By Frank S. Washington
DETROIT – Without a lot of fanfare, the Mazda CX-5 crossover is the automaker’s best-selling vehicle.
All CX-5s have all-wheel drive and with accumulating snow here, there was no slipping and sliding with our test vehicle.
Under the hood of the CX-5 was a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine that made 227 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque. It was mated to a six-speed automatic transmission.
This combination got a 22 mpg in the city, 27 mpg on the highway and 24 mpg combined. That is not bad for a compact crossover.
The CX-5 also had G-Vectoring, sending torque from side to side as needed.
Our test vehicle had radar cruise control, stop, and go, smart brake support, blind spot
monitoring, rear cross traffic alert, lane departure warning, and lane keep assist.
What it didn’t have was satellite radio. But all we had to do was connect our smartphone and we tapped into our Pandora app, and we were in business.
We had 19-inch black alloy wheels, rain sensing windshield wipers (they also sense snow as well), and a fixed intermittent rear wiper.
LED headlights illuminated the road. This was a nicely done crossover. The interior had heated front seats; in the weather we encountered a heated steering wheel would have been nice.
Still, it was a livable digital interior. But you do have to learn how coordinate controls between the mouse and the choices that are on the screen.
There was plenty of room in the second row. It was a keyless operated vehicle with push button start and keyless entry. It had Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
Our test vehicle had a sticker of $33,910.
