The old adage of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” has never rung truer than with the Mazda CX-5. Tweaked for 2024, it still bears a striking resemblance to the second generation launched back in 2017, and that’s not a bad thing.
Tested here in all-wheel drive Touring trim, which sits right in the middle of the range and starts from $46,312 drive away, this variant is powered by a 2.5-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine. It’s good for 140kW and 252Nm.
It’s offered in Eternal Blue Mica (as tested), Jet Black Mica, Deep Crystal Blue Mica and Platinum Quartz Metallic, Rhodium White Metallic, Machine Grey Metallic, Polymetal Grey Metallic, Soul Red Crystal Metallic and Zircon Sand Metallic.
The exterior is unmistakably Mazda, and as such, a large grille dominates the front, while the headlights wrap around the corners. There are some sharp lines leading to the larger SUV side profile, where you’ll find 19-inch black and silver alloy wheels.
Black plastic trim lines the wheel arches, in a surprisingly nostalgic look. Inside, the instrument cluster features three round dials. Presenting a combination of analogue and digital, it has some nice touches.
We quite like how the speedo places a marker where the detected speed limit is and it doesn’t get too vocal if the needle should wander slightly over. A head-up display sits square in the middle of the windscreen and can be moved around to your liking.
You can also customise exactly what information you would like to display, including speed and a blind spot warning. The interior is roomy, with black leather seats, which are manually adjustable and relatively comfortable.
We would have appreciated a little more side support and some more height adjustability though. That aside, a 10.25-inch touchscreen infotainment display sits in the centre of the dash and features Mazda’s own satellite navigation and radio setup.
You can say goodbye to these when you connect to wireless Android Auto or Apple CarPlay, which is a massive bonus, although we did notice it would drop out when we went through electronic toll booths.
In typical Mazda fashion, you can’t access the touchscreen while you’re driving either, so you’ll need to use the navigation wheel in the centre console. It’s a little clunky to start with, but we figure Mazda has safety in mind here.
Audio is played through a basic, but decent 6-speaker sound system. Mazda have included a wireless charging pad at the front of the centre console although in our test vehicle, it simply wouldn’t work (apparently a common issue according to an online search).
The nearest charging points, which are the only alternative, are under the centre armrest – not in or near the wireless charging location. Second row occupants get a small, yet spacious area with a fold down armrest, two cupholders and a couple of USB ports.
The rear doors swing open to just about 90-degrees for maximum access too, and while a forward-facing child seat would have no problem, we don’t feel a rear-facing version could be installed without compromising front seating comfort.
On the plus side, each of the three seats in the second-row feature anchor points and can be folded down individually, offering versatility when increasing the boot space is required. That cargo area offers 438-litres, expandable to 1,342-litres with the pews down.
The Touring features a manual tailgate, but we like how the cargo cover opens with it, adding flexibility. The floor, which hides a space saver spare, can also be pulled up in sections, allowing owners to customise the space to their liking.
On the road, the CX-5 is a decent sized SUV for a small family, but its G25 engine feels like it’s working hard just to accomplish power delivery. It doesn’t sound great under strain and just feels overworked, or worse, out-of-date. That’s a bit of a shame really.
Fuel consumption is a claimed 7.4-litres/100km, although the best we could do in real world conditions was a 9.8-litres – and that’s with Mazda’s claimed cylinder deactivation capability. Mi-Drive offers three different drive modes for the AWD powertrain.
These include Normal, Sport and Off-Road. Sport holds the gears deeper into the rev range, and sometimes longer than necessary. Even after forcing an upshift (either via the gear lever or paddle shifters), the car would change down a gear again.
The result was unnecessary labouring from the engine. Perhaps the demographic for the CX-5 Touring won’t be using Sport mode too often – we don’t know. What we do know is that it feels almost tokenistic.
Safety-wise, there’s the usual airbags, plus driver attention alert, forward obstruction warning, lane departure warning and lane keep assist, traffic sign recognition, a reverse camera with front and rear parking sensors, and blind-spot monitoring, to name a few.
We found the last of these was a bit overly sensitive, with the light alert in the mirror remaining active with a car seemingly several car-lengths behind. It can be a bit disconcerting out on the road, as you can merge quite safely.
Mazda offer a 5-year unlimited kilometre warranty on the 2024 CX-5, and all-in-all, this AWD SUV is a vehicle that remains relevant as a capable offering. In Touring guise, there’s enough niceties and creature comforts to keep it on the consideration list too.
You can find out more on the Mazda Australia website or by talking to your local dealership. To get a low rate finance quote on your next vehicle purchase, talk to Australia’s best reviewed car finance broker; Credit One.
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Our test vehicle was provided by Mazda Australia for independent review purposes.
