By Eric Peters
If you’re shopping for a compact crossover, there are some things you may be looking for – and some things you’re looking to avoid.
In which case, the Mazda CX50 may have just what you’re looking for (and not).
What It Is
The Mazda CX50 is a compact-sized, two-row crossover – which makes it about as unique as the third sheet of drywall in a stack of them. But it is unique in ways other than what it is. Among them that it still comes standard with a geared (rather than CVT) automatic transmission and a four cylinder engine large enough to not need a turbocharger to make up for being too small to otherwise move the thing decently.
It also looks a bit less like everything else – and that helps.
Prices for the CX50 begin at $30,300 for the base 2.5 S trim, which comes standard with a 2.5 liter four (and without a turbo), six speed automatic (rather than a CVT) and all-wheel-drive. A 10.25 inch LCD touchscreen, eight speaker stereo, LED headlights and synthetic leather seat covers are also standard.
If you do want a turbo (and the additional power/performance that comes with) it’s available in the Turbo Meridian trim, which lists for $40,800. This version comes with all-terrain tires for extra grip on grass/mud and snow-covered rods as well as self-leveling and swiveling headlights and a panorama sunroof.
The top-of-the-line Turbo Premium Plus – which lists for $43,300 – adds heated rear seats, a surround view exterior camera system, Heads Up Display and an upgraded 12 speaker Bose stereo system.
What’s new for 2025
The main change for this model year is that last year’s Turbo trim – which stickered for $38,000 – is no longer available. That means the cost of getting a CX50 with the turbo engine has increased by $2,800.
The hybrid drivetrain is also new.
What’s Good
Standard engine is large enough to not need the crutch of a turbo to make enough power to move the vehicle without feeling like it’s struggling to do that.
Six speed automatic isn’t a ten speed automatic – or a CVT.
Does not have a touchscreen – either in front of you or otherwise.
What’s Not So Good
Optional turbo engine is restricted to a few very expensive trims.
Rotary knob (turn and push) interface for controlling the stereo and other functions isn’t intuitive; requires multiple steps to find what you want to control and then control it.
Hybrids have a CVT.
Under The Hood
The standard CX50 engine is a 2.5 liter four cylinder that doesn’t need a turbo to make 187 horsepower – because it’s large enough to move enough air (and fuel) to make that power without being force-fed, which is a good way to think about what turbocharging is and does.
A turbocharger is a mechanical device that uses exhaust gasses in the same general way that a water wheel uses water to make power. The exhaust gasses exiting the engine flow over a wheel inside the turbo that’s attached to a shaft, which turns another wheel that pressurizes the air being fed to the engine. Normally, in an engine that does not have a turbo, the air is sucked in by the vacuum created by the running engine In a turbocharged engine, it is forced into the engine. More air in the cylinders (plus more fuel injected along with it) is how you get more power out of a smaller engine.
But when the turbo isn’t boosting, the engine isn’t flowing as much air – or using as much gas – and so the benefit is better mileage when you’re not needing the power but the power is still there when you need it.
The main reason, though, why so many new vehicles have small, turbocharged engines is because these engines do not “emit” as much as gas (C02) when they are just idling because there’s less gas moving through the smaller cylinders and – ultimately – out the tailpipe and that helps a lot with compliance.
On the downside, the smaller engine is under pressure to make power equivalent to a larger engine and that is generally not good for the long-term because things that are under more pressure tend to wear out sooner. A race horse that is expected to run at full tilt constantly will be ready for the glue factory sooner than one that isn’t put under that kind of pressure. The turbo also adds parts and those cost, which has to be subtracted from whatever “savings” there are on gas.
Also, the turbo’d small engine thing is arguably a gyp regardless, because the littler engine only gets better gas mileage when it’s not under pressure. But then it is not making enough power. To get enough power, it has to be pressurized – and then it is flowing just as much air and using just as much gas as a similarly powerful engine without a turbo.
Another CX50 plus is the standard six speed automatic – which is a plus because it doesn’t have as many speeds as the eight, nine and ten speed automatics that are proliferating once again chiefly for compliance reasons. These automatics have all those speeds – especially the multiple overdrive speeds – to eke out a slight gain in gas mileage. The difference to the vehicle owner is trivial; maybe 1-2 MPG vs. a transmission with six speeds and just one overdrive (to reduce engine speed at highway speeds) but significant in terms of fleet averages, which matters insofar as compliance.
The CX50’s six speed is inherently simpler than an eight, nine or ten speed and also much more likely to last as long as the CX itself than a continuously variable (CVT) automatic. The latter are also compliance transmissions and innately more fragile than automatics with torque converters and planetary gearsets (i.e., conventional automatics). They also enhance the sounds and feels of an underpowered, undersized engine.
The CX50 comes standard with neither.
Gas mileage with the 2.5 engine, six speed auto and standard AWD (all trims) is 25 city, 31 highway. This is slightly less than touted by some of the others in the class, such as the Honda CRV, which touts 28 city, 34 highway. But the price for that mileage is a 1.5 liter four that even with a turbo only manages to summon 190 horsepower, a difference without any meaningful distinction.
A turbocharged version of the CX’s 2.5 liter engine is also available. It touts 256 horsepower (premium fuel required) and is also paired with the six speed automatic. Gas mileage with this drivetrain is 23 city, 29 highway – another negligible difference. A CX so equipped can also pull up to 3,500 lbs. vs. 2,000 lbs. for the CX with the non-turbo four.
