Things I noticed in the CX-30

Gozo

2020 Mazda6 2.5T
My 2020 Mazda6 is in the shop for warranty work for a week (they took it apart only to find they ordered the wrong parts and now have to wait for them to come in) so I got a loaner base model CX-30.

It rides fine. Things I did notice that as a new car buyer I might not have, that are different than the 6 (I’d figure they’d be pretty close) were the EPB engages automatically when you put the car in park and shut it off. You need to manually disengage it after startup. No biggie; but I park in my garage so usually don’t use the EPB. Also, the headlight switch on the stalk is spring loaded from the OFF position, so you can turn them off, but it repositions back to AUTO, so on the next drive cycle it’s in AUTO again. The DRL’s default to on, but when I pull in the garage, the headlights go on (thinking it’s dusk) and then I shut the car down. In the 6, OFF is just another click position so it stays there. Lastly, and really annoying to me, is when I got the seat positioned just right, the instrument panel plastic face is angled just right, so it reflects upward and I get a band of glare from straight up through the windshield.

Funny story I’m sure we’ve all had with loaner/rental cars: went to put gas in it and looked for the gas cover release. I’m looking by the seat, lower dash, rocker panel area, go out and feel for a lip on the cover, etc. Finally figured out its a push to open/close latch. The guy at the next pump was kinda chuckling to himself.
 
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the CX-30 and how it compares to a 2020 Mazda6. I'm sure it will be useful for others to know and the story was fun as well, I've definitely been there! 😁
 
It rides fine. Things I did notice that as a new car buyer I might not have, that are different than the 6 (I’d figure they’d be pretty close) were the EPB engages automatically when you put the car in park and shut it off. You need to manually disengage it after startup. No biggie; but I park in my garage so usually don’t use the EPB. Also, the headlight switch on the stalk is spring loaded from the OFF

I don't know about the base model but on my Premium one can kind of "goose" the gas a little once you have the transmission in reverse or drive and the emergency/parking brake will disengage by itself. I don't particularly like that so I usually just hit the release button myself.
 
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Also, the headlight switch on the stalk is spring loaded from the OFF position, so you can turn them off, but it repositions back to AUTO, so on the next drive cycle it’s in AUTO again. The DRL’s default to on, but when I pull in the garage, the headlights go on (thinking it’s dusk) and then I shut the car down.
Sounds like you are talking about the auto brights feature they have called High Beam Control, or HBC for short.

I can see well in the dark, so I rarely ever turn my brights on. So HBC is fairly useless for me. I would much rather control my brights usage. Unfortunately, the HBC is always set to auto every time you start the car. So I have to make sure I turn it off.
 
It was just a loaner and I got the 6 back yesterday. If these were on the 6, I would have passed on it.

And to Supercrewbear’s comment, I did try the “goose it a bit” and it did release, but it was closer to a stomp than a goose. I viewed these “features” more as annoyances; then again, I often view software updates pushed to my phone in the same light.
 
It was just a loaner and I got the 6 back yesterday. If these were on the 6, I would have passed on it.

And to Supercrewbear’s comment, I did try the “goose it a bit” and it did release, but it was closer to a stomp than a goose. I viewed these “features” more as annoyances; then again, I often view software updates pushed to my phone in the same light.
Do you have the seat belt on? On mine if the seat belt is on just a little tap on the gas works. Like when the brake hold is on. Without the seat belt on the parking brake stays on. Haven't really given the gas pedal a good stomp or goose though. If Mazdas intent was to get people to belt up before driving they succeeded with me.
 
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