A fun little five seater family car but not so practical for rear-facing child seats!
By Tace Clifford
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The Mazda MX-30 is a super fun little five-seater SUV. It is best recognised for its quirky design interior, with cork surfaces in the central console and contrast upholstery.
On the exterior, the ‘lifestyle' rear doors (really they're called freestyle doors but I got it wrong in the video!!) open backwards, making it different to most cars but similar to the BMW i3Ā and some space-cab utes. As you can imagine this may have some effects on family use. So let's go and find out how it got on in our BabyDrive testing…
Firstly, when it comes to installing child seats in the back of the Mazda MX-30 the gap between the back of the doorway and front seats is narrow, so the space to pass the child seats in through is tricky.
Once you do fit the child seats through the doors, there are ISOFix pointsin the two outer rear seats and top tether anchorages on the back of all three seatbacks.
I found that although two child seats fit in the back, space is tight and there are a couple of considerations. Firstly the size of your child seats, if they are too tall they will hit into the sides of the MX-30 so won't fit and if they are too deep they won't fit either.
Also, if you have a baby or rear-facing infant then getting them in and out of a rear-facing child seat is tricky! There isn't enough space to post them through into their child seat from the outside of the Mazda MX-30.
To overcome this I found I had to get into the back with my baby in my arms and pass her into her child seat from the inside.
Now in order for there to be enough room for me to get into the back with my baby I had to put my other daughter in an Infasecure Versatile folding booster seat so that I can remove it easily every time I need to get the baby in or out.
The Mazda MX-30 would be much better for families once all kids are out of rearward-facing child seats.
Legroom is pretty minimal in the Mazda MX-30. We could just get a 180cm passenger in front of a rear-facing child seat and just get a 180cm driver in front of a forward-facing child seat. Legroom is good as a passenger in the back (I'm 162cm) and I could sit between two child seats too.
There are buttons on the back of the driver's seat so that rear passengers can move it to get in and out, however, as you can imagine little fingers LOVE to fiddle with these!! They do not work while you are driving but if you sat waiting or get out of the car for anything then the kids have a field day!!
The interior of the Mazda MX-30 is beautiful, with contrast piping, panelling and stitching in the seats.
It has cork surfaces in the central console too, which makes it stand out like the natural interior finishes in aĀ BMW i3.
There are aircon vents across the front dash of the Mazda MX-30 but there are none in the back for rear passengers and I know my kids found it stuffy even though it wasn't summer yet, so it may be a little tricky in the hotter months.
Storage throughout the Mazda MX-30 is pretty good for a small car, having cup holders and map pockets in the back and small door bins.
Whereas in the front, the fun of design has carried through with a cork shelf underneath the floating central console and the cork lids that fold up to reveal two cup holders, both of which are a good size for reusable coffee cups.
Boot space is good for a small car and it fits ten shopping bags which is comparable to the BMW i3 that only holds eight shopping bags.
The boot space is nice and flat and carpeted so it's good for an emergency nappy change, or remove the parcel shelf and you can carry a small or medium-size family dog.
The Mazda MX-30 is an enjoyable car to drive, it's nice and smooth and quiet and the steering wheel feels really nice in your hands. Visibility isn't very good when looking back from the driver's seat and although there are no b-pillars because of the backward opening rear doors, you still have a large blind spot where the two doors meet.
Being a small car, parking should be easy, however, you have to consider where you park carefully because to access the back you need to be able to open both doors outward at once while also leaving enough space for the juggle of getting kids in and out past both doors. I also found when I parked on a slope the rear door kept shutting on my legs š
The media system in the Mazda MX-30 is lovely and easy to use and navigate.
There are two screens, the top one has Mazda's most recent media system…
…with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
The reversing camera image is small but I didn't find I needed it to be any bigger in a small car like the Mazda MX-30 and you can turn the parking sensors off with a button by the driver's right knee.
The bottom screen is to control the aircon and climate, which was easy to use while driving unlike some screen-operated systems.
The jazzy interior and quirky exterior make the Mazda MX-30 a fun and modern little car for a small family withĀ one or two children, even better when the kids are forward-facing or out of child seats. Parking is a consideration too as you have to make sure you have room for both doors to open and to do the double door shuffle because you can't open the rear doors without the front doors already being open!
