2025 Mazda CX-50 Hybrid will not be transferring sufficient

• Mazda CX-50 Hybrid will get its 38-mpg powertrain from Toyota
• Styling and packaging is generally unchanged, value is $2,550 to $3,400 greater than non-hybrid
• Lacks a lot of the participating, responsive driving expertise that is distinguished Mazda

Amongst mainstream, gasoline-fueled automobiles, with only some exceptions, our recommendation to most consumers is straightforward: If there’s a hybrid, get the hybrid. 

A hybrid is now obtainable for the Alabama-built Mazda CX-50. After spending a few days with it, that recommendation holds—with just a few caveats. 

Not like rivals such because the Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4, Ford Escape or, quickly, Subaru Forester, Mazda does not see the hybrid system as creating the flagship of the lineup. As a substitute it matches the CX-50 Hybrid between its 2.5 S and Turbo fashions. 

Mazda CX-50 Hybrid: Hybrid transplant for Mazda’s mainstream center

The CX-50 Hybrid has the identical benefit as different non-hybrid CX-50s: It appears to be like nice. The CX-50 has a profile, stance, and styling particulars that each one match collectively cohesively. It neither appears to be like like a plus-size compact SUV nor a nipped-and-tucked tackle a much bigger SUV. The perimeters are sculpted good, the cladding is quaffed and minimal, and it doesn’t have awkward angles. 

You’re unlikely to pick the Hybrid from the non-hybrid from a distance, apart from distinctive alloy wheels. The CX-50 Hybrid’s exterior is discreetly raised 1.4 inches whereas offering the identical floor clearance, and it will get commensurate “higher-profile physique cladding” (actually a refined change) to assist it match extra simply alongside non-hybrids.

The CX-50 Hybrid additionally carries over almost the identical total dimensions and packaging. It has 7.8-8.1 inches of floor clearance, and the 19-inch wheels featured on my Premium Plus take a look at automobile that present that additional bump in top. 

Inside, the hybrid, like different CX-50s, isn’t fairly as roomy of an inside because it seems on the surface. Versus any of these rivals, the CX-50’s EPA passenger quantity of 97.0 cubic ft is markedly much less; and it doesn’t make up for it with its cargo quantity of 29.2 cubic ft behind the second row, or 56.3 cubic ft with the rear seats folded down.

Mazda CX-50 Hybrid: Trades off house vs. rivals for a reasonably profile

Contemplating the CX-50’s longer physique, it took just a few walkarounds to grasp that there’s a easy reply to the place the house goes. The CX-50 appears to be like nice as a result of extra of its profile is devoted to the hoodline and fewer to the cabin. 

At 185.6 inches lengthy and using on a noteworthy 110.8-inch wheelbase, the CX-50 Hybrid is just a few inches longer than rivals just like the Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4, or Subaru Forester, and inside an inch or so in most different key dimensions. 

It’s nonetheless lots roomy for 4, although. This inside will accommodate 6-footers within the entrance and rear seats. Though the seats don’t have fairly as a lot again help as these within the Mazda 3 or CX-5, they’re fairly good versus what you’ll discover in different inexpensive automobiles. 

The Hybrid’s 1.59-kwh nickel-metal-hydride battery pack has a minor impression on house. It’s positioned below the rear seat. Thus, rear passengers sit nearer to the ground however increased from the bottom. It leads to barely much less legroom, nevertheless it’s such a small distinction that cross-shoppers may not even discover it. A lot of the Hybrid’s flooring construction is exclusive to it, and the entrance body rails are set extra extensively aside—so don’t count on it to hold over the usual CX-50’s NHTSA five-star and IIHS High Security Decide+ scores fairly but. 

Mazda CX-50 Hybrid: 38-mpg AWD hybrid system from Toyota

Beneath the hood lies a unique engine than the one powering non-hybrid variations of the CX-50. Mazda calls this an “eCVT,” nevertheless it’s a well-known Toyota-sourced hybrid system as used within the RAV4 Hybrid—a planetary torque-split system permitting a number of bands of efficient ratio spans to allow completely different electrified torque and effectivity calls for. 

Right here, the two.5-liter Toyota inline-4 makes 176 hp and 163 lb-ft of torque, with all-wheel-drive supplied solely by way of an electrical rear motor making 54 hp and 89 lb-ft. Altogether, the Toyota hybrid system makes the similar mixed 219 hp and 163 lb-ft as within the RAV4 Hybrid.

