If you need something compact, easy-to-maneuver and relatively affordable, one of the standouts for the year is the 2025 Mazda CX-30.

U.S. News and World Report calls this year’s CX-30 “thrilling,” something you almost never hear about a subcompact. The magazine ranked it as their Number 2 Subcompact of the Year.

Indeed, there is a lot to sing about when it comes to the CX-30, which is a higher-profile Mazda 3, a car my husband drove for over 20 years.

As advertised, you can get into this year’s CX-30 for a bit over $25K US.  Yeah, that’s probably a stretch as of late, but you should be able to get the base 2.5 S for under $30K.

Space is a bit pinched for the class: 20 cubic feet if you leave the backseats up, and about 45 cubic feet if you fold them down.  Yeah, sure, you can get your cases of diet soda and paper plates from Costco back there, and probably even store your well-trained Pomeranian back there too for a short drive.

I tested the 2.5 Turbo Premium Plus trim with All-Wheel Drive. I have driven thousands of cars, so I am hard-pressed to call anything subcompact ‘thrilling’, yet with this year’s CX-30, there is a power and prowess that most cars in this Little League do not have.

Mileage is 22 city / 25 highway.  Let me know what kind of prices you find.  In today’s uncertainty, I cannot even begin to predict what you may or may not find out there.

I had been advised (not by management here) that I should limit my ‘political’ commentary; readers want to hear about cars, not be reminded of the hell that our LGBTQIAA++ audience (and we thank you) are living every day so far of 2025.

If only it were that easy.  We have been under attack like never before.  The attacks are more vicious, more cutting, and worse yet, all of this nightmare has pushed many of us back into the closet for our own safety.

Trust me when I say that we here at gaywheels.com will never yield or go back in the closet.  How can we?  Our name says it all.

I have been out and proud ever since the U.S. military decided to get rid of me for honorable service in Desert Storm.  The only closets I have now are crammed with clothes that I really should donate.

Do what you need to do for you.  I don’t have to say ‘don’t hurt anyone in the process,’ because as LGBTQIAA++, we aren’t cruel (well, most of aren’t, but some powerful ones are).

We here at gaywheels.com will do what we can for you.  We are all here for you.  Let us know what we can do for you.  The only way we will survive is to band together, just as Jack and Rose in Titanic did.

What we are currently going through is perhaps best summed up by Celine Dion: (all this crap is a) Tale as Old as Time.

Sigh.

Just remember: We are the Beauty.  And we know who the Beasts are.