Purchase of Mazda CX-3

I decided to replace my 2005 SEAT Ibiza with the all-new 2015 Mazda CX-3 crossover SUV.

I’m only licenced to drive an automatic, because I passed my driving test in a car with an automatic gearbox and have not taken another in a manual. I had a close inspection of a Mazda CX-3 in the showroom of my closest dealer, 12 miles from home, but they didn’t have an automatic demonstrator and the salesman I spoke to couldn’t come up with a solution.

Telephoning a Mazda dealer 30 miles away, I was told that they had an automatic I could test drive and so I made an appointment for that coming weekend. Shortly after arrival I was told by the saleswoman I’d spoken to on the ‘phone that the CX-3 they had, was in fact, you guessed it – a manual!

I contacted Mazda Customer Service and it took them 21 days to email me back a list of 10 dealers across the country that should have automatic CX-3’s, but there were no contact details for any of them.

Last week I looked on the used car section of the Mazda UK website and saw a CX-3 1.5 diesel Sport Nav AWD ex demonstrator in Dynamic Blue for sale at a dealership in West Yorkshire. I gave them a call and arranged an appointment to view.

This morning I made the 3 hour journey to Yorkshire for a test drive. It rained for the majority of the way up the motorway, but the weather had improved by the time I pulled into the dealer’s car park. I looked their car over and went for a test drive and then negotiated a part exchange price including gap, tyre and alloy wheel insurance.

By the time all the paperwork was completed, payment made, road tax and insurance for the CX-3 sorted, it was getting dark outside and it had started raining again — not ideal conditions for driving an unfamiliar car the 180 miles to get back home.

The first job tomorrow is to get the User’s Manual out and start familiarising myself with the operation of some of the cars many features 🙂