Mazda CX-5 VS Subaru Forester
Mazda CX-5
Likes
- Stylish design is ageing well
- Not a boring SUV to drive
- Most safety stuff appears on the cheapest model
Dislikes
- Where is our hybrid?
- Non-touchscreen tech feels old school
- Range-wide pricer increases are never fun
Subaru Forester
Likes
- Good value
- Great to drive
- Roomy
Dislikes
- CVT transmission
- Thirsty
- Not as modern looking as some rivals
Summary
Mazda CX-5
Let's get this out of the way early: Mazda's new CX-5 isn't actually all that new.
Instead, the brand has given its popular SUV a little nip and tuck to keep it fresh in the face of the stiff competition that prowls the mid-size segment in Australia.
But has it done enough to stay relevant in Australia's biggest new-car segment? Let's find out, shall we?
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| Safety rating | |
|---|---|
| Engine Type | 2.2L turbo |
| Fuel Type | Diesel |
| Fuel Efficiency | 6L/100km |
| Seating | 5 seats |
Subaru Forester
The Subaru Forester is a well-known SUV that most people probably assume is pretty good, because it’s been around a long time and there are lots of them about, so it must be doing something right.
But there are so many mid-sized SUVs around now, like the Kia Sportage, the Hyundai Tucson and Mazda CX-5. So, what’s the truth about Subaru's Forester? Is it good value? What’s it like to drive? How safe is it?
Read more about the Forester
Well, the new one has just arrived, and I have the answers to those questions and more.
| Safety rating | |
|---|---|
| Engine Type | 2.5L |
| Fuel Type | Regular Unleaded Petrol |
| Fuel Efficiency | 7.4L/100km |
| Seating | 5 seats |
Verdict
Mazda CX-57.5/10
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. That's clearly Mazda's approach to the CX-5, which is no longer the newest kid on the block, but remains a strong option in the segment.
The cabin tech and the lack of electrification options certainly carbon-dates it, but the drive experience and style are still very much up to the job.
Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with meals provided.
Subaru Forester8/10
The Forester is now one of the older SUVs among its rivals, such as the Sportage, Tucson, Outlander and RAV4, but it’s still the best to drive of that lot, and the best value.
Sure, it’s not as modern and good looking as the Sportage and doesn’t have a third row of seats like the Outlander, but the Forester is still practical and has a tough look.
Design
Mazda CX-58/10
Short answer? If you like the outgoing CX-5, you're going to like this one, too. And if you don't? Well you're bang out of luck.
Me? I'm in the former camp. The CX-5 was, and thus still is, a handsome and understated offering in the mid-size SUV space, somehow managing too look smaller, sportier and a little more polished than some of its key rivals.
This is the Where's Wally of design updates, though. You'll find the changes in a new-look grille, which has a new textured design that's intended to look and feel more three-dimensional.
The lights, front and rear, have been tweaked to better match the incoming the CX-60, too. Oh, and there's some body-coloured or gloss-black – depending on the trim – elements, too.
We also welcome a new trim level, the Touring Active, which includes some bright green grille and interior elements, and a new colour in Zircon Sand.
Inside, it's largely business as usual, too. There's new and more supportive seat materials, and wireless charging across some grades, but that's it really.
Still, I'd argue the CX-5's cabin is ageing like a fine wine rather than a glass of milk, and it still fills plenty polished and premium inside – even if the tech offering (led by the 8.0-inch central screen which is crying out to be made touch sensitive) is starting to feel a little off the pace.
Subaru Forester7/10
This generation of Forester came into the world in 2018 and now Subaru says it’s given the mid-sized SUV a mid-life makeover. A generation tends to last for about seven years, so 2022 is halfway through, but as far as makeovers go the changes are from a reality-show transformation.
It’s in the headlight design where you can really see the difference. This new Forester now has headlights with a more pronounced LED ‘eyebrow’. Subaru also says the grille, bumpers and foglights have been restyled, although I can hardly see it. When the PR people at Subaru say the changes are ‘subtle’ you can be assured they are extremely minimal.
So, the Forester keeps its distinctive boxy, rugged looks, which, while not all that pretty to my eyes, do give the SUV a capable and practical feel that its rivals don’t have. I mean the new Kia Sportage is stunning, with its intriguing design, but it looks afraid of mud, and so does the Mazda CX-5, which favours form over function.
Nope, the Forester looks like it should be sitting on a shelf in an adventure shop, alongside carabiners and hiking boots. I like that.
The Forester that stands out most in the range is the 2.5i Sport. This sporty grade was added a couple of years ago and gets bright orange pinstriping along the side skirts, while the cabin gets the same dayglo trim.Â
Talking of the Forester’s cabin, it’s a plush, premium feeling place and the 2.5i-S I drove had layer upon layer of different materials on the dash with textures ranging from a mesh-like rubber to soft leather upholstery with stitching.
