This sounds like a potentially very dangerous fault. Any car that wanders across the road or doesn’t go where the driver points it is an accident waiting to happen. A serious one, at that. At this point, the first piece of advice is to not drive the vehicle any farther and have it towed to a workshop for it to be inspected.

There’s one other possibility here. And that is that what you’re feeling is the car’s lane-keeping assistance program. This can often feel as though the steering it trying to plot its own course (which it is, in a way) in order to keep you centred in your lane. It only works up to a point, beyond which driver input will overcome it. I wonder if that’s what you mean by 'unsticking' the steering.

However, as far as I can tell, this model Mazda didn’t some with lane-keeping assistance (it has lane-departure warning only) so I think you’re back to square one and a tow-truck. Either way, this should be a warranty issue if there’s anything seriously wrong, so don’t be afraid to try a different dealership.

It’s odd, but some cars just don’t like some brands of phones. Toyota, in particular a few years back, had all sorts of trouble connecting certain phones to its factory Bluetooth system and, even if you could connect, sometimes the reception was so poor that it wasn’t worth the effort.

All the alternatives you’ve listed have their pros and cons, and bear in mind that a Skoda uses VW technology. The main concerns over the years have been failures of, and problems with, dual-cutch transmissions. If the VW tech scares you (or your mechanic) put the Skoda in the same basket. Beyond that, it comes down to your personal driving preferences and what sort of deal you can squeeze out of the dealer.

Don’t forget, either, that we generally upgrade our phones every few years, so if your phone is already an older one, maybe your next mobile will pair with the Mazda perfectly. Or, make it the Mazda dealer’s problem: If they’ll throw in a compatible phone as part of the deal, maybe the CX-3 is for you after all.

That seems odd, but there might be a really simple explanation. I’d love to know whether you’re calculating your fuel consumption by working out how far each tank is taking you, or whether you’re relying on the trip computer in the car’s dashboard. If it’s the latter, the reason for your higher figure after a service could be very simple.

It could easily be that the mechanic test drives the car after each service to make sure everything is working as it should be. To do this, the tester is very likely to give the engine a couple (or more) acceleration runs with lots of throttle. It’s also possible the car is left to idle for a time for the engine to come up to temperature while the mechanic gets on with other things. Both these activities will lead to higher fuel consumption than you might experience in normal driving with no harsh acceleration or extended idling periods. Because the car’s trip-computer works out fuel consumption based on recent use, this treatment at the workshop will lead it to deliver a higher reading on the dashboard. That it happens only after a trip to the workshop is the big clue here.

To test this theory, drive the car normally for a week and see if the fuel consumption number drops. If so, you’ve solved the mystery. If not, you need to return the car to the workshop because something is not right and is causing the car to use more fuel.