The Mazda MX-30 scored a five-star ANCAP safety rating. It has eight airbags as standard dual frontal, side head chest-protecting curtain airbags for both rows of seats, a central airbag and a driver knee airbag.
BabyDrive Indepth
BabyDrive Indepth - Storage
How big is the boot of theĀ Mazda MX-30?
From empty, ten shopping bags fit in the MX-30's boot. That's two more than the BMW i3's boot which holds eight shopping bags.
The boot space and its functionality are really important. I like to have a big boot space and little side wells or areas I can divide things into. So something I donāt want to move around while Iām driving such as the kids Ā lunch bag or her wet swimming gear can be sectioned off in a little well where itās not going to spill or get squashed by the rest of the things in the boot.
Hooks for securing shopping bags to are also favourites of mine, I like being able to secure the bag containing more fragile things like eggs so they donāt move around on the journey.
I measure the boot space in freezer shopping bags, prams and dogs. Not because I think all there is to a mumās life is food shopping, prams and dogs. (Although it can feel like it sometimes!!) But because these are visually mesurable items we can all associate with. For me, the car company boot measurement of litres is not an amount I can easily visualise and 400L in one car may differ in usability to that in another due to the configuration or shape of the space.
The twin stroller fits nicely in the boot but with no shopping bags beside it.
A tandem pram fits nicely in the boot with one shopping bag beside it.
The single pram fits in the boot of the Mazda MX-30 with two shopping bags beside it.
The compact stroller fits in the boot easily with seven shopping bags beside it.
Or if you remove the parcel shelf you could transport a small or medium-sized dog.
The boot of the Mazda MX-30 is nice and even, flat and carpeted. Good for transporting dogs and perfect for an emergency nappy change! The parcel shelf is solid and easy to remove but you need to leave it behind as there is nowhere to store it in the car.
How good is the storage in the Mazda MX-30?
Storage inside the MX-30 is compact and practical, with some quirky design features.
There are two cup holders underneath cork flaps that lift up.
They are a good size for reusable and disposable coffee cups. When they are folded up they become the front of the central console box…
…and when they are folded flat you have access to the central console box. There is a padded armrest lid too.
The central console storage box is surprisingly big in the MX-30 and the lid doubles as a well-positioned armrest.
Underneath the central console is a floating cork shelf, which is the best place for your phone and there are two USB and a 12V sockets nearby.
The glove box in the MX-30 is a good size to hold the manual along with an iPad.
The door pockets in the front of the MX-30 will hold a large refillable water bottle and an iPad, which is fantastic for a small car like the MX-30.
And there is a lined glasses case in the ceiling too.
In the back, there is a single map pocket, on the back of the front passenger seat only. It will hold and conceal an iPad.
There is a fold-down armrest in the central seatback, with two cup holders, which are a good size for a reusable or disposable coffee cup.
The rear door bins of the Mazda MX-30 are small and will only hold a 600ml water bottle and my phone will fit in them too.
BabyDrive Indepth - Noise
How noisy is the Mazda MX-30?Ā How good is the media system in theĀ Mazda MX-30?
The Mazda MX-30 is not a particularly noisy car. The parking sensors in the Mazda MX-30 are similar to those in the CX-3 and CX-5 and are very BabyDrive friendly! Situated by the driver's right knee is a button so you can turn the parking sensors off, which is great when driving babies to sleep.
Becoming a parent I soon realised there are some noises and sounds I feel are unnecessary and I could happily live without if it meant my baby stayed asleep!!
That often the distraction of my screaming, distressed baby is more dangerous when driving than not having a lane departure warning for example.
If it is the lane departure warning beeping that creates distress with my baby then which is safest?
Itās where I think we need to be able to strike a balance and choose when we can mute the warnings or swap them to a vibration in the steering wheel or flashing light perhaps?
A lot of these noises come with the increase in technology and especially linked to safety features and alerts. For me these all have their place.
