Compare the2025 Mazda CX-30VS 2025 Kia Sportage

Safety
Warranty
Reliability
Engine
Fuel Economy and Range
Brakes and Stopping
Suspension and Handling
Chassis
Ergonomics
Economic Advantages
Recommendations

Safety

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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.

With its standard Smart Brake Support with Pedestrian Detection, the Mazda CX-30 is better at preventing collisions with pedestrians than the Kia Sportage, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety:

	CX-30	Sportage
Overall Evaluation	GOOD	ACCEPTABLE
	Crossing Child - DAY
12 MPH	AVOIDED	AVOIDED
25 MPH	AVOIDED	AVOIDED
	Crossing Adult - NIGHT
12 MPH Brights	AVOIDED	AVOIDED
12 MPH Low beams	AVOIDED	AVOIDED
25 MPH Brights	AVOIDED	AVOIDED
25 MPH Low beams	AVOIDED	AVOIDED
	Parallel Adult - NIGHT
25 MPH Brights	AVOIDED	AVOIDED
25 MPH Low beams	AVOIDED	AVOIDED
37 MPH Brights	AVOIDED	-23 MPH
Warning Issued-Brights	2.3 sec	1.7 sec
37 MPH Low beams	-35 MPH	-21 MPH
Warning Issued-Low beams	1.7 sec	1.2 sec

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.

The CX-30 has a standard blind spot warning system that uses sensors to alert the driver to objects in the vehicle’s blind spots where the side view mirrors don’t reveal them. Only the Sportage EX/SX/Prestige/X-Line/X-Pro offers a blind spot warning system.

To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the CX-30 has standard Rear Cross Traffic Alert and Smart Braking Support - Rear Crossing on the Turbo Premium Plus automatically engages the brakes to help avoid a collision. Only the Sportage EX/SX/Prestige/X-Line/X-Pro offers Rear Cross-Traffic Collision Warning.

Both the CX-30 and the Sportage have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front and rear 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 and available around view monitors.

Side impacts caused 23% of all road fatalities in 2018, down from 29% in 2003, when the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety introduced its side barrier test. In order to continue improving vehicle safety, the IIHS has started using a more severe side impact test: 37 MPH (up from 31 MPH), with a 4180-pound barrier (up from 3300 pounds). The results of this newly developed test demonstrates that the Mazda CX-30 is safer than the Sportage:

	CX-30	Sportage
Overall Evaluation	GOOD	GOOD
Structure	GOOD	GOOD
	Driver Injury Measures
Head/Neck	GOOD	GOOD
Head Injury Criterion	89	121
Neck Tension	156 lbs.	223 lbs.
Torso	ACCEPTABLE	ACCEPTABLE
Shoulder Deflection	.87 in	1.1 in
Pelvis	GOOD	GOOD
Head Protection	GOOD	GOOD
	Passenger Injury Measures
Head/Neck	GOOD	GOOD
Torso	GOOD	ACCEPTABLE
Shoulder Deflection	.94 in	1.1 in
Torso Max Deflection	.71 in	1.38 in
Pelvis	GOOD	GOOD
Pelvis Force	379 lbs.	669 lbs.
Head Protection	GOOD	GOOD

The Mazda CX-30 has achieved the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s (IIHS) highest rating of “Top Safety Pick Plus” for the 2024 model year. This distinction is based on its exceptional performance in IIHS’ rigorous battery of safety tests. Specifically, it earned a “Good” rating in the latest, more stringent moderate overlap front crash test, a “Good” result in the updated side impact test, and a “Good” score in the revised pedestrian crash prevention test. The Sportage is only a standard “Top Safety Pick” for 2024, though it hasn’t yet been rated in the updated moderate overlap frontal test, a requirement for the “Top Safety Pick Plus” award.

Warranty

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.

Reliability

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2024 survey of the owners of three-year-old vehicles provides the long-term dependability statistics that show that Mazda vehicles are more reliable than Kia vehicles. J.D. Power ranks Mazda above average in long-term dependability. With 5 more problems per 100 vehicles in the first three years of ownership, Kia is rated lower.

From surveys of all its subscribers, Consumer Reports’ January 2024 Auto Issue reports that Mazda vehicles are more reliable than Kia vehicles. Consumer Reports ranks Mazda 3 places higher in reliability than Kia.

Engine

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 Car and Driver the Mazda CX-30 4 cyl. is faster than the Kia Sportage:

	CX-30	Sportage
Zero to 60 MPH	7.5 sec	9.1 sec
Zero to 100 MPH	20.7 sec	25.6 sec
5 to 60 MPH Rolling Start	7.9 sec	9.5 sec
Quarter Mile	15.8 sec	16.9 sec
Speed in 1/4 Mile	89 MPH	84 MPH
Top Speed	126 MPH	120 MPH

Fuel Economy and Range

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	X-Pro 2.5 DOHC 4-cyl.	23 city/30 hwy
		2.5 DOHC 4-cyl.	23 city/27 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.

Brakes and Stopping

The CX-30 stops shorter than the Sportage:

	CX-30	Sportage
70 to 0 MPH	177 feet	182 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

Suspension and Handling

The CX-30 2.5 S Premium handles at .84 G’s, while the Sportage X-Pro Prestige pulls only .81 G’s of cornering force in a Car and Driver skidpad test.

The CX-30 2.5 S 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).

Chassis

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

Ergonomics

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 has a standard Pushbutton Start that allows you to start the engine without removing the key from the pocket or purse. Only the Sportage EX/SX/Prestige/X-Line/X-Pro offers a Smart Key.

The CX-30 Select Sport/Preferred/Carbon/Premium’s standard wipers adjust their speed and turn on and off automatically according to the amount of rainfall on the windshield. 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 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.

Economic Advantages

IntelliChoice estimates that five-year ownership costs (depreciation, financing, insurance, fuel, fees, repairs and maintenance) for the Mazda CX-30 will be $2480 to $4093 less than for the Kia Sportage.

Recommendations

Consumer Reports® recommends both the Mazda CX-30 and the Kia Sportage, based on reliability, safety and performance.