Been following MotorTrend's long term CX-30 test...

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2020 CX5 Signature
Been following the Long Term test of a CX-30 in MotorTrend, safe to say they hate the car. The reviewer finds the car mush, too tiring to drive in a straight line, He was so drained after a road trip that he was "overly wired for the next several hours." Evidently the adaptive cruise control is so bad that he has to turn it off when passing other cars and the lane keep assist is so bad that he wasn't even sure if it was even on.

The funny part is that the wrap up of the Long Term test for the Mazda3 the (different) reviewer seemed to really like it.

Of course the good thing is it's only MotorTrend, probably the worst journalistic car magazine in the business.
 
Lack of straight-ahead stability in the CX-30 is a common complaint although the reviewers characterization seems a little drama queen to me. The LKA in all Mazdas is pretty lame and I’ve also had issues where the radar cruise is slow to react to fast-changing situations like someone changing lanes abruptly. Mazda’s active safety systems are behind the competition, IMO.

- Mark
 
If you think the LKA in newer Mazdas is bad, you might want to try my '16 Mazda6 GT's. It works only 50% of the time...Above X mph only, picky on lane line condition, does not work on curves, etc...In comparison, my '17 CX5' LKA is much better. However, I do agree that it is still not the best in industry. That is why Mazda is teaming up with Toyota. It does not have the funding to keep up with big players. Especially on ADAS.
 
Lack of straight-ahead stability in the CX-30 is a common complaint although the reviewers characterization seems a little drama queen to me. The LKA in all Mazdas is pretty lame and I’ve also had issues where the radar cruise is slow to react to fast-changing situations like someone changing lanes abruptly. Mazda’s active safety systems are behind the competition, IMO.

- Mark
What does "lack of straight ahead stability" mean?
 
What does "lack of straight ahead stability" mean?
Requiring constant, small, steering corrections to travel in a straight line, typically noticed on the freeway. A car with good stability feels like it is “on rails” while one with poor will feel nervous/jittery and require more attention from the driver, increasing fatigue. Engineers try to come up with the best compromise between stability and responsiveness.

- Mark
 
Mazda's LKA does not keep the vehicle in the center of lane. It just bounces off the lane lines. Other systems can keep vehicle in the center (e.g. Honda's). Not Mazda's. Hence, it is quite behind in ADAS.
 
Mazda's LKA does not keep the vehicle in the center of lane. It just bounces off the lane lines. Other systems can keep vehicle in the center (e.g. Honda's). Not Mazda's. Hence, it is quite behind in ADAS.
It was never meant to do lane centering. Mazda believes that lane centering systems take too much control away from the driver (and after having a rental car with lane centering, I have to agree).
 
Motor Trend might be an outlier here. Many other mags, along with quite number of the more well-regarded YouTube motoring channels (Autogefühl, CarWOW, WhatCar) really like the car. In Oz, our own top motoring journal, Wheels, rated the car so highly, they voted it Car Of The Year for 2021!

Handling? Well, it isn’t a 3, so no, it doesn’t have that car’s… err, zoom, zoom. That said, it’s handling is pretty good, and is decidedly less rolly-polly than a lot of the competition. “Too tiring to drive in a straight line”?! Oh, I don’t think “drama queen” even begins to cover it. I regularly do 300 to 400 kilometre trips and have no issue whatsoever keeping the car straight. I’m forced to wonder whether that pea buried eight mattresses down keeps the poor fella from getting a decent night’s sleep…
 
I'm sitting here in my recliner and the window sticker for my CX-30 is still laying on my side table...from almost a year ago... I've never really read it other that to see what the total price was and maybe the fuel use estimates. The two items I see listed regarding "lanes"are 1) Lane Departure Warning System and 2) Lane Keep Assist. Nothing about "lane centering". I'm assuming the "lane Departure Warning" is the rumble in the steering wheel I feel when I drift into or across the lines. The "Lane Keep Assist" would, to me, be the gentle nudge to get me back off the lines. This is my only experience with these features EVER so I have a limited reference but it doesn't seem so awful. Other that I had no idea I wondered around the road as much as I do until getting this car. Ha Ha I get Motor Trend in the mail (also Automobile and Car & Driver) and I suppose I haven't paid that much attention to any CX-30 long term articles - but it does seem the magazines are fairly lame anymore. I watched several YouTube reviews of the CX-30 and I know there was one fellow who seemed more concerned about naming than anything - CX-3 vs CX-30 vs CX-5, etc... that two digit "30" really bothered him....A LOT. :rolleyes: It makes me wonder if he works for Motor Trend too. ;)
 
