Mazda CX-3 DK.III sTouring (2018-2023)

I've been the first owner of my Mazda CX-3 for two years now, and overall, it's been a great experience. The car is fun to drive, highly reliable, and hasn't given me any issues. However, a few drawbacks prevent it from being a perfect 5-star vehicle: *The infotainment screen feels a bit outdated and isn't very responsive. One major frustration is… Read more

that the touchscreen functionality is completely disabled when using Android Auto, forcing you to rely solely on the Mazda controller. While the controller works fine for most functions, it becomes inconvenient—especially when using navigation apps, where it adds distraction and reduces safety. *The rear passenger space is quite limited. *The boot capacity is also quite small. *It gets very noisy on high speed.

Great small SUV – Have always been a Hyundai driver until purchasing my first Mazda this year. I was looking for a small SUV, 2 litre with digital speedo, automatic mirrors, infotainment system, reversing camera, seat comfort as a minimum. Purchased from Aspley Mazda who were amazing from test drive to after sale to first 1000km service. Am really enjoying driving my new Mazda, handles well, smooth, quiet, comfortable. Highly recommend. Show details

Great car - looks great, drives well, low maintenance costs – I use this car for commuting & at weekends. The car service is usually every 9 or 12 months depending on lockdowns. Mazda provide a great service and the pricing is reasonable. Fuel economy is average. Show details

Great Car for Commuting – Hubby surprised me with a new car and Mazda went above and beyond to deliver the best experience. My hubby and I had never dealt with these guys but after their incredible service and friendly staff we will purchase all our cars from this Dealership. We personally dealt with Colin from Toowong Dealership and he was an absolute blessing, highly… Read more

recommend speaking with Colin and the guys as they will exceed all your expectations. Mazda are friendly and polite at all times. We had our car serviced through them over the weekend and they smashed our expectations. The car was cleaned and vacuumed. They went through all the details of the service and made it truly the most stress free experience. Highly recommend these guys and girls. The car is easy to drive, perfect for all driving (except extreme 4x4). It comes with a vast range of accessories, colours and modifications available. Value for money.

Buy this vehicle and you will be a “winner” – Having driven Corollas for umpteen dozen years I recently decided to move outside my comfort zone and buy something completely different. I purchased a 2019 CX-3 iTouring in September and absolutely love it. It has more oomph than the Corolla and is magic to drive. If you are in the market for a new vehicle you cannot go wrong getting this vehicle. Show details

Perfect for city driving – We have been driving our CX-3 for just over a year after purchasing new from Brookvale Mazda and have been thrilled with the performance and high quality of the car. Boot space is limited but that was highlighted to us during purchase. Official Mazda service includes a detailed video blog of the service which is a brilliant way of keeping across how the car is being taken care of. Thoroughly happy with our purchase Show details

Great Car, nice finish and high quality build – Have Just purchased new MAZDA CX-3 STouring Love the car:Great high quality finish, premium high quality feel to it! Good fuel Economy lots of safety and many other features. Very Nice looking car perfect for couple / single. Great Warranty 5-yrs / Unlimited KMs Love the pop up display that warns you about speeding and road signs ahead, and blind spot monitoring.  Show details

Perfect car! – I brought my new CX-3 sTouring nearly 2 months ago now & I absolutely love it! The inside and outside of the car is awesome, it’s a small SUV but they have really thought out the space in this car considering it’s size! The inside interior is awesome, I love the splashes of red they have throughout the interior! I had a Mazda 3 previously and they are very similar with running costs, they are quite efficient cars in my opinion and run great!  Show details

Great car to drive!! – Have had the CX-3 for just over a year and a half now and I love it! It's a great car to drive, very smooth and has great fuel economy. I don't go through as much petrol as I used to in my old car! It's a great small SUV!  Show details

