Mazda 3 vs Mazda CX-3

What's the difference?

Given how effortlessly it traverses the mainstream and premium small car classes, the Mazda 3 might be the best value small car on the planet.

With racy styling, sports car handling, classy interior presentation and impressive, intelligent efficiency, there’s plenty to sink your teeth into here.

Poor rear vision, a dark back-seat area and smallish boot aside, it doesn’t have any glaring faults.

In a world overrun with SUVs, props to Mazda for evolving the small car so brilliantly to mask a half-decade of existence. Continuous improvements have made the 2024 G25 Evolve SP Vision an essential small car shortlist proposition, regardless of price.

The Mazda CX-3 Maxx Sport FWD is an excellent car for the city, thanks to its small size, ease of driving and safety tech. New additions for the 2021 update, such as Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, will also help drivers keep their eyes on the road and hands off their phones.

The petrol engine is thirsty and in 2021 it’s disappointing that there isn’t a hybrid or EV version of the CX-3.

Other downsides include limited interior space and a small boot.

How is it that the current Mazda 3 is already five years old? This hatchback is still stunning, the sort of car you look back at when walking away.

The shape is sleek and almost coupe-like, with a shark-like nose, cab-backward-style long bonnet, upswept shoulder line and a fastback silhouette.

More importantly, it’s the way the light dances across the sculptured sides that draw the eyes in. Bereft of clutter, it makes you wish all mainstream manufacturers had the courage to be so daring.

We’ve said it before – the 'BP'-generation Mazda 3 (Axela in Japan) is the brand’s boldest C-segment hatch since the 1993 'BA' 323 (Astina/Lantis/323F).

But there’s a price to pay for such timeless beauty…

The CX-3 is smaller than small, it’s tiny or ‘light’ as it’s officially categorised by the car industry. This could be ideal if you live in the city and need a car that will fit into tight spaces and be easy to pilot around car parks and narrow streets.

I know it seems like an obvious thing to say, but keep in mind that tiny cars tend to have not much space inside – you can read about that in the practicality section below.

For now, let’s look at the dimensions. The CX-3 is 4275mm long, 1765mm wide and 1535mm tall. 

There is a price to pay for all this quasi-coupe styling flair, and that’s a comparatively snug-feeling interior, though you’d never call it cramped.

Actually, the Mazda 3 is no less spacious than most of its competition in all but one area, with enough room even for 200cm drivers, along with sufficient shoulder width and ceiling height to match.

If you’re really tall, maybe that missing sunroof isn’t such a bad thing, after all.

Sat so low-down on cushy, enveloping front seats that offer plenty of comfort and support, this is the anti-SUV. Maybe Mazda should have called this the MX-3.

Sporty and spot-on, the driving position is a laid-back affair, with an emphasis on better ergonomics, as emphasised by the thoughtful placement of switchgear that’s all within easy reach, ahead of a beautifully flowing and layered dash. Proudly Japanese in flavour, it brings to mind functional minimalism.

Drilling into some of the 3’s finer interior details, the analogue-look digital instrumentation is super-legible, ultra-classy and gorgeously lit at night. As previously mentioned, the dials and surrounding air vents are reminiscent of the later Porsche 944 and 968.

It’s not just all for the sake of aesthetics, either.

Yes, it’s lovely, but the thinned-rim three-spoke steering wheel feels great to grip, with nifty little paddle shifters that are a delight to prod.

Same goes for the physical volume knob and climate-control buttons, sidestepping the need to get distracted and frustrated by virtual sub-menus.

And having a conventional gear lever with old-school Tiptronic-style shifts suits the 3’s athletic vibe.

Plus, forward vision is A-OK, ventilation is faultless, storage is better than you might expect, and the fit and finish is as good if not better than any of this 3’s German premium opponents.

Out back, the split-fold rear backrest is set at a comfortable angle, the cushion is well padded, and you’re provided with USB ports, air vents, and an armrest with two cupholders. More thoughtfulness.

But while knee room is fair, rear headroom isn’t great if you’re tall or wear a beehive, as the falling ceiling line reveals.

Vision out is limited by that rising window line and fat pillars. Getting in and out of the back requires some contortionist moves. And the small windows mean it can be gloomier in the back than a Smiths album.

