These things (Mazdas) are becoming an addiction.
This CX-3 is the fifth example of the marque that I've owned. It replaces the Mazda 3 that I hocked to pay for renovations in our new home.
I've never been good at sharing cars. My bride would tell you that if you asked her.
The list of machines in our family emanating from the Togyo Kogyo plant at Hiroshima in the land of the rising sun include three MX-5s (all NBs, and one of them an SE) and my daughters 323, and my recently sold Mazda 3.
To be completely truthful (and regular readers will know that I always am) this latest member of the Zoom Zoom family wasn't actually made in Japan. Mazda is now outsourcing manufacturing to an Auto Alliance factory in Thailand (Rayong province) and that is where the CX-3 was built.
Following my practice of avoiding new cars, as they depreciate as soon as you drive out of the showroom, I sourced this local 2019 example with 30000 kms on the clock locally. It's the cliche; with one local lady owner. It's a manual, and I was lucky to find it. Manuals are like hens teeth these days, as fewer and fewer millennials (and whatever the generation after them is called) can drive them.
It really does remind me of my MX-5s, but it has the actual advantage of being accessible. My 75 year-old back is these days incompatible with sports cars. The higher hip point of the SUV body style is a real boon. There is very little adult room in the back seat, but generally I sit in the front to drive it, so am not bothered by that.
The drive train has some strong similarities to the MX-5, and both road feel and steering feedback are similar. The higher driving position gets you away from reading the sidewalls of B-double tyres whilst waiting beside them at the lights.
There is lots of whiz-bang tech which I'm getting my head around, including a feature called i-stop which cuts the engine when you're waiting at the lights. I can disable it, but it sparks up again every time you start the car.
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