Mazda CX-5 Review - Technology and Lifestyles

Can a mainstream SUV really be fun to drive? Mazda thinks so, and so it tore up the rule of thumb book and commenced from scratch with the hot CX-5. The crossover-SUV debuts Mazda?s SKYACTIV technology, a mix of weight loss, efficiency improvement and design rethinking that, the corporate promises us, makes it a reputable alternative to today?s hybrid and all-electric cars, despite using petrol or diesel powerplants. Too good to be true, and could the CX-5?s aggressive styling grow on us? We wear our finest leatherette driving gloves to determine.

Design

Distinctive is a method to explain the CX-5. Mazda?s traditional beak-lip grill have been enlarged until it is a gaping maw on the snub-front of the SUV, making for a car that?s certainly noticeable on your rear-view mirror. Sharp hood creases dip down over hawkish headlamps, joined by muscular front arches that cut under driver and front-passenger windows which have a virtually teardrop cut to them, bowing right down to the wing mirrors.

In profile, that arch line is joined by a more relaxed crease down from the rear of the automobile, leaving the CX-5 with a high waistline. Combined with the dip of the roof on the back, it gives the Mazda a pinched tail that helps disguise a few of its heft. Plastic cladding, across the lower front chin, underneath the doors and on the rear of the CX-5, is kept to a cheerful minimum, though there?s still enough to probably prevent an excessive amount of damage from a kerb ding or road hump. Darker colors, like navy blue or grey, disguise it much more, but lighter options together with the metallic blue and red, showcase the Mazda ?Soul of Motion Design?

17-inch alloy wheels with 225/65 R16 tires are standard at the SE-L spec CX-5, stepping as much as 19-inch alloys with 225/55 R19 tires at the ?Sport? model we tested. Both get tinted glass rear of the B-pillar, front fog lights and daytime running lights, while the game throws in Bi-Xenon adaptive headlights.

Interior

Even Mazda admits that its interior quality hasn?t been as much as scratch in previous models, and so there?s been a different and deliberate try to improve the CX-5?s accommodation. Thankfully Mazda hasn?t taken the simpler route out and easily thrown a bag of gadgets on the usual plastics: instead, you get a respectable haul of apparatus as standard along side dash materials that delay to greater than an informal prod.

The driver?s seat is adjustable in your entire usual ways, including for height and lumbar support, and the game models make all of these adjustments motorized. Dual-zone air con is standard, automatically turning on in the event you twiddle the chunky passenger-side dial to another setting from the driver?s, and with an easy ?Dual? button to link them back up again.

Front and rear windows are electric, as you?d expect, and the game models have three-stage heated front seats too, which warm up quickly. Unfortunately there is no heating option for the leather-clad wheel, that?s manually height/reach adjustable. The rear-view mirror is auto-dimming, with an easily-stabbed manual override button, and there is cruise control ? though not the clever speed-adapting system in Mercedes and other cars ? as standard too.

There are several advantages inside with the game model, not least the leather seats ? available in black or stone, with contrasting stitching ? replacing the SE-L?s sturdy black cloth trim, the reversing camera complete with useful on-screen guidance lines, and keyless entry. You furthermore mght get an speakers upgrade, with the usual CD/radio six-speaker setup replaced with a Bose speakers with nine speakers. Both have a 5.8-inch LCD display which, in case you pick the ?Nav? variants of either spec model, throws in a touchscreen and TomTom guidance. Usually that could be a ?400 upgrade, though for a limited period after launch Mazda might be including TomTom as standard.

Bluetooth connectivity for pairing your phone is included, and we found it far simpler to hook up a phone and sync across our phonebook than with some rival systems. After that, lets dial various either by tapping it out at the touchscreen (or choosing a contact), scrolling to it with the Multimedia Commander dial down by the parking brake, or hitting the voice-command button at the steering wheel and trying to navigate by speech. The latter proved a mixed bag, and we had more consistent results using the touchscreen. Audio quality proved surprisingly good, filling the cabin even if driving at speed, and without undue distortion.

