want to make a cool statement upon
arrival, the Trailblazer delivers. To keep
the canine metaphors going, our head of
editorial, Ed Loh, likened its stance to “a
little bulldog posing on the stand at the
Westminster Dog Show.”
Evans noted the Mazda “looks more
interesting and premium than anything
else in the class.” As a clear derivative
of the Mazda 3, Lieberman added, the
CX-30 looks very much “like a car with
a slight lift, rather than an SUV.” Photo
editor William Walker—who has an eye
for such things—pointed out an odd but
intentional S-shaped deformity in the
front-door sheetmetal, where convex and
concave surfaces meet. Under the correct
lighting, they appear warped, and not in a
good way. It cannot be unseen.
Alas, poor Seltos. We’re sure plenty of
Kia designers worked long nights to inject
the crossover with some personality. But
the end product looks like groupthink and
compromise, and although it’s handsome
and stylish, the final result is rather bland.Mazda’s play to be a premium brand really
shows inside. Its minimalist-cool vibe will
reward readers of Dwell magazine who
aspire to shop at Design Within Reach.
Cortina noted the Mazda interior felt
nicer than those of the Mercedes-Benz
GLA and GLB. Seabaugh found the mate-
rial quality quite good, adding that “the
contrasting leather dressed up with white
stitching and metallic accents do a great
luxury impression.”
However, one big Mazda drawback is
passenger space: “Another Mazda with a
compromised back seat compared to the
rest of the class. Sigh ...” exhaled Gale after
exiting. And it wasn’t just our skyscraping
Buyer’s Guide director who had issues
trying not to bonk his head on the door
frame while getting into and out of the
back seat. The sense of claustrophobia isheightened by the roar of the engine and
tires in the cabin. If it’s you and a friend,
you’re fine. Start adding headcount,
though, and things get tight.
Hopping into the Trailblazer, you see
the mini-Camaro ethos continuing inside.
It works, though the top trim features a
riot of interior material colors that almost
match. But the pleasant shock of finding a
spacious back seat after the Mazda’s mole
hole is a real treat.
“It’s an impressively spacious vehicle,
probably because it’s rather large for this
class,” Evans said. “There’s a ton of rear-
seat room and a large cargo area. If you’re
shopping purely on practicality, this one
rises to the top.” The Chevy is so roomy
inside that even the addition of a massive
headroom-ruining sunroof still doesn’t
make it feel cramped, Loh said.
Beyond capaciousness, however, the
Trailblazer’s interior plastics are hard and
feel cheap once you get past the steering
wheel and elbow rests. And surely this
interior was designed in a gray and gloomy
Detroit winter, because the faux-chrome
instrument surrounds catch every gleam
of sunlight and reflect them directly into
your eyes. This editor had floaters for 10
minutes after exiting the Trailblazer.
The Seltos splits the middle. It’s pretty
spacious for people and cargo. Then again,
the front seats’ elevation is commanding
for such a small vehicle. The Seltos is
also pretty refined, but the seat vinyl andmaterials graining feel a bit lower-grade
than in the Mazda. In the California desert
summer, the Seltos’ air conditioning is
much stronger than the Mazda’s, but it
can’t match the Trailblazer’s jet blast. The
Kia interior is good. Just not the best.Driving a modern car is full of distractions,
and the Seltos’ intuitive user interface
allows you to stay focused on the road.
Switching between Apple CarPlay and the
Kia’s native software on the optional 10.3-
inch touchscreen is seamless. Until we say
otherwise, consider Kia (and sister brands
Hyundai and Genesis) to have the best
infotainment system interfaces.
The Trailblazer follows the typical
Chevy infotainment UX: straightforward
and easy to learn. However, Evans was
baffled by how the car was equipped. “It
has wireless Apple CarPlay and Android
Auto but no navigation or multizone
climate control,” he said. “It seems odd
some of these features aren’t offered.”
Mazda, meanwhile, needs to simplify
its multimedia system. The screen is too
small and too far away from the driver’s
vision. There are too many submenus to
perform basic tasks like changing satellite
radio stations. And although this CX-30
came with an allegedly premium Bose
stereo, it was tuned poorly for the car and
sounded like an AM radio ripped out of a
1970s station wagon.NONE OF THESE SMALL SUVS IS A BAD CHOICE FOR A FIRST CAR.
APRIL 2021 MOTORTREND.COM 39COMPARISON