Over the next couple of months, I will be rounding up three popular compact crossovers and seeing if they deserve a spot in your driveway. The first of the trio is a 2022 Mazda CX-30 2.5 Turbo Premium. Mazda thinks that you’ll want to daily one of these for its dazzling design and available 250 horses from a 2.5-liter turbo four. I’m going to see how it stacks up, but what do you want to know about it?
We first got to take a spin in the CX-30 when it was a fresh face on the block back in 2019. Now with a few years of production under its belt, Mazda has added some improvements to further plant its flag in the grounds of the compact crossover segment.
The biggest change comes in the form of more power. While the 2020 CX-30 made at the most 186 HP and 186 lb-ft torque from its Skyactiv-G 2.5-liter four, this 2022 is making 250 HP and 320 lb-ft torque from its 2.5-liter Skyactiv-G by way of a turbocharger. This engine was first introduced to the CX-30 in 2021 and is carried over to this year. I’m impressed with it thus far. Calling the Skyactiv-G turbo’s passing power “effortless” would be an insult. It builds speed with the kind of urgency that you’d expect in something more expensive or something more sport-oriented.
And the good news is that in these times of high fuel prices you don’t have to run 93 octane. You can also run 87 octane, but the power will drop to 227 HP and 310 lb-ft torque.
Another change for this year is that the i-Activ all-wheel-drive system is now standard across all trims. This AWD system is constantly changing the torque split depending on driving conditions. On a dry road with lots of traction, it sends up to 98 percent of the engine’s torque to the front wheels for maximum fuel economy. But if the conditions call for it, the system can send up to 50 percent of the available torque to the rear wheels.
That system also gets an Off-Road Traction Assist should you feel the need to get your CX-30 dirty. I won’t be doing that, here.
Pricing starts at $22,500. That gets you a CX-30 2.5 S with the aforementioned 186 HP engine. Getting the turbo is a minimum of $30,500 for the CX-30 2.5 Turbo. The model that I’m testing is the CX-30 2.5 Turbo Premium for $33,100, which gets kit above the base 2.5 S like leather seats, a 12-speaker Bose surround sound system, power tailgate, 18-inch wheels and more.
The Mazda will be followed up by a Hyundai Kona and the new Honda HR-V. With that in mind, what do you want to know about the little CX-30 and its turbo?