[Edward J in Vancouver]

Every

time I close the hatch on my cx3, my hands automatically scrabble in the hard plastic shell looking for a purchase. Then, with an expletive, I have to change hand position to the dirty, wet outside of the hatch to close it.
Today I stopped doing that, removed the plastic hand grip inside the hatch ( which only allows you to guide the hatch as it opens) and altered it with a dremel and a s.a.k., thus allowing a purchase for 3-4 fingers to grasp and push down the hatch.

The above pic show the removed grip upside down. To remove it you need to remove the outer trim piece of the inside of the hatch, allowing you to remove the hand grip. The grip pops back in, anchoring on the sheet metal, and the outer trim goes over it. Yeah it looks like a butch job in the photo, but it’s not noticeable once installed.

No more dirty hands closing the hatch....

 

[Malks]

I've never been bothered closing the hatch on my CX3. Most times I just pull the hatch down using the grip and then let it go. The gas shock slows the closure so it doesn't slam shut. If it doesn't close completely then I just use a couple of fingers on the rear glass to guide it down and contact the latch.
The thing that does bother me is opening the hatch, particularly in the winter. The underside of the door where the button is located is always wet and dirty from snow and road grime that is sucked up while driving. I'm surprised Mazda doesn't think to put an interior rear hatch release in this car, right next to the hood and gas door release would have been nice.

 

[Edward J in Vancouver]

My last car was a 09 Mazda 3 and it had a cable release for the trunk which I found very practical. It would have made a very welcome addition on the cx3, don’t know why it was omitted.

Opening the hatch is “ interesting”, if the batteries in your fob are weak you are really fighting it because even with fresh batteries you have to “unlock” the hatch from 3 meters away in order to open it. Best way is to unlock from the cabin, which isn’t possible when you’ve come back from shopping....