2020 Mazda CX-5 vs 2023

What's the difference?

I think it's fair to say the Mazda CX-5 has done about as much a single model line could have done for the population explosion of SUVs. The car is still selling like crazy when the economy isn't crippled by a global pandemic and that's despite the second-generation shuffling itself into more upmarket territory.

The CX-5 Akera is not the car people tend to go into Mazda dealers to buy without first doing their homework. Despite hardly anyone (relatively speaking) buying the Akera, you have a choice of three engines, the naturally aspirated petrol, the turbo-petrol and the turbo-diesel (in ascending price order).

The latter two both start at over $50,000. You can't spend that much on a Tucson or a Sportage, or even a RAV4. So you're going to want to know what you're getting yourself into, right?

Australia loves Mazda.

We have all sorts of Mazdas. Big ones, small ones, relatively affordable ones, expensive ones, but one which stands above the rest is the CX-5.

That's because this mid-sizer does a lot of the heavy lifting for the Japanese brand, keeping it in the fight against titans like Toyota in the sales charts.

If you're ready to feel old, this second-generation version of the CX-5 with its eye-catching design is now a whopping seven years old, although it has been tweaked recently in 2022 to bring a few updates, as well as the addition of the variant we're looking at here, the Touring Active.

So, the question we're wrestling with is whether this car's continued massive popularity is still warranted.

Is this still one of the best mid-size SUVs you can buy for your family, or should you be considering more recently arrived alternatives?