My wife and I are both now retired and thinking of replacing our very nice and dependable A4 with something a bit more economical as our retirement vehicle. We are looking for something with a bit more ride height and some utility that’s comfortable and fun to drive. It can not have a CVT!
I’ve been following this forum as well as others for M3 and CX-5 (drove both as well) so knew what to look for. The CX-30 seemed to fit so took one out for almost 3 hours.
Here are my observations:
— I had 2 big concerns going in. One was the CD and reports that it was intrusive. I found it to be completely seamless. In fact it hardly seemed to activate at all and I tried at various speeds using routes that will normally be used. According to the monitor it mostly came on when coasting and off when slowing down. I took it on the highway but didn’t use CC and the monitor showed all cylinders active the whole time. Granted it was only for a few minute. Does this seem right?
— The other big one was power and I quite liked the turbocharged CX-5 but thought the car itself was a bit bigger than we wanted. Well I found the 2.5 to be more than enough for spirited driving. Not an issue at all.
— I enjoy music and found the Bose sound to be excellent. At least equal to the B&O in the Audi and in some ways better.
— The infotainment puts the CX-5 to shame. My phone paired almost instantly and everything was fast and intuitive. I especially like that I can control it much like I’m used to. I want to avoid touch screen.
—It’s quite jittery on very uneven surfaces but very composed on most roads and takes potholes well.
— My Audi is over 6 years old but interior and exterior look like new with no noticeable paint chips And very little wear inside. While the Mazda comes closer than any other car that I’ve seen I can still notice subtle differences in quality. Of course one must keep the price point in mind and I take very good care of our vehicles.
— Heated steering wheel is great. Just wish it was all the way around. My only other wish in this car is ventilated seats. Don’t have them now but liked them in the CX-5. Can live without for sure. It would also be nice if the passenger seat at least had height adjustment.
— I prefer not to have the all the safety features but have no choice. I’m told they can be turned off and hope that’s true. Big concerns here are trust and cost of repair. It might be the one thing that gets in the way of purchase although most Japanese cars are going in this direction.
— I expect that past rusting issues are no longer a concern.
— Quattro AWD is absolutely excellent. I expect that the Mazda will be at least adequate. We get lots of snow but our area is plowed regularly and since we don’t work we can stay home.
To summarize, this car ticks nearly all the boxes and I can see myself not missing the Audi too much. We’ve been mostly VW/Audi for many years but there’s nothing yet that fits other than a Q3 which is much more than we want to spend at this stage. We did own 2 Miatas and and 2 Proteges many years ago and really liked them so there is that.
I hope this wasn’t too long but wanted to share my thoughts and hopefully get some feedback.
I’ve been following this forum as well as others for M3 and CX-5 (drove both as well) so knew what to look for. The CX-30 seemed to fit so took one out for almost 3 hours.
Here are my observations:
— I had 2 big concerns going in. One was the CD and reports that it was intrusive. I found it to be completely seamless. In fact it hardly seemed to activate at all and I tried at various speeds using routes that will normally be used. According to the monitor it mostly came on when coasting and off when slowing down. I took it on the highway but didn’t use CC and the monitor showed all cylinders active the whole time. Granted it was only for a few minute. Does this seem right?
— The other big one was power and I quite liked the turbocharged CX-5 but thought the car itself was a bit bigger than we wanted. Well I found the 2.5 to be more than enough for spirited driving. Not an issue at all.
— I enjoy music and found the Bose sound to be excellent. At least equal to the B&O in the Audi and in some ways better.
— The infotainment puts the CX-5 to shame. My phone paired almost instantly and everything was fast and intuitive. I especially like that I can control it much like I’m used to. I want to avoid touch screen.
—It’s quite jittery on very uneven surfaces but very composed on most roads and takes potholes well.
— My Audi is over 6 years old but interior and exterior look like new with no noticeable paint chips And very little wear inside. While the Mazda comes closer than any other car that I’ve seen I can still notice subtle differences in quality. Of course one must keep the price point in mind and I take very good care of our vehicles.
— Heated steering wheel is great. Just wish it was all the way around. My only other wish in this car is ventilated seats. Don’t have them now but liked them in the CX-5. Can live without for sure. It would also be nice if the passenger seat at least had height adjustment.
— I prefer not to have the all the safety features but have no choice. I’m told they can be turned off and hope that’s true. Big concerns here are trust and cost of repair. It might be the one thing that gets in the way of purchase although most Japanese cars are going in this direction.
— I expect that past rusting issues are no longer a concern.
— Quattro AWD is absolutely excellent. I expect that the Mazda will be at least adequate. We get lots of snow but our area is plowed regularly and since we don’t work we can stay home.
To summarize, this car ticks nearly all the boxes and I can see myself not missing the Audi too much. We’ve been mostly VW/Audi for many years but there’s nothing yet that fits other than a Q3 which is much more than we want to spend at this stage. We did own 2 Miatas and and 2 Proteges many years ago and really liked them so there is that.
I hope this wasn’t too long but wanted to share my thoughts and hopefully get some feedback.
..we have never had the same marque of car consecutively... We have had Audi ford , vw , rover ,gm...to name a few ..until 2015 we had never had a Mazda, Toyota car... Mazda have surprised us ESPECIALLY with the CX30...when you look at the spec of the cx30 compared to other marque's .. you get alot for your money....I think the customer experience of the dealership also a big part.. our family run dealership always go the extra mile with customers....I had many out of hour email chats with the owner regarding the Cx30 before it arrived.. I can't comment on engines as here in the UK we get the short straw of 122G or 180x engine.. not even the new 150G which is the 122G remapped..but for our crowed roads the cx30 performance is fine.
