It’s all about attitude. Some cars have it, others don’t. Take the Skoda Yeti. A perfectly sound motor, practical and, erm, worthy. Yet it has all the appeal of a pile of stale underpants after a stag party.

You don’t buy one to make a statement. You buy one because you’ve worked out the repayment figures, assessed secondhand values and know you can pack an awful lot of meaningless lifestyle stuff in the back.

On paper, the Yeti is a better car than the Mazda CX-3. On paper, you’d probably pick it every time. Except when you park the CX-3 beside it, the Yeti looks as prehistoric as it’s name.

The Mazda has cool, edgy styling, a slick profile and actually says you care about what you drive. Everybody else can buy their pants from M&S and drive a sensible Skoda.

Which driver are you?

Yes, yes, yes, you’re always going to choose a Porsche 911 S Cabriolet over a compact crossover, right?

Well, temperatures dipped to -2 in the Cotswolds last night and this morning I had one of those bonkers dilemmas. Do I drive the 4×4 Mazda CX-3 to Silverstone, or my trusty 911?

Surprising as it might seem – and purely because I knew the backroad route I would take wasn’t salted – I picked up the  Mazda keyset.

And then I put them back down again. Because our CX-3 test car doesn’t actually have four-wheel drive. It’s one of those pseudo 4x4s, equipped with two-wheel drive only.

What I would probably have done is launch into a corner too fast in the CX-3 and become unstuck.

I’m not sure I’m cut out for compact crossovers without all-wheel drive. I mean, what’s the point? It looks like a 4×4, you can pay a little extra for a four-wheel drive version. So why bother with this model?

Despite the CX-3’s 2.0-litre, 118bhp petrol engine, the compact crossover doesn’t feel that comfortable blatting along at motorway speeds.

The key issue here is not a lack of power but an increase in noise as you move up through the six-speed gearbox. There’s some wind input too.

You also might want to consider whether the Sport’s 18-inch alloys and firmer suspension offers a better ride than the 16-inchers offered on other versions.

I think you might find the Sport set up a little on the firm side. This is not a car you can push hard through a tight corner. So perhaps, for once, the lower spec SE model might be a more comfortable choice…

So it was blowing a gale last night. My cat refused to got out, despite my attempt with an ‘assisted’ exit. Winter has arrived in the UK, with snow, rain and Christmas stuff in Waitrose (OK, that started in September, to be honest).

I’m packing up my CX-3 with bags, dog on the back seat, emergency banana in the centre console. The time comes to load the boot.

Hmm. It’s not the easiest operation. The button is underneath the lip of the hatchback lid, like most cars these days. Except that because of other paraphernalia located there, it’s tricky to find and a good place to collect muck.

Once inside, I discover there is no interior boot light. Well, there is but it’s in the hatchback door which is now above my head and unable to shed any light on the luggage room available.

The space is tiny, which may explain why Mazda has turned to subtle lighting to fool me. In the darkness, I overload the space and curse the fact the hatch won’t shut.

So, riddle me this. Why does a car with head-up display, a spanklingly good infotainment system and bendy headlights NOT have an interior boot light?

Let’s get basics right before we add the fairy dust, Mazda.

Girls have big handbags these days. You never know what you are going to find hidden in those dark corners at the bottom – a gentleman just shouldn’t even go there.

The Mazda CX-3 a giant handbag. It’s definitely not a bloke’s car but in the same way that a Mazda MX-5 is a ‘feminine’ two-seater and a stonkingly brilliant sportster, the CX-3 is a cute and very good compact crossover.

Just have a look at the styling – it really does look the part. Not sure about the maroon paintjob on our test car but in grey, well, hell, I’d buy one.

Snow is forecast this weekend. I was excited about trying out the CX-3 on the slippery stuff. Then I remembered this is the two-wheel drive only version.

You see, that’s why I like my macho compact crossovers to not only look good but fulfil the promise of their rufty tufty image too…

I’m not a fan of the Nissan Juke. It’s something about those bug-eyed headlights. In fact, the naff styling has totally ruined my perception of compact crossover. Therefore, I approach any new, jack-up supermini with trepidation.

Pleasingly, the Mazda CX-3 parked in a swamp of mud on my driveway looks considerably better. It’s help by the current trend for a ‘big mouth’ grille that has been the Mazda ‘look’ for some time now – and has also been nicked by Ford.

First impressions then suggest this could be a great chunk of Car Couture to park on your driveway. The interior also has a quality feel to it, although space on the back seat is limited.

All models in the range get air con, alloy wheels, Bluetooth and a touchscreen entertainment system. Our Sport adds 18-inch alloys, LED day lights, keyless entry and even a head-up display.

Promising then. But how will it fair as a daily drive? Join us tomorrow for another report…

Can I just be the first to offer Clarkson a new job? We don’t pay much but as he only lives down the road from Car Couture I can see it shaping up as the ‘Two Jeremys’. We have long lunchbreaks and there’s always a hot meal in the canteen, day or night.

He would also get to drive fine cars like the Mazda CX-5. Super sensible, packed with equipment and loaded with space.

There would also be plenty of opportunity to moan about some of the features he doesn’t like too. Such as the excessive wind and tyre noise which rather ruins the refinement, plus the annoying infotainment system that isn’t quite up to speed.

No doubt ‘Jezza’ would whine about the keyless ignition which sometimes locks you out of the car, and the rather dull dashboard trim, that isn’t up to BMW standard (although the CX-5 obviously costs less).

It’s more practical than a Ferrari and you can use it to tow a caravan. Yes, right up Clarkson’s street then…

Once again I’ve been caught out by the remote door-locking system on the CX-5! From the time it took to shut the passenger door and walk around to the driver’s side, the system locked me out and I had to press the key fob again.

Not entirely sure why this is such a good system on any car. I’m a grown up and quite capable of remembering to lock a car when I leave it somewhere risky. My front yard in the countryside certainly isn’t one of those places!

It’s the technology that is annoying me most about the Mazda. Everything else works beautifully – I love the white leather interior and it’s averaging 38mpg on a long run too – not bad for permanent four-wheel drive.

And here’s one more annoyance. If I key a location into the sat nav and then reverse out of a space to start my journey, the proximity alert won’t leave the screen and show the navigation route until I reach a certain speed.

Three times this week I have turned the wrong way at the start of my journey because I couldn’t see the sat nav route on the screen. Nuts!

The CX-5 may give you a lot of equipment for a reasonable price but not all of it works as smoothly as you might expect with a Mazda!

As usual, much of the problem revolves around the infotainment system. My two main gripes concern the sat nav system, which is over-complicated and not intuitive to use, and the DAB radio, which again requires the handbook to understand.

Am I being mean? Well, I know Clarkson thought the Mazda was the best SUV on sale in the UK, despite being a little boring. However, I could see him punching the dashboard in frustrating if his destination input wasn’t ready on time.

My other main issues is the self-locking security system fitted to the car. Walk away with the key in your pocket and it locks itself. Great in some situations but I couldn’t count the number of times I’ve already returned to the car and yanked the door handle in frustration, only to find the car has locked itself again.

The answer? Leave the key in the CX-5 when you are loading it – perfectly fine when you live in the middle of nowhere like me. Oh, except that defeats the whole concept of the safety system doesn’t it…