Our test cars also came fitted with the optional safety pack, a ?700 upgrade including rear vehicle monitoring and a lane departure warning system, the latter of which sounds an intrusive and unmissable noise when its lasers spot you?ve wandered over the line lines on both sides of the automobile. It demands decent quality markings, however: on one of the most more poorly maintained roads, where the lines were faded, the LDWS system didn?t spot our cavalier lane discipline.

The majority of Mazda?s new specialise in quality is successful. The leather trim to the wheel and gearknob mean the controls you touch most of the time feel premium, while buttons and stalks all press and toggle with a firmness more equivalent to a premium car than a mid-tier SUV. It isn?t a clean sweep ? there is a swathe of plastic wood around the center of the dash which might look better as metal, and the display for the air-con looks more like something we?d expect to look on a 90s HiFi than in a 21st century car ? but there have been no creaks or squeaks to be found.

Moving back in the course of the car, the rear seats lose visibility attributable to waistline, though headroom is nice. That may be a topic when you have younger children who would like to see where the CX-5 goes, as they may well struggle to work out out of the rear windows. The seats themselves support a 40/20/40 split, folding down flat to increase what?s already a capacious rear load space right into a frankly vast one.

Storage space isn?t quite on a par with a few of the more imaginative cubby holes of rival SUVs, but there?s still quite a few space to deal with drinks bottles and so forth. The heart arm-rest opens to bare a shallow, removable coin tray, with the bigger space underneath joined by a second power socket and a USB port. The door pockets will hold a small water bottle, while the glovebox gets its own light and is fairly deep.

Engine

Mazda has a call of 3 engines for the CX-5, kicking off with a 2-liter petrol mustering 165ps after which two turbocharged 2.2-liter diesels, with either 150ps or 175ps. Both diesels would be paired with either a 6-speed manual gearbox or a brand new SKACTIV-Drive automatic that attracts in elements of step-auto, CVT and dual-clutch systems for smoother, more responsive shifting and higher fuel economy; additionally they have a call of two-wheel drive or all-wheel drive. Petrol cars only get the manual gearbox and a pair of-wheel drive.

There?s a big bag of safety and function technology that?s thrown in too, including ABS, emergency brake assist, traction control, hill-hold assist and a tire pressure monitoring system, however the three stand-outs are Mazda?s freshly-branded SKYACTIV, Smart City Brake Support, and that i-Stop.

Smart City Brake Support uses front-mounted lasers to trace vehicles and obstacles in front and, provided that you?re traveling at under 18mph, automatically stop the CX-5 in case you are about to crash into the back of it. We tested it out and, though there?s quite a jolt because the ABS-based system kicks in, it worked just as Mazda promised.

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i-Stop, meanwhile, automatically shuts down the engine if you happen to draw to a holt, corresponding to when watching for lights or in stop/start traffic. It is not a brand new concept, but Mazda implements it particularly well: it is so smooth as to be almost unnoticeable in action, and all three of the engines are sufficiently quiet at low speeds that it is only really the inability of vibration that provides away the transition. Restart is additionally incredibly slick, with less engine rattle and shake than we?ve present in a Mercedes E-Class. That?s no small achievement.

SKYACTIV and Performance

SKYACTIV is the large news, however, Mazda?s ambitious redesign of its engine technologies at the side of gearbox, chassis, and suspension. Actually, nothing have been carried over from the former-gen cars: everything is new. The goal is to create an SUV that shifts, corners and usually performs more similar to Mazda?s MX-5/Miata than a family car. So, the manual gearbox has a truncated throw for more snappy changes, and Mazda has managed to reach the hitherto impossible: a 14:1 engine compression ratio, the best of any petrol engine and the bottom of any diesel.

