I am wondering about getting a 2.0 petrol 2WD one of these and it's on my provisional short list.
I need to go and look at one soon, but in the meantime:
(1) are there any opinions of it ? e.g. one report says it's quiet at motorway speeds and another says the exact opposite.
(2) what type of automatic gearbox does it have ?
Thanks all.
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I am also considering a CX3 automatic or the Honda HRV auto. When I went to the Mazda dealer to enquire about the car I was told that it has the same engine and auto gearbox as the Mazda 3. Was offered a test drive in a Mazda 3 auto which seemed a bit flat to me. No CX3 auto demonstrators available within 150 miles of Manchester at the moment. Also problems trying to get a test drive in a HRV auto
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...I'm doing a bit of tyre-kicking at the moment.
The CX-3 was on the "to look at" list. Sat in one yesterday, and, in the extra-extra cost metallic red and two-tone leather interior it looked nice and was a very nice thing to sit in.
The back seat, however, was very cramped (with the usual test of can I sit behind a 6ft 1in me) and the boot was as tiny as a very tiny thing that had been through a hot wash (and where the spare/spacesaver should have been was full of subwoofer on the one I looked at).
A pity really - though I don't need rear seating very often, the boot was a killer.
The overall effect was heightened by having just sat in a Honda HR-V, which isn't quite as nice inside (but still good), and despite being almost the same external dimensions, is incomparably roomier in both rear seating and boot space. (and I do mean incomparably!).
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And Hondas are more suited to er, um, a certain age demographic...maybe...dunno...just saying...
;-)))
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Not for nothing was the old HRV known as the HRT.
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Look nice parked next to a motor van, home, camping thing. Compatible you know, like Tupperware and cheese sandwiches, fleeces and bobble hats. Comforting in a way.
;-)
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...wouldn't need the motorhome motorcaravan campervan anymore - the HR-V would be big enough to sleep in the back ;-)
...not that that is on the list, either.......
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>> Not for nothing was the old HRV known as the HRT.
>>
...aye, but the current one looks slightly less like a hearse........
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....yeah, much like Mercs are known as Stuttgart taxis...........
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Thanks Dog, I was hoping it was an old school auto box but somehow couldn't find any reference to it.
Yes, it's smallish in the back, but I won't be driving it from there so don't care.
The spacesaver wheel is a nearly £400 option - not cheap, almost certainly negotiable but at least it exists. I won't buy a car with only gloop for fixing a tyre.
Time to take a look at one.
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I had a look at a CX3 when taking a Focus ST estate for a test drive... The Mazda dealer was adjacent. I didn't take it for a test drive, although as I had an hour to spare, and the Mazda dealer was quiet, I took out two Mazda 3s back to back. Both 5 door hatches, two litre petrols with only 120 horses, but pleasant enough. Decent handling, chassis and steering dynamics... I drove on a variety of roads. The 165 horse would definitely be a lukewarm hatch, and I like larger petrol engines. Best colour I think is Soul Red.. Suits the 3 really well. The Sport Nav was very well specced... Even a Perspex pop up HUD!
I would definitely consider a Mazda 3 over a Golf, cheaper to buy second hand, far better looking and probably more reliable. Very under rated IMHO.
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Have you bought that chuffing car yet LL?
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Trying to. 330 definitely sold. Awaiting to hear from main dealer, although friend has almost literally just an hour ago offered me his car. Never rains but it pours.
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This Mazda auto thing came up recently didn't it? It uses a fluid torque converter but locks it up most of the time for efficiency, managing changes with a multiplate automatic clutch. Or something.
www.motorauthority.com/news/1064742_mazda-rejects-dsgs-redefines-automatic-transmissions-instead
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This CX3 is looking better all the time. I'll take a look at one when I can towards the end of next week.
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In your circumstances, what advantages has the CX3 over the 5 door Mazda 3? Are they the same mechanicals, just a different ' higher up' body?
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Unless I am miss taken, the CX-3 is actually based on the Mazda 2.
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That'll be why there's no room in the daft contraption then.
Get a proper car, Mazda 3.
