Mazda CX-30 long-term test review: report 5

The car Mazda CX-30 2.0 180PS 2WD GT Sport Run by Alastair Clements, special contributor

Why it’s here Slotting in between the smaller CX-3 and the family-friendly CX-5, the new CX-30 offers plenty of style, but can it be as practical as the best family SUVs?

Needs to Blend style with a rewarding driving experience and enough practicality to justify its purchase over more conventional rivals

Miles covered 5927 Price £29,140 Target Price £28,346 Price as tested £29,930 Official economy 47.9mpg Test economy 36.0mpg

29 November 2020 – God is in the details

Knocking on £30,000 is hardly cheap for what is, in essence, a tall and chunkily styled family hatchback, but the more time I spend with my Mazda CX-30, the more obvious it becomes that it is remarkably generously specified. 

And it’s the detail refinements that come with GT Sport trim that I really appreciate. Details such as the electric mirrors, which tilt when you engage reverse (on whichever side is selected on the driver’s door-mounted controller) so you can avoid clonking those smart gunmetal alloys on the kerb. 

Or the electric memory seat (for the driver only, much to my wife’s chagrin), which has really good lumbar adjustment and is linked to both the mirror settings and the head-up display. And then there is that display itself: I used to think this system was a gimmick, but it’s a brilliant safety feature that keeps your eyes on the road and swiftly becomes second nature.

Other things that you soon take for granted, until you find yourself in a lesser-equipped car, include the keyless entry and ignition, the rear parking camera, the excellent adaptive cruise control and the 12-speaker Bose surround-sound system, which even boasts a subwoofer in the boot where the spare wheel would normally be.

But there are also lots of ‘nice to haves’, among them a sunroof – a rare addition in our aircon-obessed world – and the neat ‘Smart Cargo’ system. The latter is pretty simple, being little more than a boot floor that splits and folds to adapt to your luggage, but it’s nonetheless a handy thing to have to prevent things sliding around when there isn’t much in the boot. 

Only in the rear do you occasionally feel short-changed. Oddly, there’s only a map pocket on the passenger side and there are no charging points, USB or otherwise, though there are air vents for the back-seat occupants.

It’s fairly snug in there, too, but with the front passenger seat slid forward it has served as a perfectly adequate home office on several occasions, with cupholders in the central armrest and just enough headroom to accommodate my 6ft 3in frame.

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