2016 Mazda Mazda5 Reviews

We’ve become desensitised to ubiquitous ‘Made in China’ stickers on all manner of household products but there’s something about a whole car that incites extra scrutiny.

Mazda’s global financial results have been published along with the brand’s future plans, and they’ve revealed two things quite pertinent to Australia. Not only will there be a next-gen Mazda CX-5, but it’ll also be a hybrid.

Mazda announced its financial results this week as the brand came to the end of its fiscal year and, as far as profits go, the outlook is excellent. The Hiroshima-based brand’s record operating profit finished at ¥250.5 billion (A$2.45 billion) in the 12-month reporting period, up a whopping 76 per cent from the year prior. Much of this is down to the brand’s new premium models, including the CX-60 and CX-90, with higher prices and margins driving up Mazda’s bottom line despite the vehicles not troubling existing CX-3, CX-5 and CX-30 as best sellers in many markets.According to Mazda’s figures as reported by AutoNews, the new Large Platform models contributed ¥125.2 billion (A$1.2 billion) to the coffers – that’s 48.5 per cent. Much of this growth can be attributed to the United States, where Mazda’s gamble on new large SUVs with combustion engines and plug-in hybrid rather than battery electric tech looks to be paying off. Sales in April were at 31,125 in the US which, although 3.8 per cent down on last April, keeps Mazda ahead 8.7 per cent year-to-date. With 3694 CX-90s finding homes in the United States, the three-row SUV accounted for a solid 11.9 per cent chunk of sales. Behind stalwarts such as the CX-5 (11,149) and CX-30 (7640) but impressive for a large luxury vehicle. The story is different in Australia, even though Mazda’s local arm has put its hand up for the full quartet of Large Platform products – including CX-70 and CX-80 – the proof has not arrived in sales form yet. In April, Australians took delivery of 65 CX-90s and 230 CX-60s. We are a smaller market for Mazda with 7301 total sales for the month but the proportion of Mazda’s expensive new SUVs is far less favourable, accounting for 4.0 per cent of total sales. Mazda buyers continue to vote for the CX-5 (1629) and CX-3 (1416) with their wallets in Australia.Adding to Mazda’s global profits is a favourable exchange rate with the US, the yen having lost 14 per cent of its value against the US dollar. Despite relatively small demand in its home market (Mazda sales in Japan were down 31 per cent in March) and with no electric vehicles for sale in Australia, Mazda’s gamble on the premium platform looks to be paying off in revenue at head office.

The ND MX-5 has, in the last few years, added a GT RS variant to the top of the food chain, bringing performance-focused additions to the iconic sports car.

Truly compact cars are becoming a rarity in modern motoring and it’s a terrible shame, in my humble opinion.

The fourth-generation MX-5 retains traditional sports car simplicity, while offering some creature comforts in its mid-spec GT variant for a little extra cash over the base Roadster or RF.

Mazda has made small changes to the MX-5 to bring it up to date, so we test the sports car on the road and on track to find out if it's still the best value top-down sports car around.

Mazda has revealed a pair of concepts at the 2024 Beijing Motor Show including a Mazda 6 replacement that's unlikely for Australian release.

Some owners of the current generation Isuzu D-Max ute and MU-X SUV, as well as the closely-related Mazda BT-50, are reporting on-going issues with accelerated front tyre wear they say is caused by a fundamental steering geometry flaw.

Mazda is continuing its push into the large premium SUV space with the release of the six- or seven-seat CX-80, scheduled for local launch before the end of this year and effectively replacing the CX-8.