3rd row? What years or option packages was / is this available?
Mazda CX-5 has never offered the 3rd row seat, neither on other regions worldwide.
Your friend can consider Nissan Rogue with the available 3rd row seat. I believe this is part of reason Nissan Rogue sold 287,190 units in 2015 which is 44.17% increase from 2014.
The new Mazda CX-9 looks somewhat similar, just a longer version of the CX-5 and have 3 row seating.... CX-5 never had 3 row seating, not much "CUV" have 3 row seating besides the Nissan Rogue I think.
Like the others have said, no CX5 was ever offered with a 3rd row. There's not even room to add one really if you wanted.
Thats actually the reason i bought my CX9. I went it with plans to buy a CX5. But after shoving two baby seats into a CX5 at the dealership, i quickly realized a CX5 was not in my future. Gave the CX9 a try, and have owned it for over 2 years now. Was a great decision on my part. I really hate the ATX trans aspect. But on the same thought, its not like i could have bought a Manual CX5 with any options i wanted anyways. Like you know leather... Any real color option. So i didnt really miss out on anything by giving up on the CX5.