Mazda CX-5 drives home style, safety
With sleek looks and a bevy of high-end features, the Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring is truly impressive.
The CX-5 delivers a compact, all-wheel-drive SUV that offers a variety of components to keep the driver in full control. Fully-loaded at $34,085, the CX-5 is value-priced and certainly rivals the Honda CR-V.
It all starts with a 2.5-liter DOHC 16-valve 4-cylinder engine that achieves a respectable 187 horsepower. Plenty of power is transferred to the wheels thanks to its 6-speed automatic transmission. The CX-5 boasts great vehicle dynamics and is equipped with vectoring control that gives it a steady feel.
It feels solidly built, and whether you’re driving on back roads or highways, the CX-5 handles asphalt supremely.
Although it gets good gas mileage, it’s not a class leader at 23 mpg in the city, 29 on the highway, for an average of 26 mpg.
The interior looks crisp with parchment-colored leather-trimmed seats and leather covering both the steering wheel and gear selector. The steering wheel has controls for audio and cruise control and the navigation and Bose 10-speaker audio system are controlled by a 7-inch full-color touchscreen display.
The grand touring model has dual-zone automatic climate control. The driver’s seat adjusts eight ways and the passenger’s seat
adjusts six ways.
Both front seats are heated and the rear ones split 40/20/40 with a one-touch fold-down.
There’s a power slidingglass moonroof and the interior has decent cargo space, though less than the CR-V.
Our tester’s machine gray metallic paint job gave the exterior a clean and unique look.
There’s a shark fin antenna and a rear spoiler on the roof and the bright finish on the dual exhaust and the 19-inch aluminum-alloy wheels contrast nicely with the exterior.
The CX-5 is equipped with LED headlights, taillights, fog lights and daytime running lights.
There’s no shortage of convenience and safety features on this vehicle. For convenience, there’s keyless entry, push button start, rain-sensing variable intermittent windshield wipers and a power rear liftgate. Safety-wise, there’s dynamic stability control, a traction control system, advanced blind spot monitoring, radar cruise control, and lane departure warning with lane-keep assist.
The Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring model is seriously worth considering and will give the Honda CR-V a run for its money.