"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
09/17/2015 at 18:21 • Filed to: None
2
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"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
09/17/2015 at 18:21 • Filed to: None | 2
| 14 |
Great news! A pressing question about a new vehicle that I’m sure was really worrying everyone has now been answered! Even though pre-production Mazda CX-3 photos have shown that it lacks an armrest between the front seats, it actually does (technically) have an armrest!
As the CX-3 has been slowly unveiled, with Mazda USA only recently posting the configurator on their website, I have had no idea if the CX-3 came with an armrest. Press photos like the one at the top of this article, at first, showed no armrest. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! includes this picture of their CX-3 Grand Touring press car:
I don’t see an armrest, do you? But hark! Look at the Mazda USA !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! !
The CX-3, like most Mazdas in the US, comes in three trim levels: Sport, Touring, and Grand Touring. The configurator lists the features that each trim adds to the one below it. So for the Touring, the configurator says “In addition to Sport features” above this list, and “In addition to Touring features” above the Grand Touring feature list.
I could take Mazda USA’s word for it that the CX-3 Touring and Grand Touring both have armrests, but Mazda USA’s “____ trim plus” lists on their configurators have been a bit suspect lately. For example, the ND Miata configurator correctly lists the mid-level Club trim as equipped with the sport suspension and LSD. But the “In addition to Club features” list for the Grand Touring forgets to mention the Grand Touring doesn’t have the sport suspension and LSD like the Club.
Maybe the CX-3 configurator is telling the truth about the armrest, maybe it isn’t. Mazda USA, how am I supposed to trust your configurators when your Miata configurator is lying to us about the LSD and sport suspension on the Miata Grand Touring?
After I stopped having rhetorical conversations with Mazda USA, I found !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! which shows a picture of a CX-3 with an armrest!
Except this armrest is actually a prototype.
Is that a smartphone with a sticker on the front of it warning that this armrest is only a prototype? I’m not really sure. What is the max weight this prototype armrest will support? That smartphone with a sticker on it isn’t pulled out far enough for us to see!
Here’s what Motor Trend has to say about CX-3ArmrestGate:
The only standout problem reasserts a common engineering conundrum in small vehicles. There’s just not much space between the front seats to easily include cupholders, USB and other ports, and a traditional center armrest. Our car had a prototype armrest, but it covered part of the cupholder area, making the cupholders of little use unless the armrest was up.
I’m all too familiar with this problem: the flip-up armrest in my BMW 135is covers one of the cup holders. The armrest flips up to reveal the second cup holder, but then it’s in the way if you try to reach into the back seat. Its cup holders, like the CX-3, are really small. They don’t even fit the squared-off Pure Leaf Tea bottles.
I really like Pure Leaf Tea, dammit! But most of the time, when driving by myself, I can get by with the 1 cup holder that’s accessible with the armrest flipped down. Unless of course I’m craving some Pure Leaf Tea.
When I go on a road trip with my gf, we end up with at least a couple drinks, maybe one of them’s Pure Leaf Tea, and my gf also insists on bringing a bag of random crap which contains things she might need to access while we’re driving. We flip up the armrest to use both cup holders, and without fail, she gets all mad at the armrest being in the way of her reaching her back seat bag o’ crap and tries to flip down the armrest, but then it hits her drink, and I’m holding a bottle of Pure Leaf Tea in my crotch, then she swears some more, and tries to maneuver into reaching her bag o’ crap while the armrest is sorta half flipped up or down and hopefully not spilling one or more drinks.
Not cool.
I’ve been telling my gf she should get a CX-3 for her next car. She’s leasing a 2013 Civic LX and for her next car wants something with awd and a hatch but gets good mpg and “isn’t big.” Mini-CUVs are like the perfect segment for her.
So there you have it folks, the armrest on the Mazda CX-3 supposedly exists in some form, that will likely render its cup holders inaccessible. Its cupholders are also likely incompatible with Pure Leaf Tea.
Next summer when you see me riding shotgun in a Honda HR-V, with its presto-change-o armrest/cupholder combination, now you know why.
I bet it has no problems with Pure Leaf Tea. Now that’s engineering.
Van Man, rocks the Man Van
> Textured Soy Protein
09/17/2015 at 18:27 |
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The CX-3 is missing a feature in between the front seats that is standard on the HR-V, and it really swings me towards the Honda: a manual shift lever.
Also, having been in an HR-V, the armrest is great but the cubby below it is tiny and a nightmare to access.
Funktheduck
> Textured Soy Protein
09/17/2015 at 18:28 |
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I deleted the pictures off my phone but if you go into my history I have pictures from the interior of a CX-3 on a AMA/I’m bored at the dealership post.
It does have an armrest that goes over the cup holders. Not sure how much they get in the way since I didn't have a drink with me when I was in it.
HammerheadFistpunch
> Textured Soy Protein
09/17/2015 at 18:34 |
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I don’t know what Im missing out on. Most my cars don’t have one so I’ve never noticed.
SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
> HammerheadFistpunch
09/17/2015 at 18:36 |
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no armrest? you’re such a plebeian!
Chariotoflove
> Textured Soy Protein
09/17/2015 at 18:37 |
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This is actually a bigger deal than people might think, especially on road trips. I love my RX-8, but if I have a drink, I have to open the arm rest, and my comfy driving position goes away. I have to then rest my elbow on the seat belt buckle. Minor thing, but if you’re going to own a car for 10+ years, as I do, you start to notice those little things.
m-b-w loves his SUBAROO
> Textured Soy Protein
09/17/2015 at 18:48 |
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Looking at my local dealer’s website, it does have an armrest. http://www.stevensonmazda.com/new/Mazda/2016…
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HammerheadFistpunch
> SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
09/17/2015 at 18:51 |
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I just use my Popeye forearms instead.
Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies
> HammerheadFistpunch
09/17/2015 at 18:53 |
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I have an armrest, but I’m too tall to use them. Though I’m not that tall.
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Textured Soy Protein
> m-b-w loves his SUBAROO
09/17/2015 at 18:55 |
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This picture from your link shows an armrest that looks very similar to the prototype from the Motor Trend article, but doesn’t show exactly how it lines up with the cup holders.
It definitely blocks the rear cup holder, not sure about the front. Although it looks like it’s high up enough that you might be able to maneuver certain non-tall drinks like soda cans below the armrest without flipping it up.
Inquiring minds want to know!
Nerd-Vol
> Textured Soy Protein
09/17/2015 at 19:02 |
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If takuro is around, I need to know if his dealership is selling any cx-3s? We have only sold 1. :(
Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero
> Textured Soy Protein
09/17/2015 at 19:06 |
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Can confirm HRV cup holders are quite big should hold pure leaf
Scorpio GTX1
> HammerheadFistpunch
09/17/2015 at 19:11 |
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I have never used an armrest and have no idea why anyone would want one. If you need somewhere to put your arm, just rest it in the lap that is conveniently attached to your body. Problem solved.
norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback
> Textured Soy Protein
09/17/2015 at 19:55 |
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I dislike cars with no armrest, I almost always fall over when getting in because I tend to lean on it when I sit down.
jeesy3
> Textured Soy Protein
06/26/2016 at 14:40 |
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“I could take Mazda USA’s weird for it”
Spell check.