I can confirm what this writer said. I recently had to deliver a CX30 to a customer in another city. After about 2 hours I noticed that my wrists were extremely tired. After paying attention to what was going on, I noticed that I was constantly having to make corrections to stay in the lane. The alignment seemed fine when I took my hands off the wheel. It took having the weight of my hands on the wheel to make it happen. I wonder if it's maybe the LKA system or the power steering programming?
 
I have no such steering issues with my CX-30. It steers much like my previous Mazda3. I have arthritic hands and wrist so it would be obvious to me if this were an issue.
 
Been following the Long Term test of a CX-30 in MotorTrend, safe to say they hate the car. The reviewer finds the car mush, too tiring to drive in a straight line, He was so drained after a road trip that he was "overly wired for the next several hours." Evidently the adaptive cruise control is so bad that he has to turn it off when passing other cars and the lane keep assist is so bad that he wasn't even sure if it was even on.

The funny part is that the wrap up of the Long Term test for the Mazda3 the (different) reviewer seemed to really like it.

Of course the good thing is it's only MotorTrend, probably the worst journalistic car magazine in the business.
Interesting…I find the CX-30's ACC much like my civic's and I do not find that tiring...I also drove a rental CX-9 coast to coast recently and the acc worked as advertised and just like my civic. I think the reviewer is wonky.
 
I do find our CX-30 requires constant corrections on the highway compared to my A4 but my partner is the one who drives it and doesn't seem to mind. I still think it is an overall great vehicle for the money.
 
I do find our CX-30 requires constant corrections on the highway compared to my A4 but my partner is the one who drives it and doesn't seem to mind. I still think it is an overall great vehicle for the money.
I have not noticed much difference compared to my gti but compared to my civic it does require a bit more correction.
 
Its safe to say imo that MotorTrend its the biggest Mazda hater in the industry. The guys have a payed agenda and basically bash Mazda's everywhere. Me personally I am not giving them any single click ;)
 
I think the radar cruise in my 3 is excellent but despite the somewhat tiring little steering corrections needed during trips of more than 30 minutes, I am okay with it, as my trips are mostly less than 30 minutes each. I have read that new Mazdas have less sensitive steering to alleviate that issue. Maybe that applies to the 2021 models?
 
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FWIW I rent alot of vehicles through work. Alot of travelling. I've had everything from a $100k Velar to a hunk of junk Toyota CH-R.

I've had some vehicles that the radar cruise control will literally jam on the brakes and you have to take control to keep from crashing.

I've also had some LKA systems almost put me into the ditch because of the over correction.

TBH I turn most of that garbage off because I enjoy driving.

Nothing is perfect. Turn that crap off and drive analog if you find these systems clunky.
 
Been following the Long Term test of a CX-30 in MotorTrend, safe to say they hate the car. The reviewer finds the car mush, too tiring to drive in a straight line, He was so drained after a road trip that he was "overly wired for the next several hours." Evidently the adaptive cruise control is so bad that he has to turn it off when passing other cars and the lane keep assist is so bad that he wasn't even sure if it was even on.

The funny part is that the wrap up of the Long Term test for the Mazda3 the (different) reviewer seemed to really like it.

Of course the good thing is it's only MotorTrend, probably the worst journalistic car magazine in the business.
I used to subscribe to Motor Trend magazine until their writers thought that having a nerdy Apple car would be the next big thing. I had to laugh when they likened a future Apple car to a macbook. Apparently, they felt that the car should be 30% more expensive than any comparable Mazda, Honda, or Toyota.
 
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