Mazda CX-5

The interior features and layout of the Mazda CX-5 feel a little old school, but the designers have invested a lot of time and effort to give the cabin space, a stylish and appealing look. The dashboard of the car has no eye-catchy element and hosts the conventional design. Coming to the centre-instrument cluster, we see an upgraded MZD Connect infotainment system. Also present are ubiquitous features like Apple Carplay and Android Auto. The exciting element inside the cabin space are the 10-speaker Bose Sound System, offering crisp audio quality for the music lovers. Menus can be switched through a rotary knob. The seats and the steering wheel are also wrapped in leather upholstery which gives a premium look to the cabin space. The seats are also powered in the top-spec trim and the rear seats are reclining which further adds to the comfort factor. The cabin is pretty spacious and there is a 490-litre of space behind the rear seats. 

Further, the cabin space offers a 40:20:20 split for the seats and this helps in accommodating the bigger stuff. 

The exterior aesthetics of Mazda CX-5 are also redesigned to give a refreshingly new appeal to the car. The front fascia of the car dons slim headlights with LED Daytime Running Lights. The LED have high beam assistance for aid in driving at night. The beam assistance works in such a way that when you drive at night, the beam switches to high, and when a vehicle is detected from the opposite direction, the beam switches to low. 

The front profile is also dominated by a sharp grille which makes the overall front holds a sharp shape. The whole body of the car holds contoured shapes and curves and the hood of the car also looks like a sculpted ornament. Mazda CX-5 rides on 19-inch alloy wheels which makes it look massive from the side face. Coming to the rear profile of the car we see a shark fin antenna and LED tail-lights. Dimensions wise, the Mazda CX-5 measures 4,540 mm x 1,840 mm x 1,670mm in length, width, and height respectively.

Coming from the House of the Japanese automaker, the Mazda CX-5 chassis have been tuned in such a way that it delivers the best of the ride and handling feature. Apart from amazing ride quality, the steering also has a good grip which allows the driver to spin the car to turns and corners. Mazda’s G-Vectoring system takes care of how the chassis will behave depending upon how much the engine is churning and what torque it is producing at the moment. If the system detects that the vehicle is turning too fast, it cuts off torque to the outer wheel, to offer stability to the car.

Mazda offers three engine options to the Philippines market. There are two petrol and one diesel engine. The diesel engine option is a Euro 4 compliant unit and measures 2,200 cc. The turbo-diesel unit churns out 175 PS of power and 420 Nm of torque. The bigger petrol engine is again a 4-cylinder unit and makes 190 PS and 250 Nm from its 2.5-litre naturally aspirated heart. For the smaller 2.0-litre petrol, Mazda a power figure of 155 PS and torque of 200 Nm. All three engines come only with manual transmission. Mazda offers AWD for the diesel and 2.5-litre engine whereas the smaller 2.0-litre can only be ordered with a front-wheel-drive configuration.

Out of all the three engine options, the best driving pleasure can be derived out of the diesel engine. The efficiency is very good, offering a good 20 kmpl depending on the manner it is driven and the gearshifts are also smooth. 

Mazda offers the CX-5 with Dynamic Stability Control, ABS with EBD, brake assist, front and rear parking sensors as well as a rearview camera. In terms of advanced tech, there is also the Blind Spot Monitoring System, Lane Departure Warning, and Lane Keep Assist. GNCAP has given the Mazda CX-5 a five-star crash safety rating.

Mazda CX-5 looks classy and gives an upscale feel to the viewers. The highlights were new headlights. Also, it has mechanical upgrades like vector plus.
Any sharp turns, it is smooth, the engines will not blast out with noises. The process of acceleration is also quite smooth. Driving through crowded places with this four-wheeler is easy, while others claim to be easy on paper, they fail to deliver, but this one delivers. There are six trims of the Mazda CX-5 on offer in the Philippines and prices start from Php 1,550,000 and go all the way to Php 2,222,400.