Kia Stonic vs Mazda CX-3

What's the difference?

Once over the little thrill of driving a car we weren't supposed to get (okay, it wasn't that thrilling), a few things became clear. You can now buy a compact SUV with a good long warranty, a bit of Kia flair and a roomy cabin, at least for its size.

It drives really well even if the transmission was a bit reluctant to do what I wanted. It's easy to park and will live very happily in the city while carrying reasonable numbers of people and their things. It may not be as bang up to date as some of its competitors, and the GT-Line's value is borderline, but it delivers plenty in its small package to a rapacious SUV market.

It’s easy to see why the Mazda CX-3 remains such a favourite with small SUV buyers. The Evolve grade tested is dynamically capable, space efficient and well equipped for the money. That said, although I don’t like being ageist, as it starts to creep up on a decade on sale, the market leader is giving ground to the competition in key areas including design, fuel efficiency and refinement. It’s time for a new-generation model, but in the age of electrification, will there be one? In the meantime, this evergreen favourite remains a solid urban SUV option.

The Stonic clearly looks like it is related to the Rio, but also bears a strong resemblance to the Seltos. Underneath is the very familiar small hatch Rio but Kia says every panel is different. 

The panels might be, but have a look at the rear door and the way the glass meets the C-pillar and you can tell it's a Rio. 

Which is fine, of course, because I think the Stonic looks really good in GT-Line form, with the bigger wheels, some well-judged cladding and some nice sculpting on the body. 

If you plump for the two-tone paint job (which I think looks great), you will go without the sunroof. Also the sun-safe option, but I know some are fans of a hole in the roof.

The cabin is by-the-numbers Kia, which is to say it's well laid-out and looks good, but won't be troubling a beret-sporting art critic for superlatives. 

Unlike the exterior, it's straight out of the Rio, which does have its downsides, which we'll discuss further.

You’re not going to mistake the current CX-3 for anything other than a Mazda, which speaks to the consistency of the brand’s design approach.

Tightly wrapped and neatly detailed the CX-3's exterior has aged well, and thanks to cosmetic tweaks over time it’s still looking clean and contemporary. 

The step up from 16-inch alloys on the lower Sport and Pure grades to 18-inch rims on this Evolve also lifts the look to a more mature, premium level.  

The interior is a simple, fuss-free environment, but in a small-SUV world moving rapidly towards slick integrated screens for multimedia and instrumentation, the CX-3 is showing its age.

The 8.0-inch media display stands proud in the centre of the dash, almost like an afterthought, and the instrument cluster, while okay from an ergonomic point of view, is dated by an analogue tachometer in the centre and LCD-style read-outs either side.

And although it’s always a subjective call, I’m guessing the Evolve’s white and tan interior trim combination won’t be to everyone’s liking, from an aesthetic or practicality point-of-view.

That said, the interior surfaces across the dash, doors and centre console flow into one another nicely, and brushed metal look highlights around key controls and vents enhance the quality feel.

Speaking of which, physical dials and knobs for adjustment of the ventilation system and audio volume is welcome. Maybe old-school is the best school?

However… the multimedia screen can only be accessed by a rotary dial in the front centre console once the car is mobile (it works as a touchscreen when you’re stationary).

Keenly aware there are various opinions on this set-up when it comes to safety. Touchscreens, by definition, take your eyes off the road ahead, so on one hand it makes sense to transfer control to the rotary dial.

But when you’re using a sequential app like Spotify, it can take a hell of a lot of twirls of that controller to get to where you want to go.

Soon you’re grinding your teeth in frustration which upsets concentration and your eyes are well-and-truly off the road, anyway. 

For what it’s worth, I’d prefer the relative ease of a quick press on the screen rather than having to go ‘around the horn’ to hit your favourite track or podcast.

For a car this size, it's reasonably roomy. I can sit behind my driving position in the rear seat and while violin playing is off the agenda, it's not claustrophobic.

Front seat passengers have plenty of storage to play with, including a split storage box underneath the console for phone and wallet-chucking. 

You also get two cupholders, even with the space-robbing conventional handbrake (I like a standard handbrake, though, so I didn't mind too much).

Each front door has a pocket for a decent-sized bottle, but not so rears. And your back seat passengers won't have an armrest or cupholders, either.

Boot space is an impressive 352 litres (VDA) with the seats up and 1155 litres with the seats down, although you don't get a flat floor with the seats folded and you do have a drop to the boot floor over the loading lip. Nothing terrifying, but the more you know...

At just under 4.3m long, less than 1.8m wide and a little over 1.5m tall the CX-3’s footprint is squarely city-sized, and no surprise it shares the Mazda2’s 2570mm wheelbase because it’s underpinned by the same platform as the small hatch.

But there’s more than enough breathing room up front and storage options are creative.

