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2018 Mazda CX-5 Buying Guide | Specs, safety, expert reviews, and more

Crossovers are all the rage these days, and spunky Mazda devotes half of its six-vehicle portfolio to the segment. The compact CX-5 slots right in the middle of its crossover lineup, size-wise, and outsells all other Mazda vehicles by a country mile, with sales continuing to climb so far in 2018. The CX-5 was the first car to feature Mazda's KODO design language, which has given its vehicles a more premium appearance and made the CX-5 longer-looking and more taut. Now in its second generation, Mazda offers the CX-5 in Sport, Touring and Grand Touring trims, with the option of front- or all-wheel drive configurations. This Autoblog buyer's guide is aimed at helping you to make an educated decision about whether to buy the 2018 Mazda CX-5. We'll summarize safety and reliability ratings, engine specs and horsepower, fuel economy ratings and pricing. We'll also touch on what Autoblog's professional reviewer thinks of the crossover. Is the 2018 Mazda CX-5 safe? Based on its crash tests, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration gives the 2018 CX-5 a four-star overall rating. It awards five stars for frontal- and side-crash protection, and four of five stars for rollover crashes. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety further vouches for the 2018 Mazda CX-5, giving the crossover its coveted Top Safety Pick + award — at the time of this writing, the only compact crossover to get this rating, thanks to available adaptive headlights. It also has good ratings for all of its crash-test metrics and headlights, a superior rating for front-crash avoidance, with optional equipment, and an acceptable rating for the ease of use of the child-seat LATCH anchors. We encourage you to visit the NHTSA and IIHS websites to review ratings on the specific vehicle you're researching. Is the 2018 Mazda CX-5 reliable? J.D. Power gives the 2018 Mazda CX-5 an overall score of 75 out of 100, considered average. On its 10-point scale, it rates the vehicle an 8 on overall quality, which is in the average range, and 9 — considered among the best — for overall performance. It rates an 8 for overall depreciation. As is customary, we note that Autoblog has raised concerns about the way J.D. Power weights serious and less-serious reliability issues. You can read more about that here. According to NHTSA, there has been one recall involving 682 models of the 2018 CX-5 because the side curtain airbags may not properly deploy following a side-impact or rollover crash.

Mazda and Isuzu to collaborate on a new pickup truck

After decades, Mazda has finally untangled itself from its relationship with Ford. The last vestige of that partnership is the BT-50, a rebadged version of the global Ford Ranger pickup truck. Once the BT-50 ends production, Mazda has announced that it will collaborate with Isuzu to develop its next generation of pickup trucks. The BT-50 was co-developed with Ford's Australian division. In their current iteration, the BT-50 and its Ranger twin were never on sale in the United States. Mazda's last pickup in the US was the B-Series, itself also a rebadged version of the old Ford Ranger. Isuzu pulled out of the US passenger vehicle market in 2009, although it still sells commercial vehicles here. Isuzu, continuing a long and complicated relationship with General Motors, co-developed the diesel engine that currently powers the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon. In select markets, Isuzu sells a rebadged version of the Colorado as the D-Max. Details on the Mazda/Isuzu tie-up are scarce. A single press release simply says "Isuzu will produce next-generation pickup trucks for Mazda, based on Isuzu's pick-up truck model." This isn't the first truck collaboration between the two companies. Since 2004, Mazda has sold the Titan, a rebadged version of the Isuzu Elf commercial truck. The Elf is sold in the US as the Isuzu N-Series. Those in the US hoping for a new competitor in the midsize-truck segment shouldn't get their hopes up for the new truck. There are currently no plans to bring them here. There is hope, though, that Ford will bring the Ranger replacement stateside sometime in the next few years. Related Video: News Source: MazdaImage Credit: WILLIAM WEST/AFP/Getty Images Isuzu Mazda Truck

Mazdaspeed3 concept tipped for Frankfurt debut

The last quarter of 2015 could be a big one for Mazda as a report has emerged from Australia claiming that the company will come to the Frankfurt Motor Show in September with a near-production concept of the third-generation Mazdaspeed3, while a second-generation CX-9 will be shown a few months later in Los Angeles. Motoring.com.au ran the initial report, and although the news seems plausible, the outlet doesn't provide sources for either piece of news. Likewise, our friends at Mazda USA refused to comment on "speculation." Speculation it may be, but it's surely tantalizing considering the recent popularity of both the hot hatch and three-row crossover segments. According to the Aussies, the concept Speed3 will quickly evolve into a production model, which will launch alongside a mid-cycle refresh for the current 3. A turbocharged 2.5-liter will spit out 295 horsepower, and could have all-wheel drive. Even if only the front axle is doing the work, the MS3 will easily be able to stand toe-to-toe with hotter half of the segment based on output alone. As for the more mundane offerings, Motoring reports the long-in-the-tooth CX-9 will get a replacement in LA, although it doesn't offer much in the way of details beyond that. It should be interesting to see how the company's Skyactiv philosophy will be implemented on such a large vehicle. Perhaps the biggest surprise from the Australian report, though, are the outlet's reports on the CX-7, which will return sporting a third row of seats after its larger sibling debuts. That'd give Mazda a versatile lineup of four crossovers, with the sub-compact CX-3, the compact CX-5, the midsize, seven-passenger CX-7 and the fullsize CX-9. As we weren't able to confirm any of this with Mazda, we'd still warn that this news should be ingested with grains of salt. Still, it looks like the company could be set to make some waves in the first two shows of the upcoming auto show season.