they’re parked very close together and (b) you have a very large blanket.

In size terms, it goes something like this. The CX-3 is 12cm shorter and three centimetres narrower than the CX-30, the CX-5 15cm longer and 4cm wider. So far, so straightforward. But when it comes to price, the progression is somewhat less linear. The CX-3 starts at £18,495, but you can’t pick up a CX-30 for less than £22,895, only £800 less than the cheapest CX-5. So on a pounds-per-square inch basis, the CX-30 looks worse value than either of its Mazda stablemates.

So why would you choose it instead? Well, firstly and most importantly, the CX-30 is by a distance the best-looking of the Mazda SUVs. I’d always thought of the CX-3 as a handsome thing, but compared to the CX-30, it looks curiously gawky, as if its aspect ratio has got a bit squashed. (Sorry, still working on getting a photo of our CX-30 next to a CX-3. Turns out it’s surprisingly tough to convince fellow road-users to pause their commute for 20 minutes and follow you to a nearby stretch of deserted woodland to ‘help out with a few pictures’.)

The cabin of the CX-30 is a step beyond that of the CX-3, too. When it comes to interiors, Mazda’s not just been on a roll recently, it’s been on the entire bakery. And the CX-30’s cabin is as immaculately executed as the new Mazda3’s, largely because the CX-30’s cabin is literally identical to the new Mazda3’s, only six inches or so higher off the ground.

Oh, and you can have your CX-30 – as we do – with Mazda’s spiffy new SkyActiv-X engine, an powerplant not yet offered in the CX-3 or CX-5 (and if all these CXs are confusing you, spare a thought for the poor Mazda salespeople having to explain it to punters). Is SkyActiv-X a dealbreaker? Well, we’ll get stuck into that one next month. Get ready for some hot’n’heavy mpg chat…