Mazda CX-5 review

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Mazda's aging offbeat family SUV still offers driver appeal atop solid foundations

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Mazda is a firm that tends to do things its own way, and the Mazda CX-5 is no different.

Sure, this family SUV from Hiroshima conforms to a few norms. It’s fairly traditionally styled and offers lots of trim variations and options, but where it is firmly different from rivals is in the powertrains.

A 2.0-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine in a big SUV? A 2.5-litre with four-wheel drive? And a diesel!? In this day and age?

The original CX-5 got in fairly early on the current craze for SUVs, and a remarkable 1.5 million units were built and sold around the world over a six-year lifespan. So this second-generation model, with its zany power options has a lot of heavy lifting to do.

Mazda plainly has the SUV segment’s premium and semi-premium brand players in its sights but sets out to undercut them by several grand in some cases once equipment level is taken into account.

This means the CX-5’s main rivals range from mid-level models such as the Ford Kuga, Kia Sportage and Skoda Karoq right through to the cheaper end of the market with the Citroën C5 Aircross.

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DESIGN & STYLING

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Mazda CX-5 LED headlights

Mazda’s design ethos allows slim headlights, a svelte beltline and plenty of chrome, which helps create a smart, serious and upmarket-looking car.

On the electronic side, the CX-5 features dynamic stability software called G-Vectoring Control, which uses integrated control of the engine, transmission and chassis to monitor the car’s pitch as it progresses from turn-in to apex and then exit and makes subtle modulations to the engine’s delivery of torque to juggle the car’s weight around between its axles. This, Mazda claims, is automatic load transfer, and the consequent maximising of grip, steering response and stability is done imperceptibly – an interesting idea.

The powered tailgate is all well and good, but Mazda seems to have fitted ponderously slow hydraulics.
Murray Scullion
Digital editor

The powertrain options are what make the CX-5 really distinctive, though. They kick off with a 162bhp naturally aspirated 2.0-litre petrol four. Next up is a 191bhp 2.5-litre naturally aspirated petrol four that sends its reserves to both axles. And lastly there's a 173bhp turbo diesel four with front- or four-wheel drive.

INTERIOR

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mazda cx 5 interior

The CX-5’s seating position is as high as you would imagine for a family SUV, while the seats have enough adjustability for you to get comfortable in them. 

All models receive Mazda’s 10.25in infotainment display. Today it looks and feels a bit old-school. It's small compared with rivals' and the graphics look a bit 2010s. It all works sensibly, though, and it comes with the all-important Apple CarPlay and Android Auto phone-mirroring apps.

The centre console and air vents look particularly classy and stone-coloured leather does a lot to lift the ambience.
Matt Saunders
Road test editor

The screen itself is plopped on top of the dashboard. This isn’t the smartest-looking solution, but it does mean the dash is small and non-invasive and feels solid.

Mid-range cars get upgraded to a 10-speaker Bose stereo system, while a 360deg parking camera is reserved for the top trim.

The centre console is high enough to meet your left elbow and the trim materials feel slightly more upmarket than the price might suggest.

With a wheelbase marginally longer than a Volkswagen Tiguan’s, the CX-5 offers rear-seat accommodation that’s certainly adult-friendly in both leg and head room.

Its usability is augmented by a two-step reclining mechanism that allows the seatback to be canted aft to an angle of 28deg.

Most buyers will be more interested in the boot space than ways of impinging on it. Happily, the CX-5 is a sturdy prospect here, with 506 litres available to the beltline.

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

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mazda cx 5 driving front

Mazda has invested in the engine department in different ways to other manufacturers. This range for a family SUV is unheard of nowadays, especially with no plug-in hybrid option.

The atmospheric 2.0-litre Skyactiv-G is a slightly odd choice, because it needs to be worked fairly hard to make the CX-5 accelerate with much urgency.

Traditional SUV limitations are confirmed in the first hairpin by an elevated left thigh and a right elbow lodged in the door card.
Murray Scullion
Digital editor

Thankfully, it revs pretty slickly and the car has the slick, precise control weights and crisp handling responses to reward the investment of effort.

If you like your SUVs torquey and effortless, this probably isn’t the one for you.

The 173bhp 2.2-litre diesel Skyactiv-D suits the car’s character best, producing 310lb ft of torque at 2000rpm to give flexible and muscular performance. 

It sounds good too (for a diesel), projecting a deep growl into the cabin that’s satisfyingly sporty.

A range-topper comes in the form of a 2.5-litre naturally aspirated four. It’s a bit of a noisy lump, making itself well known in the cabin as it progresses through the automatic gearbox’s six ratios.

Perhaps another couple of cogs at the top end would stretch things out sufficiently to abate some of the fuss, but compared with rivals that use a CVT, the accelerative experience is far easier on the ears. 

