2021 Mazda CX-5 vs. 2021 Mazda CX-9 Comparison

Mazda has nailed the art of creating beautiful vehicles, and the CX-5 is a great example of their expertise. It doesn’t put a foot wrong in the styling department, with smooth curves outside and an interior that could make German luxury cars jealous.

Sharp, contemporary design exterior design stands out in the crowd. The interior’s KODO design language was ahead of the pack when introduced in 2016, but it’s starting to show its age. Nevertheless, the layout remains attractive and functional, and the Signature trim makes an effort to move things upscale.

The CX-5’s base 187-horsepower four-cylinder is responsive, but lacks grunt at highway speeds. The optional turbocharged provides 250 horsepower and delivers much better performance at all speeds. With either engine, the CX-5 is an engaging drive, mixing capable handling with a smooth and quiet ride.

A comfortable ride with enough of a solid chassis tune to handle corners without going weak in the knees. The engine and six-speed transmission perfectly match it’s refined personality and the “Sport” setting adds a little zest to throttle response and shift algorithms.

Inside the CX-5’s pretty cabin, there’s plenty of room for up to five people, but adults will need to adjust expectations to ride in the back seat. In the cargo hold, there’s 30.9 cubic-feet of space behind the rear seats and 59.6 cubic-feet in total, way behind competitors like the Toyota RAV4 or Honda CR-V, and even fractionally tinier than the small-fry Kia Sportage. The CX-5's new infotainment display still uses a rotary dial for control rather than a touchscreen.

Very sedate at cruising speeds. Comfortable seating for front and second-row passengers (especially with the second-row captions chairs), but the third row is best left for emergency use or small children. Standard Apple CarPlay and Android Auto make up for its aging but intuitive infotainment system.

With the base engine and front-wheel drive, the CX-5 returns 25 mpg in the city, 31 mpg on the highway and 28 mpg combined. With all-wheel drive, it’s rated at 24 city, 30 highway and 26 combined. With the turbocharged engine on board and front-wheel drive, the CX-5 delivers 23 mpg in the city, 28 mpg on the highway and 25 mpg combined. Adding all-wheel drive shifts those numbers to 22 mpg in the city, 27 mpg on the highway and 24 mpg combined. This is about average for the class, superior to entries like the Kia Sportage or Volkswagen Tiguan, but shy of the Toyota RAV4 or Honda CR-V.

The CX-9 gets an EPA-estimated 22 city, 28 highway mpg in its front-wheel drive configuration and 20 city, 26 highway mpg for the all-wheel drive versions. For an SUV of its kind, this is average to slightly above average.

The 2021 Mazda CX-5 is an IIHS Top Safety Pick +, which is the highest rating the organization hands out. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) awarded it five stars overall. The vehicle comes standard with forward automatic emergency braking, pedestrian detection, adaptive cruise control, lane departure warnings and lane keep assist. A few additional features are also offered on the top trim Signature.

The CX-9 has a five-star overall safety rating from the NHTSA, receiving top marks in side crash testing and four stars for frontal crashes and rollover risk. Standard preventative systems like forward collision warning with automatic braking and lane departure further solidify the association’s findings. It also earned a Top Safety Pick+ rating from the IHHS for 2021 models. (Pre-2021 models only have the LED headlamps on the top-tier trims, and adding them to the entire lineup for 2021 inched the safety rating up by one point this year.)