2020 Mazda CX-30 Review - Better Than A Mazda 3?

I'm Yuri. I'm Jacob. And we're Cornberry Drives. 2020 Mazda CX-30. With no launch control, but send it anyways. All right, so it's really slow. But it's the fastest in this class. But what is a CX-30? It's actually just a lifted Mazda 3. And that's it? That's it. Don't forget to subscribe. Hit the notification bell. Check out Patreon.com slash TheStraightPipes. Join our YouTube membership and check out Teespring. Let us know in the comments below, what would you take? A Mazda CX-30 or a Mazda 3? Thanks for watching. All right, we're just kidding about that. But this is seriously just a lifted Mazda 3. Horsepower and torque. 186 horsepower, 186 pound-feet of torque from a 2.5-liter, four-cylinder, naturally aspirated engine. Exactly the same as the Mazda 3. And this is a compact crossover. The Mazda CX-3 is the subcompact crossover. And the CX-5 is the crossover. So they told us that they couldn't call it the CX-4 because China gets a CX-4, which is totally different. Yeah, and they said on Google, it would show up as the Chinese one, but China doesn't have Google. Yeah, and you get localized search results anyways, so they should have just called it the CX-4. But I did Google, and it does just look like another CX-3 lifted. Yeah, anyways, CX-30 is now what this is called. So it slots in right between the 3 and the 5. That also opens up their whole naming thing so that they can do two digits. I asked them, like, is there going to be a CX-55? And they're like, we cannot comment on future models. So that means, yes, I think there's going to be a CX-63, CX-43. Yeah, for sure. It's going to be cool. And then there'll be an MX-5. Oh, see what I did there? So let's start with the looks. It looks like a Mazda 3. Except lifted with the most amount of plastic cladding ever. Yeah, so they made this thing look like an off-road monster with all this plastic cladding. And the huge wheel gaps. Yeah, the wheel gaps are absolutely massive, and it's accentuated even more by the flat blackness. I get what they did. They just made the silhouette of a Mazda 3, and anything that was more than that to make it more SUV-ey, they just covered in plastic. So from a distance, when you see the sky red or whatever the color's called, Sol-red. Sol-red. Sol-red crystal metallic. Crystal Sol-red metallic. It doesn't look as SUV-ey from a distance. Yeah, and you mentioned to me earlier that this is basically the equivalent of those bus things with, like, a sports car on them. Yeah, so when the Nissan parts truck is a big cargo van and it's got a 370Z printed on it, that's this exactly. 100%. But the Mach-E also kind of did that as well. Oh, it fully did that. A lot of cars and SUVs are doing that now. You can't really blame them. And then they showed us charts about how everyone's just buying SUVs, so, like, stay in business. They kind of had to. Yeah, unfortunately. Okay, so let's start with the front end. We don't have daytime running lights. No, we don't. It's pretty much just the headlight, and the daytime running light is kind of the chrome, I guess. And then we've also got a black grille, which looks kind of normal, but we also don't have a front plate, which will make it look bad when it's time to put one on. Yeah, and we don't have a front plate because we're in California. We're in San Diego for the launch of the CX-30. Driving to Palm Springs, and there's some snow in the middle. Yeah, there's beautiful roads out here. Like, California has some of the sickest roads, and I didn't really know that until I started driving California more frequently. And then we spotted this, like, really weird G-Wagon that didn't have a roof and it was extra short. Hey, it was really weird. It looked famous for some reason. And then also at the very bottom of the front bumper, you'll notice how much gray there is. There's so much plastic cladding. But that gives it that look as well, like it's a car. Yeah, I know. And the wheels look all right. Mazda wheels never look too crazy. They all just kind of fit the car. And what is the Continental recommended tire for the Mazda CX-40, sorry, the Mazda CX-30? The Cross Contact LX Sport, and if you're in a place that gets winter, the Viking Contact 7. And then the most noticeable thing about this new Mazda design style is there's no hard body lines. They've just got, like, a nice swoop. And this vehicle gives it an S-shape reflection through everything. Just like a curve, like a twisty curve. And I know a lot of people don't really like it. On the Mazda 3, it took you a while to get used to it, but I really like it just because it's such a different thing that nobody else is really doing. But what's different about this one versus the Mazda 3 is that the C pillar isn't massive. So we've got the crystal sole red in this one, which pops in all kinds of different lighting, but also sometimes doesn't pop. We also have two grays that have turned out to be very popular. Yeah, so one of them is kind of like a bluish matte kind of gray, but still glossy, like a flat paint. And the other one is gray, gray, and you still get those reflections in them, which is still pretty cool. They are solid colors overall. And then there's also obviously a white. I would really like them to bring back a yellow. Yellow would be pretty wild. But what I really want to see is what does this look like from the side if we get rid of the plastic cladding and make it body color? I think this looks horrible now. Then I also want to see if we remove the wheel arches and just add really, really big wheels. 