Another thing I have realised is I spend my time in a lot more places where small children roam, parks, beaches, play gyms, swimming lessons, daycare centre etc. I have become more aware that when Iām reversing or manouvering in the car parks I have to tripple check for small children running around behind me or being in my blind spot when reversing. For this I LOVE reversing cameras, I just donāt like their beeping sounds!!
I have become so much more aware of safety and potential accidents or hazards since having a child and so I love the peace of mind that I get from the cameras and sensors combined with my own vision from windows and mirrors as I donāt trust cameras alone.
Also situated in this panel of buttons is the auto engine cut out switch, itās called i-Stop in Mazdas, and I find it is great to be able to turn that off as well so it doesn't disturb sleeping babies when you're at a red traffic light.
I find this function really disturbing for sleeping babies, you have just got your baby to sleep in the car and you stop at lights and the engine turns off sometimes they will stay asleep but when the engine shudders to a start again it shakes baby awake and all your efforts are ruined!! Even coming to a stop at lights with the engine running can be enough to wake a sleeping child so turning the engine off and on again will definitely do it! I have driven routes I know have roundabouts rather than lights just to avoid coming to a stop for any length of time!!
The indicator volume in the MX-30 was not loud enough to affect my daughter while she was sleeping.
The Mazda MX-30 has two screens.
The lower screen is for controlling the air-conditioning, I found this easy to use while driving along unlike some screen-based climate control systems.
The top screen is your media and entertainment system. It is really simple and easy to use and navigate.
It has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which is great for connecting your phone and accessing your map, music and podcast apps while driving.
It is navigated using a rotary dial down in the central console rather than touching the media screen. I found this new system more intuitive than the previous system when using the rotary dial while driving.
One great feature in the Mazda MX-30 is you can control the sat-nav guidance volume from the steering wheel volume controls, which makes it nice and easy while driving.
The reversing camera image is nice and clear in the Mazda MX-30, the image is small on the screen but being such a small car I didn't feel like it needed to be any bigger.
BabyDrive Indepth - Car Seats
How many child seats fit in the Mazda MX-30?
There are ISOFix points in the two outer rear seats, they are within plastic guides and nice and easy to connect to.
There are top tether anchorage points on the backs of all three rear seats, they are within plastic guides and clearly labelled and I found them easy to access through the boot.
The rear seat is nice and flat, giving a good base for child seats. I could fit two child seats in the back of the Mazda MX-30 and I found there are some important considerations when selecting your child seats if you have this car.
I needed a rear-facing child seat for my baby, however, there was not room to post her into the child seat from the outside of the car because there is only a tiny gap with the small rear doors.
So I needed to be able to get into the middle back seat to post her in from inside. Luckily the rear seats are roomy enough that I could fit in the back between two child seats.
However, I found it too difficult to get in and out past my other daughter in a harnessed child seat.
So I swapped her into the Infasecure Versatile Folding Booster seat and because it is light and doesn't use the top tether strap I could easily take it in and out each time I needed to take bub in and out of her child seat.
The Mazda MX-30 would work better for families with one infant rear-facing or two children forward-facing.
Another consideration is the height of your child seats as the roof is low and tapers in at the top of the Mazda MX-30 so I found some forward-facing child seats didn't fit well.
Legroom is also a consideration in the Mazda MX-30. We found a 180cm passenger could just sit in front of a rear-facing child seat on the passenger side and a 180cm driver could just sit in front of a forward-facing child seat, which is good going considering how small the cabin seems.
With only one child seat installed, there is enough room for feeding Bub in the back.
The rear seats are beautifully upholstered with woven fabric in the main panels with contrast cream leather panels at the edges. This may make it harder to keep them clean with childrenās mess and spills though.
BabyDrive Indepth - Drive & Comfort
How comfortable is the Mazda MX-30 as a family car?
The front seats of the Mazda MX-30 are comfortable to sit in but I could not wear a ponytail because the headrests are not adjustable!
I had spent hours styling my hair this morning to get this ponytail just right too… said no new mum ever!!!
The interior of the Mazda MX-30 has been thoughtfully designed. The seats have woven upholstery main panels with contrast piping and stitching and cream leather panels in the edges and headrests. This does make them hard to keep clean with children's crumbs and spills as it really gets into that weave.
