2020 Mazda CX-30 Australia Pricing and Spec

The 2020 Mazda CX-30 has landed here in Australia. We’ve got all the details on pricing, specification as well as plenty of photos.

Mazda seems to be filling SUV niches faster than even Audi these days, with the marque’s fifth high-riding model going on sale this week. In truth, there are actually six Mazda SUVs, but we don’t get the CX-4 because it’s for the Chinese market.

As is their wont, the company is offering a dizzying 13 versions of the CX-30, but if you knock out the fact five of the variants are really just an option package, it’s a still-impressive eight. Either way, it’s a lot to get through, so I’ll try and break it down into reasonable chunks.

Look and Feel

The new CX-30 fits in between the titchy CX-3 with a tiny boot and not much rear legroom and the bigger CX-5 with an okay boot and not-bad rear legroom. The CX-30 is lower than the CX-5 and shorter, making a bit more sense around town.

It’s a fine-looking thing, but I don’t think there’s a duffer in the Mazda range at the moment. An evolution of Mazda’s Kodo design language, it sits very nicely in this size, which is about the same as the excellent Kia Seltos.

Having spent some time with the cloth interior, it’s just fine, so don’t feel you have to push the boat out for leather. The plastic wheel in the G20 is probably the nastiest thing in the range, so if that’s an issue, squeeze the extra dollars for the Evolve.

The rear seats are not exactly a sprawling estate and three across is going to be hard with the big transmission tunnel robbing the centre occupant of foot room. Again, the Pure misses out on rear vents, so the Evolve will be a better bet for occupants.

The boot is a fairly marginal 317 litres. When you take into account the under-floor storage, you get a considerable jump to 422 or 430 litres depending on spec. Drop the 60/40 split-fold seats, you get a decent flat floor, but Mazda hasn’t supplied a figure.

How much does the 2020 Mazda CX-30 cost and what do I get?

The 2020 Mazda CX-30 comes with two engines, one automatic transmission and the option of a larger-engined all-wheel drive. Cars with the 2.0-litre, front-wheel drive combo are dubbed G20 while the 2.5-litre all-wheel drive is known as G25.

Mazda reckons the vast majority of buyers will plump for the front-wheel drive (FWD) versus the AWD and three-quarters will stick with the 2.0-litre. Three-quarters of sales will probably be spread between 2.0-litre Pure, Evolve and Touring. That seems about right to me.

Across the range

Despite the zillion versions available, there are common features across the entire range. This is kind of a Mazda thing and they come in two important areas – media and communications and the big one, safety.

MZD Connect

All 2020 Mazda CX-30s score Mazda’s heavily-updated and excellent MZD Connect. The big screen is controlled from the rotary dial on the console – also much bigger than before – and is familiar from the Mazda3.

It features all the usual Bluetooth streaming capability, a pretty decent GPS system, AM/FM and DAB+ tuners and rather excellently, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Safety – ANCAP 5 Stars

Like its stablemates, the CX-30 is packed with safety gear from the bottom-up.

All 2020 Mazda CX-30s have seven airbags including driver’s knee airbag, ABS, stability and traction controls, driver attention detection, forward obstruction warning, auto high beam, lane departure warning, lane keep assist, reverse cross-traffic alert, reversing camera, forward AEB, rear AEB, rear crossing AEB, tyre pressure monitoring and traffic sign recognition.

That’s a crap ton of safety and explains the high-ish entry point to the range.

Mazda also offers Vision Technology on the Pure, Evolve and Touring as a $1500 option and $1300 on Touring. The pack is standard on the G20 Astina and both the FWD and AWD G25 Astinas.

This package adds front cross-traffic alert, around-view cameras, driver monitoring and cruising and traffic support. Pure and Evolve trim levels pick up front parking sensors.

Cruising and traffic support takes over the brake and accelerator in slow traffic and will nudge the steering wheel as long as you’re holding on. You still have to pay attention but it does help reduce fatigue in cruddy traffic.

The CX-30 set a record for the adult pedestrian protection measurement, scoring 99 percent.

G20 Pure – $29,990 ($31,490 with Vision Technology)

Opening the range – and squeaking under the $30,000 mark – is the G20 Pure. Unlike the old CX-3 Neo, it’s not a bait-and-switch model with steel wheels and an interior akin to a coal mine. It’s got LED headlights, something some cars don’t have until you’re punching forty grand.

