The 2024 Mazda CX-5 Is Enriched In Value & Quality Over Fanciness

Getting old is inevitable; what matters most is how we age and knowing when to step down. The Mazda CX-5 is the oldest car in its class, and in several ways, time has made me appreciate this more. But there are some drawbacks that are getting harder to ignore. Despite the years, the Mazda CX-5 is still the best choice for people that need an SUV but usually despise what crossovers have come to be, and they may also have some beef with new car prices. 

Excellent Value Proposition

One of the best parts about the CX-5 is its value proposition. They may have ditched the true base trim for 2024, but for $30,000, you're getting all-wheel drive, leatherette upholstery, heated front seats, and proximity entry. We would confidently argue that this is the best value in the class, and for 2024, there's some nice touches like painted fenders on all trims, not just the most swanky turbo specs.

A new Carbon Turbo trim takes the spot as the entry-level forced-induction CX-5. But oddly enough, that's going to come with the circone sand color with basketball upholstery on the inside, which is an interesting color combo. Thankfully, you can get white on the exterior as well. With these sorts of overhangs and 7.9 inches of ground clearance, the CX-5 is not aiming for a rugged appeal, and that's refreshing in a world of half-ass off-road trims. 

No disrespect to the CX-50. It is a better car if you have more outdoorsy needs, but it does catch a whooping in sales compared to this. Just like trail mix with mostly M&M's, the CX-5 gives Mazda fans most of what they want. Feature-wise, there's convenient touches like standard LED projector headlamps with available signature LED DRLs and tail lights. 

Rain-sensing windshield wipers are also standard, and most trims will have a power rear tailgate too. Splurge on a top trim, and you'll get a 360-degree camera. While it may not be the freshest, most angular SUV on the lot on the outside, we think it's aged with grace

Interior That Looks Dated But Feels Great

On the inside, it looks older than the competition, but it feels great. You have solid doors, sturdy construction, tactile buttons and dials to control most interior functions, with matte finishes in basically all areas that you interact with.

While you do get an additional soft touch for where your knees will rest on the Premium trim and up, even the low specs do have some nice stitching and leatherette placed on the dash with aluminum accents, so no matter what CX-5 you go with, you're not getting something that feels cheap. 

You're also not burdened with a busy or tech-centric design. and the infotainment system furthers that notion, as it's primarily going to be controlled through some buttons and dials placed right where my hand naturally lies. Yeah, if you have a really tall bottle or long straw, you'll rub your wrist on those, but we have no complaints about using this system in motion. 

Some things, like tuning the radio, can take a few extra steps, but we find it to work pretty well with Apple CarPlay, which is wireless, but only on the high trims. You can use this as a touchscreen at all speeds, but only through Android Auto or CarPlay. Mazda also offers a partial digital gauge cluster, which has a nice aesthetic but isn't too configurable. 

One of the least impressive parts of the CX-5 would be the seats, specifically the bottoms, which don't offer great support. There's very little bolstering there too. It can be shaped much better, and in order for me to be comfortable, I have to sit pretty far back, which makes me also wish the steering wheel came out further.

We think the ergonomics of this cabin are not as good as what you'll find with a Mazda CX-50, but at least Mazda does give you lumbar adjustment and heated front seats as standard to compensate. 

Other available features include ventilated front seats, a heated steering wheel, a wireless charger that doesn't really work that well, and a head-up display on the Premium Plus. But just go with the Carbon Edition, and you'll have a 10-speaker Bose sound system that provides a decent surround sound experience with respectable bass too. We have no real qualms with the six-speaker unit either. 

Your Preferred trim will get a sunroof; there's no panoramic option available. Storage versatility is not a big strong point of the CX-5, but at least you do have door compartments that can be manipulated into accommodating a 40-oz Hydro Flask. 

