In the USA most if not all cars come with maintenance free batteries. All the cars I’ve owned did. I think the problem is people here won’t check them and might take them to a drive through oil change place that won’t know to do it either.... which will probably result in more failures. What’s the advantage to the EFB if you don’t have ieloop? I got 5 years out of the battery I just replaced on my St. It actually wasn’t testing bad yet but at 5 years I figured replacement was a good idea. Average is about 3-5 years from my experience.
Only cars with i-stop and/or i-eloop comes with an EFB
for all other Japanese built cars (not just Mazdas), they come with a low maintenance Panasonic or Yuasa regular battery (not EFB)... either with the screw caps, or twist off caps
in either case, they just be maintained for longevity, especially in hot climates (southern US)
batteries are expensive these days because lead is expensive because the chinese are buying them up for their own uses, thus high demand... between the inconvenience of having to change the battery, high cost, and environmental impact of battery disposal/recycling/manufacturing, it makes better sense to get as many days you can out of your car battery as much as possible
invest in a smart battery charger (Battery Tender is affordable, but very basic and good) and a battery tester (Solar BA5 is the cheapest halfway decent tester available, or if you have an EFB, Solar BA9)... you will keep reusing both of these for years to come over many cars that you will own... they'll quickly pay for themselves after a couple of years when you manage to extend the life of your car battery... if you're tight on money, start with just a good smart charger first as battery testing can be done at the parts store, dealer, independent garages, etc... just having your own is a lot more convenient, though
Among the most popular and known good smart chargers are:
NOCO
Battery Tender
CTEK
Although NOCO claims EFB compatibility, their lack of details/information about how they handle EFBs is not confidence inspiring, so of the 3, only CTEK has models that are verifiably EFB compatible... if you don't have EFB (all CX-5s), or don't plan to have car with it, then any brand is fine... otherwise, get the CTEK (only MXS 5.0 is EFB compatible in the US... European versions have more models that are EFB compatible)