There is also a hybrid option, which uses the same 2.5 liter engine plus the usual (in a hybrid) electric motors and battery pack) paired with a CVT, in order to maximize the mileage. The hybrid CX touts the same 187 hp as the non-hybrid CX (with the base 2.5 engine) but also touts 39 MPG in city driving and 37 on the highway, which is a difference with meaningful distinction.
On The Road
Finding something to say about the way any new vehicle drives relative to how others of its type drive is a task on par with explaining how this glass of water differs from that glass of water. But – sometimes – there’s a difference, like that between a glass of water that emanated from a well dug deep into an aquifer of fluoride-free water vs. tap water that was recently waste water flushed down someone else’s toilet.
That’s maybe a little extreme but it’s close.
It’s refreshing – like a glass of fresh well or spring water – to drive a crossover that doesn’t sound like it’s got a motorcycle-sized engine under the hood – or feel like the rubber band’s about tio snap if you don’t let off the accelerator pedal. A V6 would of course be ideal and used to be what you’d get in a crossover this size (and price) but that was before compliance pressure pushed the V6 into the luxury-priced zone. Still, a large (2.5 liter) four is closer to a six than a 1.5 liter four and the heartier sound of the larger four is just more pleasant than the tinny sound of an engine so small it would never have been used in a vehicle this size prior to the advent of compliance pressure. The CX’s four also feels proper because when you push down on the accelerator, the four responds. In other crossovers there is a moment’s hesitation – the lag before the boost builds – before you get a response.
Complementing the 2.5 engine is a transmission that does not shift up and down all the time, adding another form of lag. The 2.5 engine makes enough horsepower and torque to work smoothly with “just” six forward speeds; without needing to leverage up and down all the time to keep an underpowered engine in the range where it makes just enough power to keep the works from feeling underpowered.
The CX’s optional turbo engine is interesting in that it is the same 2.5 engine and so has enough size to begin with for lag to not be an issue. The turbo boost adds power to an already powerful engine – which is what, historically, turbochargers were added to an engine for. So what you get is a more powerful engine. More finely, the most powerful one you can get in the class. The only catch is that to get the maximum rated power, it is necessary to fill the tank with premium fuel. You can use regular without doing any harm to the engine; but the engine’s computer will dial back the boost and ignition timing to adjust for the lower octane fuel. This results in 227 horsepower – but that’s still strong for the class and the neat part is you can choose to use regular if you want to reduce what you’re spending on gas but you have the option to increase the power anytime you like, just by filling the tank with premium.
At The Curb
The CX50 has the Usual Attributes that account for the popularity of crossovers as a class. There is a large rear cargo area – 56.3 cubic feet of total capacity – that is made more useful via the upward opening rear liftgate. Even with the liftgate closed and the rear seats up rather than folded – the CX still has 31.4 cubic feet of space for cargo, which is easily twice the space available in the trunk of most current mid (and even full-sized) sedans. This is why a relatively small crossover – at 185.8 inches long, the CX50 is about the same length as a compact-sized sedan – can nonetheless serve as a family vehicle. Compact-sized sedans don’t work for families because they don’t have enough space in the trunk for a family’s things. You’d need a second vehicle to take a family of five on a road trip, for instance – unless most of them didn’t take anything along for the trip.
But what makes the CX50 different?
Well, style for openers. The CX50 has rounded, even voluptuous flared fenders (these are best viewed from a slightly off-center angle) and a relatively long nose that echoes the look of the sadly-departed Mazda6 sedan.
These are, of course, subjective things. How about the objective ones?
Well, there’s a gauge cluster in front of you. Not another “digital” instrument panel; i.e., another looks-like-everyone-else’s smartphone screen in front of you. instead, actual gauges – dials and needles. You need not be a Luddite to prefer these. They are simple and direct and will almost certainly age better – in terms of how they look – than a smartphone display that may look gee-wiz in 2025 that’s guaranteed to look like a flip-phone from 2010 looks today by the time you finish making payments.
Also unusual is the absence of a touchscreen. There is an LCD display mounted on the dash, at the top of the center stack. But you just look at it. You control it via a rotary knob (turn then push) interface on the center console.
This is a plus – and a minus. It is nice to not have to tap/swipe a screen. And the CX has knobs and switches for most everyday things such as adjusting the climate control and the volume of the stereo. But to change the stereo channels (or shut down the various “assistance” systems) it is necessary to rotate and then push the rotary knob. It takes a little while to memorize how to use it smoothly but once you do, it serves. And you’ll never have to tap/swipe, which is its own reward for those who are maxxed out with smartphone-style controls.
The Rest
Mazda, in keeping with a general trend – has increased the price of the CX50’s optional turbo engine to assure fewer will be sold. That may sound weird but it’s true – and another consequence of compliance pressure. Mazda – like other manufacturers – wants to offer a more powerful engine because it’s a selling point. But if too many buy it, then it hurts Mazda’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) numbers, which results in fines for noncompliance being imposed by the government. So Mazda – like other manufacturers – increases the cost of the optional turbo engine (in this case, by limiting its availability to a few high-trim variants) so that not-too-many will be sold.
But at least it’s still available. For those who can afford it.
The Bottom Line
Crossovers are mostly all-alike. So when you come across one that’s meaningfully different, it’s a treat.