The cabin isn’t as modern as newer SUVs such as the Sportage, and there’s a busy feel to the design which is a bit crowded and confusing with all its buttons, screens, and icons, but owners will get used to this quickly.
The Forester is 4640mm end to end, which is about the length of your thumb shorter than a Kia Sportage. A more interesting measurement is the Forester’s ground clearance – it’s 220mm, which is 40mm more than the Sportage’s and that gives it better off-road capability. So, actually rugged and not just rugged looking.Â
The Forester comes in 10 colours including Crystal White, Crimson Red Pearl, Horizon Blue Pearl and Autumn Green Metallic.
Practicality
Mazda CX-57/10
The Mazda CX-5 range stretches 4550mm in length, 1840mm in width and around 1680mm in height. It rides on a 2700mm wheelbase, and has been pretty cleverly packaged to deliver enough cabin and boot space to satisfy most people.
Speaking of which, the (auto-opening in some trims) boot opens to reveal a usable, though not massive, 438 litres with the rear seats in place, and that number swells to 1340 litres with the back pews folded flat, with both those numbers measured in VDA.
Backseat riders will find enough leg and headroom to stay happy, especially if they're my height, 175cm, or less. But the way the centre console and rear tunnel cut into the middle seat's leg room means its pretty much ruled out for adult riders.
I do love the pull-down divider's hidden USB charge points and twin cupholders in all but the base model, and the rear-sear air vents.
Elsewhere, you'll find the usual accompaniment of bottle and cup holders, as well as twin ISOFIX attachment points, one in each window seat in the back.
Subaru Forester9/10
The Forester feels like it’s been created with practicality in the front of the designer’s minds. There are large doors, which open super wide for easy entry and exit, great rear legroom for even me, at 191cm tall, and a decent-sized boot with 498 litres (VDA) of luggage space to the cargo cover. That’s bigger than the Mitsubishi Outlander’s 477-litre boot but smaller than the Sportage’s 543-litre cargo capacity.
Cabin space is good with massive door pockets, four cup holders (two in the rear and two up front) and a large centre console box under the armrest. Still, it could be better – the hidey hole in front of the shifter, which is obviously designed for a phone, is too small for mine and ever since I drove the new Toyota RAV4, with its innovative shelves carved into the dash, I wonder why all cars and SUVs don’t have them.
All Foresters have rear directional air vents, which is excellent, and these, combined with the tinted rear glass and the two USB ports in the second row, mean kids back there will be cool and have power to charge their devices.
Proximity unlocking and push-button start mean you don’t need to get the keys out and this is also standard on all Foresters.
Finally, the chunky roof racks are also on every grade and you can buy cross bars ($428.07 fitted) through Subaru’s enormous accessories department.
Price and features
Mazda CX-58/10
There has been some juggling of the CX-5 range for 2022, which has now resulted in five trim levels, four engine options, two fuel types and two transmissions offered across the CX-5 range, with prices spanning $32,190 for the entry level Maxx manual – or $2k more for the automatic – and $53,680 for the top-spec Akera auto. And to save you doing the math, that means prices are up somewhere between $800 and $1300 across most of the range.Â
The Maxx cars deliver things like 17-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights, black cloth seats, an 8.0-inch central screen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a six-speaker stereo and leather on the steering wheel and shifter.
Maxx Sport models than add LED fog lamps, dual-zone climate, sat nav and hidden USB charge points in the pull-down seat divider in the back.
Next up is the Touring, which will give you keyless entry, a wireless charger for you mobile, front parking sensor and a neat boot floor which can be reversed when you’re carrying muddy gear for easier cleaning.
New for this update is the Touring Active, which seeks to up the style a bit with 17-inch alloys finished in a grey metallic, gloss-black side mirrors and Maztex seats with fluoro-green accents in the cabin and on the body work.
Still with me? Don’t worry, we’re almost there. Next comes the sporty-looking GT SP, which adds 19-inch alloys, a cool looking gloss-black treatment to the mirrors and grille, a black interior trim, a sunroof and powered boot, heated front seats, and a 10-speaker Bose stereo. You also get Mazda’s clever Adaptive Front-Lighting system, which turn with the vehicle to ensure the road ahead is always illuminated when cornering.
Finally, there’s the top-tier Akera, with it silver 19-inch alloys, ventilated Nappa leather front seats, adaptive LED headlights, and a second 7.0-inch screen.