35s, like my Raptor. And that's what the CX-30 might've looked like. Well, there you go. And moving on to the back end, we got a big black plastic bumper. Yeah, it kind of takes up the whole bottom bumper, which is kind of what they're going for. Yeah, not my favorite look at all. But we've got real exhaust tips, which is very cool. Yeah, shout out to Mazda for using real exhaust tips still in 2020. And it actually sounds good from the outside. And then we have different taillights from the Mazda 3 as well. Yeah, they've got the almost full circle style, but then there's a line that comes out, which it's okay. I like it. And since it's an SUV, it is a hatchback. It does have a power lift trunk. Yeah, which apparently in this class, people really, really want. Yeah, I mean, I don't not want one. Yeah, yeah, exactly. It just adds cost to it. Box test. Let's find out. Not today. Sorry, we're on a trip. We can't travel with boxes, but it looks like it's got a decent amount of room. Here's our bags in it. All right, so now it's time to get you in the driver's seat. You can talk about the power, the handling, because that's kind of the best part. It really is. And then we can get into some of the interior, the new style infotainment and all that junk. Let's do it. Hit it. Wow, that is a big delay. And then it's not bad. Okay, it's not fast. It's definitely not fast, but this, like I said, this class isn't the fastest. Okay, and this does not have a CVT, which is refreshing. Yeah, so refreshing. So this does have a six-speed auto and it shifts relatively quickly, but most importantly, it's smooth. So if we do put it into manual shifting, which is pretty easy to do with just a shifter, and then we actually do have paddles on this trim. So if I downshift, relatively quick, but not the fastest. And then upshift, a little bit slower on upshifts. But I'm definitely just gonna leave this in drive because this isn't like super sporty in terms of SUVs. I think my favorite type of sporty SUV would be the Mini Cooper. But this is surprisingly sporty through these California roads, like way sportier than I thought it would be. Yeah, if you blindfolded me and then just shoved me into this car versus a Mazda 3, I actually would have a little bit of difficulty telling the difference between them because this actually does handle really well. Is this the sportiest compact crossover for handling? For this price, yes. But in terms of overall handling, like there is a little bit more body roll than a Mazda 3, but there's pretty much the same amount of nosedive under braking because they did a bunch of crazy stuff with the suspension just like they did on the Mazda 3. But we do have like different shocks and different springs just because this is a little bit taller. And the one that we are driving is the top trim and it is all wheel drive. You can get it in front wheel drive. But I guess the biggest difference between this and the Mazda 3 is they added an off-road all wheel drive mode, which is also kind of your traction mode, which also is kind of the same as the Mazda 3. Yeah, kind of. So we do have a button that doesn't say traction. It's just like a little rock crawling type mode. But it seems like what it does is if you get into a stuck scenario where a wheel can't get any grip at all, or if you're off-roading and like a wheel is fully off the ground, then it applies brakes to the correct wheel to help you get out. And that's exactly what it does. And we haven't been able to test out this rugged SUV, unfortunately, but I'm sure you can get to your cottage just fine in this. Yeah, your cottage. There is no cottage in the history of anyone I know that you need a fully capable vehicle to get to. A Nissan Micra can make it to any cottage of anyone who exists. A Mazda 3 can get anywhere. Like I don't understand this compact SUV thing at all, but I'm gonna assess this for what it is. And a little bit more on overall handling. The best part about this is the steering. It's so normal and it does exactly what you expect it to do. And the amount of weight to it is perfect. Yeah, that's probably the most refreshing part is that nothing is weird. It does have, I guess, a different, stiffer brake pedal. Yeah, so just like the Mazda 3, they didn't want too much travel, so it does feel a little bit stiffer and you don't have to press it as hard. But you get used to it really quick. Yeah, and on the suspension comfort, I think they absolutely nailed the damping. The suspension is super comfortable. You can drive this in the city. And my biggest complaint about the Hyundai Venue was how bad the suspension