2017 Honda CR-V vs Mazda CX-5

What's the difference?

Without the safety aids offered on the top model, the VTi-L does become more expensive when compared to its competitors, and we encourage Honda to implement at least AEB across its range as soon as it possibly can.

The VTi-L is a decent, handsome, mid-sized family SUV for a smaller family, if they really need seven seats. If you don't need that third row, though, we'd recommend you have a look at the five-seat versions of the CR-V, as you'll find a lot more space and practicality on-board.

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.

Longer in the wheelbase and less Roger Ramjet in its extremity styling than the fourth generation, the chunky, bold CR-V offers a strong visual presence on the road.

The seven-seater carries over all of the external measurements from the five-seat line, too.

It’s a similar story on the inside, with strong, neatly resolved lines flowing across the dash and throughout the car. Honda has been guilty of overdoing things on recent generations of its most popular cars, but we’re glad to report the tide of overdesign is finally retreating.

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 VTi-L is the only seven-seater in the CR-V range. It's not built on an extended wheelbase when compared to the five seat versions of the CR-V, which offer a great deal of room in the second row.

On first glance, the accommodations for the third row of seats in the VTi-L look cramped. A simple pull-strap activates the seat back to fold them into position, and occupants need to clamber over a folded down second-row seat to gain access.

Once back there, the two occupants have a fold down cupholder each and roof vents for comfort. But as you can imagine, luggage room drops to virtually zero when those seats are in place.

The one element that saves the VTi-L's seven-seat dignity is the ability to slide the second row of seats forward and back on their runners. They're split in a 60/40 fashion, and the backs can be inclined or reclined as necessary as well.

If all of your passengers in the car are tall, then you will be faced with compromise in terms of knee and legroom in both the second and third rows. But if your occupant mix varies in height and size, then it's possible to find a suitable arrangement where pretty much everyone is comfortable.

You'll need to put your smallest kid behind your tallest front seat occupant, and you may need to offset the second row in order to be comfortable in that third row. But despite the apparent lack of length in the CR-V, the seven-seat function does work.

However, there is compromise when it comes to luggage space. All seats can be folded flat, and there's an extra deck that can be moved into different slots to create the semblance of a flat floor. However, there are gaps all the way through between each seat row, and that floor level is quite high, which can make loading objects a little bit tricky, and it does steal away from cargo space.

The seven-seater loses about 50 litres of luggage space to its five-seat brethren when the third row is folded flat (472 litres to 522 litres), and 117 litres when all seats are down (967 litres to 1084 litres).

There is a full-sized spare under the boot floor, which needs some fiddling about to access. Kudos, though, for having something that's not a space saver or a can of goop.

Second-row seaters enjoy a pair of USB ports, cupholders in a fold-down centre armrest, as well as cupholders in the door. There is also a pair of ISOFIX baby seat mounts on the outside seats.

The biggest black mark against the second row of seats is the standard fitment of a full-length sunroof to the VTi-L. The different headlining that's required to fit the sunroof steals away a staggering 84mm of vertical head room for second row passengers (912mm), when compared to a base CR-V five-seater (996mm).

Combined with a bench that already sits quite high, even moderately tall passengers will find themselves hitting the roof, finding it positively uncomfortable even on a short journey. Our 15-year-old passenger is tall for his age, and found it uncomfortable to sit in the CR-V's rear for any length of time.

Front seat passengers are well catered for, though (despite losing 20mm of headroom thanks to that sunroof), with large divided door pockets that can stow bottles. A unique sliding tray covers a large, L-shaped box, and you can actually slide the cover back, Star Trek door style, to reveal a deeper space for wallets and phones.

There's a small tray underneath the gear shift which is ostensibly for phones, but most modern phones have outsized this small space. One oversight is that none of the trays have a removable rubber backing. Quite often cars have a small mat on the bottom of the storage containers that can be removed to wash.

Only the driver side seat is powered, while the passenger seat is manual in operation.

The gear shift is essentially mounted in the centre console itself, which does create more space through the middle of the two front seats, and the seats themselves are upholstered in a leather-like material, and are well bolstered and comfortable. Only the driver side seat is powered, while the passenger seat is manual in operation.

When it comes to other practicalities, like the multimedia system, unfortunately Honda has dropped the ball. While the 8.0-inch touchscreen looks good with sharp graphics, its functionality is simply not as good as many other, if not any other, device on the market.

Its key buttons are too small, and take too long to activate, and it's incredibly difficult to do simple things like find a source for multimedia. It's just not intuitive, and makes for a frustrating user experience.

The buttons on the steering wheel do help make it easier to use, while the dash dials have been replaced with a small digital screen, which is incredibly easy to use. It’s customisable in its look, and features a digital speedo as its central facet, which is very convenient.

The Honda also offers a range of locking aids that are linked back to its keyless entry system that include an instant lock when you walk away from the car, the ability to roll down the windows by depressing the unlock button as you approach the car - which is a great feature - as well as a powered tailgate.

Now, all these features are ultra convenient, but they definitely depend on user preference. Fortunately, it's easy to set up the car through the multimedia system to your liking.

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 entire CR-V range uses the same 140kW/240Nm 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine that’s found in the Civic. The VTi-L is a front-wheel-driver, and offers the ever more popular CVT auto as its only option.

It’ll tow up to 1500kg of braked trailer, too.

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.

Against a claimed combined cycle fuel economy figure of 7.3 litres per 100km, we achieved 8.6L/100km over 440km of mixed terrain testing in the VTi-L.

It’ll take 91RON standard unleaded without fuss, and its 57-litre tank is good for a theoretical range of 780km.

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.

Equipped with a small capacity 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbocharged engine and a CVT auto, the CR-V is capable, if not outstanding, around town and on the open road. The engine only has 240Nm – not much for a turbocharged engine – and has to push around 1642kg.

CVTs continue to improve, in that the annoying droning effect of earlier versions has pretty much been eliminated, especially around town. But when pushed, the combination of the small four-cylinder engine slurring its gear changes isn't exactly pleasant.

The Honda rides well, with good roll control, decent if not overwhelming steering feel, and progressive braking under light foot conditions around the city. The front end, though, can wander a bit if you are not paying attention to your steering inputs.

It's quite direct from centre, which can mean keeping an eye on the helm, especially on longer trips. But, overall, the CR-V's ride comfort and handling prowess is on par with the best in the category.

The engine responds well to light throttle application to keep up with the flow of traffic, but it does need a prod to get up to freeway speeds. But once there, it holds speed easily.

One of the CR-V’s big bugbears, though, is noise. There's a lot of road roar noise coming from underneath the car, and there's also a fair bit of wind rustle coming through across the windscreen and the large exterior mirrors. Add to that a rumble from the stock tyre set, and it's a surprisingly noisy car, even in light of competitors in the space.

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.

With a five-year, unlimited kilometre warranty, a reasonable 12 month/10,000km service interval and the first ten services capped at $295 (each), the CR-V won’t cost you an arm and a leg to run.

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.