2022 Mazda CX-5 turbo (inc. 0-100) review

CarExpert

This is one of the few SUVs that don't have a massive waiting list. Is it worth delving into the Mazda CX-5 world if you need a medium-sized SUV? Paul Maric checks out the 2022 Mazda CX-5 Akera 2.5T to see if it's any good after its mild refresh.  Hardness tester results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE  More Mazda content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/mazda More Mazda CX-5 content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/mazda/cx-5  Skip Ahead: Intro: 00:00 Exterior 0:54 Interior 3:16 Infotainment 4:48 Safety tech 6:58 Practicality 8:15 On the road 13:25 0-100km/h 14:41 Verdict 18:24  We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.  Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.  Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1  You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.  Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you!  Follow us on social media to see what we're up to and to ask any questions!  CarExpert: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarExpertAus Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CarExpertAus Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carexpert.com.au  Paul Maric: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulMaric Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric  #mazda #cx5 #review

Transcript

00:00 G'day, I'm Paul. So the Mazda CX-5, it's one of the most popular SUVs in the segment here in Australia

00:06 And it's just received a minor facelift

00:09 So we thought we'd get behind the wheel of this while it is still nice and fresh. This right here is the top specification

00:15 CX-5 Akira. It's got the 2.5 litre turbo and all-wheel drive. This is priced at a little under

00:22 $54,000 but if that's too expensive the entire CX-5 range kicks off at a little over 32 grand. This competes with the

00:29 things like the Kia Sportage, the Hyundai Tucson, the Toyota RAV4. There are loads and loads of competitors in this segment.

00:36 Today we're going to do a detailed review of this car so if you do want to skip ahead to other parts of the review

00:40 you can use the time codes on the screen or if you're on YouTube scroll down and use the chapters below

00:45 and if you haven't done so already please subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon

00:49 that way you'll be notified every single time we do a new review.

00:54 Now let's talk exterior. So you've got nine colours to pick from. Most of them are free except some metallic colours that are $495.

01:01 This is kind of the signature CX-5 colour. I think it's Soul Red is what they call it.

01:06 Now in terms of the changes there really hasn't been a great deal that has changed. So you can see a bit of a nip and tuck there

01:12 over with the headlights in this bottom section but for the most part it looks very similar to the last CX-5 update.

01:19 Look I still think it looks good but I think the CX-5 is probably starting to show its age a little bit now

01:24 in comparison to some cars in this segment. Have a think about things like the new Mitsubishi Outlander.

01:28 It really does look quite futuristic and much bigger. This still feels and looks like a smaller vehicle

01:34 but I think it is still a good looking car. So you've got your chrome highlights around the grille there.

01:39 You've got that waterfall grille design, a giant Mazda logo there, camera here for the 360 camera

01:44 and then some cooling down the bottom. They have updated some of the styling around the side that I'll run through in a sec

01:49 but you can see down the bottom here that you have the body colour and then this matte black finish as well.

01:54 So this protects you against little scuffs and things like that.

01:58 Let's whip around to the headlights. So up here you've got full LED headlights with an adaptive beam.

02:03 You also get LED daytime running lights and then an indicator built into those as well.

02:07 Really nice looking headlight cluster and I love the adaptive LED function. It actually works quite well at night time.

02:12 It gives you good projection down the road. Down the side here we've got a set of 19-inch alloy wheels.

02:17 I quite like the design. It's pretty simple and straightforward. It's got a bit of gloss to it

02:22 but for the most part it looks like a matte finish. They've also gone with body coloured side moulds here

02:28 instead of the black setup they have on some of their cars. And you can picture things like CX-30

02:33 that have these giant wheel arch protectors whereas this has gone for a more toned down version.

02:37 Especially here with the top spec. I think this is a really good look and it just gives the car a bit of a stylish presence.

02:43 Up the top here you've got an indicator built into that wing mirror with a camera on the side.

02:48 And let's come around to the back of the car. Now around the back here you'll find LED tail lights.

02:53 Again, similar to the new Mazda 3. It's quite a pronounced setup and it looks really good at night time.

02:58 SkyActiv-G which is the engine technology in this car and then Turbo because this is the Turbo petrol version.

03:05 And over on the side here CX-5 and all wheel drive. Now let me know what you think in the comments section below.

03:10 Is the CX-5 starting to show its age or do you think it is still a good looking mid-size SUV?

