The IT Nerd

If you’re looking for technology in the Mazda CX-5D Signature, there’s a lot of it. Some of it which is really different. But there are two things missing. Before I get to that, let’s start with the safety technology:

• Blind Spot Monitoring: This system keeps an eye out for cars in your blind spots so that you don’t hit them when changing lanes. It works well as the area of detection was large enough to keep me safe, but not so large that it created false positives.
• Lane Departure Warning With Lane Keep Assist: If you cross over into another lane, this system will buzz you on either the right or the left side. The buzz really gets your attention I must say. You can also set it to vibrate the steering wheel.
• Rear Cross Traffic Alert: If you back out of a parking space in a busy shopping mall and you have limited visibility to your left and right, you’ll love this system as you will be warned of any cars that cross into your path.
• Adaptive Front Lighting System and High Beam Control: I wrote about this previously and I have to admit that on some of the back roads that I drive at night, this feature comes in handy. I was always able to see what was in front of me clearly. One thing that I really appreciated was the fact that the LED headlights were very bright.
• Radar Based Cruise Control: I really liked this feature as you can set the speed you want and the distance that you want to have between yourself and the car in front of you, and you can pretty much let it slow down and speed up depending on the conditions. It’s very handy on long highway drives.
• Smart City Brake Support: Let’s say that you you do not react in time to a car that panic stops in front of you. This Mazda is capable of coming to a stop on it’s own, or slowing down to make the impact less severe. You can get more details on this system here.
• Rear Backup Camera: The camera is a fisheye camera that has an impressive degree of clarity. You can see anything and everything that is behind you when you’re backing up. One thing to note is that the camera is exposed which means dirt could make using it an issue.
• You get anti-lock brakes, traction control, stability control, and electronic brake force distribution. Plus you get hill launch assist which keeps you from rolling backwards when you’re on a hill.
• Finally, you get dual front air bags, dual front side air bags and dual side air curtains.

The next piece of technology that stood out was this:

The Mazda Active Driving Display is a heads up display that places everything from speed and blind spot monitoring info, to navigation and warning for the lane monitoring, and how close you are to the car in front of you. On top of that, the car is capable of reading speed limit and stop signs so that it can display them on this heads up display in color. It works very well with the only thing that I should mention is that polarized driving sunglasses will filter the display out. Thus choose your sunglasses carefully.

The best piece of technology that is in the Mazda CX-5 Signature is the inclusion of Mazda Connect. The combination of the 8″ touchscreen and the HMI (Human Machine Interface) Commander Switch gives the driver a easy to learn, easy to use infotainment system. I wrote about it in detail here. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are also included. And it’s the best implementation of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto I have seen. I wrote an in depth report on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in Mazda vehicles here. But I highly suggest that you include trying out Apple CarPlay and Android Auto when you test drive a Mazda vehicle. The only thing that I will point out is that this is an earlier implementation of Mazda Connect versus the new and even easier to use version that comes in the new Mazda3. But I am pretty sure you will not complain given how easy to use it is.

One other thing that I should mention about Mazda Connect is the enhancements to SiriusXM which include the following:

• More room for song/artist/genre metadata.
• Album art display.
• Channel logos on Now Playing and Station List screens.
• New SiriusXM features: TuneStart, TuneScan, and TuneMix.

On top of that, SiriusXM Traffic Plus is now onboard and it includes the following features:

• Live Traffic: View traffic flow and incident information directly on the Mazda Navigation map. This feature is available in 20 different Canadian communities. It ties into the on board navigation system to allow it to better route you.
• Weather: View Forecasts, Radar Maps, and Severe Weather Alerts.
• Fuel Prices: Find the lowest fuel prices or the closest fuel stations and see the available fuel types.
• Parking Information: Find parking locations, pricing, and hours of operation.
• Sports: Follow your favorite teams sports with play-by-play details and game/event schedules.

SiriusXM Traffic Plus is free for five years. This is separate from the three month trial SiriusXM audio subscription.

