Mazda CX-5 2.2d 150 Sport Nav
Mileage 4648 List price £28,695 Target Price £27,202 Price as tested £29,495 Test economy 56.5mpg
GEDDINGTON IS A picturesque village in the Northamptonshire countryside, with a speed camera at either end. I know this because, a few years ago, a relative who had been staying with us telephoned to say he thought he’d seen one of them flashing at him. Indeed it had, and said relative received some shiny new penalty points.
Driving through the same village last month while visiting my parents, I wasn’t going to let the same thing happen to me, so I found myself reaching for the CX-5’S speed limit function for the first time.
It’s an odd sensation, because the accelerator response dulls considerably. If you put your foot down – and I mean bury it into the carpet – you can disable the system and increase your speed, but instead I sailed past both of the village sentinels at exactly 30mph.
The roads around my parents’ place also shift from national speed limits through to 40mph country lanes and into 30mph urban areas with little warning, so the CX-5’S traffic sign recognition system came in handy.
I’ve been impressed with how well the system can pick up traffic signs – even in low light – and display the speed limit on the standard (for Sport Nav models) head-up display. It’s only been caught out when traffic signs have been dirty or otherwise obscured.
The frosty mornings we’ve experienced at times over the winter have also been forcing me to leave the house five minutes early to go and sit in the CX-5 and wait for its front windscreen to demist.
I know that the majority of cars rely on airflow to clear their screens rather than the sort of windscreen heating system that Ford pioneered, but seeing another relative drive off after mere moments in her five-year-old Focus while I was stuck on the driveway in my new CX-5 still stung a little.