03:15 So we are inside the updated CX-5. So here is the key. You've got the Mazda logo there.

03:21 Then on the back you have nothing and then buttons on the side you have lock, unlock, boot.

03:27 It's a proximity sensing key so that stays in your pocket. Then you have a push button start just in here

03:32 with a little bit of chrome around the outside. Ok so design wise let's have a chat about this.

03:37 The Mazda CX-5 has been out for a little while now but they have taken steps to refresh the design

03:42 and just give it a nicer feel inside the cabin. So gone is MZD Connect on this particular spec.

03:48 You still do get MZD Connect on the lower models but this one gets the bigger infotainment screen

03:52 that I'll run through in just a second. You get real wood along the dashboard there.

03:57 And I just love the way that they have divided these sections of the dashboard without having to resort to

04:02 too much piano black. It is piano black down here but for the most part all of this just looks really nice

04:07 and classy and they have gone with a lot of soft touch materials across the cabin.

04:10 Very handy if you do have kids and that sort of stuff. This stuff is easy to keep clean which is good news.

04:15 Now what about your touch points? So that is nice and soft. That is very soft as well.

04:22 How soft are they? Well we've got our durometer. We've tested the main surfaces in this cabin.

04:26 If you want to see how this car compares to others that we've tested before, have a look at the link in the description.

04:31 Now what about build quality? We'll do our little flex test. That all feels pretty solid there.

04:37 That is not too bad. And our door test.

04:40 That sounds fantastic. It has a really sort of strong European feel to it.

04:47 Let's talk infotainment. So this is going to be important if you've got kids in the car and you need to keep them entertained.

04:53 So gone is MZD Connect in the upper spec models. Now you have this 10.25 inch display.

04:59 It's a wide screen display. We've seen a similar setup in the new Mazda 3.

05:03 And it just looks so nice and classy on the screen there. It really doesn't take up too much real estate.

05:07 And it looks like it belongs there as opposed to something that's been sort of tacked on and blocks your vision and all that sort of stuff.

05:13 So it comes with inbuilt satellite navigation. It's not a touchscreen but it is all driven using this iDrive style controller down the bottom here.

05:21 So you've got some shortcut buttons along the top and sides. Then you have a rotary controller in the center section there.

05:26 So if we go back to the home menu, in terms of entertainment, you have AM/FM/DAB+ digital radio.

05:33 That's all plumbed through a 10 speaker Bose branded sound system with a subwoofer.

05:38 The sound system is fantastic. So if you are into your music, you're going to really enjoy the sound system.

05:42 Pump some beats and all that sort of fun stuff.

05:45 In terms of smartphone mirroring, you have both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Full screen integration. That looks fantastic.

05:51 The only downside is because it's not touchscreen, you have to use this.

05:55 And I think this is just a flaw of Apple CarPlay. But when you do push sideways on that controller,

06:00 instead of jumping over to the menu on the side, all it does is move left and right,

06:05 which is the same function as turning the rotary controller as well.

06:08 So I'm hoping Apple addresses that and makes it a little easier to use.

06:12 But outside of that, it's a really good integration. And then you also have the ability to use voice recognition with Siri.

06:17 It also has native voice recognition as well for things like making phone calls and that type of thing.

06:21 I'll show you what Android Auto looks like. So again, full screen integration.

06:26 The difference here is though that using the joystick allows you to actually go between this center section and the right section.

06:33 And it uses the entire screen. So it dedicates that side to maps and then the rest of this to the standard Android Auto functions.

06:40 So yeah, really good setup. And I love that both of these work really well on this size of screen.

06:46 There's also a screen ahead of the driver. It's pretty straightforward.

06:48 So you've got a speedometer, you've got your fuel range, you've got your fuel economy.

06:53 And then using the info button, you can flick between different menus on the screen there as well.

06:58 In terms of safety technology, you have AEB that works forwards and reverse. It detects pedestrians as well.

07:04 You've got a blind spot and also built into the wing mirror. You have radar cruise control and a lane departure warning.

07:09 There is also a semi-autonomous steering function. Works okay. I guess I constantly mention this in all of our reviews.

07:16 But yeah, roadworks and that sort of stuff really confuses it a lot.

07:19 And you end up fighting with the car as it tries to send you down lines that shouldn't exist anymore.

