2017 Mazda CX-5 vs Mitsubishi Outlander

What's the difference?

The new CX-5 has certainly picked up where the old one left off, and is better in every way. The new diesel is a cracker and the safety package belongs on a much more expensive car. 

Mazda has lead the way for so long and the CX-5 was such an accomplished car, a face-lift barely seemed necessary. While it's not all-new from the ground up, this is the kind of thing Mazda has taken to doing really well - every time we drive a freshened-up machine, it's those little details that add up to the feeling a lot of work has gone on to build on a solid base.

And with this diesel engine, the big wheels and those sharp looks, the CX-5 has something for pretty much everyone.

If we're all to be driving plug-in vehicles in the not-too-distant future, cars like the Outlander PHEV will go some way to easing that transition.

Easy, breezy suburban cruising in full EV mode, with the ability to knock off long distances with the help of its petrol engine. Plus, there's a ton of space in the boot. If you're after a spirited and dynamic drive, look elsewhere, but if fuel-budget-friendly (and mostly green) motoring appeals, then the Outlander PHEV does it very well indeed.

If the first CX-5 impressed with its understated good looks, the new one goes further by being a very pretty car. Mazda's 'Kodo' design language looks good at just about any size, but this latest evolution puts the CX-5 in genuinely beautiful territory.

The slimmer headlights work well with a longer-looking nose and a body that looks more pulled down over the wheels. Despite bearing more than a passing resemblance to the old car, all the panels are new and that's partly because a shift of the A-pillars of just 35mm was enough to make everything move.

The cabin has come in for a much bigger change. There wasn't a great deal wrong with the old one, but it was feeling a bit old, and some of the materials weren't quite there. As ever, the CX-5's first generation launched into a completely different, rather more sparse segment. With competition from all sides, the new interior had to deliver a more premium feel.

With improved plastics and fittings, a more cohesive design (something simple like consistent fonts go a long, long way to giving that impression) and the sort of detail improvements I've come to expect from Mazda, the new interior is lighter, feels better, and looks better. Job done.

Having said all of that, I can't really recommend the white leather. It looked pretty good with the red exterior and well-judged interior materials, but it's unlikely kids will be kind to it.

Most green-spec vehicles look, well, a little weird. And that's because they're purchased by people who smell faintly of homemade muesli and desperately want you to know they're driving an Earth-friendly vehicle.

But peel the 'hybrid' badging off the side of the Outlander P-HEV, and it looks identical to its full fuel-burning cousins, all of which are now rather handsome in an old-school and vaguely masculine fashion.

Up front, Mitsubishi's plasticky grille dominates the front end, and while it's a touch too busy for our tastes, it gives the Outlander some commanding street presence when viewed front on (or in a rear-view mirror). Elsewhere, though, it's a plain and unchallenging design, with a simple side profile and a rear view that looks skinny and tall.

Coolest of all, though, is the futuristic gear stick that makes you feel like you're shifting the Enterprise every time you select drive or reverse.

Inside the LS, the lovely leather-trimmed seats are centred with a chunky-ribbed suede. They're comfy, too, though they could use more side bolstering. The door panels are lined with quilted leather and some pretty unconvincing wood panelling, but a rock-hard plastic insert offers a tip that some cost corners have been cut.

The soft-touch dash is a quality addition and the centred 7.0-inch touchscreen is a big, clear and easy-to-use unit, even if satellite navigation is a glaring omission at this price point.

Coolest of all, though, is the futuristic gear stick that makes you feel like you're shifting the Enterprise every time you select drive or reverse. It's the only nod to that kind of gadgetry in the cabin, and it's cool.

Never a class-leader in the spaciousness department, this CX-5 is still at the rear of the pack, but it hardly seems to matter. Boot space is up by 39 litres to 442 (VDA) with the seats up, tripling to 1342 litres with the seats down. The seatback is split 40/20/40 and you can drop each section individually, which is unusually generous.

The CX-5 has four cupholders (a pair up front and a pair in the rear centre armrest), a tray for your phone, bottle holders in each door and vents for the rear seat. Courtesy of a new higher centre console, the storage bin is deeper and also hides two USB ports.

The new car isn't any bigger, so the rear door aperture is still on the tight side compared to, say, Volkswagen's Tiguan or Hyundai's Tucson. It doesn't seem to bother owners I've spoken to, but it's worth noting. 

