2017 Ford Escape vs Mazda CX-5

What's the difference?

Minor ergonomic issues aside, the Escape is a real contender, even in row-your-own low power spec.  Those who aren't bothered about being first across the intersection will need to look elsewhere.

The Escape is well-equipped, has a good safety rating and is extra spacious, particularly for rear seat passengers. The price is also sharp, although nobody buys manuals anymore, so expect to pay an easy 10 per cent more for automatic. But for the price of a mid-spec compact SUV, you're getting the space of a big one, with some of the features, too. 

The new CX-5 has certainly picked up where the old one left off, and is better in every way. The new diesel is a cracker and the safety package belongs on a much more expensive car. 

Mazda has lead the way for so long and the CX-5 was such an accomplished car, a face-lift barely seemed necessary. While it's not all-new from the ground up, this is the kind of thing Mazda has taken to doing really well - every time we drive a freshened-up machine, it's those little details that add up to the feeling a lot of work has gone on to build on a solid base.

And with this diesel engine, the big wheels and those sharp looks, the CX-5 has something for pretty much everyone.

The Escape name returns and brings with it a whopping grille with a big Ford badge. The mid-sizer really needed that because the old grille made it look like an EcoSport, which is much smaller.

Here in the cheap seats, the 17-inch steel rims somehow look small but the new lights front and rear, as well as restyled bumpers, make it look like a decent top and tail. It looks a bit tougher, the Kuga was weird-looking at best, and awkward from some angles.

Inside is much improved. The old interior was mostly okay but the centre stack was a riot of buttons, a similar affliction to Focus and Fiesta. Life was difficult in the first weeks of ownership as you had to learn what they all did (not helped by the borderline unusable Sync system). Things are much cleaner now.

There is an ergonomic drama. If you're in first, third or fifth gear the switches and buttons in front of the shifter are unreachable without dislocating your wrist. The flip side is a short hop from wheel to shifter, so it's not all bad news.

The rest of the cabin is light and airy and a reasonably pleasant place to be. The cloth trim is broken up by a Tiguan-style two-tone effect which works really well.

If the first CX-5 impressed with its understated good looks, the new one goes further by being a very pretty car. Mazda's 'Kodo' design language looks good at just about any size, but this latest evolution puts the CX-5 in genuinely beautiful territory.

The slimmer headlights work well with a longer-looking nose and a body that looks more pulled down over the wheels. Despite bearing more than a passing resemblance to the old car, all the panels are new and that's partly because a shift of the A-pillars of just 35mm was enough to make everything move.

The cabin has come in for a much bigger change. There wasn't a great deal wrong with the old one, but it was feeling a bit old, and some of the materials weren't quite there. As ever, the CX-5's first generation launched into a completely different, rather more sparse segment. With competition from all sides, the new interior had to deliver a more premium feel.

With improved plastics and fittings, a more cohesive design (something simple like consistent fonts go a long, long way to giving that impression) and the sort of detail improvements I've come to expect from Mazda, the new interior is lighter, feels better, and looks better. Job done.

Having said all of that, I can't really recommend the white leather. It looked pretty good with the red exterior and well-judged interior materials, but it's unlikely kids will be kind to it.

The Escape has a large, friendly cabin built for real humans. The doors open wide front and rear and there's room for lanky people. I know this because we loaded up with four six-footers and everyone was happy.

Rear legroom is nothing short of amazing, seemingly pinched from an Everest and headroom is also expansive. A middle passenger would want to be skinny, but not absurdly so. 

The boot starts on the small side at 406 litres (even the CX-5's famously small boot is usefully bigger at 447 litres) but the loading lip is commendably low. The 60/40 split fold rear seats drop but leave a step in the floor, which is annoying if you've got a long, flat load.

The cabin also features four cupholders and a bottle holder in each door, while the console storage bin is now much bigger courtesy of the electric parking brake.

Never a class-leader in the spaciousness department, this CX-5 is still at the rear of the pack, but it hardly seems to matter. Boot space is up by 39 litres to 442 (VDA) with the seats up, tripling to 1342 litres with the seats down. The seatback is split 40/20/40 and you can drop each section individually, which is unusually generous.

The CX-5 has four cupholders (a pair up front and a pair in the rear centre armrest), a tray for your phone, bottle holders in each door and vents for the rear seat. Courtesy of a new higher centre console, the storage bin is deeper and also hides two USB ports.

The new car isn't any bigger, so the rear door aperture is still on the tight side compared to, say, Volkswagen's Tiguan or Hyundai's Tucson. It doesn't seem to bother owners I've spoken to, but it's worth noting. 

Once you're in, there is plenty of leg and headroom for rear passengers, providing the driver or front passenger isn't a Canadian Redwood.

The GT sits towards the top of a typically complex Mazda range that includes front or all-wheel drive, petrol and diesel engines, and a choice of manual gearbox or auto transmission.

Only the fully-loaded Akera is pricier. Kicking off at $44,390 for the petrol auto, the price rises $3000 to $47,390 for the diesel we had over Christmas.

Standard for your money is a 10-speaker Bose-branded stereo with digital radio, 19-inch alloy wheels, dual-zone climate control, reversing camera, keyless entry and start, a whopper of a safety package, front and rear parking sensors, cruise control, electric front seats, LED foglights, active automatic LED headlights, sat nav, auto wipers, head-up display, leather trim, electric tailgate, powered and heated folding mirrors, power windows, a sunroof and space saver spare tyre.