A 10 speaker Bose audio system is on board as well that sounds insanely great regardless of what music I threw at it. The track “No Mans Land” from the Wonder Woman movie soundtrack sounded incredible. As if you right there amongst the orchestra when it was being recorded.

So what’s missing? Besides the newest version of Mazda Connect, the Mazda6 Signature and CX-9 Signature have a 360 degree camera and front and rear sensors that keep you from hitting objects. They aren’t present on the CX-5D Signature. If Mazda included all of that in the CX-5D it would take the CX-5D Signature from being a great compact crossover to being perfect.

Finally, there’s actually driving the Mazda CX-5D Signature. You get a proximity key with push button start. Thus all you have to do is press a button on the driver’s door handle. Press it and the car will unlock. Get in, hit the start/stop button and drive away. One nice touch is that the start/stop button will light up with a green light if you press the brake pedal to start. That’s a nice touch to remind you to press the brake pedal to start the car. When you’ve reached your destination, press the start/stop button to turn off the car. Then get out of the car, close the door and walk away. You’ll hear two beeps. One after you close the door and one about 10 seconds later. When you hear both, the car is locked. You never need to pull out the key fob to do any of this. But the key fob does have the ability to lock and unlock the doors and it has the ever useful panic button. As an added bonus, it has a backup key inside the key fob should you need it.

The final part of this review will tie up some loose ends and I’ll give you my final verdict. Watch for it on Friday.

The interior of the Mazda CX-5 Signature is one that will humble the interiors of a lot of luxury cars. Let me walk you through it and you’ll see why I feel that way.

A nice touch is the fact that the door wraps around the bottom of the door frame. That way, your pants don’t get dirty.

The door has a mix of stitched Nappa leather, Abachi wood trim that is very classy. The window and mirror controls have a piano black finish around them that looks very upscale.

The drivers seat is made of Nappa leather and is heated and cooled. It’s 10-way power-adjustable as well. It is comfortable to sit in, but for a 6 foot tall guy like me, it could use a  bit more length for long thighs. You also get two memory settings as well.

The cockpit has a dead pedal for long drives and the pedals are easy to modulate. All the controls fall to hand easily.

The left and right gauges are real. The center gauge is a TFT screen that you can customize to display to the information that you want to see.

The steering wheel is heated and is on the chunky side. My wife who has small hands found it a bit too big for her. I found it to be fine. Your mileage may vary. Redundant controls for the infotainment system and the controls for the cruise control are on the steering wheel.

There’s a frameless rear view mirror that provides a lot more real estate to see what’s behind you.

There’s a 7″ color touchscreen display on the top of the dash above the air vents.

The HVAC controls are below the air vents. There’s also a cubby that fits my iPhone XS easily.

The shifter is leather wrapped. To the left of that is the sport mode switch. Below that is the electronic parking brake and the switch to hold the CX-5 Signature on a hill. To the right of that is the HMI Commander Switch that controls the infotainment system. There’s a piano black finish that is a bit of a fingerprint and dust magnet though when it is clean it looks very upscale.

There are two cupholders that hold a Venti sized Starbucks coffee with ease.

There’s a storage cubby that doubles as an armrest. It has a removable shelf, two USB ports and a 12V outlet.

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The glove box is lit and is decently sized.

The foot well is also lit which adds a touch of class.

There’s a power moonroof with a manual sunshade.

The rear seat sits two adults comfortably. Three is doable for short distances. The seats are heated.

There’s a HVAC vent for the back seat passengers.

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The middle seat has a panel that has two cupholders, two USB ports, and the controls for the heated seats.

The CX-5 Signature has 40-20-40 folding seats that give you a mostly flat cargo area and a whole lot of flexibility.

With the seats up there’s loads of space. Our weekly shopping fit in her with tons fo space left over.

You can flip the seats down using this handle. There is one on each side of the cargo area of the CX-5 Signature.

Also in the cargo area is a 12V outlet. Handy for tailgating.