Rather than the ubiquitous single storage box between the front seats the CX-3 offers up an adjustable multi-compartment arrangement, with cupholders and bottle retainers ready to flick into position in multiple locations. 

It’s still covered with a padded lid which doubles as an armrest, and there’s also a generous glove box and bins in the doors with space for large bottles, even an overhead drop-down glasses holder.

Move to the back and there’s a surprising amount of head, leg and shoulder room for an SUV of this size. Sure, it’s no limo, but sitting behind the driver’s seat set to my 183cm position, I was pretty comfortable.

Best for two full-size adults in the rear, although a third can squeeze in for short, relatively uncomfortable journeys. Three up to mid-teenage kids will be fine.  

Rear storage includes bottle shaped cavities in the doors, a map pocket on the back of the front passenger seat only (a weird Mazda habit) and dual pop-out cupholders in the fold-down centre armrest.

No adjustable ventilation outlets in the rear, but in a car this compact, their absence isn’t as big an issue as it might be elsewhere.

For power and connectivity, there are two USB-A sockets in the front (one media, one power-only) as well an SD card slot, an ‘aux in’ jack and a 12V outlet. No power options in the rear, which won’t play well with the kids.

With the back seat upright, boot capacity is an okay 264 litres. Enough to accommodate either the largest 124L or the smaller 95L and 36L suitcases from out three-piece set. But not all of them together.

With a bit of not so gentle persuasion, the large CarsGuide pram just squeaked in, but lower the 60/40 split-folding rear backrest and available space expands to 1174L.

Tie-down anchors to help secure loose loads is a plus and a speed-limited space-saver spare sits under the boot floor.

And if you need to hook up a small boat or other lightweight trailer, the CX-3 Evolve is rated to 1200kg (braked) and 640kg (unbraked).

At $31,050, before on-road costs, the G20 Evolve sits in the middle of a five-model CX-3 line-up, which starts with the $G20 Sport ($26,800) and finishes with the G20 Akari ($38,620).

It competes with nine other light SUVs, and to the end of November 2023 has more than doubled the sales volume of its nearest competitors.

Supply constraints may have played a part, but the CX-3 Evolve is way ahead of its direct rivals, the Hyundai Venue Elite ($28,750), Kia Stonic GT-Line ($30,790), Toyota Yaris Cross GXL Hybrid ($33,000) and VW T-Cross 85TFSI Life ($30,990).

Aside from the safety and performance tech we’ll get to shortly, standard equipment includes auto LED headlights and DRLs, rain-sensing wipers, climate control, cruise control, a leather-trimmed steering wheel, an 8.0-inch multimedia screen, six-speaker audio with digital radio plus Android Auto (wired) and Apple CarPlay (wireless) connectivity, sat-nav, keyless entry and start, front and rear parking sensors, a reversing camera and 18-inch alloy wheels.

Standard seat trim is white synthetic leather with tan synthetic suede inserts (also applied to the doors and dash).

That’s a pretty handy roll-call of included features in this part of the market, which meets or exceeds similarly priced competitors.

The GT-Line is the only one of the three in the range to score Kia's rorty 1.0-litre, three-cylinder turbo, good for 74kW and 172Nm to haul its 1200kg weight. 

A seven-speed dual-clutch transmission drives the front wheels and you'll hit 100km/h in about 10 seconds.

The CX-3 is powered by a 2.0-litre, four-cylinder petrol engine sending drive to the front wheels via a six-speed auto transmission.

The all-alloy unit features direct-injection and variable valve timing to produce 110kW at 6000rpm and 195Nm at 2800rpm.

Kia's government-mandated fuel economy testing yielded an official combined-cycle figure of 5.4L/100km. 

As I have found over the years with this engine, that's a fairly optimistic number, my week with the Stonic delivering 8.4L/100km in an almost even mix of highway and suburban running.

The Stonic has that rarest of things in a Korean car - stop-start, which helps rein in fuel usage around town. Happily, you'll be filling the 45 litre tank with standard unleaded.

Mazda’s official fuel economy number for the combined (ADR 81/02 - urban, extra-urban) cycle is 6.3L/100km, the 2.0-litre four-cylinder emitting 143g/km of CO2 in the process.

That’s an impressively small emissions figure for a 2.0L petrol engine, more in line with smaller-capacity engines.

Stop-start is standard and over a week of city, suburban, and some freeway running, we averaged 7.4L/100km (at the pump), while the car’s on-board computer indicated 7.1L/100km for the same period.

Minimum fuel requirement is 91 RON ‘standard’ unleaded (or E10) and you’ll need 48 litres of it to fill the tank.

Using the official number, that translates to a driving range of around 760km, which drops to roughly 650km using our real-world figure.

I must admit to being slightly puzzled by the Stonic. I've already driven the Rio GT-Line and there is one thing that is the same between the two cars and that's the seven-speed dual clutch's awkward behaviour in traffic. 