Finally, at just 295 litres, the 3’s cargo capacity is disappointing. Sure, it eclipses the Corolla hatch’s 217L cubby, but other rivals are far larger back there.

At least the floor is wide and flat and there are 60/40-split backrests for cabin access for longer items.

Note that a space-saver spare wheel lurks underneath. Mazda argues there’s always the closely-related CX-30 if you need (slightly) more space (317L).

Meanwhile, at the other end of the 3…

Oh, it’s small inside. I mean, up front is fine, even for me at 191cm tall and a two-metre wingspan, and the new seats, which are bigger and wider, are so much better than the narrower ones in the previous version.

But think of the CX-3 as a two seater with three seats in the back for a rainy day – literally a rainy day, when it’s pouring so hard that you can’t let your friends walk home. Also, if you’re thinking about buying the CX-3 as an Uber I’m warning you now, I will cancel the trip before you arrive because sitting in the back for me is painful, given the limited rear legroom and my almost unlimited legs.

A test that almost broke both my will to live was a trip to the Royal Easter Show with my wife, our six year old and my parents. No, we didn’t all try to fit into the CX-3, that would have been be silly. Instead, we did something else silly and took two cars, with me picking up my parents in the CX-3. Thing is, Dad had to sit in the front because he’s fallen off too many motorbikes, so Mum sat in the back behind me, but her ancestors were Vikings, so she’s tall, with red hair, and yells a lot.

There’s no wireless phone charging and one USB port in the dash.

The CX-3’s boot cargo capacity is small for the class, at 264 litres. That’s not big enough to fit the CarsGuide pram or my mother, but the large suitcase we use for testing will go in. If you have kids, and I know from experience, you’ll be asking too much from the CX-3’s boot to fit all of their stuff all of the time. So, if you will be using the boot to carry a lot, then the slightly larger Mazda CX-30 is a better choice.   

I live in the city, or eight kilometres from the CBD, and I can tell you that urban folk have kids and heaps of stuff, too. The CX-3 seems to be designed for people without kids or stuff.

I want to give you some advice – don’t get the top of the range CX-3, get this one – the Maxx Sport. The top grade CX-3 lists for almost $38K and you could get a CX-5 Maxx Sport for that money, with change.

The CX-3 Maxx Sport is good value at $26,890 and comes with a 7.0-inch screen with Apple Car Play and Android Auto (new with the 2021 update), there’s push-button start, a six-speaker stereo, auto headlights, climate control, sat nav and 16-inch alloy wheels. Those last four items are the features that separate it from the entry grade. Those and some great safety tech, which you can read about below.  

When you think about it, shoehorning a big torquey engine in a light and agile small car is a recipe for fun. Ford did just that with the Escort RS2000 in the 1970s… and Mazda’s now an expert at it, too.

The engine in question is the G25, a 2.5-litre four-cylinder naturally aspirated twin-cam petrol engine, delivering 139kW of power at 6000rpm and 252Nm of torque at 4000rpm.

As this Evolve SP Vision hatch tips the scales at 1415kg, it makes for a healthy, and consequently very lively, power-to-weight ratio of over 98kW/tonne.

That’s if you decide to use all the available revs, which the six-speed torque-converter auto makes great use of.

Driving the front wheels, it offers a 'Sport' mode to extend the revs even more, which is keeping in line with this Mazda’s sporty character.

Less so is the company’s decision to ditch the old multi-link independent rear suspension system a few years back for a more prosaic torsion beam arrangement. We’ll get to how that affects ride and handling in a moment.

The same 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine is in all CX-3s and it makes 110kW/195Nm.

It’s a pretty big engine for a tiny car and those output figures are nothing to laugh at. I’ve driven larger SUVs with less grunt.

The transmission is a six-speed auto, which is becoming rarer these days as many car makers switch to CVTs or dual-clutch autos. The benefit of a regular auto like the one in the CX-3 is smother low speed driving. The negatives? Slower gear changes and higher fuel economy.

The Maxx Sport I tested was the front-wheel-drive version. There’s an all-wheel drive, too, but it’s not at all vital in the city.

Mazda claims the G25 averages 6.6L/100km on the combined cycle… for a carbon-dioxide emissions rating of 154g/km. On a 51L tank, that gives a potential distance of over 940km!

Driven good and hard in our hands, we managed 7.5L/100km, which isn’t bad given the speed and conditions it was subjected to.