Besides the button to close the power lift gate, there’s a handle to close the lift gate if you need it.

Overall the interior is first class in every way possible. Mazda really did a great job putting the interior together as it it really impresses anyone who sees it. I should also note that there’s very good vision in every direction for the driver. No rattles, squeaks, or other annoyances were noted during my week with the CX-5D Signature.

Tomorrow I will talk about the technology in the CX-5D Signature. Stay tuned for that.

This is the Skyactiv-D 2.2 L turbocharged diesel engine which has sequential dual turbochargers and common rail electric direct injection tech onboard. That allows it to put out 168 hp and a stout 290 lb-ft of torque. And that torque is delivered down low in the rev range which is exactly where you need it. Now acceleration is more like a steady continuous wave of power rather than going to warp 9 on the Starship Enterprise. Which is still fine to get you on the highway and around slower vehicles. The other thing that I have to say is that this engine is quiet by not only diesel standards, but by any standard. On the highway, it’s silent. In city environments you can barely hear the familiar rattle of a diesel if you go looking for it. To further underline this, I took four people in the CX-5D and simply told them it was a CX-5. One person was German and one was English. The reason why I am mentioning that is that those are places where diesel vehicles are prevalent. So they should be able to spot that this is a diesel. I then drove them for about 15 minutes and asked them to comment on how quiet the CX-5D was. They all reported that the vehicle was very quiet. That’s when I told them that this had a diesel under the hood. They didn’t believe me until I showed them this:

This is of course the nozzle for diesel fuel. On the right is the nozzle for the AdBlue liquid that helps to control emissions. Upon seeing that they were all floored that a diesel engine could be this quiet.

If you want a quiet diesel engine, this is it.

The six speed transmission that’s mated to this engine is well sorted and always seems to be in the right gear to power all four wheels. In fact the iActiv AWD system is one reason in my opinion that the CX-5D Signature is able to get the power to the road. Not to mention it will keep you on the straight and narrow when driving in inclement weather. Handling is one area where Mazda definitely improved things on the CX-5D Signature. There’s less body roll in the CX-5D Signature and it is extremely nimble. Likely because Mazda brings G-Vectoring Control Plus to the party as it helps you to carve corners like you’re on rails. The ride is solid without beating you up. And the steering, which for the record was already good is sharper and more direct. In short, this is the best handing and driving compact crossover that you can get without paying for a vehicle from Germany.

So let’s get to the part you care about. What’s the fuel economy? Before I give you what I am currently getting, let me tell you what the CX-5D is rated for. It’s rated fo 8.9 L/100KM city and 7.9 L/100KM highway. But you can do better than that. I am currently doing 8 L/100KM in mixed city and highway driving, but on a drive from Mazda Canada’s HQ to Cherry Beach Park on the lakefront to do the photoshoot for this review, I got this fuel economy: 

Now this was 85% highway driving to be fair. But it is still impressive.

Tomorrow I will discuss the interior which can be described in two words: “Class Above.” Tune in tomorrow to find out why.

Mazda for as long as I have reviewed their vehicles has been promising a diesel powered vehicle. But for the longest while nothing has appeared. That changed this year with the introduction of the Mazda CX-5D Signature:

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Now this looks just like any other CX-5 that you might see on the street as Mazda hasn’t changed the Kodo design language that makes this vehicle great to look at. The only hint that this is a diesel is this:

In other words, this vehicle doesn’t scream the fact that it is a diesel. Mazda has had the top end Signature trim level for the last year or so in the form of the CX-9, CX-5 and Mazda6. So it’s great that that the CX-5D has it as well. In fact, it’s the only way you can get this diesel engine.

My review of the 2019 Mazda CX-5D Signature is made up of five parts:

• Exterior
• Engine, transmission, handling, fuel economy, and driving comfort
• Interior
• Technology in the vehicle
• Wrap up

The next part of this review will cover the engine, transmission and driving comfort. You can expect that I will spend a lot of time on diesel engine. Tune in tomorrow to find out what I have to say about that.