07:23 So, you know, it's something that I generally switch off unless I'm on a highway where they're only very gradual turns.

07:28 And it's all very straightforward for the car.

07:30 In terms of parking, you have both front and rear parking sensors and a 360 camera.

07:34 This is what the camera looks like.

07:36 So, yeah, look, the quality is actually not too bad.

07:39 It's a little bit grainy, but for the most part, that's a decent quality.

07:43 You can see our little ducks in the background there.

07:45 At nighttime, it lights up nicely too with those LED taillights.

07:49 And then down the side here, you can obviously see the 360 view.

07:52 So when it does come to parking, this is going to be easy enough to slot the car in with both parking sensors and then a litany of camera angles.

07:58 Now, there is one other thing I want to show you. There's a view button down here.

08:00 So when you do hit that, you then get different angles.

08:03 So that's looking out the front there. You then hit that again.

08:06 Then it looks out the back.

08:08 And then you can also get views down the side when it comes to parking so you don't curb your wheels.

08:12 So, yeah, plenty of different camera angles.

08:14 Righto, practicality. Where are you going to hook up all your devices and stuff?

08:17 Well, down here, you've got a 12-volt outlet.

08:20 You have wireless phone charging down the bottom here.

08:23 It has a power switch as well, which means you can rest other things on there without worrying about it zapping them.

08:28 In the centre console here, you have two USB ports plus an additional 12-volt outlet.

08:33 This is also where you're going to find a card reader for the satellite navigation.

08:38 In terms of storing your phone, well, it can live down there on the wireless charger.

08:42 Or, alternatively, you can whack it there in the centre console. Plenty of room for that.

08:46 Coffee cups. So, look at that.

08:48 They are designed for Paul-sized coffees, so very good.

08:52 And then we have our bottles. So, little bottle first.

08:55 Fits into there nicely. You've got some teeth to hold it in place.

08:58 And then inside the door, not a problem.

09:01 I'll try a big bottle.

09:03 Doesn't quite fit into there, but look at that.

09:06 Works a charm inside the door as well, so it is family-friendly.

09:10 In terms of other storage, what else have we got here?

09:12 So, this section comes out, so you have a little coin tray if you need it.

09:16 The centre console is OK. It's not massive. It could be just a tiny bit bigger.

09:20 Then you've got the glove box over here. The glove box is reasonably sized as well.

09:25 I guess once you have the manual in there, it kind of robs you of most of that space.

09:29 And then up the top here, you have a sunglasses holder.

09:32 What about your comfort features? Well, you have dual-zone automatic climate control.

09:35 You have heated and cooled seats for this front row.

09:38 Heated seats for the second row.

09:40 Heated steering wheel.

09:41 But in terms of the seats themselves, you have electric adjustments.

09:44 You can go forwards, backwards. The backrest can go forwards, backwards.

09:47 You can lift the base up as well.

09:50 And then you also have a little bit of lumbar adjustment.

09:53 Seat memory too.

09:54 In terms of steering, you can go down, up, in, out.

09:59 One thing that's worth pointing out as well is that these seats are very comfortable.

10:03 So, you have perforations there for that cooling, but also plenty of side bolster.

10:07 And they're very, I guess, soft and hugging.

10:10 So, they keep you nice and comfortable while you're on a longer drive

10:13 with all these soft touch points as well. It really works nicely.

10:16 And then you also have a sunroof here as well to shine light on a dreary day.

10:22 Okay, so backseat of the CX-5.

10:25 So, in terms of room, it's actually not too bad.

10:27 So, I've got my seat pretty far back, but you can see here, knee room is good.

10:30 Toe room is excellent. Headroom is very good as well.

10:34 I do like as well that they've followed the theme of the front.

10:37 So, you're getting that wood grain there.

10:39 It all still feels really nice and premium here.

10:41 Some manufacturers, when you get to the second row,

10:43 they just cheap out with all these hard plastics and stuff.

10:46 But Mazda has kept it very, very nice back here

10:49 and kept that premium feel to the cabin.

10:51 So, map pockets over here. You've got air vents down the bottom.

10:55 ISOFIX points on the two outboard seats, but you also have three top tether points.

10:59 You've got a centre armrest here with two cup holders.

11:02 So, bottle slots into there. You've got some rubber teeth to stop it moving around.

11:07 Bottle then easily fits into the door as well.