The car I had was not at all keen to respond to the movement of my right foot on the accelerator, with my wife and I developing an in-joke about having to make a verbal suggestion about which gear to choose. 

It also rolled back more than I'd like on slopes when starting from a standstill.

The other things I didn't like were the front seats. Straight out of the Rio, they are wide but not very supportive on longer trips, such as the one we took up into the Blue Mountains (a roughly 250km round trip from our home in Sydney). 

Complaints about the seats are certainly mine, but I checked in with colleague Richard Berry, who didn't have the same hesitant transmission struggle, so it could just have been a drama with the car I drove. 

The rest of the Stonic experience is really good. The 1.0-litre turbo is definitely the one to go for if you can stretch to it. The numbers don't seem big, but it's got decent punch in the gears and cheerfully climbed the Blue Mountains quietly and without hunting up and down the gears. 

Around the city it also means it's easy to thread through the traffic, with good response from low revs when the transmission is playing well.

The steering is really nice, too, with just the right weight and speed to make city-wrangling easy. The extra ride height and softer suspension also make for a very comfortable ride around town without taking away from the body control. In fact, it's quite a bit of fun.

The CX-3’s compact size makes it easy to steer through tight city and suburban streets. 

It weighs in at just under 1.3 tonnes, which is marginally lighter than most of its key competitors, and acceleration is sprightly with the 0-100km/h covered in less than nine seconds.

Close to 200Nm of pulling power is plenty for a car in this class and unusually for a non-turbo engine, peak torque arrives at a relatively low 2800rpm, so there’s ample mid-range urge.

The downside is the 2.0-litre, four-cylinder engine makes its presence felt inside the cabin, with mechanical noise noticeable even at around-town speeds. Not a conversation stopper by any means, but it’s there.

No complaints with the six-speed auto transmission. It’s smooth and the ratios keep the car in its performance sweet spot nicely. It also shifts into sequential ‘Manual’ mode if your prefer or need to call the shots.

Electric ‘drive-by-wire’ throttle response is smooth, but flick the console-mounted rocker switch to ‘Sport’ and things become more urgent, with the transmission shifting down earlier and holding on to ratios longer.

The steering is evenly weighted for easy parking and road feel is good. Speaking of parking, a 10.6m turning circle is large-ish for such a diminutive SUV, but surprisingly, not out of line for the category.

Suspension is by struts at the front and torsion beam at the rear, and despite the CX-3’s relatively short wheelbase and the Evolve’s bigger 18-inch wheels, ride comfort over typically pock-marked urban roads is surprisingly good. The Toyo Proxes R52A (215/50) tyres are also quiet and reassuringly grippy.

Braking is by generous ventilated discs at the front and solid rotors at the rear, and they’re more than up to the task of calmly washing off speed in this city-sized SUV. 

The front seats proved comfy and supportive on test, although you’ll have to step up to the next Touring grade to score electric adjustment for the drive or lumbar control of any description.

The CX-3 had a maximum five-star ANCAP score from 2015 to 2022, but the independent safety body’s assessments have a seven-year shelf life and the compact SUV is currently ‘unrated’.

That said, active (crash-avoidance) tech is up to the mark with AEB (forward and revers with front pedestrian detection), blind-spot monitoring, lane departure warning, front and rear parking sensors, rear cross-traffic alert, a reversing camera and smart city brake support (front and rear) included.

If a crash is unavoidable, there are six airbags onboard (dual front, dual front side and side curtain), the CX-3 showing its age somewhat with the absence of the now increasingly common front centre bag designed to minimise head injuries in a side impact.

There are three top tethers for baby capsules/child seats across the rear row with ISOFIX anchors on the two outer positions.

Kia offers a seven-year/unlimited kilometre warranty, which is only shaded by Mitsubishi's caveat-filled, 10-year/200,000km warranty. 

The Stonic demands a return to the dealer ever 12 months or 10,000km, which is kind of irritating as the non-turbo models are 12 months/15,000km. 

As ever, Kia offers a capped-price servicing regime but the numbers aren't yet available on the website (yet).

Lucky for you, we've got them. Prices bounce around a bit and are as low as $283 and as high as $704 with the first seven years/seven services costing $3299, averaging out at $471 per visit. 

Over the five years, it's $260 more than the 1.4-litre but you're servicing more often if you drive more than 10,000km per year.

Mazda covers the CX-3 with a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, which is the current market standard. Roadside assist is included for the duration. 

Recommended service interval is 12 months/15,000km, and the average annual cost for each workshop visit, for the first seven years, is $438.

An average under $450 is alright, but Toyota’s capped price figure of $195 per workshop visit for the first five years of C-HR ownership puts it in perspective. Mind you, Toyota’s charges step up considerably after that fifth year.