Mazda has given thought to the positioning of phones and charging for front and rear passengers, with a rubber tray in the central console or a shelf and USBs in the central console storage box and in the rear, the central armrest has a hidden compartment with two USBs and a tray for charging phones. Storage inside the cabin is rather thoughtful with good useable sized cup holders in the front and back, wells in all the doors and the door bins are large enough for big refillable water bottles.

My initial thoughts were “what a nice looking vehicle from the front and I love the nose on this thing!” The 2018 CX-5 we got to test was the top spec model so I was expecting it to be as impressive on the inside, however, I was a little underwhelmed! The 2018 CX-5 was rather neat, tidy and pleasant but there was certainly no wow factor with the interior. Unfortunately the car I tested came in boring white!! Mazda is the top selling brand of cars in Australia to private buyers, but I knew little about them other than I admired some for their beautiful deep “Soul Red” colour paint! So I was very excited to get my hands on the Mazda fleet and give them all a thorough trial for BabyDrive, starting with the 2018 CX-5, and find out why everyone’s buying them!!

2018 mazda cx 5 review