You get 16-inch alloys, 8.8-inch media screen (not a touchscreen), keyless start, air-conditioning, eight-speaker stereo, auto high beam, radar cruise control, power windows and mirrors, reversing camera, auto LED headlights, rear parking sensors, sat nav, cloth trim and a space-saver spare.

G20 Evolve – $31,490 ($32,990 with Vision Technology)

The Evolve builds on the Pure spec with 18-inch alloys with a silver metallic finish, dual-zone climate control with rear vents, leather wheel and shifter, paddle shifters and an overhead storage box.

With the new wheels comes a rather better set of Dunlop Sport Maxx tyres, replacing the low-rolling resistance rubber on the Pure.

G20 Touring FWD – $34,990 ($36,390 with Vision Technology)

The Touring picks up keyless entry, front parking sensors, black leather trim (probably fake leather, but who cares), illuminated vanity mirrors and powered driver’s seat with 10-way adjustment and two-position memory.

It’s all about the rear vision mirrors which pick up auto dimming, position memory (to go with the seat memory) and reverse tilt-down function (I am a massive fan of this).

G25 Touring AWD – $36,490 ($37,790 with Vision Technology)

Stepping up to the 2.5-litre Touring nets you all-wheel drive and nothing else for the extra $1500. But the bigger engine and all-wheel drive is well worth it.

G20 Astina – $38,990

Along with the Vision Technology Package, you get different 18-inch alloys with bright finish, adaptive LED headlights, 12 Bose-branded speakers and black leather or optional Pure white leather.

G25 Astina FWD – $41,490
G25 Astina AWD – $43,490

A curious spec level, the G25 Astina FWD is the quicker of the two, by nearly half a second in the 0-100km/h sprint. Not that 8.7 seconds is a scorching time compared to 9.1. I can’t see why anyone will buy it, but there you are.

The G25 Astina gains a tilt and slide sunroof on top of the G20.

2020 Mazda CX-30 Colours

Mazda has lovely paint and is offering eight colours on the CX-30 – Snowflake White Pearl Mica, Sonic Silver Metallic,  Titanium Flash Mica, Deep Crystal Blue Mica, Jet Black Mica are all freebies.

Machine Grey Metallic, Soul Red Crystal Metallic and Polymetal Grey Metallic are optional and priced at $495.

Warranty and Servicing

Mazda offers a five year/unlimited kilometre warranty, which is pretty standard for a non-premium maker these days. But generous. You don’t get that long on a $250,000 BMW or Merc or Audi.

Service intervals are a bit short – the time is fine at 12 months, but every 10,000km kind of grabs you if you’re doing average or above average miles. Fixed price servicing means you at least know what you’re up for, with $327 for G20s and $332.60 for the G25s. The service caps last for the first five services and there are little extras at various services such as brake fluid and cabin filters.

Drivetrains

There are two engines available, the 2.0-litre and 2.5-litre SkyActive four-cylinders. Both are naturally-aspirated.

The 2.0-litre spins up 114kW at 6000rpm and 200Nm at 4000rpm. It’s in heaps of other Mazdas, including the 3 and it’s adequate. The CX-30’s kerb weight us under 1400kg, so it’s not a chunker. Having said that, 200Nm hardly makes the CX-3 sprightly, so the heavier 30 is going to be a slower proposition.

The 2.5-litre offers 139kW at 6000rpm and a much more satisfactory 252Nm at 4000rpm, but really, I’d love to see the turbo 2.5 in the CX-30. I bet you would, too.

Mazda’s six-speed automatic is in all of them and you can get all-wheel drive in the G25 Touring and Astina versions.

Fuel Economy

The G20 FWDs delivered 6.5L/100km on the combined cycle while the FWD 2.5 went to 6.6L/100km. Adding all-wheel drive pushed the figure to 6.8.

The reality is, obviously, going to be higher. A big upside is that the engines drink standard unleaded. The fuel tank is 51 litres in the 2WD cars and 48 litres in the 4WD.

Redline Recommendation

The Touring looks like the pick of the range to me, with the little extras like front parking sensors making life a little bit easier. The small jump to the G25 is only really justifiable if you want or need all-wheel drive or have a problem (like I do) with a 10 second-plus 0-100km/h time.

I’ve had a quick drive already of the CX-30 already in G20 Evolve form, and I like what I’ve seen. I’ll review it as soon as I can get my hands on one.

The 2020 Mazda CX-30 is going to be a hit, I can feel it in my bones…