Design driven: Mazda CX-5

You have to hand it to Mazda. Few brands would organise a test drive of its new C-segment SUV, the CX-5, on sweeping Scottish A-roads better suited to a hot-hatch. But the Japanese carmaker prides itself on its engaging driving experience, no matter which model is concerned. The defining car of the brand is the MX-5 two-seater sportscar. However, the CX-5 is the jewel in the crown when it comes to prosaic concerns, namely sales.

Given the numbers, radical change was not the order of the day. Mazda is many things, but capricious is not one of them. Aesthetically, not a huge amount has changed, but the devil is in the details. The squishiness of the second generation was honed for the facelift in 2021 and with this third iteration, the design language falls more into line with its bigger sibling, the CX-80.

The overall form remains the same: the cab pushed gently rearwards with a gently swooping roofline to give an impression of sportiness. The beltline feels like it sits high, even considering the SUV typology, resulting in a DLO that to the eye seems stingy. Though once you get inside, those fears prove unfounded because visibility is fine.

The light signature is sharper with a pair of slimmer LED daytime running lights – horizontal lines with an uptick accent at each end – stacked upon each other. The grille is slightly bigger and the lower mask treatment is more aggressive: black plastic clads the lower grille, rear bumper, wheel arches and sills.

The rear is well-executed, even more so than the front face. The taillights, which riff off the precise but mildly organic wheel design (very nice Mazda) stretch across the boot lid to frame, not the old sprouting Mazda logo as before, but the wordmark in clean modernist san-serif.

Conventional wisdom would have it that trading the logo for spelling out the carmaker name would suggest a lack of confidence. With Mazda it feels as much an aesthetic decision. These elongated lighting forms and generous spacing between the letters widen the stance of the CX-5, planting it to the road more convincingly than the old model, which looked taller than it actually was. The third generation is taller still but looks lower. It also has a longer wheelbase than before, allowing for more room in the back seats and a larger trunk.

Presented with the opportunity to sidestep the UX pothole, Mazda has put its foot in it

Colour has been another strong suit for the carmaker. The paint finish of CDN’s test vehicle, a deep resonant navy blue, sat well against verdant backdrops and, in a part of the world where you can “enjoy” five different weather patterns in an hour, made great play of light, shadow and reflection.

Mazda interiors have moved quietly and consistently upmarket in recent times. The design team has invested time and effort into creating clean, clutter free spaces with adroit material choices. The brand has made much of its Japanese heritage here, leaning into the concept of Ma, which westerners understand as “negative space.” 

One element the brand had received universal praise for was its HMI, which relied on physical buttons and rotary dial for key functions. Here, the Japanese carmaker has conspired to seize defeat from the jaws of victory with all of the above jettisoned in favour of touchscreen controls. This made tinkering with the climate controls on twisty roads strewn with sheep (both living and, er, not so living) riskier than necessary.

Indeed, the screen, a pretty expansive 15.6 inches, is now the car’s primary interface, despite the abundance of features embedded in the steering wheel. One feels we have been here before with other volume brands, and, presented with the opportunity to sidestep the UX pothole, Mazda has put its foot in it. 

For all its orderliness, the CX-5 has lost a little of its premium feel in terms of materials. In places, soft touch surfaces have been usurped by harder ones. It is easy to sympathise with Mazda. Across the board, industry finances are not the healthiest. It was inevitable that cost-cutting measures would eventually trickle downstream to the product as they seem to have here.

On the road, the Mazda feels just as adroit as the previous model. UX grumbles aside, it is still easy to manoeuvre, comfortable and engaging. The mild hybrid engine, a girthy but breathless naturally-aspirated 2.5 litre four-banger is engineered for longevity rather than pace. But who is really gunning it in a mid-size family SUV? Once up to speed, the CX-5 hums along pleasantly and if drivers need some extra muscle, then the Sport mode is easily engaged. Meanwhile, the chassis soaked up everything the Scottish Lowlands had to offer with barely a murmur.

The CX-5 still feels fresh and, with the upcoming Mazda 6e, proves there is still scope within the Kodo design language to keep evolving the brand. And ultimately, that is what the CX-5 is, an evolution. And not a bad one at that.