A Rough Start
The old CX-5 had class. It drove. It looked sharp. Car and Driver liked it then, mostly because it refused to be boring inside that compact SUV box.
Enter the third generation for 2026. Mazda gave it a redesign but didn’t change the face much. Under the hood? Still that 2.5‑liter four, making 187‑horsepower. Still a six-speed automatic. Still available with all‑wheel drive. Familiar stuff.
But the cabin is different now. And by different I mean problematic.
We pulled a Premium Plus model in Polymetal Gray. Cost us about $41,080. That color swiped an extra $595. We put it through the ringer to see if the new CX‑5 earns its keep. Forty‑thousand miles. See you later.
Touchscreen Troubles
Logbooks don’t lie. Our staff hates the tech setup. And they’re not wrong to complain.
Mazda shoved almost every control behind a screen. Editors dislike that trend. Fine. But the CX‑5 screen doesn’t just sit there looking smug. It glitches. Freezes. We’d tap the climate controls, nothing. Hit the radio, black screen. Maps? Dead.
The Premium Plus spec gets a 15.6‑inch screen instead of the standard 12.9. Bigger canvas. Bigger headache. It adds facial recognition. You look at the steering column camera. The car knows you. It loads your seat position. Your radio preset.
Ideally smooth.
In reality, the facial‑recognition group saw fewer crashes. Barely. Even when it worked, the infotainment system needed to behave. It did not.
Then the warning lights started.
Driver assistance unavailable.
Adaptive cruise control malfunction.
Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it didn’t. Pure lottery.
Dealer Trip. No Fix.
We took it to the dealer. Three and a half hours. A software update. A multipoint inspection.
We got the keys back. Felt good, right?
Then we drove to our track.
Sixty in 8.0 seconds. Quarter‑mile in 16.2. Trap speed hit 85. Brake fade turned the 70‑to‑zero stop into a 173‑feet slide. Tires—Toyo Open Country H/Ts—grabbed 0.83‑g on the skidpad.
Solid numbers. Normal for non‑hybrids in this class.
But isn’t 187‑hp sluggish for 2024? Some say yes. We agreed last year, too, back when you could order the turbocharged 256‑hp option. Gone now. Just gone. No replacement. Unless you want to wait until 2027 for a Hybrid that might have more juice. Maybe.
And the glitches? They didn’t stop at the track gate.
Back on the road, the driver‑assistance errors returned. The infotainment froze again. Lag on the buttons. Real lag. We’re stuck waiting for Mazda to push an update we haven’t received.
Do you miss the old system? The knobs? The tactile switches? We’re starting to.
Whether we actually keep hating the 2026 CX‑5 remains to be seen. Months ahead. Thousands of miles left. Only time tells if Mazda patches this ship or sinks it.
Month 1 Update
* Mileage: 3,063
* Average MPG: 24
* Tank: 15.3‑gal.
* Range observed: 360 miles
* Spend so far: $0 across repairs, damage, wear.
