I’m driving down the freeway in a compact SUV from a mainstream automaker. So it’s not a luxurious automotive, nevertheless it has heated and ventilated seats, a heated steering wheel, leather-based upholstery, a panoramic sunroof, and headlights that regulate their brightness to keep away from blinding oncoming visitors.
Mainstream automobiles in 2025 can really feel near the posh automobiles of, effectively, most likely the final time you went automotive buying.
This one is a 2025 Mazda CX-50, and it prices lower than the typical new automotive purchaser paid final month. Nevertheless it appears like extra.
Mazda can, at occasions, appear somewhat like a youngster attempting on personalities. We had been fairly comfy with its athlete part just a few years again (you may hear the whispered “Zoom-Zoom” now, can’t you?).
However final yr, the corporate promised yet one more “model transformation” underneath the tagline, “Select to be moved.” It led to some blended messages, with adverts for the brand new full-size CX-90 seeming like luxurious automotive adverts and the earliest advertising and marketing for this CX-50 seeming to emphasise off-roading expertise.
Nonetheless, piloting the CX-50 on an East Coast street journey helped clarify the newest character shift. That is no Jeep Wrangler rival, however it’s an unusually composed, compact crossover well-suited to a street journey with just a few luxurious options at a cut price worth.
Concerning the Check Mannequin
My tester is the highest trim, Turbo Premium Plus, which provides it a extra highly effective engine than the mannequin’s base choices and a few luxurious options like heated outboard rear seats. The asking worth is $45,515, together with $595 for Machine Grey Metallic paint and a $1,420 supply charge.
That’s steep for a compact SUV from a mainstream automaker, nevertheless it’s lower than the roughly $48,000 worth of the typical new automotive final month. You will get a CX-50 within the low-$30,000 vary with a few of the similar virtues.
Good-looking Seems to be
Mazda’s best-selling mannequin is the CX-5 SUV — a equally sized, equally priced crossover that sits subsequent to the CX-50 within the showroom. We’ve at all times preferred that one for its crisp dealing with and curvy seems, even in an period when SUVs get boxier by the day.
Mazda hasn’t formally mentioned the CX-50 is the CX-5’s substitute. Initially, the corporate positioned the CX-50 as an outside lover’s CX-5, extra rugged and able to get muddy. With somewhat time in the marketplace, it’s develop into extra obvious that this automotive is a barely extra refined tackle the compact crossover.
Maybe the CX-5’s seems have lastly grown a bit dated. However I discover the CX-50 refreshing. An extended, flatter hood and extra pronounced fender flares with a little bit of protecting cladding do make it look extra succesful, nevertheless it hasn’t was a climbing shoe on wheels like a lot of its opponents.
Upscale Cabin With a Few Quirks
I received’t argue that Mazda kits the CX-50 like a luxurious automotive. I’ll argue that, for a mainstream car priced effectively underneath luxurious automotive ranges, it’s fairly premium.
The Turbo Premium Plus mannequin that Mazda loans to reviewers has leather-trimmed seats in a lovely two-tone sample, with heating and air flow within the entrance and heating on the rear outboard positions.
The audio system is a Bose 12-speaker system, not on par with what you’d discover in a Mercedes-Benz or a Lexus, however for an reasonably priced compact crossover, it’s spectacular.
The cabin has just a few quirks that remind you you’re not in an precise luxurious automotive. Mazda persists in utilizing a wierd interface for its central display screen. It capabilities as a touchscreen if linked to a telephone by way of Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. If not, the driving force operates it by way of a puck controller on the middle console.
I don’t know why they don’t decide on a single method of interacting. The display screen froze on me periodically as I paged out of CarPlay to regulate drive modes or different non-entertainment capabilities.
The driving force’s instrument cluster homes old style gauges, not a display screen. This alternative isn’t a lot of a limitation, however some rivals offer you a digital show in that place so you may configure the knowledge you need to see in entrance of you.
The CX-50 does, nevertheless, lose the cargo house comparability to many equally priced small SUVs.
Refined Driving Expertise
Mazda might have dropped the “Zoom-Zoom” promoting tagline, however many Individuals nonetheless affiliate the model with spirited driving. The CX-50 can deal with it.
I took the CX-50 on an extended freeway journey, beautiful again roads round Lake Erie, and over muddy grime roads after a number of days of rain.
It stays flatter than most equally priced fashions in a tough nook, and the steering really feel isn’t sports-car aggressive, however agency for a crossover. It’s no Miata, however you’d moderately race this than a Toyota RAV4 or a Honda CR-V. Dealing with is sedan-like, however with the added grip of all-wheel drive (AWD).
When the CX-50 was new, Mazda marketed it as an off-roader. I wouldn’t go that far, however the i-Activ AWD system dealt with mud and gravel with out a lot drama.
Choosing any mannequin with “Turbo” within the identify will get you a 2.5-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder engine making 227 horsepower with common gasoline or 256 with 93-octane. In actuality, most consumers can be positive with the inexpensive 187-horsepower 4-cylinder within the fashions sans Turbo.