Few things are missing in this spec, but the lack of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto is frustrating (although not uncommon in the segment). Mazda's 'MZD Connect' multimedia is reasonably good, however, and with 10 speakers and basic-but-useful smartphone integration, you should get by. 

Presumably, the lowish-res 7.0-inch touchscreen is part of the reason Apple and Android aren't along for the ride.

The only option is the gorgeous 'Soul Red' paint finish of our test car, an entirely reasonable $300.

The Ambiente is available with Ford's perky 1.5-litre turbo four cylinder. It comes in two levels of tune - 110kW or 134kW, both with 240Nm. The power output is dependent on transmission, and in our case we had the six-speed manual, meaning 110kW.

The six-speeder feeds the power through only the front wheels, although you can have all-wheel drive with the dual-clutch auto.

The 2.2-litre 'SkyActiv' diesel is the only turbo in the range, for now at least. Developing 129kW and a very decent 420Nm, it has a portly 1744kg to move. Power reaches the road through all four wheels via a traditional six-speed automatic.

The diesel is also fitted with technology to reduce the clatter reaching the cabin, start-stop tech and Mazda's 'G-Vectoring Control'.

Towing capacity is rated at 1800kg for braked trailers and 750kg unbraked.

The claimed combined cycle consumption figure for the 110kW 1.5-litre is 6.3L/100km. As with the Titanium, we had a fairly solid miss, ending up at 9.6L/100km, although with less enthusiastic driving.

The sticker on the windscreen reckons you'll get 6.0L/100km on the combined cycle while exhaling 158g/km of CO2. With a 58-litre tank, that suggests a range just short of 1000km. And you know what? You might be able to do that if you don't spend too much time in traffic.

Mazda's 'i-stop' technology meant that over three weeks, we averaged 7.8L/100km in mostly urban and suburban driving. While that's a bit above the combined figure, it's not far off the urban number, 7.0L/100km.

Despite 'only' 110kW (its main rivals have roughly the same power), the 1.5-litre engine is good fun thanks to its impressive torque. You have to work the gearbox to keep the turbo spinning, but the lag is manageable if you're not paying attention. 

The gearshift could be slicker and the clutch less soft, but it's not a boy racer machine like the 178kW Titanium.

The weird steering assistance that affected my drive in the Titanium seems absent in the Ambiente. It's still  light and not exactly open about what's going underneath - more sullen teenager than cheery eight-year old after a sugar-fuelled birthday party.

The ride is a standout, coming mighty close to matching the Australian-tuned suspension of the Hyundai Tucson, which is high praise indeed.

The Escape doesn't feel as nimble as that car, and has more body roll, but the overall passenger experience is a good one, important in a car that is likely to be the family truckster.

The CX-5 has always been at or near the top of the medium SUV heap when it comes to the drive. The same couldn't be said for overall refinement. The old car suffered quite a bit from a classic (and fading) Mazda fault - cabin noise. The front suspension was the worst offender, with every bump, thunk and pop reaching your ears, along with tyre roar. 

It wasn't insurmountable - you could just turn up the stereo - but around town you got used to a cacophony of noise.

The new CX-5 - as with most major updates - has changed all that. While the underbits have barely changed (testament to the popularity of the car and the quality of its fundamentals), every spare gap has been filled with noise deadening materials, there's more carpet and just more stuff to reduce the racket. While it's not exactly silent, it's not far off the Tiguan, which is arguably the class benchmark.

As before, it's a lovely thing to drive. Easy-going but accurate steering, a firm but compliant ride (this car is not intended for off-roading) and a responsive transmission all combine to make life very relaxed behind the wheel.

The star of this car is the 2.2 diesel. Quiet, smooth and distinctly un-diesel in its aural character (inside at least), it makes the CX-5 a proper all-rounder. It cruises at speed in sixth, overtakes with just a little bit of toe pressure and is quite frugal, coming reasonably close to matching its claimed figures. Around town there is little lag to deal with and the power comes on nice and smooth.

The only complaint we had was that the blind spot monitor is perhaps a little over-enthusiastic, seemingly beeping every time we used the indicator to change lanes.

To achieve a five star ANCAP safety rating, Mazda fits six airbags, ABS, stability and traction controls, reversing camera, blind spot monitoring, reverse cross traffic alert, front and rear auto emergency braking (AEB) and speed sign recognition (which is easily fooled by, a) school zone signs, and, b) the appalling sign placements on Sydney's South Dowling Street).

Further to that package is a pair of ISOFIX points and three top-tether anchors.

The CX-5 earned its five star rating in September 2017. If you want lane keep assist and active cruise, you'll have to step up to the Akera.

The Escape comes with Ford's three year/100,000km warranty and a year's roadside assist. If you return to your Ford dealer at the appropriate juncture - every year or 15,000km, you get another year of roadside assist and while they've got the car, you get a loaner.

Ford says you won't pay more than $325 for each of the first three scheduled services, with a jump to $585 for the fourth, although you'll need to pay $130 for brake fluid every two years and there's a timing belt change at 10 years/150,000km for $590.

Mazda's three-year/unlimited kilometre warranty is part of the CX-5 package, along with capped price servicing. Roadside assist is offered at $68.10 per year.

Your dealer will expect to see you every six months or 10,000km and will charge you between $317 on three of the five scheduled services, $387 for the second and $359 for the fourth. Extra items include $69 for the cabin air filter (every 40,000km) and $64 for brake fluid every 40,000km or two years.