Mazda revealed the third-generation 2026 CX-5 to the world today, and it looks… different, from its predecessor, to be sure. Mazda has long been in contention for the best automaker out there when it comes to styling, but the new CX-5’s exterior is a departure in my eyes. The headlights are odd, the bumper has some new and weird creases, the rear end is a touch more generic than the outgoing crossover. The critics, though, may not have much of a leg to stand on — this is likely the best midsize Mazda crossover yet.
If the new CX-5’s proportions look different to you, it’s because the whole car has grown. It’s 4.5 inches longer than the outgoing model, enabling Mazda’s claim that the new car is the most spacious yet on the inside. In fact, that interior is the focus of much of Mazda’s press release copy, as the company is intent on making this the most comfortable CX-5 yet, too.
A look inside
The new interior does certainly look roomy in the press shots, though we’ll have to take Mazda’s claims of more room for passengers’ heads and legs at face value until we get some hard measurements in. Gone is the screen-above-dash look, replaced with the new touchscreen-in-front-of-dash hotness that every automaker is jumping on. Also thankfully gone is the old CX-5’s rotary control knob. The steering wheel, too, loses that Mazda shape we’ve had for the last decade or so.
To me the most interesting in the interior, though, isn’t any of the new design at all — it’s the little tab of reflective black atop the steering column, which sure looks like the kind of attention-tracking camera system used in hands-free automated systems like GM’s Super Cruise. Mazda doesn’t have a system like that yet, and it’s entirely possible the camera is meant for the company’s existing warn-you-if-you’re-too-tired-to-drive attention-tracking system, but that’s long used cameras in the infotainment screen. This new CX-5 moves that camera to the front of the dash, right where GM places it for Super Cruise.
Out back
The rear of the new CX-5 ditches the quad lights for a hooked strip reminiscent of BMW, and swaps the Mazda badge for text between the lights. The lights aren’t a bad look, but they’re a little bit less distinctly Mazda — a shame to see from an automaker that’s stood out so well on styling. The text, though, is a really nice look for the crossover. Underneath that liftgate, Mazda claims an expanded cargo area with a lower lift-over height, which buyers ought to enjoy. Heaving enormous bags of dog food into the back of a crossover is no one’s idea of a good time, and any automaker that makes the process easier gets a gold star in my book.
The new CX-5 will have a 2.5-liter inline-4 at launch, putting a claimed 187 horsepower and 185 pound-feet of torque to all four wheels through a six-speed automatic gearbox, but Mazda claims a hybrid variant is in the works for the 2027 model year. That should make for a very interesting fight with the much-loved Toyota RAV4 hybrid, one in which price will play a heavy factor — a price Mazda has yet to reveal, for any variant of the new crossover.
All in all, the new CX-5 is an upgrade. Whether you love or loathe the exterior changes, Mazda has made room for some solid improvements beneath the skin — improvements that actual owners of the car should love, regardless of what those of us who just look at it on our computer screens think. At the end of the day, that’s who carmakers should really be thinking about anyway.
