2021 Mazda CX-5: Car and Driver 10Best
Mazda shames a segment full of dullards with a compact crossover that's fun to drive.
www.caranddriver.com
Absolutely, the CX-5 is very deserving.It's great to see the CX-5 win C&D's 10Best - owners here know how great these cars are. But when Mazda as a brand also claims #1 in Consumer Reports' annual car brand reliability rankings in the same year, you know they're doing something right.
Obviously, there are a lot of us who don't care enough about anything listed to have swayed our purchases in a different direction. We bought it for what it is. Mazda doesn't want to own the car business, they seem to be happy with maintaining high production quality, great design, high fun-to-drive quotient and about 2% of US sales.All these accolades are great and will keep the CX-5 selling fairly well, but if you monitor the mainstream online press, you still see a lot of complaints about the car's small interior, non-touchscreen infotainment, obsolete six-speed transmission, mediocre gas mileage, and lack of cool "must have" features like hybrid drivetrains and pano sunroofs. I know the rumor is that Mazda is going to move the car upscale with a RWD platform and inline-six engine, but they also need to make sure the car keeps up with competition overall. Most buyers in this segment buy on feature and value, not how engaging the driving experience is.
- Mark