Once you're in, there is plenty of leg and headroom for rear passengers, providing the driver or front passenger isn't a Canadian Redwood.

Mitsubishi's marketing schtick for the Outlander PHEV LS is that it's the "the EV with no compromises"  - all the load lugging space of a mid-size SUV with the fuel-sipping antics of a plug-in hybrid. And to be fair, it does make sense. Provided you're happy with a five seat version (there's no seven seat model available) there is no obvious practicality sacrifices in opting for the hybrid.

Boot space is a near identical 463 litres with all the seats in place, and climbs to a near enough bang-on 1602 litres when you drop the 60/40 rear seats. Interior space is unchanged, too, so the cabin remains a bright and airy place up front, with enough room for backseat passengers to ride in comfort.

Upfront, there are two cupholders, with room in the doors for bottles. Hidden in the central storage bin you'll find twin USB points and a 12 volt power outlet. Look up, and there's a purpose designed sunglass holder mounted in the roof lining, too.

Backseat passengers share two cupholders hidden in the pulldown divider that separates the rear seats, but that's about it. The second-row vents are floor mounted, and there's nada in the way of power or USB outlets. There are two ISOFIX attachment points, one in each rear window seat.

Towing capacity has dropped slightly compared to the equivalent petrol-powered model, now 1500kg instead of 1600kg.

The Outlander arrives in two trim levels, the entry-level (but not cheap) LS - the car we've tested here - and the more luxurious-feeling Exceed.

The $50,490 LS arrives comprehensively equipped, with leather-trimmed seats, dual-zone climate control and keyless entry and start. You can also expect 18-inch alloy wheels, auto headlights and wipers, along with an Apple CarPlay/Android Auto-equipped 7.0-inch touchscreen that partners with a six-speaker stereo. LED DRLs join LED head and tail-lights, along with roof rails, rear privacy glass and front fog lights.

Shell out another $5k - lifting your total spend to $55,490 - for the Exceed model and you can expect to add full-leather seats that are heated in the front, an electric sunroof, powered boot and a cool 'EV remote' function that displays the car's electric vitals on your smartphone. Your standard safety equipment also gets an almighty boost, but we'll come back to that in the Safety section.

The 2.2-litre 'SkyActiv' diesel is the only turbo in the range, for now at least. Developing 129kW and a very decent 420Nm, it has a portly 1744kg to move. Power reaches the road through all four wheels via a traditional six-speed automatic.

The diesel is also fitted with technology to reduce the clatter reaching the cabin, start-stop tech and Mazda's 'G-Vectoring Control'.

Towing capacity is rated at 1800kg for braked trailers and 750kg unbraked.

The conventional power is delivered via a 2.0-litre petrol engine that will produce 87kW at 4500rpm and 186Nm at 4500rpm. It's joined by two electric motors - one at each axle - which can kick in another 60kW to the total.

It's a dark art, measuring official fuel consumption in an EV vehicle.

How much power you get, though, depends on how you're using it. Leave it in pure EV mode, and 60kW is your total output. Venture into 'Series Hybrid' mode and the engine will help deliver another 60kW, bringing your total to 120kW.  Finally, drive entirely on petrol power, and you'll be using the petrol engine's 87kW. Mitsubishi claims maximum combined power at 120kW and combined torque at 320Nm.

That power is fed through a single-speed automatic gearbox and ultimately sent to all four wheels.

The sticker on the windscreen reckons you'll get 6.0L/100km on the combined cycle while exhaling 158g/km of CO2. With a 58-litre tank, that suggests a range just short of 1000km. And you know what? You might be able to do that if you don't spend too much time in traffic.

Mazda's 'i-stop' technology meant that over three weeks, we averaged 7.8L/100km in mostly urban and suburban driving. While that's a bit above the combined figure, it's not far off the urban number, 7.0L/100km.

It's a dark art, measuring official fuel consumption in an EV vehicle. The official claimed/combined figure is 1.7 litres per hundred kilometres on the claimed combined cycle, but we returned closer to 7.5L/100km after a long day of fairly placid driving. Combine that with a 45-litre tank and it means long-distance touring is going to require plenty of fuel stops. Official C02 emissions are pegged at 41g per kilometre.