11:10 So, these are where your heated seat controls are for the second row.

11:14 Then behind this little nook here, you have a storage slot

11:17 and then some additional USB charging outlets.

11:20 2.1 amps, so these are faster chargers.

11:23 I do like that they've integrated all of that into there.

11:25 It's a pretty neat setup and it's just, again, another soft place to rest your elbow

11:29 when you are sitting around and mum and dad are doing the driving and all that kind of thing.

11:33 These seats do recline slightly, so if you do want to kick back a little bit,

11:36 they have just a little bit of recline to them to give you that extra bit of comfort.

11:40 Now, what about the window? Let's see if it goes all the way down.

11:43 So, auto down on the windows. No, not quite.

11:46 So, it stops around there, but I think that's enough.

11:48 That's not too bad, short of actually going all the way down.

11:52 Now, cargo space. Let's open this. It's a power tailgate.

11:57 Slow one.

12:00 Alright, there it is. So, you have a little under 450 litres of cargo space here,

12:05 but there are a couple of clever features.

12:07 So, I'll show you this to start with. So, this clips in up the top there.

12:12 Then with the floor. So, beneath here, you've got a space saver spare tyre

12:16 with a big old subbie in the centre there,

12:18 but what you can do is get rid of this section if you need to.

12:22 That can slide in under there.

12:24 Obviously, if you don't have a space saver spare sitting under here,

12:28 you can then load extra things into here pretty easily.

12:32 And then in addition to that, you have a 12-volt outlet off to the side

12:35 and then hooks along the front there.

12:38 I'll show you what it looks like with bags inside.

12:40 So, laptop bag there and a suitcase there.

12:44 So, not a bad space. I think if you're putting a pram and stuff like that in here,

12:47 you should have just enough room there to fit your odds and ends.

12:51 What you can do, though, is expand the space,

12:54 and this actually has a pretty clever setup.

12:56 So, it's a 40/20/40 split folding seat.

12:59 Pulling this lever here will drop that side,

13:01 but what you can do is just drop the centre or the whole thing.

13:07 So, it means, well, push that.

13:09 It does mean that you do get the versatility there of having all of them down

13:12 or just part of them down as well, so it's not a bad setup.

13:15 When you do that, it gives you a little under 1,350 litres worth of cargo space.

13:20 OK, we're on the road in the CX-5, the 2.5-litre turbo.

13:29 So, it is powered by a 2.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine.

13:34 It produces 170 kilowatts of power and 420 newton metres of torque.

13:39 That is a hefty amount.

13:41 So, that means when you do sink the boot in,

13:43 it actually pins you back in the seat and starts darting forward.

13:47 It's a really impressive setup, and of all the SUVs in this segment,

13:51 this probably feels the sportiest just as a straight-out-of-the-box SUV.

13:55 So, if that is important to you,

13:57 this is probably one worth looking at in terms of that punch in the back.

14:00 And that's all mated to a six-speed automatic transmission.

14:03 The transmission's actually really good.

14:05 As you sort of punch the throttle, it's up and ready to go.

14:07 It's able to lean on its torque band to give you the push in the back

14:10 without diving back through gears.

14:12 It's actually a really impressive setup, and it communicates well with the engine.

14:15 Now, let's talk fuel economy.

14:16 So, Mazda claims a combined figure of 8.2 litres per 100km.

14:21 We are currently sitting on 11.3, so it is significantly higher.

14:26 This car has been predominantly doing city driving before it came out here,

14:29 so this is probably higher than where you would expect it in real life.

14:32 But when you consider the performance this has,

14:34 that figure probably isn't too bad when you know that you can just drop the hammer

14:37 whenever you want and get pinned back in your seat.

14:40 Mazda quotes a 0-100 time of 7.7 seconds.

14:44 This is how it went up against our stopwatch.

14:47 [engine revving]

14:49 Now, this being the all-wheel drive, it's actually a really interesting system.

15:02 The previous all-wheel drive system Mazda used sent torque to the back all the time.

15:07 So, it was only a small amount when the car wasn't under load,

15:09 but it was always sending torque to the rear.

15:11 And the whole purpose of that was to preload the rear

15:13 so that if it did need to pulse torque down the back, it was ready to roll.

15:17 Well, they've now got a new system where, to save fuel,

15:19 it's not sending torque to the back,

15:21 but the rear wheels rotate 1.1% faster than the front wheels,

15:26 so that if they do need to send torque to the rear, they are effectively preloaded.

