Updated for 2015, the latest Euro 6-compliant Mazda6 has also had a mid-life facelift. A policy of short life cycles for major models is one of the factors driving ever rising sales, allied to the addition of crossovers into yet more segments.
While some, far larger firms such as FCA just keep on lengthening their core vehicles’ life cycles, little, independent Mazda somehow manages to keep on launching new cars. This year in Europe we’ve seen the new 2, a facelifted 6, a similarly updated CX-5, the new CX-3 and soon, a new MX-5. Phew. Plus, the 3 is fresh and selling well, even if it really needs a wagon to help it against locally-built rivals. But all in all, as an importer, Mazda is punching way above its weight.
The J35R series CX-5, which competes with the Qashqai, replaced the Tribute in 2012 (production started in November 2011), so it was no surprise to see a facelifted model announced a few months back. Mazda also took the opportunity to make its own diesel engine Euro 6-compliant, update the infotainment system and give the exterior some slight alterations.
CX-5s for European markets are manufactured in Hiroshima at one of two Ujina plants which make the vehicle. Local capacity is a combined 240,000 units, the company announced in March 2013, as it added Ujina 1. China is another major region for the car, so there is assembly in Nanjing by the Changan Mazda Automobile JV.
Additional build takes place at an OJSC Sollers plant in Russia’s Far Eastern Federal District. The CX-5 is made on the same line at the factory in Vladivostok as the Mazda6 sedan. Still in Asia, but this time far to the south, the Japanese firm’s Malaysian partner Bernoz originally assembled this model and the 3 at its Inokom factory. In 2014, Mazda opened its own production facility in the country and CX-5 assembly switched out of Padang Meha. Cars assembled at Kulim are now exported to Thailand.
Here in Europe, this crossover is available with the choice of 2.0-litre petrol and 2.2-litre diesel engines. Mazda calls these units SKYACTIV-G 2.0 and SKYACTIV-D 2.2, respectively. They are distinguished by a high compression ratio, which reportedly assists in lowering both emissions and fuel consumption.
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By GlobalDataThe as-tested model featured the latest 175PS 2,191cc diesel. Thanks to 420Nm of torque it will easily haul five occupants and their luggage. The boot’s capacity is 503 cubic litres or if you tip the seats forwards, that becomes 1,620 litres. In AWD Sport Nav form, the car has 19” alloys and while they look great and don’t affect the ride too badly, one of the downsides is there is no full size spare. Which means a puncture repair kit. Even without the weight of the spare, and with a fuel tank that takes just 58 litres, the CX-5 is surprisingly heavy, given Mazda’s claims about its supposed lightweight architecture.
Kerb weight is 1,688kg and this includes an average 75kg driver. This is one of the reasons why acceleration is nothing special: 0-62mph takes 8.8 seconds, and the top speed is 129mph. Nonetheless, CO2 is a competitive 136g/km and the Combined average is 54.3mpg. On test, I saw overall consumption in the mid-40s.
In Sport Nav spec, a slick six-speed manual is standard but there’s the option of an automatic too. Many brands won’t offer a self-shifter and diesel combination so full marks to Mazda for doing so.
The interiors of the brand’s cars are deservedly becoming much admired. You look inside any Mazda and wonder how Toyota Motor Europe’s Yaris and Auris, or Honda’s Civic manage to get it all so messy. This is clearly a premium brand in the making and MME knows that that is where it needs to be headed, especially with some major currency risks to be continually managed. The company once had European productoin but that was in the days of Ford ownership and it helped to lift capacity at the American company’s Valencia plant.
Sit in the driver’s seat and all ahead of you is well laid out. To your left sits a rotary controller which scrolls through five main menus on a dashboard-mounted central screen. These are Apps, Entertainment, Communication, Navigation and Settings. Thankfully the HVAC controls are not included: these are instead where they ought to be, easily controlled, and not hidden away and needing multiple presses to locate.
There is a lot of room to move inside this car and anyone over six feet tall has nothing to worry about in either the front or the back. There are some nice details such as the curved metal-looking interior door handles. These are the same shape as the ends of the silver plastic line on the shield-like grille. And no, this wasn’t mentioned to me as some contrivance, it’s just something I noticed.
I wasn’t too keen on the off-white leather seats as a previous tester’s child seat had darkened the material, which is a bad design fault. There’s not much else to knock about the interior, with sensible features aplenty, including an especially deep cubby under the central armrest. Someone has had the further thoughtfulness to specify cupholders which will take tall bottles. That means your coffee or can won’t wobble and spill.
If you’re a bit of a plastics fetishist, you might be disappointed by the hard stuff used for the vent open and close dials: in a Hyundai or Kia it would be rubbery-soft and grippier for your finger. And on the topic of shiny plastics, the engine start or shut down button is awkwardly positioned behind the headlights/foglamps/ indicator stalk. I recently drove a Mazda6 and while the interior is very similarly laid out, this button is visible.
Enough then of the minor negatives, as the overall car is usefully improved in many other ways over the original launched here in 2012. MME’s latest market share is at 1.4% according to ACEA (1 Jan-31 May) and its 81,231 sales in this region place it ahead of Mini, Suzuki, JLR, Mitsubishi and Honda. Apart from MMC, all of these have manufacturing operations within the EU so Mazda should be proud of its ongoing achievement as an importer. The just-launched CX-3 will likely improve things in a bigger way, and the MX-5 should keep boosting the brand’s image.
Future Mazda crossovers
Looking ahead, the company’s SUV and crossover line-up still has some room for expansion, the obvious gap being between the CX-5 and CX-9. A stretched version of the car reviewed above is said to be under development as an overdue successor to the original CX-7, production of which ceased in 2012. There is in fact an unusual situation surrounding this model, as it came back to life in 2014 and continues to be built in China by FAW Mazda. Other parts of the world should see a proper replacement in 2016 or 2017.
The CX-5 itself is now unlikely to have any further updates, with the second generation model expected to appear at the 2017 Geneva motor show. As the current model was the introductory vehicle for the architecture on which most of the brand’s main vehicles are based, a revised version of this platform should be an additional debut.
The smaller and just-launched J03K series CX-3 will be pretty much left alone until its mid-cycle facelift in 2018, ahead of the successor model’s appearance in 2021.
The J50C CX-9, which turns 10 in 2016, will finally be replaced then, by project J78. Production should remain at Ujina 1 but unlike the present model, the next one is expected to be sold in Japan. It should have a four-cylinder petrol turbo engine instead of a V6 and the 2.2-litre diesel is almost a certainty for the home market, Europe and North America, if not China.
In his next vehicle review, Glenn Brooks will look at the WRX STI and expand upon what FHI’s Subaru has planned for the rest of the decade.
