2016 Mazda Mazda5 Reviews

It’s been a while since Australian enthusiasts had anything new to get excited about from the Mazda brand, but a couple of glimpses into the near future of Mazda shows the sports car isn’t a thing of the past.

The good news for Mazda Australia, and the many satisfied CX-5 customers, is that a replacement for the popular CX-5 is confirmed. The bad news is Mazda HQ may change the name and there aren’t too many specific details on what form the new model will take.This is a very big deal for the local operation, with the CX-5 making up more than 23 per cent of the brand’s total sales in 2023. It was also the third best-selling mid-size SUV behind the Toyota RAV4 and Mitsubishi Outlander.While Mazda is trying to keep details under wraps, there’s plenty we do know about this crucial model.One of the biggest challenges for the CX-5 is finding space in a dramatically changing Mazda line-up. Mazda is making a global push to follow its successful ‘semi-premium’ philosophy in Australia, launching its ‘Large Product Family’ models that are designed to be more dynamic and more premium positioned. This has already seen the CX-8 and CX-9 replaced by the CX-80 and CX-90, with the CX-70 confirmed to arrive in the near-future too. This change has also seen the arrival of the two-row, mid-size CX-60, which crosses over with the CX-5 in the current range. In the USA and China there’s also a slightly smaller, but more rugged, CX-50 available and this gave rise to speculation that the CX-5 would simply be discontinued.That is categorically not the case though, with Mazda confirming the CX-5 will be replaced, but without saying what form the replacement will take. The biggest question surrounding the next-generation CX-5 is how big it will be. The current model measures 4550mm in total length, compared to 4740mm for the CX-60, making it slightly smaller. This leaves Mazda in a tricky position, with most models typically growing with each new generation, but with only 190mm to play with it will be challenging to ensure there is a meaningful size difference between the CX-5 replacement and the CX-60.It’s highly likely that the CX-5 successor will take styling influence from the new SUV models, as our renders show. This is part of a new era of design for the brand and part of the premium push.Not that Mazda is afraid of crossing over, as demonstrated by the similarities between the CX-70, CX-80 and CX-90 (the 70 and 90 appear to simply be five- and seven-seat versions of the same basic vehicle). So expect to have plenty of very similar choices in the Mazda showroom in the years to come.However, what is likely to be different is what underpins the new CX-5, with it expected to continue on the front- and all-wheel drive platform it currently has, rather than switch to the rear-biased all-wheel drive architecture of the new ‘Large Products’.This will be the biggest difference between the CX-5 and CX-60 and should allow for a significant price difference, in keeping with the current gap between the pair. At present the CX-5 range starts at $36,590 for a front-wheel drive Maxx model and tops out at $55,100 for the Akera all-wheel drive, beneath the entry-level CX-60 Evolve, which is priced from $60,550.Perhaps the most telling detail we don’t know about the new CX-5 is if it will even be known as the CX-5. Last June Mazda Australia Managing Director Vinesh Bhindi told CarsGuide that it isn’t clear whether the nameplate would remain globally.“I don’t know,” Bhindi said, when asked directly if it would change names. “Let’s not worry about the nameplate, but a replacement for CX-5 is confirmed. What it is, when it is, is not something that can be shared today.”As we wrote at the time, changing such a popular name would be a bold and highly questionable move from Mazda, at least in Australia where the CX-5 is so popular. But Bhindi is just happy that the model will be replaced with a like-for-like model rather than moving to the more expensive, premium strategy.“They would have to have a very good reason to ,” Bhindi said. “But we’re not going to get caught up in . As long as we have the product, we’ll be very, very happy.”Timing is still unclear for the new CX-5, but with the focus currently on the premium SUVs, expect the new CX-5 (or whatever it’s called) to be revealed by the end of this year or early in 2025, before going on sale before the end of next year.

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