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CX3 maybe looks better though, or more modern anyway? Rationally the 3 might well be just as useful but if you're going to spend a chunk of your hard earned you might as well spend it on something you like the look of. No point in dating an ugly one if there's pretty ones available eh?
;-)
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Really Runfer? I think the new model 3 ( in Soul Red) looks 100x times better than the CX3.
Bit early in the evening for beer goggles matey, tee hee.
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...that Soul Red improves the looks of most Mazdas no end - that's why all the brochure pictures feature it, and they charge more than the other metallics for it.....
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Exactly, LL. CX3 is a silly lifestyle compromise, and it looks like one. Nothing pretty there.
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The Mazda uk website lets you compare the specs for the 3 and the CX3.
The 3 is over 100kg heavier, longer and wider, and only 70mm lower than the CX3. It has very slightly more luggage space seats up or seats down, and takes slightly longer from 0-62 (120PS auto)
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I bet that there's more legroom though.
Admittedly DE isnt bothered about that.
Each to their own I suppose but I'm just not impressed with unnecessarily high vehicles with their ride and handling downsides, nor platic wheels arches.
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Neither am I really AV but I do understand fashion.
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Me too and it's mostly nonsense.
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Isn't life mostly nonsense when it comes down to it?
;-)
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...that bit that isn't "stuff"...
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The ratio varies depending upon circumstances.
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"in your circumstances, what advantages has the CX3 over the 5 door Mazda 3? Are they the same mechanicals, just a different ' higher up' body? "
It's based on the Mazda 2.
At the moment I've got a ruddy big estate car, i40 diesel Tourer, which I needed to carry long loads for long distances in some comfort. It suited admirably but it can be a bit of a handful around town. My annual mileage has dropped from around 15k to 5k and the years are starting to catch up on us. Her indoors wants a higher seating position and I still want a biggish back door for some smaller loads but now would prefer a more city appropriate car even though I still do a 1000 miles round trip to France a couple of times a year.
For reliability something with Japanese origins is a good idea. I won't touch a CVT gearbox and just managed to trade in a multitronic box car when the intermittent ( £5k to fix) fault wasn't misbehaving. A shortish car that's not too wide suits - have you seen just how wide new cars are today ?
I want a petrol torque converter automatic with the option of a full size or space saver wheel. There's not a lot of choice. The Hyundai i30 ticks many boxes but not quite enough for me.
Fashion does not come in to it - I've had a Hyundai i40 for 4 years for goodness sake !
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>>and the years are starting to catch up on us
Tell me about it.!
>> I won't touch a CVT gearbox
Why is that DE? .. Statistical Outlier (down under) gave a good report of them some time ago ISTR.
I haven't driven a 'modern' car with a CVT box, and have less-than fond memories of the old steel belt jobbies but,
I quite like the Subaru XV, which has the Lineartronic en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Subaru_transmissions#Subaru_Lineartronic_CVT box so,
although I've always known and luved slush boxes, I'd be prepared to at least give the 'modern' CVT's a go to see if I could live wivvam.
Another SUV (I like SUV's BTW) I would consider is the www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/mitsubishi/asx-2010/
Lastly, so you don't reckon you've got the stomach for a Cactus then?
:}
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I think the CX-3 looks nice in this colour:
www2.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201602151054876 (y'all have to cut 'n paste this link)
White ones look flipping awful IMHO.
Red's look a bit flash I think (like my Forester!) although the CX-3 is a nice red, so I could live wivvit.
Scrub the Mitsi orf the list because the automatic is only available on the oil burner, and we don't want one of them, do we :)
Last edited by: Dog on Sat 16 Apr 16 at 08:37
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>> Lastly, so you don't reckon you've got the stomach for a Cactus then?
>>
>> :}
He must be one of these................. tinyurl.com/jxcb982
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>> He must be one of these................. tinyurl.com/jxcb982
I used to see a lot of those (the cactus, not the rodent) in Tenerife, y'all can actually eat the pear I believe.
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I brought back some prickly pear liqueur from my trip to Malta. This taught me two things:
1. The prickly pear is called the 'cactus fig' in most other European languages;
2. Prickly pear liqueur tastes like Calpol. Avoid.
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>>Prickly pear liqueur tastes like Calpol. Avoid.
ditto banana liqueur.