It earns EPA scores of 39 mpg metropolis, 37 freeway, and 38 mixed. Whereas our first pattern of the CX-50 Hybrid recommended that these numbers may be slightly optimistic, patrons can sit up for spectacular effectivity in on a regular basis driving with this sensible crossover. 

The curb weight of the CX-50 Hybrid is 4,008 kilos, based on Mazda. That’s 267 kilos greater than a non-hybrid CX-50, or a few hundred kilos greater than a Turbo. The CX-50 Hybrid is rated to tow 1,500 kilos, which lower than different CX-50 fashions however nonetheless sufficient to haul weekend tasks throughout city. 

Mazda CX-50 Hybrid real-world mpg proves diesel incorrect

Mazda spent years making an attempt to convey a turbo-diesel engine to the U.S. market, after which when it arrived within the 2019 Mazda CX-5 SkyActive-D, it supplied slower acceleration and solely marginally higher mpg. Now the CX-50 Hybrid exhibits Mazda ought to have been seeking to hybrids all alongside. It undoubtedly accelerates to 60 mph faster than the eight-plus seconds of the bottom CX-50, whereas topping that mannequin’s 28-mpg mixed EPA scores—at a value premium that’s going to repay on the fuel pump inside just a few years. 

To get a really feel for why Mazda bailed by itself diesel and turned to Toyota, I took the CX-50 Hybrid on the very same loop on which I drove the considerably smaller, underwhelming CX-5 diesel on just a few years earlier: a virtually 175-mile route that features fast-moving, dynamic-driving backroads and steep highways skirting Oregon’s Mt. Hood, with the final 60 miles close to the 70-mph movement of visitors. In all, I averaged 35 mpg—considerably higher than the 31 mpg the diesel mannequin managed in the identical form of driving.

I then additionally took the CX-50 on a 53-mile loop that I’ve run a variety of completely different hybrids on, with 700 ft of elevation acquire and loss plus a mixture of mild under-65-mph freeway driving, suburban stop-and-go, and rolling-hill backroads. On this loop, I averaged 39 mpg, which is a number of mpg lower than I’ve seen within the CR-V Hybrid and RAV4 Hybrid on this similar loop below comparable circumstances. 

Like many hybrids, the CX-50 Hybrid is a really environment friendly cruiser supplied you retain inside a sure candy spot. At a gradual 70 mph, my take a look at automobile settled into a median proper round 35 mpg. However mountaineering the velocity as much as 75 mph appeared to drop mileage to 32 mpg. 

Mazda CX-50 Hybrid: “Signature driving dynamics” of a unique type

Mazda has a fame for offering sportier, better-driving automobiles, and the CX-50 has Mazda’s “signature driving dynamics,” based on the model. As somebody who loves the Miata, recommends the CX-30, and appreciates the brand new CX-70 and CX-90—in addition to the frugal worth of Toyota’s hybrids—I’m not bought on the CX-50 Hybrid’s dynamics. 

From the beginning, I used to be dissatisfied that the hybrid system felt very conservatively tuned. It felt incongruous with the CX-50’s energetic character in its look, really feel, and packaging. It did not transfer me in any enthusiastic manner. 

Whilst you can take an ordinary CX-30 or a CX-90 plug-in hybrid on a backroad and discover an unexpectedly vivid, spirited driving expertise, that is merely not what you get within the CX-50 Hybrid. The CX-50 doesn’t drive with the sleek dynamics and above-and-beyond steering and suspension response of the remainder of the Mazda lineup, though the trip high quality is first rate on its comparatively softly tuned suspension, with struts in entrance and a torsion-beam structure in again. 

There’s no Sport mode (that’s left for the Turbo), so I used to be left to select from Regular, Energy, Path, and Energy modes. Energy mode stored the engine on almost on a regular basis and eradicated the slight lag whereas ready for it to fireplace up for full energy, nevertheless it didn’t make the CX-50 really feel any perkier. You’ll be able to order up decrease “gears” simulated with the hybrid system, however they don’t present all that rather more engine braking or regenerative braking for hills or curves. 

The hybrid transplant improves the load distribution of the CX-50 to 55:45 entrance to rear. However don’t consider that or the CX-50 Hybrid’s all-wheel-drive system as including something to driving dynamics in most conditions. Its tuning feels extra benign even than that of the RAV4, and I felt no torque supply to the rear wheels in tight corners on a rain-slicked street. I needed to pull off on a snow-covered gravel turnout on Mt. Hood to confirm that sure, certainly, my tester had all-wheel drive. At low speeds and mild throttle, it supplied up exact traction to the rear wheels as wanted. Path mode optimizes grip in low-traction conditions equivalent to that, nevertheless it wasn’t even wanted there. 

