REVIEW
flipping back through the box to tackle a steep climb is neatly done. In the week with the Maxx, I only wrong-slotted once. The enthusiasm of the drivetrain is matched by the sharpness of the light, responsive and evenly weighted steering and the sure handling, all aided by a typical Mazda suspension set-up that some people may find sterner on bumps than to their liking. But the overall body control and ability of the car to respond to inputs not only makes it more enjoyable but also more helpful in an emergency 'swerve and recover' situation than its less dynamic rivals. In the challenging environs of the shopping centre carpark the small 9.8m turning circle is a boon. But the lack of front parking sensors and the rising rear window line – which kids won't like either – are not. Both engine response and dynamic crispness are aided by the car's light weight. The Maxx manual weighs in at just 1045kg (kerb), which undercuts lesser rivals like the Honda City and Hyundai Accent. Much of what you have read here could be interchangeable between
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the 2 sedan and hatch, but one area where the three-box design steps ahead is cabin quietness. Noise suppression has never been a Mazda strength and, although it's hardly the issue it once was, the three-box sedan still blocks out noise from the rear-end better than the hatch. So what do you give up in return? Okay, there's a flexibility loss just because it's easier to throw bigger stuff into a hatch than a sedan boot. But the Maxx's boot claims a total 440 litres of storage compared to
the hatch's 250. All that is generated by a 260mm longer body. The rear seats do fold down – albeit not fully flat – via cable releases in the boot to provide enough room to carry a large mountain bike with the front wheel removed. Moving forward to the driver's seat there's an instrument panel – that looks like the bisected fuselage of a monoplane – dominated by a central speedo, with supplementary digital tacho. At the top of the centre stack is an