Oh! I also forgot that the passenger side fog light had some sort of grounding problem which prevented it from lighting up properly. Likely a short somewhere. Dealer service tech said he couldn't rewire it and instead needed to replace the whole housing. I was skeptical of that claim and intended to take a crack at rewiring it myself. I just stopped using the fog lights in the meantime to prevent the short, if that's what it really was, from causing more problems or burning something up.
Here's a Google Images pic of an identical car to the one I have. I'm at work and don't have pics with me here.
I bought it at Russ Darrow Metro Mazda here in Milwaukee. They had about 6 CX-3's on the lot in various colors and trims, all of them AWD. They wanted to charge me extra for the color because it was "in demand" even though it lists at the same price as every other color except for Soul Red and the new pearly white color which costs extra. I said I wasn't paying extra for the color when the sticker prices are the same between this and the black one I test drove.
So here's my quick and dirty review on it:
* Bose sound system is better than what was in the 1st Gen. 6 like I had. It really does sound pretty good.
* I got a little over 33 MPG on a road trip to Illinois I took within hours of taking delivery. It's only rated for 32 MPG highway and it wasn't even broken in yet.
* Ride quality is pretty good. As smooth as the 6 is, I would say.
* Handling is very nearly as good as the 2007 Mazda3 I used to have. It's a bit more top-heavy and slower to accelerate than the 3, but still pretty agile and responsive, even on the 16" factory wheels.
* The small cargo space is something I'll need to get used to, but we have a Subaru Forester if we need to haul around big loads.
* The cup holders and arm rest are laid out in an odd way where you have to flip up the arm rest to use the cup holders. It's kind of an annoyance, but I can live with it.
* It's a big change with the reduction in storage areas in and around the dash compared to the 6. You get a decent sized glove box, a sunglass holder in the overhead console, and door pockets. No armrest storage, no other compartments on the dash, etc. Meh. I had too much junk in the 6 I never used anyway. Probably for the best.
* The back seat head rests only have two positions. All the way up or all the way down. There's no notches in between. This was uncomfortable for my 8 year old. Up was too high and down was too low. I'll have to cut some notches in the stems on the head rests or come up with some other means of providing an in-between stop on the head rest.
* Like the 6 5-Door, the rear seats don't fold down all the way flat. Close, but not quite. Not a deal breaker for me, but some people don't like it. Every hatch I've had has been the same this way, including my Forester.
