I know this compact-crossover segment has really heated up… but can somebody please explain it to me?
All of these things look kind of disproportionately quirky-cool in appearance. They’re eye-catching, and a little intriguing at a stoplight… I’ll give ‘em that.
But then you drive them, and none of these things are quick (Nismo Juke excluded). ALL of them are small. Gas mileage is ehhhhh good… but not much better than the size-up crossover option. And they’re not really a ton cheaper either. So I just don’t get it. There’s really nothing to talk about, when it comes to the driving experience. The manufacturers have really done their best to ditch the cool sport-compacts, and instead given us crossover-compacts. Only the crossover-compacts are not fun to drive, they don’t really give us any more cargo space, and they’re not off-road capable. So WTH are they exactly?? Just get a damn Prius already & be done with it – more room & more MPGs.
I think the Mazda CX-3 looks cool. It has my attention, and I WANT to like it! The interior is on-point design-wise, as Mazda is killing the design & interior game across the board. But the CX-3 is not damn fast/fun enough! Nor is it ‘big enough‘ either.
I can totally handle small if it’s fast & fun. And I can usually handle slow if it’s spacious. But you gotta give me one or the other! Because with the Mazda CX-3, we have something that looks kinda quick, but is pretty slow & dull, and is barely big enough to get a child seat in. What are we doing here??
It seems to me like the target buyer for this thing…. would rather take Uber than drive/own a car anyway. Am I right? And if you could scoop a base-model for around 20k, I start to understand. But at this test-car’s 28k sticker, there is just a world of more appealing options.
