Joined
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16 Posts
So far I'm really enjoying my CX-3, but it hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows.
First, some annoyances:
The heater is pretty weak and takes 15 minutes to defrost/defog the windows on a 25 degree morning. On top of that, the climate control is very inaccurate. On a sunny day you can set it to 68 and feel warm, but on a cloudy day you need it on 74 to maintain the same level of comfort. It seems pretty bad at reading the ambient temperature or the position of the sun to compensate. I am likely to believe it doesn't have a sun sensor, which would also explain the lack of auto-on headlights on my model. Our Kia Soul in comparison warms up within minutes and has a very accurate climate control system. Also, the light tan leather seats get stained from blue jeans unlike any other car I've seen. Literally one day of use will leave blue streaks, and none of my jeans are brand and washing them a few more times hasn't seemed to help. I've taken to covering the seat with a throw blanket just to avoid excess wear from constantly cleaning the leather every few days. Also, my passenger side rear backup light isn't sealed well and has condensation build-up every morning or after a car wash. The center armrest flat out sucks and gets in the way more than anything. I also don't like how it creaks. I'm thinking of ripping it out, but not sure if it's an easy process. I know the foreign market cars don't have the armrest.
Now onto the good:
The ride/handling balance is superb. I was fairly impressed with the Soul given its torsen beam rear suspension, but this is arguably the best torsen beam setup I've experienced. It's well behaved/controlled and smooths out the rough stuff nicely. I know this suspension design is hated by many enthusiasts, but Mazda got it right. The adaptive LED headlights are truly amazing and better than any car I've owned. Braking is also strong, and the engine feels peppy and fairly refined provided you never give it more than 70% throttle input. Floor it and the engine gets quite vocal/buzzy without generating much extra in the way of accelerative force. In normal driving it feels peppy - leagues better than say, the Subaru Crosstrek. The infotainment also continues to impress. Bluetooth works great. Bose audio quality is good. And the TomTom navigation has been dead accurate thus far. I especially enjoy the redundant turn by turn info on the pop up HUD screen which makes keeping your eyes on rhe road much easier.

First, some annoyances:
The heater is pretty weak and takes 15 minutes to defrost/defog the windows on a 25 degree morning. On top of that, the climate control is very inaccurate. On a sunny day you can set it to 68 and feel warm, but on a cloudy day you need it on 74 to maintain the same level of comfort. It seems pretty bad at reading the ambient temperature or the position of the sun to compensate. I am likely to believe it doesn't have a sun sensor, which would also explain the lack of auto-on headlights on my model. Our Kia Soul in comparison warms up within minutes and has a very accurate climate control system. Also, the light tan leather seats get stained from blue jeans unlike any other car I've seen. Literally one day of use will leave blue streaks, and none of my jeans are brand and washing them a few more times hasn't seemed to help. I've taken to covering the seat with a throw blanket just to avoid excess wear from constantly cleaning the leather every few days. Also, my passenger side rear backup light isn't sealed well and has condensation build-up every morning or after a car wash. The center armrest flat out sucks and gets in the way more than anything. I also don't like how it creaks. I'm thinking of ripping it out, but not sure if it's an easy process. I know the foreign market cars don't have the armrest.
Now onto the good:
The ride/handling balance is superb. I was fairly impressed with the Soul given its torsen beam rear suspension, but this is arguably the best torsen beam setup I've experienced. It's well behaved/controlled and smooths out the rough stuff nicely. I know this suspension design is hated by many enthusiasts, but Mazda got it right. The adaptive LED headlights are truly amazing and better than any car I've owned. Braking is also strong, and the engine feels peppy and fairly refined provided you never give it more than 70% throttle input. Floor it and the engine gets quite vocal/buzzy without generating much extra in the way of accelerative force. In normal driving it feels peppy - leagues better than say, the Subaru Crosstrek. The infotainment also continues to impress. Bluetooth works great. Bose audio quality is good. And the TomTom navigation has been dead accurate thus far. I especially enjoy the redundant turn by turn info on the pop up HUD screen which makes keeping your eyes on rhe road much easier.
