Mazda CX-5 review

The Mazda CX-5 starts from £31,550. That puts it right in the mixer with its rivals – not the cheapest, but not the dearest either – including the class-leading Ford Kuga, ever popular Kia Sportage and slightly-less-popular-but-still-comfortably-in-the-top-10-sellers Nissan Qashqai and co.

Prime-Line is the base car: it’s front-wheel drive only and includes 17in alloy wheels, LED headlights, a leather steering wheel, black cloth upholstery, a 10.25in digital instrument cluster and a 12.9in centre touch display with Google built-in, wired smartphone connectivity, and an eight-speaker sound system.

Centre-Line costs £34,050 and brings with it 19in diamond-cut alloy wheels, privacy glass, gloss black roof rails, artificial black leather and fabric seat upholstery, a head-up display, frameless interior mirror, wireless smartphone connectivity, and a powered tailgate.

Exclusive-Line is £36,550 and gets a black and white upholstery combo, plus brings a six-way power-adjustable front passenger seat, heated rear seats and USB-C charging ports, a 12-speaker BOSE sound system, and a 360-degree camera. This is where all-wheel drive becomes an option, at exactly £2k more.

Top-spec Homura models get 19in black alloy wheels, gloss black bumper trims, adaptive LED headlights, black- or tan-coloured genuine leather upholstery paired with contrasting stitching and a vinyl leather dashboard, additional ambient lighting, ventilated front seats, a 15.6in centre display, and a hands-free power tailgate. FWD here is £38,950, AWD is £40,950. Ooft.

Mazda also sells a Sport Aero Pack (roof spoiler and skirts for better aero) for a very specific £2,219.02, and an Adventure Design Pack (rugged visual tweaks and a towbar) for £585. Can’t see why you’d splash out on the former, really. Black wheelarches are £726.23. Moving on.

What's the best spec?

Mazda expects the biggest seller to be Exclusive-Line or Homura in the UK – we’d be tempted by the former with front-wheel drive (96 per cent of CX-5s sold in the UK in 2025 were front drive, FYI). You don’t miss the bigger screen and to our eyes it also looks better without the black alloys (as most cars do).

A deposit of £3,655 unlocks a PCP of about £450 per month over four years at 10,000mi/yr and 3.9 per cent APR through Mazda itself. A Qashqai is a good chunk cheaper; the Sportage is more expensive, but Kia’s finance only extends to three years. Goes without saying that it pays to shop around.