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>> >>Prickly pear liqueur tastes like Calpol. Avoid.
>> ditto banana liqueur.
They drink some funny things in foreign lands, but I usually give them a try at least. 'Like Calpol' doesn't sound too bad. The worst tasting things I've drunk were 'native gins' that tasted like poteen, not to my taste at all. That banana liqueur is nectar by comparison.
The Ghanaian government had a scheme to market cocoa wine at one point, cocoa being Ghana's chief traditional product. Alas, I never got to taste that, and can't help wondering if the scheme ever got off the ground.
My mother who was raised in Malta by an irresponsible alcoholic father and sweet, incompetent mother sometimes as a child had to live on prickly pears and figs. One result was frequent diarrhoea.
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>> >>Prickly pear liqueur tastes like Calpol. Avoid.
>>
>> ditto banana liqueur.
ditto Calpol.
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Parked next to a Mazda 3 at Sainsburys today, it was indeed a pretty little thing. Navy metallic in this instance. There is still something a bit too shiny about Japanese cars though. Can't quite quantify that, just a general impression of being a bit blingy and plasticy somehow.
Maybe it's just me, but they don't quite look like proper cars, despite strong practical evidence to the contrary.
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>>There is still something a bit too shiny about Japanese cars though
Bin that way since Datsun's were all over the place in the 1970's. My old Forester is okay IMO, but I don't really like the later ones.
The CX-3 looks a bit too shiny in certain colours, in fact the white ones make me feel positively (negatively) ill.
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"The spacesaver wheel is a nearly £400 option - not cheap, almost certainly negotiable but at least it exists. I won't buy a car with only gloop for fixing a tyre."
Agreed! When I looked at the CX-3 last year it wasn't an option, and there wasn't anywhere to put it. I'm glad Mazda have changed their minds on that. I wanted the more powerful engine, but this only came with 18" wheels, and the ride was hard enough on the smaller wheels.
Other than that I liked it.
Last edited by: Avant on Fri 15 Apr 16 at 23:08
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CX-3 looks great to me. It'd be top of my short list if I was getting rid of my A1 anytime soon. Can't have a smaller boot than the A1! And they seem to be selling very well.
The only criticism I read somewhere was that the 2.0 engine didn't have bundles of torque?
Honda HRV is pricier isn't it? I'd probably be more inclined to look at a Civic instead - like Bobby recently purchased.
If I had Lud's money - and time on my hands - I'd be keen to see what the new Audi Q2 looks like at the end of the year...
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Mazda CX-4 looks better. Based on the CX-5 but more coupe like.
My next car will be thought about early 2017 I suppose. I liked a lot about the Mazda6 but a lot was ... well naff and cheap. And they addressed a lot of that.
I like the A3 but I see there is a new revised model soon and I'm not sure of the revisions :-( Maybe I'll get a VW Tiguan plug-in hybrid. :-)
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Mazda prices seem to have gone up in the last few weeks on "Drive The Deal" and elsewhere. I guess it is because we have just started a new quarter and prices will get better again in a couple of months.
Worth checking if your employer uses a lease scheme. Though the current offer ran out on 31/03/16 it gave staff members 15% of a purchase of a new Mazda - I am waiting for the web page to be renewed - it is just a PDF that you take to a dealer but needs your staff details and payroll number.
Last edited by: zippy on Sat 16 Apr 16 at 12:16
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I have a CX3 SE-L auto in soul red. My previous car was a 3 door 2011 Golf 1.4 TSi.
My reasons for buying were:-
1. I liked the design
2. I liked the colour
3. It has a handbrake
4. It has a t/c auto
5. The car is only slightly longer than the Golf.
I bought a spare wheel kit and had a space saver tyre fitted which cost over £400. I declined the sat nav which did not get very good reviews, but if I change my mind and have £600+ burning a hole in my pocket I can buy the maps on a SD card.
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...handbrake...TC auto...spare wheel...
All you've missed, Pug, for a full C4P house, is to say it has a handy hook for your fleece and that you change the oil every full moon. With credentials like those, you really ought to post more often.
};---)
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Mazda - Toying with getting a Mazda CX3 - Dog