Simply as my fellow editors identified in regards to the non-hybrid CX-50, this can be a loud inside, and there doesn’t appear to be markedly extra sound deadening supplies within the hybrid. It booms at freeway speeds on something however excellent surfaces, with street noise, not engine noise, developing by the again of the automobile into the cabin. Again seat passengers could have a slightly fatiguing expertise on lengthy journeys. 

Mazda CX-50 Hybrid goes for worth

For 2025, the entire CX-50 lineup will get extra options and not using a value enhance. The CX-50 Hybrid is obtainable in Most popular, Premium, and Premium Plus trims. The $35,390 Most popular will get heated vinyl seats, an influence driver seat, rain-sensing wipers, a wi-fi telephone charger, and an influence tailgate. The $38,820 Premium provides a panoramic sunroof, an influence passenger seat with reminiscence settings, black roof rails and exhaust suggestions, 12-speaker Bose audio, extra driver-assistance expertise together with adaptive cruise management, and elective pink leather-based upholstery. The $42,065 Premium Plus—the one I examined—will get 19-inch alloy wheels, cooled entrance seats, a heated steering wheel, and energy folding facet mirrors. 

With some extra gear versus non-hybrid fashions, the CX-50 Hybrid Most popular prices $2,320 greater than an equal non-hybrid CX-50 Most popular—or $3,670 greater than the bottom non-hybrid CX-50 Choose. Hybrid variations of Premium and Premium Plus CX-50 trims price $3,400 and $2,550 extra, respectively, than non-hybrid variations. 

For essentially the most half this can be a fairly well-designed inside, with a easy reconfigurable gauge cluster, good sightlines, and cupholders and bins in smart locations—though the CX-50’s wi-fi telephone charger blipped backwards and forwards between charging and never charging not simply with my iPhone however two different take a look at units. 

The CX-50’s infotainment system features a 10.3-inch touchscreen, nevertheless it revolves round a hierarchical menu system which will proceed to go away you flabbergasted even after you get to comprehend it. How do you channel-surf and easily go up and down channels on satellite tv for pc radio, for example, or return again to the channel you had been on should you change unintentionally? The system requires clumsily backing out of a number of menus for contextual “subsequent steps” that needs to be a click on away. The system does have Apple CarPlay and Android Auto integration. That labored nice and it’s possible you’ll end up counting on it, as Mazda’s system appears to have misplaced some performance lately. 

Mazda makes a full suite of active-safety options commonplace, together with computerized emergency braking, blind-spot screens, and remarkably non-invasive energetic lane management. However on a easy lead-and-follow adaptive cruise, that system didn’t go the take a look at when visitors slowed barely, the automobile I used to be following modified lanes, and one other automobile was instantly forward—requiring my last-second jab of the brake pedal.

CX-50 Hybrid: Not a distinct segment this time, however not Mazda’s future

Mazda has appeared misplaced with regards to inexperienced automobiles, like with its Mazda MX-30 EV and SkyActiv-D engine tech that did not ship on their potential, and with an entire suite of applied sciences, together with SkyActiv-X and a rotary vary extender, that did not even arrive within the U.S. 

The CX-50 looks like a straightforward alternative for Mazda to construct on the thrilling facet it’s proven with its perky, properly tuned CX-90 plug-in hybrid. After spending a pair days with it, on one hand it feels just like the mass-market, efficiency-oriented mannequin that Mazda ought to have had within the lineup earlier than both of these high-effort tech oddities. However then again it doesn’t have the character we anticipated, even given the constraints of the hybrid system going into it.

The CX-50 merely doesn’t have the built-in refinement of the Honda CR-V Hybrid, and it doesn’t really feel prefer it even has the perkiness of a Toyota RAV4 Hybrid.

Past first impressions and the curb attraction, I’d a lot slightly be in a Honda CR-V Hybrid. The Honda has a torquier, quicker-reacting powertrain. It additionally handles higher, its cabin feels extra upscale, and it makes higher use of its house. 

Mazda is nonetheless on-path to a gross sales document, and it boasts that 2024 is shaping as much as be its first 12 months promoting greater than 400,000 automobiles yearly. It has a document proprietor loyalty of over 50%, and it expects to promote 100,000 CX-50s in 2025, with Hybrid fashions making up 40% of that. 

May that path be slightly extra transferring? We’ll go away that query to Mazda—and the journey to you.