In the back, the seats are comfortable too and I could sit between two child seats.
The steering wheel is really nice to hold and is fully adjustable in/out and up/down.
I found the cruise control to be pretty accurate during motorway driving and at lower speeds on undulating roads. The cruise control buttons are situated on the right-hand side of the steering wheel and they are simple to use.
There are four thin air-con vents across the front dashboard; two in the centre below the media screen and one at each end of the dash.
There are no aircon vents in the back of the back of the Mazda MX-30 so you have to direct your front vents to keep rear little passengers comfortable. The climate is controlled through the lower screen in the Mazda MX-30 and I found it easy to use while driving along.
Because the rear doors open outwards the Mazda MX-30 doesn't have a b-pillar (that's the pillar usually behind the front seats that divide the front and back) but the overlap of the doors meant I found visibility limited when driving and really couldn't see out of the rear side windows at all. IĀ relied heavily on the side mirrors and blind-spot monitoring system around town and when changing lanes on the motorway.
The rearview camera is small but I found it really helpful too when reversing and manoeuvring.
One thing I have noticed since being a mum is I hate it when I reach a destination or get home from being out and Bub has either done really well in the car or she is screaming her head off and I have done really well to keep it together for the entire journey (usually the latter!!) and it takes 10 minutes to park the car! It can be really stressful. Usually I dread when we get big cars orĀ UtesĀ as they take longer in our tight apartment block carpark, but the Mazda MX-30 although only a small car it was tricky to reverse park but the reversing camera really helped!
For rear-facing passengers in the back, the windows are small and the roof low, so their view is quite limited. Forward-facing passengers will have a better view out.
There are handles above the little rear doors in the back which are useful for hanging a baby toy from to keep Bub entertained on journeys.
We found the Mazda MX-30 a fun and nippy little car to drive around town and out on the open roads. It was not the most practical in terms of child seat access for the stages our kids are at the moment but we had a lot of fun in the process. You wouldn't want to have to get Bub in and out in this way on a permanent basis! In a a few years time when they are both a bit bigger and forward facing and we would have fun in the MX-30 and it would feel like a more practical family car!
BabyDrive Indepth - Safety
How safe is the Mazda MX-30 for my family?
The Mazda MX-30 was given a five-star ANCAP safety rating in 2020,Ā scoring an amazing 93% (35.64 out of 38) for adult occupant protection and scoring 87% (43.01 out of 49) for Child Occupant Protection.
In child occupant protection crash testing, the MX-30 scored 16/16 in the dynamic front test, 8/8 for the dynamic side crash test, 11.01/12 for child restraint installation testing and 8.00 out of 13 for onboard features.
ANCAP said of the child occupancy testing:
In both the frontal offset and side impact tests, protection was GOOD for all critical body areas for both the 6 year and 10 year child dummies.
The Mazda MX-30 is fitted with lower ISOFix anchorages for the rear outboard seats and top tether anchorages for all rear seating positions.
Installation of typical child restraints available in Australia and New Zealand showed most child restraints could be accommodated in most rear seating positions, however care is needed to correctly install one of the booster seats in the centre rear position, and one of the two selected convertible seats could not be correctly installed in forward or rearward-facing mode using the ISOfix anchorages.
The Mazda MX-30 has eight airbags as standard and seat belt reminders for front and all rear seating positions:
Dual frontal, side head-protecting and side chest-protecting airbags for the first and second row, a centre airbag, and a driver knee airbag are standard.
Some of these safety features are also features that drive me crazy as a mum! Like the lane departure and forward collision alert or the parking sensor beeping sound.
I want all the safety technology AND to be able to mute the sound when Bub's asleep!
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About Tace Clifford
Tace Clifford founded BabyDrive in 2017 after discovering a huge information gap in mainstream car reviews that left new parents and expanding families in the dark when it came to one of the biggest purchasing decisions of their lives.
The Infiniti QX80 is the luxury version of a Nissan Patrol, meaning it’s a VERY large seven-seat SUV! I could install four large Britax child seats and with all seven seats up, I managed to fit the huge Mountain Buggy Duet twin stroller and three shopping bags in the boot as well! Read More
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