Compare the2023 Mazda CX-30 VS 2023 Kia Sportage

For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Mazda CX-30 have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision. The Kia Sportage doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.

The Mazda CX-30 has standard driver and front passenger side knee airbags mounted low on the dashboard. These airbags helps prevent the driver and front passenger from sliding under their seatbelts or the main frontal airbags; this keeps them better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. Knee airbags also help keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The Sportage doesn’t offer knee airbags.

The CX-30 has standard Whiplash-Reducing Headrests, which use a specially designed headrest to protect the driver and front passenger from whiplash. During a rear-end collision, the Whiplash-Reducing Headrests system moves the headrests forward to prevent neck and spine injuries. The Sportage doesn’t offer a whiplash protection system.

To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, All-Wheel Drive is standard on the CX-30. But it costs extra on the Sportage.

Both the CX-30 and the Sportage have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras, driver alert monitors, available blind spot warning systems, around view monitors and rear cross-path warning.

For its performance in IIHS driver-side and passenger-side small overlap frontal, moderate overlap frontal, updated side impact, headlight, and daytime pedestrian crash prevention testing, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the CX-30 the rating of “Top Safety Pick” for 2023, a rating granted to only 53 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Sportage last would have qualified as a “Top Safety Pick” in 2022.

The CX-30’s 5 year corrosion warranty has no mileage limitations, but the corrosion warranty on the Sportage runs out after 100,000 miles.

From surveys of all its subscribers, Consumer Reports’ January 2023 Auto Issue reports that Mazda vehicles are more reliable than Kia vehicles. Consumer Reports ranks Mazda fourth in overall reliability. Kia is ranked 9th.

The CX-30’s standard 2.5 DOHC 4-cylinder produces 4 more horsepower (191 vs. 187) and 8 lbs.-ft. more torque (186 vs. 178) than the Sportage’s 2.5 DOHC 4-cylinder. The CX-30’s optional 2.5 turbo 4-cylinder produces 63 more horsepower (250 vs. 187) and 142 lbs.-ft. more torque (320 vs. 178) than the Sportage’s 2.5 DOHC 4-cylinder.

As tested in Motor Trend the Mazda CX-30 4 cyl. is faster than the Kia Sportage:

	CX-30	Sportage
Zero to 60 MPH	7.8 sec	9.3 sec
Quarter Mile	16 sec	16.9 sec
Speed in 1/4 Mile	88.3 MPH	82.1 MPH

On the EPA test cycle the CX-30 gets better mileage than the Sportage:

			MPG
CX-30
	AWD	2.5 turbo 4-cyl.	22 city/30 hwy
		2.5 DOHC 4-cyl.	26 city/33 hwy
Sportage
	FWD	2.5 DOHC 4-cyl.	25 city/32 hwy
	AWD	2.5 DOHC 4-cyl.	23 city/28 hwy

An engine control system that can shut down some of the engine’s cylinders helps improve the CX-30 (except Turbo)’s fuel efficiency. The Sportage doesn’t offer a system that can shut down part of the engine.

The CX-30 stops shorter than the Sportage:

	CX-30	Sportage
70 to 0 MPH	177 feet	180 feet	Car and Driver
60 to 0 MPH	119 feet	128 feet	Motor Trend
60 to 0 MPH (Wet)	147 feet	151 feet	Consumer Reports

The CX-30 Premium handles at .83 G’s, while the Sportage X-Pro pulls only .81 G’s of cornering force in a Motor Trend skidpad test.

The CX-30 Premium executes Motor Trend’s “Figure Eight” maneuver quicker than the Sportage X-Pro (27.4 seconds @ .62 average G’s vs. 27.9 seconds @ .58 average G’s).

For better maneuverability, the CX-30’s turning circle is 3.8 feet tighter than the Sportage’s (34.8 feet vs. 38.6 feet).

The CX-30 is 10.5 inches shorter than the Sportage, making the CX-30 easier to handle, maneuver and park in tight spaces.

The CX-30 Premium has a standard heads-up display that projects speed, warning and navigation instruction readouts in front of the driver’s line of sight, allowing drivers to view information without diverting their eyes from the road. The Sportage doesn’t offer a heads-up display.

The CX-30’s front and rear power windows all open or close fully with one touch of the switches, making it more convenient at drive-up windows and toll booths, or when talking with someone outside the car. The Sportage’s standard power window switches have to be held the entire time to close them fully. Only its driver’s window opens automatically. With the Sportage EX/SX/Prestige/X-Line/X-Pro’s power windows, only the front windows open or close automatically.

The CX-30’s rain-sensitive wipers adjust their speed and turn on and off automatically based on the amount of rainfall on the windshield. This allows the driver to concentrate on driving without constantly adjusting the wipers. The Sportage’s manually variable intermittent wipers have to be constantly adjusted.

Consumer Reports rated the CX-30’s headlight performance “Good,” a higher rating than the Sportage’s headlights, which were rated “Fair.”

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) conducts detailed tests on headlights for their range both straight ahead and in curves and to be certain they don’t exceed acceptable amounts of glare to oncoming drivers. The CX-30’s headlights were rated “Good” by the IIHS, while the Sportage’s headlights are rated “Acceptable” to “Poor.”

To help drivers see further while navigating curves, the CX-30 Premium has standard adaptive headlights to illuminate around corners automatically by reading vehicle speed and steering wheel angle. The Sportage doesn’t offer cornering lights.

The CX-30’s optional rear and side view mirrors have an automatic dimming feature. These mirrors can be set to automatically darken quickly when headlights shine on them, keeping following vehicles from blinding or distracting the driver. The Sportage offers an automatic rear view mirror, but its side mirrors don’t dim.