My Mazda love affair continues – I was loaned a CX-3 while my Mazda 3 was being serviced - and I fell in love so much, that I bought one. I bought the S-Touring model, in 2WD Automatic. I'm very happy with it. I commute on the highway for work, and it has proved very comfortable and economical. Slightly smaller than the 3, it is probably best suited to singles / couples + pets… Read more

etc. The back seat is adequate if required for short distances, but probably not for extended journeys. It has all the mod cons, electronic driver display, Sat Nav as standard, bluetooth connectivity, USB points, climate control, steering wheel controls etc. It is a very likable car. It certainly doesn't have an excessive amount of power - but more than ample when required. The automatic transmission is clever and easy to live with. I particularly like the LED headlights (plus auto lights and auto wipers). Overall, very impressed. Would recommend to singles and couples, commuters and city dwellers. Service costs are not as cheap as others, but not heinous also.

Smoothest ride! – So drive this car is wonderful it is so smooth and witha ll the extra hidden features it's a pleasure. A tank a fuel lasted my over 2 weeks with the fantastic istop feature. Interior is great and I would recommend this car to everyone who wants a small sized SUV. It's a winner!  Show details

Not so good package CX-3 – First of all, I am not the owner of this car but a second driver who drives this vehicle regularly. Good points are nice to drive with a safety pack fitted which is one of the best features for this car, with a good responsive 2.0 litre automakes it a good car for city and country driving. Bad point are numerous, the usual obnoxious rearview… Read more

mirror is in a ba position and still obscures the rear window, the seats are small and the head rests had to be removed (kept pushing my head to far forward but I do drive in the upright position).

The interior seems a bit small and the seats are even smaller again than the old Mazda 3 I use to drive, speedo again is hard to read even worse the HUD speedo is almost impossible to read (I had to croach down to see it clearly) boot is not a food shape again seems smaller that usual. Be warned if you crack your windscreen you better be over insured, mine was hit by a stone at only 2 months old and that is when the nightmare began, it took 3 weeks to get a windscreen fitted (ok it was mid December and had to wait till mid Jan) but and a huge BUT the electronics had to be reset and they take time to fix, the car has been back to the repairer twice already, first they had it for 4 hours and couldn't get the sensors to work, the another 8 hours with another technician and these still aren't right (it won't scan all the full areas it is suppose to, so far over 12 hours of work to fix a problem that still exists and I had to book it in for a 3rd time hopefully they will fix the problems with the sensors and computer and all this is because of a windscreen and the screens are expensive too.

Atleast the insurance is paying for this and it will be well over the $1600 mark so far.

Apart from that it is good value for money after all new cars can be probmatic.

Excellent packaging and technology, but – Purchased a new Mazda CX-3 sTouring FWD (or 2-wheel drive) 2.0l Petrol car with Safety Pack. I describe this car as the best bits of a Mazda 3 on a Mazda 2 base. I wanted a new 'safe' car for my wife who was coming out of a '91 Ford Laser - so a big jump up after 25 years with the old car (which was excellent, reliable and economical, but NO… Read more

safety equipment). The Mazda CX-3 was not a cheap car and I think it's well over-priced, but the competition is lame to say the least compared with how Mazda have packaged this car - very clever, way ahead of the pack (for now) and they know it. I compared it to a Toyota Corolla, Mazda 3, Mazda 2, Peugeot 208, Renault Clio, VW Polo, Honda Jazz but not the Ford Fiesta because of their hugely problematic DSG gearbox in their automatic version of that car. I have a Ford Focus 2013 Diesel auto - which is an excellent car but we wanted something a little smaller (particularly narrower to get up our driveway).

Likes:

1. The range of safety equipment is excellent and unequalled in anything else we tried from above list. We got the Safety pack (up to 30km/hr front-end collision avoidance emergency braking system + Blind spot warning + rear cross traffic alert system). We got the front parking sensors (it comes with rear parking sensors and a rear-view camera) but we also got the 'screen integrated front and rear parking sensors' accessory. Wow the best and most under-rated accessory I've ever seen and NONE of the above-mentioned competition are remotely close!

