In this section:
- Front space
- Rear space
- Seat folding and flexibility
- Boot space
Passenger & boot space
How it copes with people and clutter
Front space
Even those tall enough to be known as Lurch to their friends will fit into the front of the Mazda CX-30 with room to spare. The seats go back a long way, head room is good and there’s plenty of elbow room.
Interior storage is decent, with two generous cupholders in front of the gearlever, a rubberised cubby in front of that with space for you to empty your pockets into, and decent door pockets with bottle holders. Add in the large cubby under the central front armrest and there’s no shortage of places for all the things you'll need on a journey.

Seat folding and flexibility
Given the increasing choice of family SUVs with sliding and reclining rear benches, the CX-30 disappoints here.
It only gives you a 60/40 split for the folding rear bench, rather than the more practical 40/20/40 split that you get with the Karoq (in SE-L trim and above). You can’t alter the rear backrest angle or slide the bench back or forth, either.
Nor can you fold the bench from the boot, as you can in several rivals, and there’s no fold-flat passenger seat, either as standard or as an option, which would increase practicality.