Mazda squeezes CX-30 between CX-3 and CX-5
GILBERT’S GARAGE by
JOHN GILBERT Mazda’s new CX-30 compact SUV in now-signature. Soul Red Crystal Metallic is an extra-cost option well worth it. Photos by John Gilbert Somewhere in the annals of automobile manufacturing there must be a rule that proclaims whenever new technology bursts onto the scene in new vehicles, Mazda is the company that gets to develop or invent it. How else can you explain the amazing raft of high-tech devices that work with flawless precision on reasonably-priced Mazda vehicles? I recently got a chance to test-drive a Mazda CX-30 compact SUV, and it had so many advanced technical goodies that I wasn’t sure what all it had. Always built tight and strong, Mazda has become known by its ad campaign for “Zoom-Zoom” vehicles, which is a tip that the company enjoys turning out vehicles that over-achieve. The CX-30 is merely the latest one. Mazda already has an award-winning compact
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SUV with the CX-5, and it had a smaller, tighter one with the CX-3. It didn’t seem that there was enough of a gap between the two for another SUV to squeeze in, but Mazda thought differently and plunked the CX-30 right in there. The CX-5 is 179 inches long and the CX-3 measures 168 inches long, while the new CX-30 measures 173 inches in length. The CX-30 wheelbase is 104.5 inches, 2.1 less than the CX-5. Nobody ever accused the CX-5 of being too big – the large CX-9 fills that role – although many have challenged the CX-3 for being too small. I’m quite certain either camp would find the CX-30 just right. It starts at the bargain rate of $21,900, although the test car was loaded up with what Mazda calls its Premium Package,
which zooms the sticker up to $28,200 – still a bargain, particularly when you hear its ingredients. It is fun to drive, quick and agile, and would probably be even quicker with only front-wheel drive. The test car had Mazda’s exceptional all-wheel drive, which may aid handling in the dry and certainly will in the wet or snow. A couple years ago, Mazda engineers completed a decade of plotting, planning and developing to make its Zoom-Zoom go around corners even better than its standard of excellence in handling. To over-simplify, the idea of turning abruptly to go around a left turn, for example, common sense tells us we want to stiffen the outside wheel’s suspension and maybe give it an extra dose of power.
Nay nay, says Mazda. Its engineers found exactly the opposite – if you start to turn in to the left and the power is reduced to the outside right front while its suspension is also softened just a bit, both for just a millisecond or two, you as the driver are emboldened that you’ve made the right choice to turn in at that spot. You never feel anything because it’s too quickly executed, but in fact, if you are a good and competent driver you will notice one astounding difference: You almost never, if not never, have to correct the steering wheel to get you back on the proper turning arc. You have become a much better driver, without doing anything. The turn-in point is attained with precision, the driver has more April 23,2020 2020 July 23, 8585