was, especially in the city. This thing over potholes and whatever, anything we got in California, lovely. And then this does have G vectoring control, which is Mazda's version of torque vectoring, which this one has the plus version. So basically what it does is it'll break the inside wheel and then it'll apply engine torque. So it'll basically place all of the weight on the front wheels, and then you can turn in a little bit better and you can turn out a little bit better. And we did test that out on the Mazda 3 trip. So take a look at this footage so you can see the differences. You may not really be able to notice, but we did notice something. And before we get to the interior, we know a lot of you guys are watching without subscribing and that's fine, but we just wanna get to a million and then we're gonna tone it right down on the asking people to subscribe. On to this interior, it is white and I absolutely love it. Yeah, the seats are white, but the rest of the sides are black and brown. However, the brown isn't different enough from the black, so you don't feel special in here. I totally agree on the brown and we've complained about this before. Hopefully Mazda addresses this in the future. Oh, and Americans will probably get upset because we're saying Mazda, so Mazda. And FYI, the way we say Mazda is this way because that's the way Canadian commercials say it. Take a look. At Mazda. Nothing we can do about it. We are correct. You're also correct. Everybody's correct. But like every other Mazda, it feels very premium. Like every touch point, everything is like nice and soft leather. It feels so good and it's so good to look at. Yeah, the most noticeable thing, when you touch the dashboard, your finger sinks in. Yeah, that's impressive. Like not that I'm ever gonna touch the dashboard, it just looks really nice. Yeah, and your armrest area, your door panel area where your leg rests, it's all very soft. Yeah, so I don't have that same complaint as I do in most other SUVs where my knee or my shin rests against the side plastic. This is just really soft leather. And just like the Mazda 3 presentation, they dropped us some X-ray footage about how comfortable these seats were. They designed it so your spine doesn't curve. And the seats are so comfortable. They actually are. And they're like super padded too. So I complained about the CX-5 seats and the CX-9 seats. These seats blow those seats out of the water for me. Okay, and then how about backseat room? Terrible. Yeah, I expected more out of the car that's larger than the CX-3, but you just don't have enough room. Exactly, so the leg room feels a little bit closer to the Mazda CX-3, but the headroom is kind of like the CX-5. So then if we move down to the center area, we've got a normal shifter, which is very nice. Yeah, and then we have some gloss black around it. What? The gloss black is very special in this car. It's like, it's just carbon fiber with some layers of clear over it. It's not actual carbon fiber. It's just got a pattern to it. It's carbon fiber-ish pattern with clear over it. Carbon fiber inspired. But anyways, all the buttons feel really nice. The clickiness of them. Like they actually did spend time making these buttons and the tactile feel of them. Yeah. Except the climate control buttons. Okay, they're like nice buttons. They're normal, but you pointed out that if you move the temperature very slowly, it doesn't actually change. Yeah, so you actually have to move it a little bit faster and then it registers. But that's like, no one's ever going to move it that slow. I was trying to get it from 70 to 69 and it was a little bit difficult. Nice. And then we've got a little area for your cell phone, but it's not wide enough for any normal cell phone. Yeah, so little area is the best way to describe it. And then we've got two cup holders. They fit these little bottles of little Mazda water. And then we should probably check the visors. Yeah, we should. Three, two, one. Fail. Nah, it's just a little gimmick. Maybe one day Mazda. Then we've got a nice armrest that slides back and then up. And there looks like there's a little cell phone slot there as well. Yeah, and this is the softest center armrest ever. And then the door armrests are amazing. So the actual driving position is lovely. Yeah, but I think it's too low for a good driving position for someone my height. Like my arms have to rest too far down, but if they lifted it up any higher, maybe pivot, then you wouldn't be able to use this little control wheel. And moving on to the gauges quickly, we've got digital in the middle, analog on the sides, and they're a little bit customizable, but not that much. And then moving on to the steering wheel, we've got the same one as the Mazda 3, which is nice. We've got these rocker buttons for your volume knob and your tuning, which kind of sucks. I don't really like it. I'm still not a big fan of that. And then we also have our radar cruise button. Yeah, so that works pretty well, but this one also has lane keep assist. At least it says that in the infotainment. Yeah, no, it's like lane