By Peter Perrotta
If the folks at Mazda were making out a lineup card – as if it fielded a baseball team – no doubt that the 2019 CX-5 Signature AWD would be the cleanup hitter.
The attractive CX-5 crossover is Mazda’s best selling vehicle in the United States. In 2018, Mazda sold more than 150,000 CX-5’s in the United States, alone.
So, not to rest on their laurels, Mazda tweaked the popular CX-5 crossover and upgraded the interior design (making in more plush) and gave it a sleek new more powerful turbo-charged engine.
In essence, Mazda made an already popular model, even more enticing.
I recently road tested the 2019 CX-5 Signature AWD for one week and came away very impressed. While not perfect, the CX-5 deserves serious consideration for anyone thinking about buying or leasing a compact crossover. After all, this is a very crowded field of contenders these days.
The biggest change for 2019 in the CX-5 for Mazda was a new turbo-charged 2.5 liter four cylinder engine, the first forced induction mill in the model’s history. The new turbo charged engine serves up 250 horsepower (when using premium fuel) and 227 horsepower on regular gas.
The previous engine served up to 187 horsepower.
This CX-5 is an able performer, up and down the highway and in and out of city driving traffic, like I recently did in a Sunday afternoon ride into the City of Brotherly Love.
This car accelerates well and smoothly. It seems to be competently matched with its six speed automatic transmission, giving it a performance edge, especially when you shift it into the sport mode.
I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed driving this crossover, especially in the sport mode. In fact, I found myself reaching for the “sport” mode button on the center console quite often, switching it on the fly into the sport mode.
The base sticker price MSRP of this vehicle is $36,890. The tester I drove for one week added $595 for Soul Red Crystal Paint; $125 for a rear bumper guard; and, $1,045 for destination and delivery, bringing the grand total to $38,655.
While the signature edition is the very top of the line in this model offering there are less expensive models of the CX-5 that come with less options, of course, that can be had.
The other models of the CX-5 are the sport; touring; touring preferred; grand touring; grand touring premium; grand touring reserve; and the signature.
The EPA fuel mileage rating for this CX-5 is an overall of 24 miles per gallon (mpg). It gets 22 mpg’s in city driving and 27 mpg on the highway.
Mazda estimates that the average annual fuel cost would be $1,600 as this crossover uses 4.2 gallons of gas per every 100 miles driven.
Moreover, this CX-5 performed quite well on the government’s 5-star safety rating crash test. It garnered a overall crash test vehicle score of 5 stars, the highest grade possible.
Breaking down the impressive crash test results. This CX-5 got five stars on the frontal crash test for both the driver’s side and passenger side.
It also got five stars on the side crash test for both the front seat and rear seat passengers. The only crash test it didn’t get five star on was the rollover test, for which it received four stars.
Almost all the equipment on the signature edition CX-5 is standard.
Included in the exterior features standard equipment is: 19-inch alloy wheels; rain sensing wipers; heated power mirrors with turn lamps; rear roof spoiler and more.
Standard interior features include: five passenger nappa leather trimmed seating; eight way power seat on the driver’s side with lumbar; Mazda radar cruise control; and an advanced keyless entry system.
Some of the standard safety features include: 24-hour roadside assistance; 36 month, 36,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty that also includes 60 month, 60,000 mile coverage on the powertrain; a tire pressure monitoring system; dynamic stability control; traction control and much more.
Besides the regular exterior paint color offerings the Signature AWD CX-5 comes in three premium paint colors: Soul Red Crystal Metlallic ($595); Machine Gray Metallic $300; Snowflake White Pearl Mica $200.
While I was impressed with the overall design of the CX-5 and the new engine, I must say that I think Mazda dropped the ball on the design of the infotainment system, which includes Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and a 10 speaker Bose audio system.
The 7-inch color display screen with rear view camera is far too small for this newly designed and upgraded CX-5. If Mazda was already going through the trouble of upgrading their best seller why not give the infotainment display screen a much needed upgrade as well.?
Peter Perrotta’s On The Road column appear weekly. Comments and questions are welcomed. To contact him email [email protected].