Both the 2.0-litre petrol and 2.2-litre diesels are available with Mazda’s six-speed manual ’box. A nub of short-throw notchiness and robust clutch pedal risk seeming anachronistic, but the oily sensation of heavy moving parts is naturally a tick in our book.

RIDE & HANDLING

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mazda cx 5 handling rear

Say what you will about Mazda’s earnest repetition of its mildly silly ‘jinba ittai’ ('car and driver as one') mantra, but the manufacturer has a proven track record for delivering mainstream models with an appreciable focus on proficient handling.

For an SUV of notable size and weight, the CX-5 has an impressively honed change of direction. There isn’t quite the initial bite that its pointy attitude probably deserves, but nevertheless, in the rate of response and broader accuracy, it’s worthier than most.

The front end goes light into immoderate dips. Lift off at this point and it will be the stability control tempering the unsettled rear.
Matt Saunders
Road test editor

The lingering doubt, at any rate, is not in the wrists but in the hips and back. Generally speaking, the mechanical compromise between having a heavy, high-sided car corner adeptly on passive suspension and still ride satisfactorily is well struck.

The CX-5 is patently at the firmer end of the SUV market, yet its damping is considerate enough at speed to make the secondary ride seem consistently fluid.

About town, though, or when dealing with larger intrusions, less keen drivers might conceivably wonder if the concession to handling is one worth making. 

Undeniably, the Volkswagen Tiguan on adaptive suspension would make a fairer fist of isolating its occupants from the average high street than the Mazda does.

On a hill route that has genuinely fast, sighted bends, the CX-5 demonstrates the same well-controlled roll as on the road.

However, it’s in the sharper bends, taken at unreasonable speed, that its initial and robust resistance to lean is overcome by its high roll centre and not-inconsiderable mass.

The tyres come under notable stress, too, and are not ably assisted by a stability control system apparently surprised by all the unbalancing going on above.

There’s no switching out the traction control completely, and the ‘TCS off’ button doesn’t change the car’s demeanour. That’s probably for the best, because the CX-5 is prone to pivot quite strikingly when its weight is provokingly shifted mid-corner.

Mazda CX-5 news

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Nearly new buying guide: Mazda CX-5

None of this seems particularly ominous, of course, but it does suggest that something like the smaller, lighter Tiguan is ultimately better resolved under the same conditions.

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MPG & RUNNING COSTS

mazda cx 5 review

In real-world testing, a diesel CX-5 scored an impressive 53.9mpg on our touring economy test route.

If you bank on beating 50mpg to make your monthly fuel bills add up, the 2.0-litre petrol won’t work for you. Even with a cylinder shutdown system, it returns only 45mpg on a typical motorway cruise.

It would probably average something between 35mpg and 40mpg in mixed short- and long-range use. 

That’s not bad fuel efficiency, mind you, and if you’ve got predominantly short-hop use in mind, it won’t be a lot worse than you’d get from a like-for-like diesel anyway.

If you value the relative simplicity associated with owning and running a petrol compared with a diesel (of not needing to bother with AdBlue top-ups and not worrying about the particulate filter), a real-world 40mpg from a car like this will probably do you nicely.

Cruising economy for the 2.5-litre petrol is far from the class best, with an official score of  37.2mpg on the WLTP combined cycle.

The CX-5 is well equipped, competitively priced and has strong residual values, which should make monthly finance deals look appealing.

VERDICT

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mazda cx 5 rear static

Since this second generation of the CX-5 was released, several rival firms have either released new SUVs or given theirs significant updates, leaving the Mazda lagging behind. 

Ultimately, then, the CX-5 sits behind the likes of the Tiguan and Karoq in outright objective terms – but it still deserves considering nevertheless, especially if you’re after something unconventional.

It's left of field, with objectively better rivals, but still likeable.
Murray Scullion
Digital editor

The senses of relative lightness and compactness, crispness, precision and simplicity that have always characterised its driving experience continue to serve as great adverts for it, while the rest of the package, from pricing to practicality, is competitive.

Murray Scullion

Murray Scullion
Title: Digital editor

Murray has been a journalist for more than a decade. During that time he’s written for magazines, newspapers and websites, but he now finds himself as Autocar’s digital editor.

He leads the output of the website and contributes to all other digital aspects, including the social media channels, podcasts and videos. During his time he has reviewed cars ranging from £50 - £500,000, including Austin Allegros and Ferrari 812 Superfasts. He has also interviewed F1 megastars, knows his PCPs from his HPs and has written, researched and experimented with behavioural surplus and driverless technology.

Murray graduated from the University of Derby with a BA in Journalism in 2014 and has previously written for Classic Car Weekly, Modern Classics Magazine, buyacar.co.uk, parkers.co.uk and CAR Magazine, as well as carmagazine.co.uk.

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