Though it may appear to be a fairly conventional new compact crossover SUV in the now well established mould of the Nissan Qashqai, the Mazda CX-5 has a deeper meaning for Mazda.
It is intended as a technological boat-rocker, a model which, thus far, best defines the Third Way the manufacturer has been plotting since it announced its long-term ‘Sustainable Zoom-Zoom’ vision back in 2007.
That policy shift manifested itself as SkyActiv Technology – an engineering solution for Mazda’s own pledge which stated that it would work to find a 30 per cent improvement in the average fuel economy of its 2008 range by 2015.
The bold and interesting part of a fairly industry-standard plan is that, to begin with, the firm has opted not to leap on the expensive and complicated hybrid bandwagon, but instead refine and gently rethink the conventional internal combustion blueprint.
This review will endeavour to find out if Mazda has succeeded – not only in its self-proclaimed task, but also in delivering a product well rounded enough to thrive in a segment populated by high achievers.