The back seat is also not exactly a strong point for the Mazda CX-5, mainly because my knees have to wrap around the front seat if you have both tall people in the front and rear. I'm about 6' 3, so for most family usage, unless you have a giant seated, it should be okay. and the floor is fairly low, so thigh support isn't terrible.

You have standard rear console vents, standard USB ports, which are actually located in the center, and heated rear seats that are available. Plus, the doors open really wide, which should help you wrestle Critters out of here. 

The cargo area of the CX5 is a little bit more competitive. It's fairly tall with an okay length and width, but each model will come with rear seat releases and a rare yet convenient 40-20-40 split rear bench, plus a spare tire is standard. 

Adequate Power Under The Hood

Under the hood of most CX-5's, you'll find a 2.5-liter naturally aspirated inline-4. It'll make 187 horsepower, and in my testing, it's been good for a 0 to 60 time of 8.6 seconds. Most people should find that powertrain to have adequate passing power.

Standard with every single model is a six-speed automatic that provides mostly seamless and slow shifts. Compared to Toyota's 8-speed automatic, there's a little bit more of a gap in gearing that can sometimes work against the engine, but it has a refreshingly natural feel when compared to most other competitors that'll come with a CVT.

For those that want more, we're happy that Mazda offers a turbocharged version of this engine. That engine, even with regular fuel, makes over 300 lb-ft of torque, providing great passing power. Put in premium, and it'll bump your horsepower numbers up to 256 hp. This is good for a 0 to 60 time of about 6.1 seconds on premium fuel; on regular, it may be a couple tenths slower. The torque also means that the transmission here doesn't need to shift as much. 

But really, this engine makes so much sense on the highway. Even if you're not in sport mode, the transmission tends to kick down in a short amount of time, and there's not a whole lot of lag to speak of with the turbocharger.

Part of that is thanks to its variable vein turbo, which uses a little valve to direct air down a smaller passage, which can increase pressure there at low RPMs to spin the turbo up faster when you need it.

No matter what powertrain you get, the CX-5 will come with all-wheel drive, and it's not a shabby system either. Now, it is primarily front-wheel drive; it sends power to the back when it senses wheel slip, but it can also preemptively send power depending on a whole lot of factors.

While this isn't intended for off-road use, it does have an off-road mode or, on lower trims, an off-road traction button, and either one of those settings will use the brakes to stop spinning wheels and redirect power to the corners that have grip. From what we've seen, it's one of the better setups in the segment. 

Driving at 65 mph, you're revving just around 2100 RPM. That's a little higher than many competitors. Wind noise and road noise, on the other hand, are more muffled here than what we've heard from vehicles like the RAV4.

Overall gas mileage is less impressive. With the Turbo, I'm getting 27 miles per gallon. With the regular engine, you will see an improvement in those numbers, especially if you got one of the models with cylinder deactivation and I-stop, two technologies that have a cult following of haters for some justified reasons if they were owners of GM products for sure. But due to production shortages, CX-5's built past November shouldn't have it.

Fun To Drive

But you're not really buying this car to get a few extra MPGs; you get it because this is the one that actually brings a smile to your face on a back road. Now, Mazda is known for this, but we think the CX-5 outside of the Miata is the best example of their dedication to fun cars. 

You can thank the steering for most of that, as it's not artificially heavy. In fact, it tends to be light as you're going through corners, but it builds up in weight in a remarkably natural way, and even though it's not fast and darty, there's virtually no play on center, allowing this to feel direct. 

You can feel the road, there's good feedback from the front end, and it comes with Mazda's G-vectoring control, which makes minute throttle adjustments as you're going through corners to make for fewer steering corrections. While that may sound nearly as gimmicky as sauna pants, the CX-5 handles in a playful, predictable manner.

The body roll for an SUV is under control even as you begin to pick up and speed. Even if the road isn't perfect, the CX-5 stays glued. Its independent rear suspension gives it a leg up over some other Mazda SUVs, even if you only notice that in the most strenuous of situations. This is really just a manual transmission short of being a truly awesome daily driver for an enthusiast, but as it sits, this is quite a bit of fun for a family car, though it comes with a small price.

