– By Mike Ridley-Smith –
The Mazda CX-5 has been on sale in Australia since 2012 but you may not have noticed just how many of them there are on the road. Once behind the wheel of one I couldn’t help seeing them everywhere (although I have spent a lot of time at school drop off / pick up and in supermarket car parks).
It has been selling in huge numbers, being generally inside the top 10 vehicles of any style sold each month since the get go. There is a very good reason for this – it ticked nearly all the right boxes. Recently it received a midlife upgrade and I expect for many buyers that any remaining blank boxes were dealt with.
The CX-5 wears the modern Japanese design signature of curves, creases and angles well without screaming ‘look at me’. You will not be buying one of these to stand out from the crowd, but the crowd will still admire your choice. It sits high on the road and this height is put to good use internally.
Whilst being in the mid size class, the airy cabin easily swallowed a family of five going about its suburban rituals – even number three child was happy in the back seat. There are well thought out storage bins and drink bottle holders together with interior controls that fall comfortably to hand.
New for this update is an infotainment 7-inch screen with a rotary control in the middle console with a few critical buttons. It is simple to navigate the various screens and it doesn’t take long before you master controlling the system without looking away from the road.
The colour touchscreen display is placed well up in your field of vision. Bluetooth and USB connectivity is a cinch and sound quality pretty good. The navigation worked well for addresses you could find but inexplicably the system could not find several street addresses I was after.
Another minor gripe is changing radio stations – if you are a station flicker like me, you will be forced to adjust your habit or become better at mastering the settings than this old guy.
The CX-5 has competent road manners but still feels top heavy compared to equivalent sedans. The cabin is well sound proofed from road and outside noise, and the engine note is not intrusive. One thing I think Mazda are mastering is the stop start technology. Even with their ‘i-stop’ on, you have the choice of stopping the engine with the pressure you apply to the brake, ie the engine does not stop each and every time the vehicle comes to rest. This intuitive system helps the CX-5 deliver economy of 7.4L/100km in 2.5L engine guise.
With a high volume vehicle Mazda can afford to offer many specifications including three engines (2.0L petrol, 2.5L petrol or 2.2Ldiesel), manual (on the basic model only) or automatic transmission, 2WD or 4WD with various interior trims. The price range varies accordingly starting at $27,190 and heading all the way to $50,610.
For good reason buyers a lining up to take the CX-5 home as a novated lease. Spec it in the high $30K to early $40Ks and you will be smiling knowingly each time you see your many fellow happy customers.
