Rent Mazda CX-3 2023 in Dubai

Mazda's Dubai fleet has two crossovers close in size but a full class apart in cost: the CX-5 that most renters ask for by name, and the CX-3 2023 sitting one size down and a noticeable chunk cheaper to rent. Book the CX-3 and you get the same SkyActiv engineering and the same tidy, well-weighted steering the CX-5 is known for, wrapped in a body that's nearly half a metre shorter. We drop it at your door in one to two hours. What this page settles is straightforward: whether the smaller Mazda gives you enough car for your Dubai week, or whether you'd be happier paying up for its bigger sibling.

The engine, and how it drives

The CX-3 runs a 2.0-litre naturally aspirated SkyActiv-G four making 148 hp and 192 Nm, paired with a 6-speed automatic sending power to the front wheels. That's a smaller output than the CX-5's 165 hp, but the CX-3 is also a lighter, shorter car, so around town the two feel closer than the spec sheet suggests. Pulling away from a light or nosing into a roundabout, it doesn't feel short on breath.

Where the gap shows up is at speed. Get onto Sheikh Zayed Road with four adults and luggage aboard and the CX-3 has to work harder than the CX-5 to hold 120 km/h and pull off a confident overtake. Solo or with one passenger it cruises the highway without fuss. The steering is the CX-3's best trick: light in a car park, precise enough on a flowing road that it doesn't feel like the budget option it's priced as.

Boot, back seat and the daily load

This is where the size gap with the CX-5 stops being academic. At 264 litres the CX-3's boot takes one large suitcase and a soft bag, not the two-case-plus-extras load the bigger Mazda manages. For a solo trip or a couple flying into DXB or DWC with carry-ons and a single checked case each, it's fine. For a family arriving with four bags for a week, it isn't, and you'll be folding the rear seats to make it work, which loses your back-seat passengers along the way.

Two adults up front get a proper driving position and decent shoulder room for a car this size. The back seat is the honest limit: two adults fit for a short hop to the mall or the airport, but knee room disappears fast on anything longer, and three across the back is a squeeze better suited to kids than adults. If you're regularly carrying four people, this is the clearest sign you want the CX-5 instead.

Running cost, heat and the cabin

The CX-3 is the cheaper Mazda to feed as well as to rent. Official combined economy sits around 6.5 L/100km, and in real Dubai driving with the AC working through the day, expect closer to 7.5 to 8.5. The 48-litre tank still gives you roughly 550 to 650 km of mixed city driving before you need a fill, which for most weekly renters means one stop, maybe two.

The mileage allowance on this car is 250 km a day, and beyond that it's AED 0.5 per extra km. That comfortably covers commuting, school runs and mall trips; a full day out to Hatta and back is the kind of drive that will actually push you toward the cap. Salik tolls and any RTA fines are the renter's responsibility, as with every car in the fleet. You'll need to be 25 to collect the keys, a higher bar than some of the smaller economy cars on this site.

Because the cabin is compact, the front vents pull it down from a baking afternoon faster than they would in a bigger SUV. Like most cars in this class, the back seats depend on air circulating from the front rather than their own vents, so a full car takes a little longer to feel properly cool than an empty one. At 155 mm the ground clearance is noticeably lower than the CX-5's, so treat steep mall ramps and sharp speed bumps with a touch more care. It's a road car through and through, not something to point at Hatta's dirt tracks.

Who should rent it, and who should size up

Rent the CX-3 if you're one or two people who want Mazda's build quality and driving feel without paying CX-5 money for space you won't use. Solo residents, couples doing city errands, and anyone who mostly drives alone with the odd airport run get everything they need here, plus a rental rate that undercuts the bigger SUV noticeably.

Size up to the CX-5 if you're regularly three or four people with real luggage, or if long highway stretches with a full car are part of your week. The CX-3's boot and back seat aren't built for that, and the extra 17 hp and roomier cabin of its bigger sibling earn their higher price in exactly those situations. For a light, single-driver week of Dubai city driving, though, the CX-3 does the job for less.