15:31 How that works, I actually have no idea.

15:33 I don't know. We're called the car expert.

15:35 But if you do understand how that works, let me know in the comments section below.

15:39 Perhaps they're using a lower friction bearing or something.

15:41 I don't know, but I find that system really fascinating.

15:44 Now, how does all that work in practice?

15:46 Well, when you do drop a wheel off the edge, or when you do accelerate quickly,

15:49 when you have a split of torque across the front axle and it needs to send it to the rear,

15:53 it is generally pretty responsive, and they probably only have saved

15:56 a minor amount of time in terms of that torque-sensing activity.

16:00 But it is cool to see that they are actually developing these new systems to save fuel all the time.

16:04 Now, what about your drive modes?

16:05 So, you select them down here using the MI Drive function.

16:09 You have Normal, Sport, and when you go into Sport mode,

16:12 that whole display lights up nice and red there.

16:15 And then you go back through the range. You can go to Off-Road mode as well.

16:19 Off-Road mode is quite interesting because it does adjust your traction control systems.

16:24 But Mazda describes the Off-Road mode as also being able to lock the rear differential as required.

16:30 And I don't know whether it physically has a rear differential lock,

16:33 or whether it's just pulsing the brakes, but it is good that they do have a system there

16:37 if you do any light off-roading because you do have around that 200mm worth of ground clearance here,

16:41 which will get you onto a camping site or something very light in terms of off-road.

16:46 Now, what's it like once you sync the slippery and put it into Sport mode here?

16:51 God, it really just pushes you in the back.

16:54 Punch it through this corner.

16:56 It actually has a fair bit of go. There is a degree of torque steer there.

17:00 So, as you start piling on that throttle, it really starts to hunt a little bit.

17:04 So, that's not great, but it's not out of this world.

17:08 Like, it is still okay, it's just worth noting that there is torque steer there.

17:12 So, when you do push the throttle, it is going to wander a little bit on the road and you just need to hold on to the wheel.

17:16 Let's talk about the ride.

17:18 So, this is something that Mazda's done a really good job with because it's not too soft,

17:22 but it's also not too firm. It really just strikes a great balance there.

17:26 So, when you are out on the highway, it's nice and smooth.

17:28 But when you do go for a bit of a fang and you want to have some fun,

17:31 it's still firm enough to keep the body nice and flat,

17:34 even on sort of things like that where you've got cow grates.

17:37 What are they called?

17:38 Cattle grids.

17:39 Even on stuff like that where you've got cattle grids, it sort of does a decent enough job.

17:44 It is worth also pointing out how quiet this is.

17:46 So, on course-chip roads, highways, it's dead silent in here,

17:50 and Mazda says that they have improved the sound deadening in this car as part of this update.

17:54 And you can actually feel it because the original CX-5 did have a fair bit of road noise that came through,

17:59 but they've done a great job here in terms of making it a really nice and quiet environment to be driving in.

18:04 What's visibility like?

18:05 So, down the front there, it's pretty good.

18:07 The wing mirrors are really big. It's got a blind spot monitor built into them.

18:10 Visibility out the back is really good as well.

18:12 You have a large envelope there that is very easy to see out of.

18:15 So, the Mazda CX-5, I can confidently say in the medium SUV segment,

18:27 it's one of the few cars that actually puts a big smile on your face when you drive it.

18:31 It has so much punch. That 2.5-litre turbo is just a segment leader in terms of smiles per throttle application.

18:39 It is let down a little bit by room inside.

18:41 It's nowhere near as big as something like a Toyota RAV4,

18:43 so if you do have a growing family, it is probably worth considering that you're going to outgrow this pretty quickly.

18:48 But, outside of that, it's just really nice,

18:50 and the update that they've put in with that new infotainment system just brings it into this day and age

18:54 in terms of connectivity and all that sort of stuff.

18:56 So, have you bought the new CX-5?

18:58 Let me know in the comments section below, or do you own an existing CX-5?

19:02 What's it been like to live with?

19:04 There's some noisy mates over there.

19:06 If you did enjoy this video, please make sure you like it and share it with your mates,

19:09 and if you haven't done so already, subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon before I blow away.

19:14 But, until next time, see you later.

19:16 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Category

Transcript

Recommended