Mazda CX-5 2022 Price List:
| Variant | Transmission | Cost |
| Maxx 2.0-litre petrol FWD | Manual | $32,190 (+$800) |
| Maxx 2.0-litre petrol FWD | Automatic | $34,190 (+$800) |
| Maxx Sport 2.5-litre petrol FWD | Automatic | $37,990 (+$1300) |
| Maxx Sport 2.5-litre petrol AWD | Automatic | $40,490 (+$800) |
| Touring 2.5-litre petrol AWD | Automatic | $42,390 (+$900) |
| Touring Active 2.5-litre petrol AWD | Automatic | $42,680 |
| Touring Active 2.2-litre turbo-diesel AWD | Automatic | $45,680 |
| GT SP 2.5-litre turbo-petrol AWD | Automatic | $48,790 (+$1100) |
| Akera 2.5-litre petrol AWD | Automatic | $50,680 (+$1100) |
| Akera 2.5-litre turbo-petrol AWD | Automatic | $53,680 (+$1100) |
| Akera 2.2-litre turbo-diesel AWD | Automatic | $53,180 (+$1100) |
Subaru Forester9/10
Look, I don’t want to lose you this early in the review, but the next few paragraphs are going to sound a bit like gobbledegook, and I blame that on Subaru for giving the individual grades in the Forester range unimaginative names. But it’ll be worth sticking around because I can straight up tell you now the Forester is good value, like really good value...
The entry grade in the Forester range is called the 2.5i and it lists for $35,990 and comes with dual-zone climate control, an eight-inch media touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a 6.3-inch display for vehicle info, and a smaller 4.2-inch screen in the instrument cluster, cloth seats, a proximity key with push button start, plus tinted rear windows, LED headlights and daytime running lights and 17-inch alloy wheels.
The next grade up is the 2.5i-L for $38,390 and frankly it’s identical to the 2.5i except for one hugely important difference – it comes with more safety tech. If it was my money, I’d skip the entry grade and go straight to the 2.5i-L. Oh, and it also comes with heated seats.
The 2.5i Premium is the next up the ladder at $41,140 and comes with all the features in the grades below but adds 18-inch alloys, premium cloth seats, sat nav, powered front seats, and a power tailgate.
Hang in there, we’re almost through this.
The 2.5i Sport for $42,690 has the Premium’s features but has 18-inch wheels with a black metallic finish, there are orange highlights to the exterior and interior trim, water-repellent cloth seats and a power sunroof.           Â
The 2.5i-S is the fanciest grade in the range at $44,190 – it’s the one I tested in the video at the top of this review. Along with all the features of the lower grades there are also silver 18-inch alloy wheels, leather seats, an eight-speaker Harman Kardon stereo and X-Mode, which is an off-road system for playing in the mud.
Finally, there are the two hybrid grades – the Hybrid L for $41,390 whose feature list mirrors the 2.5i-L’s and the Hybrid S for $47,190, which has much the same standard features as the 2.5i-S.
Under the bonnet
Mazda CX-57/10
There are four engines on offer here, and we’ll pop the details down below. But what you really need to know is that the pick of the bunch is the punchy 2.5-litre turbo, which is such a good fit for this vehicle. It pairs exclusively with a six-speed automatic and AWD, and it's a peach.
Elsewhere, you’ve got a choice of petrol or diesel, manual or automatic, and two- or all-wheel drive. Choices, choices, choices. There are plenty of them here.Â
Mazda CX-5 2022 engine options:
| 2.0L Petrol | Power: 115kW @ 6000rpm | Torque: 200Nm @ 4000rp | Driven wheels: FWD | Fuel use: 6.9L/100km (combined) |
| 2.5L Petrol | Power: 140kW @ 6000rpm | Torque: 252Nm @ 400rpm | Driven wheels: FWD/AWD | Fuel use: 7.2L-7.4L/100km (combined) |
| 2.5L Turbo-petrol | Power: 170kW @ 5000rpm | Torque: 420Nm @ 2000rpm | Driven wheels: AWD | Fuel use: 8.2L/100km (combined) |
| 2.2L Turbo-diesel | Power: 140kW @ 4500rpm | Torque: 450Nm @ 2000rpm | Driven wheels: AWD | Fuel use: 5.7L/100km (combined) |
Subaru Forester7/10
You can get the Forester with a straight petrol engine or a petrol-electric hybrid system.
The straight petrol engine is a 2.5-cylinder four cylinder making 136kW and 239Nm.
You might know already that Subaru uses ‘boxer’ engines, which are rare in that the pistons move horizontally to the ground rather than up and down vertically as in most engines. There are advantages to the boxer set up, mainly the fact that it keeps the car’s centre of mass low, which’s good for stability.