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The figures are certainly promising: a ten-percent decrease in engine weight around the range, with the petrol powerplant dropping CO2 emissions and fuel consumption by 15-percent, and the diesel notching that as much as 20-percent. Torque is up, too, and the automated gearbox has seen a 4- to 7-percent boost in fuel efficiency.

Does it work? It?s certainly probably the most enthusiastic and car-like of the mainstream SUVs we?ve driven, belying its near-1.5 tonne kerb weight. We drove the manual, Sport versions of every engine, and though we had high hopes for the petrol model, in fact it was the diesels that proved to face-out.

Mazdo quotes 9.0 seconds 0-62mph and a top speed of 124mph from the two.0 liter petrol Sport CX-5, but it is advisable to work the gearbox hard to squeeze out the sporting potential. With 210Nm of torque, mid-range pull is somewhat absent, and we would have liked to plot further ahead than we?d expected for overtaking maneuvers to provide time for downchanges instead of simply planting our right foot.

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In contrast, the two.2 diesel has 380Nm and 420Nm of torque for the 150ps and 175ps models respectively, and with peak power coming in at around 2,200 rpm. Meaning less shifting ? though Mazda?s foreshortened gearbox is indeed a treat ? and, coupled with a chassis that does an awesome job of clinging to twisting roads without wallowing or bouncing, it makes for a much more usable car.

Let?s face it, this is not an MX-5 and, whatever Mazda claims, you are not going to get pocket sports car performance out of an SUV. However, once you could throw power on the situation to partly address that, we?d actually choose the two-wheel drive 150ps diesel, as opposed to its more powerful AWD sibling. Sure, the AWS system is grippy, however the 2-wheel drive does a fantastic job there too, and we aren?t sure most CX-5 owners will ever get sufficiently near off-road terrain to take advantage of it.

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Meanwhile, although the more powerful diesel may reward a more urgent driving style if you end up stretching the head end, the mid-range model is impressively potent because of all that torque. The adaptation between both was only noticeable once we really pushed the CX-5; at that time, you?d best hope you don?t have any children within the back, else you are going to be cleaning vomit out of the upholstery for days.

There?s no small advantage in efficiency for those who choose the 150 diesel, too. Mazda quotes a combined mpg of 61.4 for the 150 (53.3mpg when you decide upon an automated), when compared with 54.3mpg for the 175 (51.4mpg for the automobile version). The lower CO2 output can make more of a difference, though, at 119g/km for the 150 manual (139g/km for the automobile) versus 136g/km for the 175 manual (144g/km for the automobile). That?s enough to make the 150 manual UK tax exempt in its first year, something no other SUV can boast. The petrol version is available in at 47.1mpg and 139g/km CO2.

Wrap-Up

Kicking off at ?21,395 for the SE-L petrol (from ?23,595 for the game), from ?22,995 for the two-wheel drive SE-L 150 diesel (from ?25,195 for the game), from ?24,695 for the AWD SE-L 150 and from ?27,195 for the AWD Sport 175, the CX-5 is easily priced against its SUV rivals. With five seats versus the six or seven of a few alternatives, it?s perhaps not the decision for larger families, but its advantage is a more car-like driving experience that?s arguably the nearest the mainstream SUV has come to pairing an elevated driving position and decent road skills.

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We?ve a few lingering questions on some dashboard decisions, though they?re minor, and you may probably ought to give yourself your time to go looking beyond the snub-nose and discover ways to appreciate the Mazda?s styling. Just so long as you you?ll want to tick the diesel box ? and we might push you to the two-wheel drive 2.2 150ps one at that ? you need to be satisfied, and the saving from not picking the foremost powerful engine means you are able to step as much as the fancier Sport spec too.

So far so good, however the CX-5 promises to be the primary of many new models with the SKYACTIV ethos. We?re already salivating on the considered a lighter, more agile and fuel-efficient MX-5, and naturally there?s also the hot news that Mazda is planning to work with Fiat on a brand new small convertible. SKYACTIV would possibly not have shown all its strengths yet, but it?s off to a good start within the CX-5.

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