Fantastic – amazing – unbelievable – stunning! Grab your thesaurus and pick another dozen similar words and that will only begin to touch on our sophomore participation in the 3rd annual Mazda Adventure Rally. Unfortunately, those same words can only be used to describe the scenery and roads – not our valiant effort at redemption.
By way of explanation, Mazda Canada has, for the past couple of years, hatched a creative and intriguing scenario whereby teams of automotive writers (and others) partake in a 2.5-day/many-kilometres-long charity challenge, with cash donations made to the top three teams’ charities of choice. The added trickery was that we boarded a charter flight completely in the dark (figuratively, not literally) — destination unknown, vehicle to be driven a mystery.
This year, however, the company switched things up a bit. Diana, my directionally-challenged wife and navigator, plus the other participants were to fly commercial, which meant that a few days before the event, we knew we would be landing in Vancouver and that we would be ending up in Kamloops. As for the vehicle, since last year’s rally involved the evergreen third-generation MX-5 Miata roadster, it was unlikely the new model would be pressed into service. This made the CX-3, Mazda’s newest crossover, a good bet to be our mode of transport.
Brian Harper and his wife, Diana, alongside this year’s star of the Mazda Adventure Rally – the 2016 CX-3.
Brian Harper, Driving
Upon disembarking the Air Canada flight, the nine teams were given keys to their CX-3s – GS AWD models with Luxury package, topping out at $26,195 – each one with a team number, media representation, charity of choice (ours was Camp Oochigeas, a camp in Muskoka for children with cancer) and our names plastered on the sides. And the twists that Mazda cooked up — which would bedevil us for the next couple of days — began.
The CX-3s were somewhere in the airport parking garage. Good luck finding them! Oh, and our first assignment was to collect logo’d coffee cups from six different coffee houses and present them at the day’s stopover in Whistler (co-site of the 2010 Winter Olympics and premier venue for year-round sport activities). The clock starts now! Yes, every challenge had a time limit to it. Come in on time and Bob’s your uncle. Anything beyond a 15-minute grace period past that time and penalties would accumulate. Hey, no pressure.
After five or so minutes running around the parking garage, we found our ride and then spent the next 10 minutes trying to configure our CX-3’s befuddling navigation system — the only major negative that could be leveled at the stalwart little trouper. Despite the many road and off-road conditions thrown at it — steep grades, dirt paths, dust, huge elevation changes, cattle crossings, wide-open throttle when passing logging trucks, etc. — it took it all in stride. The 146-horsepower 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine felt a bit taxed at times, yet never flagged.
During this year’s drive, we got stuck behind a logging crew for about 15 minutes. This didn’t help much.
Brian Harper, Driving
Our drive up Highway 99 to Whistler included a stop in Squamish to take a gondola ride to the top of a mountain to gather more clues to questions regarding native lore, while marveling at the view of Howe Sound. At the end of the first day, the two of us were tied with several other teams for first.
Equipped with bear spray (just in case), the descent on Day Two not only included the drive route, but our placing. Keep in mind my wife and I jokingly took on the challenge with a promise to defend our last-place finish as newbies in the 2014 event; how prophetic those words would prove. It was bright, clear and cold as we headed out north from Whistler to Pemberton, then inland toward Lillooet – once a gold mining town – followed by the mountains, where we got stuck in a lineup for about 15 minutes while a logging crew finished loading a truck.
Always mindful of the time and needing answers to more clues, we popped into Lillooet’s community centre and museum, where the young woman on duty was more than happy to find information for us. No, this wasn’t cheating; when there was reception, everybody was on their smartphones doing the same thing. I left a $5 donation.
Tight switchbacks? Gravel roads? Steep grades? The Mazda CX-3 can take it.
Brian Harper, Driving
Once north of Lillooet, the various ascents up the mountain (up to more than 1,500 metres at times) and across the aspen-dotted spine before the eventual descent into the Fraser Valley via High Bar Road — which runs between Kelly Lake and the Big Bar Ferry — was the highlight of the day. The gravel road dropped hundreds of metres through countless, sphincter-tightening switchbacks. And with slopes as steep as 23 per cent, Diana was shutting her eyes and leaving permanent indentations in the door handle.
It was a first-gear ride for much of the way down, but the CX-3’s handling inspired confidence with sure-footed, mountain goat grip. The contrast in terrain was nothing less than extreme, changing from forest green and swiftly flowing rivers to something more stark and unforgiving that reminded me of countless John Wayne westerns — scrub brush, stunted pines and dun-coloured rolling hills on either side of the sluggish Fraser River.
If that was the highlight, then the lowlight was the last stage of the day when we got thoroughly lost. With only a written route guide to rely on, we misinterpreted the instructions to take a left when the road split into a Y, only to — much later — realize there was a second Y a kilometre or so up the road. We spent the next 40 minutes trying to get back on track, passing the same herd of cows at least four times. I’d swear one of them had a look on its face that said, “And people think we’re stupid!”
B.C. is nothing short of breathtaking. This year’s Mazda Adventure Rally proved it.
Brian Harper, Driving
The most surreal part of this was pulling up to a small general store in the middle of what seemed nowhere to confirm we were finally heading in the right direction. A woman in full camouflage hunting gear driving a Miata assured us we were, but only after we’d take a picture of her with our CX-3 as she’s a big Mazda fan. More than 30 minutes late to the finish, we took a big penalty, dropping us into a tie for fifth.
Day Three was just as gloriously sunny as the preceding two, with more towns (Loon Lake, Cache Creek and Ashcroft, among others) and more challenges; these ones requiring a high degree of visual acuity — identifying ranch signs and old junkers sitting in fields, as well as trying to duplicate scenes from the fabulous The Sweet Hereafter, the panned remake of The Wicker Man and Smallville, all shot in and around Merritt – a.k.a. the Country Music Capital of Canada.
By the end of this year’s Mazda Adventure Rally, we put nearly 1,000 kilometres on our CX-3.
Brian Harper, Driving
After nearly 1,000 kilometres of driving, the final challenge came down to identifying pictures showing portions of Lanes Nicola, Strump, Napier, Trapp and Shumway along Hwy. 5A. This was the nail in our coffin; our decidedly middle-aged eyes weren’t up to the task and we tanked, the result plummeting us to our inglorious yet familiar last-place finish. Frankly, that one hurt.
Yet the takeaway was more positive than not. Diana and I are still talking to each other, we got to see a lot more of B.C. in all of its magnificence and, most importantly, we had fun. The CX-3, already one of my favourite small crossovers, proved even more impressive. And Camp Oochigeas will get a cheque — only from us, not Mazda Canada.
