The graphics are shiny and glossy, appearing at least a decade out of date. Icons on the homescreen look like they were designed by an intern at a toy manufacturer. With amateurish graphics and a confusing user interface, it is one of my least favorite multimedia arrangements available today. These were luxury-car amenities just a few years ago and here they are, standard fare in a mass-market crossover.Īn 8-inch color touch-enabled display is perched high on this vehicle's dashboard, home to the clumsy Mazda Connect infotainment system. In addition to all that stuff, push-button start, rain-sensing windshield wipers and keyless entry are included in all versions of the CX-5. None of it exhibited any blatantly bad behavior during my testing.

This includes advanced driver aids like lane-departure warning, adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go capability, blind-spot monitoring, and rear cross-traffic alert, to name a few. Mazda's i-Activsense suite of safety features is standard across the range. There's plenty of substance behind the CX-5's pretty face. While adequate, the CX-5 is appreciably less capacious than the CR-V, which offers 39.2 cubes of storage space behind its second-row seat and 75.8 with the backrest folded. Fold that 40:20:40-split backrest flat, which you can effortlessly do by pulling a couple small levers in the cargo hold, and that figure grows to 59.6 cubic feet. As for luggage space, the CX-5 provides 30.9 cubic feet behind the rear seat.

Mazda cx 5 review