Mazda CX-30 SUV Skyactiv-X 180ps 2WD GT Sport Tech 5d Owner Review

In many, many ways this is easily a five-star car, it looks great, particularly from the front, the interior is a quality design with good materials, the Bose stereo is fine, the handling is very good for this class of car, the engine pulls well, it is economical, and the manual gearbox is precise to use. The voice recognition is far better than that of my previous car a Skoda Karoq. The CX30 is the first car I have had with a heated steering wheel and what a good thing that has proved to be lately!
But - and there was always going to be a but! - this basically very fine car is hampered by truly irritating electronics for which the only conceivable explanation is that Mazda considers its customers to be inadequates. It produces a message for idiots every time you turn on the ignition that you have to acknowledge, the auto hold default is off so you have to turn it on every time you start the car, it produces warning sound after warning sound – most of the time for who knows what reason - it will not move if you do not have your seat belt on, the console stereo button does not do as it claims and turn off the stereo but mutes it and it comes back on next time you start the car. And so it goes on and all are such small things, but they are the immediate user interface, and the nagging control Mazda has imposed undermines the character of the car.
In my test drive I paid attention to the things the CX30 is so good at, I paid insufficient attention to the small things that have since proved to be so annoying: I suggest you do not make the same mistake!