Mazda CX-5 review

The basics are that the CX-5 comes with five seats and is nicely roomy, if a little dark inside owing to lots of black trim and the swish styling narrowing its windows a little.

While the doors open and close with a more hollow-sounding thunk than its premium rivals, the rest of the cabin is on par with them, with those new, comfier seats allied to plush materials. It’s a thoroughly nice place to be…
 
… so long as you like things traditional. Yep, like that focus on petrol rather than electric power, the CX-5 keeps things relatively old-school inside. There are all the goodies you could wish for – Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard fit, and you can wirelessly charge your phone – but they operate through a slender screen that operates not by touch, but a rotary controller a la BMW’s iDrive, which sits just behind the gear lever. In truth it all works fantastically intuitively, albeit once you’ve finally adjusted to the fact you can’t prod the screen itself, by which point it’ll probably be awash with frustrated fingerprints.

The dials are a similar mix of old and new tech, with an analogue speedo and digital rev counter, albeit one that mimics the analogue style. A cost saving measure to avoid making two different parts for petrol and diesel, we imagine. That focus on refinement certainly makes for a quiet car, too, so long as you don’t rev those petrols too hard.

There’s plenty of room for adults in the back – one six-footer should be able to sit behind another without much discomfort – and at 522 litres, the boot is roomy. Go for Newground trim and said boot comes with a reversible waterproof floor, while the air vents on the dashboard get bright green trim to punch through the interior sobriety.