Review by Jacob Black, photos by Jacob Black and Jonathan Yarkony
Odometer at pickup: 25 km
Odometer now: 11,398km
Costs: $98.57 – first service.
First, a confession: I might have blown past the 8,000km first service marker – by a little bit. Maybe by a couple of hundred kilometres, or so. One and one is two, right? What about when they’re next to each other?
Okay, so I blew past the mark by 1,100 km and got my first service at 9,135 km.
By now, we’ve clicked over the 11,000 km mark in this mighty little 2016 Mazda CX-3 and I’m more in love with her than ever. Sure, “mighty” is a stretch, this little rig is frisky, like a Jack Russell, not powerful, like a Boxer. More on that shortly, but first, the service experience.
This is my first time getting one of our review cars serviced, and indeed the first time I’ve ever done a dealership service. I took this one to Airport Mazda. I called on Wednesday afternoon and drove in on Thursday morning.
I parked the car in the well-marked carpark, walked through the doors, clambered over mountains of waiting winter tires (seriously guys, go get them on now please) and spoke to the gentleman behind the service desk.
“Yep, we’ll get that service done. If you like you can wait over there, we’ll be about 45 minutes”.
I had already called our illustrious Senior Editor to come and get me, we had car swaps to do.
“Can I come back later this afternoon for it please?”
“No problem at all, see you later.”
I was in and out so fast I walked back through the fart cloud I’d left just outside the door (#karma).
When I returned some time later, the gleaming Soul Mica Red CX-3 was back exactly where I’d left her, the only hint that something had changed was the shiny clean paint – they’d even washed it for me.
Chalk one up for the dealership experience, even if this dealership did have bird nests in its Mazda logo.
You might be wondering, did the CX-3’s oil change make any difference?
It did. Probably because I’d blown past the scheduled mileage, but the little Mazda had begun to feel a little less peppy in the days and weeks before the service; a little less keen on getting going, a little less smooth and a lot less playful. It’s hard to explain but I think you get a sixth sense when the car you’re driving is not quite its best. I think a car overdue for an oil change feels a little like you do when you first start to get a blocked nose.
