I may sound ignorant but I never really cared for any of the Mazda vehicles unless it was pre-2000's. there was always a [imo] better alternative elsewhere, in other car brands with the same features/price [imo].
I've known a handful amount of people that have owned Mazda's and they've all had problems with them, I've never owned one personally, so I can't really say but I will say that at the garage I used to work at years ago, we saw our share of Mazda's coming in for random problems.

they really don't retain their value either. you can go on CL or Autotrader right now and find Mazda's with a few years on them with low miles for damn near peanuts. I still agree with you with this having the best interior under $30k though, I was surprised when I saw the pics.