On a tattered Indiana backroad, the suspension will transmit just about everything through. Though none of the small to medium-sized brakes in the pavement are really going to abuse you, it just could get annoying if this is what your roads will constantly look like.

Larger potholes will break their way into the cabin, more so here than what you would get in a Subaru Forester or Toyota RAV4. We're okay with how this rides, but we hope for a next-generation Mazda that can smooth things out just a little.

Reliability

With time usually comes reliability. The powertrains are proven, and the CX-5 is even built in Japan. But we can't say it's been devoid of issues. Initially, transmission bugs and a big fuel pump recall affected the current gen CX-5. There was also a cylinder head issue that affected particular 2018 and 2019 models. In 2021, a bad batch of valve seals on turbocharged engines caused excessive oil consumption. 

More recently, some owners have reported a transmission chirp that requires a new torque converter. The more common owner complaints result from autonomous breaking bugs, easily chipping paint, and the infotainment.

Some naturally aspirated models will have cylinder deactivation, but after a 2020 update, that hasn't been a headache for Mazda like it has been to a few other brands. It's also direct injection, so we'd advise a fuel induction service every 25,000 miles or so to keep the intake valves clean. Anyway, if you crave a dependable ride, from what we've seen, Mazda has you covered, but they're not quite up to Toyota's level just yet.

Safety

Unlike some other Mazda products, this has great visibility. The windshield is close, and the car doesn't feel that big; it's an approachable vehicle to drive. You may not have the hawk-like vision that you get with the Subaru Forester, but compared to the CX-50 and especially the CX-30, this is refreshing. and it's still a very safe vehicle. 

It comes with autonomous braking, adaptive cruise lanes departure prevention, and blind spot monitoring, all of which are standard. The only thing that you will miss out on is a proper lane centering system, as only the top two grades offer it, and it works up to speeds of just 40 mph. While that kind of technology would be nice for a lot of owners, it doesn't seem important to the CX-5's goal.

Better Than Most In The Segment

We see some cars that defy logic as they age, like the Toyota 4Runner, that's only gotten more popular as it's become more dated since there's not really any other body-on-frame SUV that can offer such a reliable, straightforward, yet quality-driven focus. It's gotten to the point where the 4Runner lives in its own world, and we see traces of that in the case of the CX-5.

There's no shortage of rugged SUVs with absurdly large back seats and forgiving road manners. That makes sense, as that tends to be what people want from these kinds of vehicles. But a simple, fun-to-drive crossover with good quality is hard to come by, and we think that's the main reason why the CX5 has seen so much success.

The CX-50 follows closer to compact crossover ideals and then tries to add a Mazda spin to it. The result is a good SUV that we think has a better broad appeal, but the CX-5 takes all of the attributes that we've come to love about Mazda and then tries to apply them to the SUV form factor.

The only car that now dethrones this as my personal favorite in the segment is the much more expensive Honda CR-V. On top of handling well, it's also more efficient with its optional hybrid powertrain. It's more practical, and it has far more comfortable seats. Those are three things that, for most people, would improve their day-to-day commute.

If Mazda could simply reassess the driving position, add a smidge of size to make for a bigger back seat, throw in a hybrid option, and keep the entry-level price aggressive, we think this would scare every brand in the class.

Currently, we still recommend the CX-5; it offers stellar features and substance for the money, handles better than it has the right to, has acceptable comfort levels yet a refined drive, and has a proven powertrain. The sad part is that a third generation isn't guaranteed; its sales numbers alone should warrant a redesign, but the new CX-70 is right around the corner.

Three two-row Mazda SUVs is a lot; add another, and with the CX-5's age, it would be the first to walk the plank. If Mazda does make a boneheaded move like that, at least the CX-5 would have the rare opportunity to go out on top.