Mazda Drops A New, Larger 2026 CX-5

Fairly quietly, Mazda had its best sales year ever in 2024 in the U.S. They’ve done that with a three-pronged attack, with most sales coming from the CX-5, CX-50, and CX-90. But the clear leader for Mazda is still the CX-5, since it sold 50 percent better than the CX-50 this past year. A new CX-5 is on the way, and it has the potential to be even more important for the Japanese carmaker. However, there are going to be several challenges for Mazda, which has a significantly smaller U.S. presence than any of its Japanese peers, save Mitsubishi.

Mazda clearly knows all of this. So the third-generation CX-5 is designed to address some, if not all, of these challenges.

It’s Bigger

First of all, the 2025 CX-5 is shorter than the CX-50 by a few inches. They’ll be almost identical in length when the 2026 car drops later this year.

That, we’re afraid, is a bit vague, since they haven’t revealed any interior measurements. Rear seat leg- and headroom aren’t awful in the current car; they’re quite competitive vs. the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4. But a longer wheelbase should enable Mazda to gain on the competition. Er, if, in fact, Mazda sees that Honda and Toyota as their core competitors in this segment. “Best-in-class” always frosts us, because manufacturers can slice that pie however they like.

Still, Mazda made clear that they know young families are their core audience for the CX-5. Mazda officials mentioned greatly increasing rear seat access as part of the CX-5’s revamp, with wider door openings, to enable parents to mount car seats, for example. They also claim to have increased cargo capacity by lengthening the rear hatch area by two inches and also made access to that bay easier, with a lower hatch floor. We’d tell you what the new cargo capacity is—but they haven’t shared that, either. Though they did stress that the redesign features a completely flat load floor with the rear seats folded. That’s key to more easily loading something long and awkward, like a baby stroller.

Same Motor, Slight Tweak

In their release about the new 2026 CX-5, Mazda only mentions the identical, 2.5-liter, 187-horsepower four-cylinder motor they currently sell in the 2025 car. It’s slightly tweaked—they didn’t explain how—for a snappier performance. But they never mentioned the current, more powerful engine option, the turbocharged, 227-horsepower 2.5-liter unit. FYI, you can get the CX-50 with the turbo engine—and with a hybrid, derived from the Toyota RAV4.

Mazda said they will bring a new hybrid engine to the CX-5 in 2027, one they won’t have on loan from Toyota. But they didn’t say a peep about future EVs, which may have also been shelved or harmed by tariffs.

If there’s no turbo engine and no hybrid for a year, that could hurt sales of the CX-5. Just consider the 36 percent better fuel economy gain you now get with the CX-50 hybrid vs. the most thrifty CX-5. And, FYI, that hybrid is more powerful than the base 2.5-liter engine, too.

A Tech-Forward Cabin

One of the biggest changes Mazda has made to the new CX-5 is to add a massive, 15.6-inch touchscreen display to the car—and remove buttons. Mazda’s saying that this will lead to less distraction, though that’s not been our experience with most of these attempts.

At least from the images shared here, they are retaining persistent display space for the HVAC controls, but we’ve never appreciated carmakers removing the feedback that only physical controls offer. TBD on how all this goes down with customers.

Meanwhile, as so many carmakers are doing, Mazda’s using Google Built-in as its backbone. That means saying “Hey Google” should enable some mapping and infotainment shortcuts, and you’ll have direct access to the Google Play Store, so you can download apps to the car, rather than needing to rely on your phone and its storage for that content.

TopSpeed’s Take

We were given very little hard data from Mazda about the 2026 CX-5. We’re certain more will follow. But if Mazda has indeed yanked the turbo motor, or is waiting until next year to add that, we’d understand. Mazda is deeply vulnerable to tariffs. They only make the CX-50 here, and they’re keeping these two quite similar cars on separate platforms. That’s fine, but not so fine if they have to bump CX-5 prices. Especially since this is their most important vehicle in this market.

Unfortunately, the smallest carmakers are going to have the toughest time surviving a tariff-bombed U.S. landscape. Experts believe that will cause some of these brands, or models, or both, to quit the U.S. market. And, in turn, this will cause higher car prices, and shrinking supply. And that will only increase prices.

And the big bummer there is that Mazda was gaining market share, precisely because they make the rarest of all creatures in today’s car world—fun-to-drive vehicles that aren’t crushingly costly.