Martjn Ten Brink – VP of Sales at Mazda Europe – called the CX-5 a ‘hero’ for Mazda. The company has seen its global sales increase by 25% from 1.25 million when the CX-5 was introduced in 2012, to over 1.5 million in 2016. In Europe, the results are even better with a 60% sales increase from 139,000 to 238,000 in the same period.
Brink said that they paid a lot of attention to feedback from their customers when it came to designing the new car. Brink sited NVH (Noise Vibration and Harshness) as one of the main gripes that Mazda engineers had worked on to make this one of the quietest cars in its class.
According to Mazda, the body is 15% stiffer than the previous generation, the steering now uses ridged couplings to improve responsiveness and suppress vibrations, and the 2.2 SKYACTIV-D diesel engine include a Natural Sound Smoother, which is a damper on each of the piston pins that is supposed to ‘cancel’ out the vibrations caused by vertical motions.
Brink also mentioned the new radar based cruise control system. Called Mazda Radar Cruise Control (MRCC), it includes a Stop-and-Go function which enables the system maintain a safe distance from the vehicle in front, braking the CX-5 to a stop and then setting off again, when the obstruction moves.
The CX-5 is offered with either a 2.0 SKYACTIV-G petrol engine or a 2.2 SKYACTIV-D diesel. Both are available in front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive, although the petrol engine is detuned slightly when ordered with AWD. The petrol is available with 163bhp (157bhp in AWD form) and the diesel can be had with either 148bhp or a higher-powered 173bhp AWD version.
Inside, the new CX-5 can be had with a windscreen projected head-up display in full-colour. The display can be split up to include the navigation route, vehicle speed, and traffic sign recognition information.