CX-3 owners, what do you love and hate about it?

Jinesh

Banned
Hello everyone,

I'm looking into getting a new car and I have been researching several options. I went to the Mazda dealer thinking of testing a Mazda3 hatchback and a CX-5 to decide whether I'd rather a hatchback or an SUV and ended up test driving a CX-3 and Mazda3 hatchback. Personally, I enjoyed driving the CX-3 a lot more. Right now, it's among my top 3 vehicles I'm looking at. I'm Interested in getting some owner feedback to help with my research. Thank you for any feedback you can provide!
 
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I love the styling and handling of the CX-3. Gas mileage is right around 29 mpg for my AWD and is a giant leap over the 16 mpg I was getting in my 2010 CX-9. Space is at a premium, but since it's mostly just me in the car, that's not an issue. The engine can be a bit buzzy, but I think that adds to the sportiness. The gas tank is small, so I need to fill it up more often, but fill-ups are cheap! For me, nothing to really hate about it.
 
Hello everyone,

I'm looking into getting a new car and I have been researching several options. I went to the Mazda dealer thinking of testing a Mazda3 hatchback and a CX-5 to decide whether I'd rather a hatchback or an SUV and ended up test driving a CX-3 and Mazda3 hatchback. Personally, I enjoyed driving the CX-3 a lot more. Right now, it's among my top 3 vehicles I'm looking at. I'm Interested in getting some owner feedback to help with my research. Thank you for any feedback you can provide!

Had a ‘19 CX3 AWD for a yr but got rid of it...buzzy engine, noisy cabin, small tank, cargo and overall space (cramped rear legroom), harsh & jarring ride due to torsion rears. Yes fun to drive esp with the AWD and safety features but I ended up replacing it with a ‘19 6 GS/Sport trim which was just a better car minus the AWD, all around (larger cabin, cargo, tank, more quiet cabin & quieter-powerful engine, refined and felt more solid and planted with a more elegant and mature design and absorbs bumps better due to ind rears. Feels like an entry level luxury car than the cheaper feeling CX3...Would have likely gone with a 3 but the deal I got on the 6 ($7K off MSRP) proved cheaper than a 3 so a better value. So far happy with the switch I made!
 
The OP isn't around anymore it seems but just incase it might help others I figured I would share my thoughts.

We bought ours in 2016 to replace my wife's Nissan Sentra that was totaled in an accident, I went to the same dealer where I purchased my CX-5 a few years earlier, of course the problem in the car business is when dealing with volume dealers is rarely is the same sales rep still around. Long story short, we were debating between used or new, we were planning to replace her Sentra with a Mazda3. There was a CX-3 on the used lot with 154 miles on the odometer. Carfax showed it was purchased from Auto Auction two days earlier, it was originally owned in California. Carfax doesn't show why it went to Auction so fast after original purchase. It had a dent in the door and the windshield was damaged.

We ended up getting a pretty good deal on it with them agreeing to repair the dent and replace the windshield. We made the deal but the overall experience wasn't that great , what ended up sucking was that they loaned us a Mazda2 while the CX-3 was in for repairs, it ended up taking them 6 weeks to get it fixed. I was probably too nice about it. Since then I haven't been too hot on Roger Beasley Mazda and frankly we'll be shopping around much more for our next vehicle whenever that time comes.

The CX-3 itself:

Pros:
*
Good fuel economy
* I personally like the design (like a baby CX-5)
* I like driving it because it has features that I don't have in the CX-5, the active cruise control being one I really like
* In sport mode driving around the city is fun (But I am pretty sure I would have just as much fun in a little Mazda3 Hatchback) -- I am too tall/fat for a MX-5 for real fun

Cons:
*
Many things feel cheap, such as the arm rest -- and not being able to use the arm rest when you have tall drinks
* It has a lot of wasted space and like @tekz says it feels cramped. We have taken it on road trips up to 6.5 hours of driving and it is pretty rough on those trips, tbh.
* Cargo space is terrible
* Lots of road noise

I am sure I could think of other things, so you may ask yourself why do we keep it. Heck right now the A/C is on the fritz so my wife isn't even driving it to work and because of COVID-19 we are working form home, it just gets short trips if I need to run an errand and my wife is in the CX-5. You may ask why we even bother keeping it, I could trade it in for a Mazda3 hatchback which would be perfect for a second car (which we do need during a normal year when we both work in two different parts of town).

For now it is a matter of not having a car payment, we have 111K on the CX-5 and 63K on the CX-3. At this point we are working towards buying a house in a few months, if we can live with what we have for another 3 years we may end up getting my wife a new CX-5 (or something entirely different, her friend has a Lexus and she likes it, but also the new Rav4's are pretty sweet, for my wife the Mazda fun of driving is a little lost.

In the end, I am not sure there is much upside to the CX-3 when you have the Mazda3 Hatchback and the CX-30 now.
 
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