2. No radio aerial, but a low height radio fin.

3. Push button start and turn off the car.

4. Very clever auto-locking of the car when you exit the car, and walk away. Can't lock keys in the car.

5. Clever and super easy opening of the car without having to click any buttons on the remote.

6. Heads up display of speed and navigation in front of driver.

7. Quality of finish, and how easy it is to open and close all the doors and boot. Excellent quality.

8. The Mazda CX-3 could get the Dynamic Blue colour which wasn't an option in the larger Mazda 3 (Colour was very important to my wife, and it's a gorgeous blue - very happy).

9. All the best safety options from the Mazda 3 available on this car, but not available on the top Mazda 2, and without the high price of a Mazda 3 with same levels of safety gear.

10. Driving dynamics and seating comfort. Although there's not a millimetre more ground clearance than a Mazda 2 you sit a little higher, and it's a little easier to get in and out of than a Mazda 2.

11. Naturally aspirated modern 2.0 litre engine mated to a magnificent 6-speed conventional auto gearbox transmission. It's frugal for a 2.0l but will last longer and have less problems (over the long term) than a turbo-charged smaller engine that Ford and all the Euro cars have adopted with their DSG gearboxes. Toyota and Honda were the only other naturally aspirated engines, but theirs are mated to a CVT transmission (which I had long term concerns about).

12. Always ON LED daytime running lights which are integrated into the main light cluster. These are configurable. The main headlights are fantastic as well.

13. Japanese made (our 2015 model, but as of 2016 they are being made in Thailand) - excellent quality and lower long term ownerships costs - beyond the warranty period. This was very important to us, and why the Euro cars, all of which are excellent cars but a huge concern beyond their warranty periods have expired, particularly spare parts. Not so with Toyota and Mazda (in Australia as least).

14. Fixed price servicing for the life of the car. Quite reasonable too.

15. The Mazda infotainment system looks excellent, but there's a lot to learn and take in, and it's too early to comment on too many of these features, bar for one very important thing. It's an excellent touch screen system, but it can be fully managed with two buttons adjacent to the driver in the centre console. They are quality buttons, easy, and very accessible while driving from the driver, passenger and even the back seat (if you don't get the optional armrest console). So the screen stays clean and clear from greasy finger marks. A big win over the competition.

16. I just love the look of the car both inside and out. It's modern, clean, simple, excellent vision all around, and fantastic to drive. What more could you want.

Dislikes:

1. We really wanted 'Mazda CX-3 rubber' floor mats, but Mazda Australia are asleep at the wheel and don't offer them, nor have any plans to release them (as of Feb 2016). Rubber mats are far more practical for sandy feet than carpet mats. This car does sit in the SUV category, so where are the rubber floor mats?

2. There is no Off button for the radio. You have to 'mute' the radio, but you can't turn it off.

3. Over-priced, particularly the accessories. Do your homework, and haggle to get what you want included when buying the car.

4. No centre console armrest. Again another over-priced accessory. And if you do get it, it covers over the drink holders.

5. The sTouring model comes with larger wheels with low profile tyres. They look great, but the ride is harder than I would have liked. Not a major complaint, but worth noting.

6. No automatic night switching rear-view mirror (photo-chromatic). You still have to manually adjust the lever below the centre rear-view mirror for night driving if there are annoying lights behind you. I have a 2013 Ford Focus - Trend model, and that car has this brilliant night switching mirror, so why after 3 years later wouldn't a higher spec Mazda CX-3 have such a basic feature?

Overall it's an excellent car that came down to a two horse race between the Toyota Corolla hatch (which is almost identical in the external dimensions with the Mazda CX-3). But the Corolla is all old technology, older less frugal or efficient engine, too little in the safety equipment and in fact woeful compared to the Mazda CX-3. The Mazda CX-3 is a great sized car, easy to get into and out of shopping centre car parks with excellent seating both front and back, clever features all around, and fun to drive. My wife loves it and so do I. Thanks Mornington Mazda.