It’s behind you (apparently)
It strikes me as somewhat optimistic to scroll the words ‘Please Check Surroundings For Safety’ across the bottom of the CX-5’s rear-view camera screen. Just five minutes of post-jetwash Mudfordshire motoring is more than enough to re-transform the image from just about perfect to Jackson Pollock so comprehensively that you wonder why more car makers don’t hide the lens, VW-style, under the badge.
I guess it comes down to prioritising where to spend the dosh. Mazda’s recent drive is towards a new generation of technologies that, by harnessing our natural ability to balance our heads atop our shoulders, purport to make it even easier for a mounted bowman to hit the bullseye at full gallop… Laudable indeed to wish to create a decent-sized SUV that’s good to drive. But the CX-5 hasn’t yet benefitted from this latest deployment of engineering cunningnesses, and is already good to drive. When it does, though, I’ll wager that the dog will be puking aplenty long before the driver feels he may have ascended to a new plateau of driving pleasure.
Which is why I really hope that, along with whatever other new talents the next CX-5 is armed, it also boasts a mud-free rear camera.