Mazda CX-5

Back in the 80s, the old slogan told us we would be 'Amazed by a Mazda'. Now Pete Burnard has been confused by one – but only in a good way...

AT FIVE, there might not be quite enough seats for everyone, but the Mazda CX-5 still seemed a perfect fit in our driveway.

For there, outside the house of a dad who thinks he's funny and daughters who think they're smart, sat a crossover that thinks it's a sports car powered by a diesel engine that thinks it's a petrol.

And it is probably the Mazda that is the least delusional.

The CX-5 is, of course, Mazda's late arrival to the party that Nissan started with their Qashqai and which practically every other manufacturer has gatecrashed with a mix of two and four-wheel drives.

Get to a party this late and you need to make a spectacular entrance.

Mazda certainly has – enough to have me really looking forward to a day or two in Forest Road's demonstrator after a teasing taster in their showroom petrol car.

As the crossover name suggests, these cars have to be all things to most owners – an estate car for the Labradors and those weekend-spoiling trips to B&Q, a roomy taxi for the school run, a not-too-daunting step up from a conventional family hatch and, hopefully, with car-like, rather than full-blown SUV, running costs.

CX-5 ticks (or should that be crosses?) every box.

It's the first Mazda to boast the full package of SkyActiv technologies that combine improved economy/reduced emissions with enhanced performance and driving characteristics.

That circle is squared by the combination of lighter, stiffer bodies – thanks to the use of stronger, high-tensile steel – and well-honed transmissions and suspensions mated to some rather special engines.

The demo car is a top spec 2.2 4WD Sport Nav auto with the 175ps version of the SkyActiv-D diesel. A 150ps version of the same powerplant emits as little as 119g/km of CO2 as it powers lesser oil burners while a 165ps (139g/km) petrol powerplant drives a four-specification two-wheel drive range.

In the showroom or on the forecourt, the CX-5 looks good, although from the side the nose isn't the prettiest to my eyes when it's in light colours.

Mind, the black of the demo looks rather nice.

It also looks relatively low and sleek for the type – it's not that tall and it's long for the class at almost a full 15ft.

Get aboard and you notice that although it confers that high-riding feeling of invulnerability, it does so without involving too much of a climb up.

Safety is a strong suit: five-star crash protection and Smart City Brake Support, a laser-based system that detects closing speed and applies to brakes to avoid/mitigate collisions at up to 20mph, is standard across the range.

And to go the whole safety hog, a £635 option package that includes rear vehicle blind spot monitoring, lane departure warning and automatic high beam control looks good value.

The interior is widely seen as Mazda's best so far – tasteful perforated black leather and quality black plastics relieved by just the right amount of real-metal brightwork and a fillet of piano-black gloss.

Something that looks rather like BMW's iDrive controller looks after the infotainment and satnav system and is pretty instinctive to operate. Although I stuck to good old Radio 4, I am sure the teenagers could get the Bose sound system to annoy the neighbours.

If there is a criticism, it's that the satnav screen looks a bit aftermarket for a piece of original equipment.

Interior space is generous. Stacks of headroom and legroom – especially in the rear, so giant teens will have no cause for complaint – and bootspace is copious, too.

The load blind is attached to the tailgate and pays out and retracts as it is raised and lowered, so your valuables should stay protected from prying eyes, and of course the whole thing can stay easily in situ rather than cluttering up the boot or getting lost in the attic.

The rear seat split/folds 40:20:40 and does so at the touch of a button just inside the tailgate.

Drop the centre section and you can carry a long item while travelling four-up in comfort.

Drop the lot and you have a real load-lugger at your disposal.

Pressing the start button, after I'd adjusted the electric seat and mirrors to suit, brought to life the most discreet of diesel powerplants.

With drive selected, it was out onto Forest Road and towards the airport.

Mazdas show a blue 'be kind to me' dashboard light when the engine is cold and I curbed my exuberance until it went out – which it did long before the famous airport traffic lights.

Time to put a bit of lead in my right foot – and get a real surprise.

Without a hint of bang or clatter, the revs just soared all the way to the red line.

Although peak torque is at a typically modest 2,000rpm, this diesel will rev and rev, long past the point where other oil burners run out of breath.

The result is surprisingly rapid progress, even quicker than the strong performance figures suggest.

And you can exploit it because CX-5 is not dauntingly wide – which is just as well since I never figured out how to powerfold the mirrors which is, unusually, by turning the little joystick knob to 12 o'clock.

Presumably the free-revving nature is partly attributable to the ultra-low, for a diesel, compression ratio of 14:1.

I did read in a national newspaper that it is the highest compression diesel engine about but trust me, it is actually the lowest.

That low compression ratio creates a slower combustion process so the fuel is more completely burned, producing a 20% increase in fuel efficiency and allowing the powerplant to pass stringent emissions laws around the world without the need for expensive after-treatment to get rid of oxides of nitrogen.

The lower compression ratio also allows the cylinder block to be made in aluminium, offering a 25% weight saving over iron.

Ceramic glow plugs and multi-hole piezo injectors make sure the low-compression diesel starts when cold and two-stage turbocharging – a small or a large turbo are operated, according to driving conditions – offer higher torque, lower emissions and better economy. Even in two-pedal form, the urban cycle is a pretty remarkable 44.1mpg thanks in part to what Mazda says is the quickest intelligent stop-start package on the market.

Mazda's claim to have endowed the CX-5 with some of the

MX-5 roadster's genes might sound ambitious, but during a dash to work I did feel a gentle squeeze as the sporty seat's bolster helped keep me in situ.

And it was lateral g sending me sideways, not body roll tipping me out of the seat, as would be normal in this class.

The lighter, two-wheel-drive petrol version is said to handle even more sharply, although keen drivers should be more than happy with the four-wheel drive version and it does confer that added versatility.

It is, of course, that petrol engine that has the highest compression ratio in this class at 14:1.

That endows it with exceptional low-down torque, allowing early up-changes and high mpg.

So, a diesel powerplant that thinks it's a petrol or a petrol one that thinks it's a diesel – the choice is yours.

Either engine should prove surprisingly frugal and will come in one of the most complete five-seater transport packages around.