2017 Mazda CX-5 vs Nissan X-TRAIL

What's the difference?

The Mazda CX-5 was a genuine phenomenon. It pretty much came out of nowhere and knocked off a few cars we previously thought had an unassailable grasp on the Australian SUV budget.

Even more extraordinary was the fact the stylish CX-5 came from a company that had given us a fairly bland decade of cars, after a flourish in the late '90s descended into a series of dull boxes (although the 3 did signal a revival).

I drove a first-gen CX-5 late in its life and found it hard to believe it needed replacing. But in 2017 that's exactly what Mazda did. Fresh sheetmetal, lots of detail work, and a new interior were all dropped on to a lightly updated chassis to give us the second-generation CX-5.

And a lot faces ended up buried in hands at other car companies because it turns out Mazda did a smashing job second time around.

The X-Trail is one of Nissan's local success stories, first touching down in 2001 and almost immediately striking a chord with Australian buyers. In the years since, the medium SUV has truly embedded itself in this country's motoring landscape

This third-generation model might have arrived a few years ago, but it only recently underwent a minor refresh to help renew its appeal. Still, sales are off a bit over 2016's numbers, due largely to the arrival of new or updated rivals.

And so we took the high-spec Ti out for a week to see what's new, and whether it's enough to set it ahead of this hotly contested pack.