The scenery has changed since the long-term Mazda CX-3 AWD’s last installment. Our own Nate Martinez, my longtime cohort and the CX-3’s original guardian, has moved on from Motor Trend. That’s paved the way for me to commandeer the Mazda, and it’s off with the new; on with the old. We’ve removed the previously installed aftermarket wheels and accessories and returned the CX-3 to stock.
The 2015 Chevrolet Tahoe LT was my most recent long-term vehicle assignment , prior to its relocation to our Michigan offices, so jumping into the CX-3 is as drastic an exchange as you’ll see in the Motor Trend Garage. Keeping up with the long-term experience reveals all kinds of vehicular idiosyncrasies. One that gets me each time and, perhaps shouldn’t but does, is the CX-3’s hot start. It’s dramatically different from a cold start.
Mostly thanks to the advent of electronically regulated fuel injection, engine cold starts are drama-free. Engines typically crank effortlessly even after being parked a while, depending on the state of the starter battery, the fuel-delivery system condition, and how frigid the cold soak was. They’ll fast idle if you don’t drive off immediately. Starting the CX-3 in the morning is like starting any other vehicle: you hit the engine-start button (or, in other cars, turn the key in the ignition), the fuel injectors spritz, the spark plugs fire, the exhaust piping clears its passageways, and the engine hums at a higher volume while warming itself up.
It’s totally different when the CX-3’s 2.0-liter inline-four is hot. Although the engine has always started when asked of it, yielding a success rate of 100 percent, the Skyactiv 2.0-liter sounds like it struggles to resuscitate itself when it’s nearer to its operating temperature. The cold start is aurally demonstrative, like the engine is ready to roll. The hot start’s acoustics are meeker, the engine mounts don’t do as good a job quelling the hot start-up rocking, and it feels like there’s barely enough air and fuel to coax the engine back to its idle rpm.
The Tahoe wasn’t like this. A Mazda3 i Grand Touring (same engine, different tune) we had in the other day wasn’t either. The CX-3’s hot-start laboring is a mental trigger for an old carbureted motorcycle of mine. There was no real science to setting the choke or deciding how much throttle you’d open while starting it on a cold morning. You’d keep trying, anticipating that triumphant moment when the cylinders commence movement on their own without your external insistence.
The long-term Chevy Tahoe I used to drive could fit in the space between the pillars—it just wouldn’t fit within the lines. Not even close.
That’s a lot of digital ink on how the CX-3 starts, but it’s something that would undoubtedly bug me if I were a new owner. After starting it, the little crossover is extraordinarily good at zipping through L.A.’s urban hellscape that’s packed with traffic, narrow lanes and parking spots, and more traffic. It’s been averaging just over 27 mpg with 15,000 miles on the odometer too, which could be better; the all-wheel-drive 2016 CX-3 is rated 27/32 mpg city/highway.
Check back here for more on our long-term CX-3 in the months to come, including how well the crossover performs in Real MPG testing.
More on our long-term Mazda CX-3 GT AWD here:
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