Both power trains use a continuously variable transmission (CVT) which is super smooth, but makes acceleration feel sluggish.
Efficiency
Mazda CX-57/10
Non-turbo vehicles are equipped with a 56-litre tank, while the turbocharged models nab and extra two litres for 58 in total. There’s no electrification on offer in the CX-5 family, and with petrol prices increasingly horrific these days, that’s also something that weighs on your mind.Â
The good news is that petrol-powered examples of the CX-5 run on the cheapest 91RON fuel. The bad news is that with no electrification on offer (like hybrid or PHEV), and fuel prices reaching skyward everyday, there's no real way to mitigate those costs.
We were putting the 2.5-litre, turbocharged models to harder work than they would normally be subjected to, but we also retuned fuel use figures north of 10.0L/100km. And on today's prices, that means $21 every 100km.
Subaru Forester7/10
According to the official ADR combined test that aims to replicate a combination of open and urban roads, the 2.5-litre petrol engine should use 7.4L/100km while hybrid petrol-electric Forester with the 2.0-litre engine should use 6.7L/100km.
My test of the 2.5-litre petrol, which combined urban commutes into the city, as well as forays onto dirt trails and country roads, returned 12.5L/100km. So in the real world, the Forester - even the hybrid version - isn’t particularly fuel efficient.
Driving
Mazda CX-58/10
Who says that buying a family SUV means waving goodbye to any sense of driver enjoyment from behind the wheel?Â
Mazda has done a stellar job of making the updated CX-5 feel connected to the road below it, sit nice and flat through corners, and – with the right drivetrain equipped – deliver enough lusty grunt for easy overtaking or simply shortening the distance between bends.
It's no performance car, and nor is it trying to be, but it's also not some big and boat-like SUV that tips and rolls through bends and disconnects the driver from the experience.
Instead, it sits somewhere in the middle of those two polls, offering a firm-ish but comfortable enough ride in town, and a sense of athleticism when you're outside the city limits.Â
One of the focuses for Mazda this time around was on the NVH (how much of the outside world enters the cabin when you're the road), and while I can't offer up a direct comparison with the outgoing model – it's been too long since I've driven one – I can report that this new car is mostly quiet and comfortable, even at speed, with very acceptable levels of wind and road noise in the cabin.
That sense of smoothness is helped along by really predictable steering, and a fairly seamless gearshift from an automatic 'box that swaps its cogs quickly and without much fuss.Â
So, more of the same really from the CX-5. But to be fair, that's not a bad thing here.
Subaru Forester8/10
This is, quite simply, one of the best driving mid-sized SUVs for the price. Yes, the CVT makes acceleration feel lacklustre, but that is the only downside.
The ride is comfortable, the handling is good, and the steering is spot on. Great visibility, excellent ground clearance of 220mm and a superb all-wheel-drive system make the Forester hard to beat.
I drove the 2.5i-S with the 2.5-litre petrol engine. I have driven Subaru’s hybrid previously, however, and can tell you that it tends to offer more oomph in acceleration thanks to the extra and instant electric torque.
Perhaps the only other negative point was the brake pedal in my 2.5i-S, which seemed to need a decent amount of pressure from me to pull the Forester up quickly.
The braked towing capacity of the petrol Forester is 1800kg and for the hybrid it’s 1200kg.
Safety
Mazda CX-58/10
Even the cheapest Mazda CX-5 gets blind spot monitoring, a driver attention alert, forward collision warning with AEB front and rear, lane departure warning with lane keep assist, active cruise, a reverse camera, rear parking sensors and rear cross-traffic alert.
Springing for the Touring Active adds front parking sensors and a head-up display with traffic sign recognition, while the GT SP adds Mazda's Adaptive Front-Lighting.
The entire CX-5 range wears a five-star ANCAP safety rating, but was last tested back in 2017.
Subaru Forester9/10
The Subaru Forester was given the maximum five-star ANCAP crash rating in 2019.
All grades have AEB, which can detect cyclists and pedestrians, and there’s also lane-departure warning and lane-keeping assistance, rear cross traffic alert (with braking on all grades above the entry car), and blind-spot warning as well.
For child seats there are three top-tether mounts and two ISOFIX points in the second row.
Ownership
Mazda CX-57/10
The Mazda CX-5 is covered by a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty - which is about middle of the road by today’s standard. You also get capped price servicing, and a trip to the dealership will be required every 10,000kms.
You can expect to pay around $350 for each of the first five services.Â
Subaru Forester8/10
The Forester is covered by a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty. Servicing is recommended at 12 month/12,500km intervals and over the course of five years works out to be $2400. That’s quite expensive.
The hybrid’s battery is covered by an eight-year/160,000km warranty.