Mazda’s Carbonfinger applied to CX-5

Aside for being notoriously brand loyal and seldom inclined to shift to another manufacturer regardless of how accomplished its product or products are, another trait South Africans have become known for in recent years is the love of limited or special edition vehicles.

Despite there being no performance advantages, a willingness to pay more for the sake of being different from the mainstream has seen a gradual roll-out of more and more bespoke models based on an existing derivatives with mainly cosmetic and/or interior differences, which in recent months have included Ford bringing back the Ranger FX4 spun-off of the XLT, Range Rover with the Sport SVR Carbon and Isuzu expanding the runaway success that the X-Rider designation to the 3.0-litre D-Max.

Similarly, Mazda has joined the fray with the Hiroshima marque’s latest being the Carbon Edition of the 2.0-litre CX-5. The replacement for the Individual trim level on the smallest engine model, the Carbon doesn’t offer any extra poke over its sibling, but unlike the commemorative 100^th anniversary edition 3 Road Test Editor Mark Jones drove last year, a number of special touches combined with more equipment in a package South Africans are capable of purchasing.

A good looker

Visually, the Carbon receives a gloss black faux rear diffuser, a chrome tipped exhaust outlet, a gloss black finish on the grille and mirror caps, gloss black 19-inch alloy wheels and a choice of six colours. In the case of our tester, the carbon-esque Polymetal Grey was selected which, contrasted with the black wheels, simply made one of the best looking compact SUVs and Mazda’s top local seller appear even better.

Spec and tech bonanza

Already an eye-catcher in ‘standard form’, the Carbon, for fear of a better word, looks stunning with the mentioned hue and wheels, a recipe Mazda has also applied inside to what was already an upmarket and beautifully crafted interior filled with tech.

Minor compared to the exterior, the Carbon receives an all-black leather dashboard with grey stitching, gloss black and aluminium inlays, leather/suede trimmed seats and red stitching on the knee pads, steering wheel and gear lever. As small as the adaptations are, Mazda has been a lot more generous on the standard specification side by equipping the Carbon with a host of features a comparative rival might struggle to match at R565 800.

This includes a booming ten-speaker Bose sound system, Heads-Up Display, electric front seats with two memory settings, satellite navigation, an electric tailgate, Driver Attention Alert, Adaptive LED headlights, Rear Cross Traffic Alert, Lane Departure Warning, Blind Spot Monitoring, Lane Keep Assist, a reverse camera, front and rear parking sensors plus Smart City Braking.

Despite the mentioned navigation, for some reason, not being fitted to our tester, the plethora of spec only adds to what was an already feature-rich offering. As has been Mazda’s push more upmarket, the Carbon’s fit-and-finish and choice of materials left little to be desired, while the freestanding Apple CarPlay and Android Auto enabled 8.8-inch MZD Connect infotainment system, which drops the touchscreen interface for a more convenient rotary dial, continues to rate, in this writer’s opinion, as one of the most user-friendly and easiest systems on the market today.

Space with grace

In addition to its clean and minimalist design, the interior is spacious with rear passenger unlikely to express concern about a lack of head-or-legroom, never mind the dual USB port located in the armrest or the rear vents that forms part of the dual-zone climate control.

While able to swallow 442-litres of luggage, tugging the levers on either side of the boot walls results in the rear seats tumbling forward to unlock a further 1 472-litres of cargo space.

Special feeling excludes the engine

Unfortunately, the Carbon, as so often seen in Formula 1, splinters apart when you press the starter button. Weighing just shy of 1.5-tons, the 121kW/213Nm offered-up by the normally aspirated 2.0 SkyActiv-G petrol engine, especially here at altitude, handicaps the CX-5 as it simply doesn’t have any low range grunt to aid momentum for the get-go.

While likely to be less of problem at the sea level, the constant hunting for power and torque resulted in the engine exploring the upper regions of the rev range a few times, especially when going uphill, which meant an unpleasant and strained soundtrack on anything but a flat surface.

Slick as it might be, the six-speed automatic gearbox nonetheless had its job cut-out in order to keep the engine on the boil, and tended to emit the rubber-band-like feel normally associated with a CVT. As such, extensive use was made of the paddles and even the gear lever to offset the raucous engine note. As is common these days, a Sport mode is provided, but its tendency to hold on to the selected gear for longer than normal and aid the screeching engine note, saw it being utilised for less than 15 seconds during the seven days.

On a flatter surface at the national limit, the CX-5 is compliant and comfortable with imperfections dealt with without any nasty jolts or upsetting of the suspension, a surprise turnaround from the range-topping turbodiesel all-wheel-drive Akera driven last year. As for consumption, the 317 km spent behind the wheel of a vehicle that arrived with less than 500 km on the clock in city and highway driving conditions netted a best indicated figure of 8.7 L/100 km.

Conclusion

The term special is defined as “different from the usual”, a trait Mazda has partially adhered to with the CX-5 Carbon Edition. While undoubtedly a star performer on the specification front and offering a lot for comparatively little, while at the same time adding a touch of sportiness to an already elegant and appealing design, the bulking engine and lack of zip comes a disappointment and likely to elicit sentiments of special but not special enough.

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