You'll get a claimed 54 kilometre range in pure EV mode, and plugged into normal power, the battery will take 6.5 hours to charge. A fast charger will give you an 80-per cent charge in 25min.

The CX-5 has always been at or near the top of the medium SUV heap when it comes to the drive. The same couldn't be said for overall refinement. The old car suffered quite a bit from a classic (and fading) Mazda fault - cabin noise. The front suspension was the worst offender, with every bump, thunk and pop reaching your ears, along with tyre roar. 

It wasn't insurmountable - you could just turn up the stereo - but around town you got used to a cacophony of noise.

The new CX-5 - as with most major updates - has changed all that. While the underbits have barely changed (testament to the popularity of the car and the quality of its fundamentals), every spare gap has been filled with noise deadening materials, there's more carpet and just more stuff to reduce the racket. While it's not exactly silent, it's not far off the Tiguan, which is arguably the class benchmark.

As before, it's a lovely thing to drive. Easy-going but accurate steering, a firm but compliant ride (this car is not intended for off-roading) and a responsive transmission all combine to make life very relaxed behind the wheel.

The star of this car is the 2.2 diesel. Quiet, smooth and distinctly un-diesel in its aural character (inside at least), it makes the CX-5 a proper all-rounder. It cruises at speed in sixth, overtakes with just a little bit of toe pressure and is quite frugal, coming reasonably close to matching its claimed figures. Around town there is little lag to deal with and the power comes on nice and smooth.

The only complaint we had was that the blind spot monitor is perhaps a little over-enthusiastic, seemingly beeping every time we used the indicator to change lanes.

Mitsubishi might have cracked the code in making electric vehicles (even those with a little help from a petrol engine) interesting, and that's in handing control back to the driver. The huge paddles behind the steering wheel which would flick up and down through the gears in a conventional Outlander have been tweaked to control the level of regenerative braking, with five levels (one being not much, five being lots) that control how much power is fed back into the battery packs.

It's smooth and quiet in full EV mode, and seamless in the way it flicks between power sources.

That, paired with a gauge in the driver's binnacle that tells you when you're recharging the batteries, adds a weird sense of achievement to the whole experience. And strange as it sounds, we were glued to the dials trying to pump power back into the batteries. A long drive with plenty of downhill runs will significantly charge the batteries, too.

Elsewhere, though, sliding into the wide and comfortable driver's seat of this plug-in hybrid Outlander is a comfortingly familiar experience, whether you've driven EVs before or not. And if you keep it on surface streets in the CBD or suburbs, it's smooth and quiet in full EV mode, and seamless in the way it flicks between power sources.

The acceleration in this refreshed model has been mapped to be "more aggressive", though we suspect the words "than a marshmallow" might be missing from that statement. Pack a lunch for a flat-footed sprint from 0-100km/h, but it feels plenty perky enough when pulling away from a light, or when you're already up and running.

One issue, though, is that the Outlander PHEV's extra weight and its location makes cornering something of a mystery. The steering offers little in the way of feedback, and there's plenty of play in the wheel, so corners can require a sudden, second turn in. That, combined with soft suspension that's great at ironing out road bumps, but less so at preventing the vehicle rocking, left us feeling genuinely seasick when we tried pushing the boundaries.

The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV LS arrives with seven airbags (dual front, side and curtain, along with a driver's knee bag), which join hill start assist, a reversing camera, rear parking sensors and a full suite of traction and braking systems including EBD, ABS and traction and stability control.

Stepping up to the Exceed model unlocks adaptive cruise control, forward collision warning with AEB and lane departure warning, along with blind-spot monitoring and front parking sensors.

The Outlander range scored the maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating when crash tested in 2014.

Mazda's three-year/unlimited kilometre warranty is part of the CX-5 package, along with capped price servicing. Roadside assist is offered at $68.10 per year.

Your dealer will expect to see you every six months or 10,000km and will charge you between $317 on three of the five scheduled services, $387 for the second and $359 for the fourth. Extra items include $69 for the cabin air filter (every 40,000km) and $64 for brake fluid every 40,000km or two years.

The Outlander PHEV range is covered by Mitsubishi's five-year/100,000km warranty, which includes the battery, and will require servicing every 12 months or 15,000 kilometres.

The brand's capped-price servicing program limits maintenance costs to $250 per year for the first three years.