Plus, the Mazda’s happy on 91 RON 'standard' unleaded petrol.

You’d think a tiny car’s fuel economy would be really good, but the CX-3 is thirstier than you might expect.

Mazda says that the CX-3’s mileage on a combination of open and urban roads is 6.3L/100km. City-only driving will use more fuel and Mazda says the urban fuel economy is 7.7L/100km, which is close to the 7.9L/100km the trip computer was reporting back to me after a week together.

Ask yourself. What do you want from a new small car?

Since the first Familia of the early 1960s, Mazda’s been at it constantly, through the 1300 and 323 eras and into the modern age of the 3.

The Hiroshima brand knows its stuff. Space, practicality, comfort, ease, reliability and affordability. But a small car has to offer more, specifically in the way it makes the owner feel.

That’s why, while the Focuses, Lancers, Astras and Pulsars are gone, the 3’s still here. And it isn’t just the lush visuals inside and out that are, well, sensory-rich.

As older Alfa Romeo owners know, there’s something special about an engine that sounds alive, and the moment you push the 3’s starter, it purrs into life. That’s the first clue.

Slot the refreshingly old-school lever into Drive, and the G25 leaps into action, and, if you need it to, will keep pulling forward strongly, engine buzzing, like it’s on a mission.

There is a consistent and unifying control to the 3’s linear and forgiving dynamics, reminiscent of past masters like the Focus (and today’s brilliant Peugeot 308) that makes it a joy to drive enthusiastically through fast corners, with the knowledge that it won’t suddenly snap-oversteer and bite an unalert driver back.

For a Mazda, the ride is quiet enough, but there is still some droning transmitted through the cabin, via the Bridgestone Turanza (215/45) tyres, on coarse-chip bitumen surfaces.

And while suspension comfort is pretty impressive for the most part, larger bumps reveal the torsion beam’s limitations, as the car can occasionally thud over them in a way that we remember the multi-link rear end wouldn’t.

Anyway, what we’re saying is that, overall, the 3 Evolve SP Vision is an immersive and interactive driving experience that is right up there with the best of them.

Brawny performance, exquisite agility and a refinement that, collectively, have eluded every small Mazda in living memory until this generation’s 2019 debut. This 3’s right on the money. Still.

The CX-3 is easy and fun to drive. This is thanks to an engine that has plenty of grunt, a torque-convertor transmission, which sends that drive well to the front wheels, good body control and dynamics, plus a fairly comfy ride.

Yes, the wing mirrors seems to be overly magnified, and the reversing camera’s picture isn’t great, but these are minor issues when weighed up with the upsides to the driving experience.

The CX-3’s tiny size makes it ideal for fitting into parking spots many cars can’t, piloting through laneways and conquering other urban challenges.

What were you doing in 2015? It’s a pretty long time ago now, especially if you’re a car, but the CX-3 was awarded the maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating that year.

While the rules to get five stars have now become stricter, the CX-3 is still well equipped with advanced safety tech, and most of it has a strong urban focus.

All CX-3s have AEB with pedestrian detection and it works forwards at speeds from 4km/h to 80km/h and in reverse at 2km/h-8km/h, but stepping up to the Maxx Sport adds rear-cross traffic alert and blind-spot warning.

The headlights are halogen, which is not good for dark country roads but fine for well-lit city streets.

Rear parking sensors are standard, but you’ll have to go a grade higher to score the front parking sensors, along with lane-departure warning and traffic-sign recognition.

For child seats there are three top-tether points and two ISOFIX mounts across the second row.

A space saver spare is under the boot floor.

Mazda offers a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty, with five-years roadside assistance… and that’s nothing special nowadays.

Service intervals are at 12 months or every 15,000km.

A fixed-price service scheme is available, averaging out to $434 annually over the first five years. Mazda shows pricing right up to 16 years and 240,000km on its website.

The CX-3 is covered by Mazda’s five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty. Servicing is recommended annually or every 10,000km, with the first service capped at $331, then $391, then back to $331, alternating like that all the way through to the fifth.

Every new Mazda is also covered by five years roadside assistance if you ever get a flat battery, run out of fuel, get a flat tyre, lock your keys in the car, or accidentally get married. Ok, maybe not the last one.