departure, super light warning, which I guess makes sense because people who buy Mazdas want them for the driving feel. That's right. Which this has. It does have a lot of that. And let's finish this off with the most important part, the infotainment. Okay, so it's the newer style Mazda infotainment that we had in the Mazda 3. It sticks up out of the dashboard, very sleek and nice, right in your line of sight, so that's good. We've got our command center, which is a nice bigger scroll knob, and you've got your home, back, nav, and music right there as well. And what those buttons do depend on what menus you're currently in. So it does have Apple CarPlay. It does have Android Auto. Apple CarPlay goes all the way across, so when I'm in Google Maps, you can see everything from left to right. And this has Android Auto widescreen version, so you have like the clock on the right. Yeah, but you still can't go all the way wide on your Google Maps. Right, but I have like widgets now. Yeah, that kind of sucks though. It's kind of cool. You want the widescreen. Totally, I do. And what's very cool about this system is if you hold the home button, you toggle between your Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, or your home screen for the Mazda menu. And what's not cool about this is satellite radio, and tell me why. Okay, so we've got rewinding satellite radio stations. We have TuneMix, but only five channels per TuneMix, which kind of sucks. But to go through everything to tune your channels is pretty much a nightmare. Yeah, so you'd assume that you can rotate this knob and just go through all the stations right away, but you actually have to press back and then go through the menus. Yeah, and if you don't have any favorites set, when you scroll through the knob, it says favorites, but it doesn't show anything. And then you need to click back, go through your list, and then you need to hold down to set it as a favorite. If you're on a station, there's no way to set it as a favorite without going back. However, we talked to the Mazda rep, and they may actually be changing that in the future. Yes, because we did complain about that a lot in the Mazda 3 video. So we are making the world a better place. And also, I love rewinding satellite radio stations, but there's no button to seek forward or back. They made all the buttons rewind or go forward. Like the steering wheel button, it makes it rewind or go forward. This volume button, rewind or go forward. They made rewinding the priority. Yeah, which- It's a little crazy. Yeah, you wanna be able to find channels and then rewind if you want. Exactly. I definitely don't like it as much as I like the CX-5 that we reviewed. It's exactly all of our complaints from the Mazda 3 still. But this does have a super, super high-res reverse camera, which is very nice. So I guess that's pretty much it for this lifted Mazda 3, which is actually a CX-4, which is actually called the CX-30. So let's get into the competition. We've got the Kona, we've got the CH-R, we've got the HR-V, and with the Qashqai. We haven't driven the Qashqai. No, but we've driven everything else. I think this is near the top. It's definitely the most luxurious inside. Yeah, this is up there with the Hyundai Kona because I absolutely hated the HR-V and the CH-R. So I think this kind of ties, but I prefer the engine in the 1.6 turbo Kona. I think the CH-R still looks the best. I think the Kona has the best features. I think this is the most luxurious inside. Yeah, and this one just kind of feels the most premium. And the most sporty on the roads. I definitely agree. But not the fastest. Correct. So what's the price of this Mazda CX-30? It starts at $23,950. Canadian. And this particular one, which is the top trim GT, is $33,850, which is about $2,000 more than each trim of the Mazda 3. Yeah, I really don't know if that's worth it over a Mazda 3. I also don't because I'm just not a fan of SUVs and this doesn't really give you that much more than a Mazda 3. And I think the Mazda 3 definitely looks way better, especially in hatch form. Yeah, I would personally recommend a Mazda 3 over this. Because you don't need this extra ground clearance. I feel like that's the mission of this month. That's exactly it. Like, it doesn't help. I don't think it does either. But if you think it does, you're really gonna like this if you like the Mazda 3. So if you're interested in this class, I guess you really just need to decide, do you want more tech, do you want more look, or do you want more luxury? Yeah, and how much plastic cladding do you want? Because this wins in plastic cladding. Oh, I do love plastic cladding. Oh my God, this is a dream come true for plastic cladding enthusiasts. Yo, the Mazda CX-39 is gonna be all plastic cladding. Oh my God, I can't wait for that. Okay, so let us know what your favorite compact SUV is if you have one. Don't forget to subscribe, hit the notification bell. Check out patreon.com slash astraypipes, join our YouTube membership, and check out Teespring for sick swag. Also, don't hit the notification bell. We don't care.