We started our 15 months with our long-term 2020 Mazda CX-30 Premium AWD wondering if the handsome new subcom-pact SUV could convince us Mazda is truly on the march upmarket. Now 19,163 miles later and with our CX-30 departing the MotorTrend garage, we feel safe saying although Mazda has made serious strides in some areas, the overall CX-30 experience left us cold-a new feeling for us, considering how much we loved our old CX-5, CX-9,3, and 6 long-term cars. The CX-30 has had an admittedly weird stay in our long-term fleet, with more than half of year overlapping with safer-at-home orders. But despite sticking close to home base in Los Angeles for the first six months or so of its loan, our CX-30 got some meaningful road trip time in, including long stretches up to northern Oregon and shorter stints to San Francisco and out to the Mojave Desert in support of our Of The Year programs. Over that time, we got to know the CX-30 quite well. We really appreciated our CX-30's premium styling. Although the swooshy waveform on its flanks is controversial among staff (some think the reflections make it look like the SUV was sideswiped), the CX-30 has a distinctive and unmistakably Mazda look. The interior styling won high praise, too, outdoing segment rivals such as the Buick Encore GX and Lexus UX in design and material choice. We were also charmed by the engaging steering feel, which is usually something of an afterthought in the subcompact SUV segment.
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