Mazda has long built a reputation as a Japanese Alfa Romeo due to its flowing flanks, revvy engines, and taut suspensions. Think 90% of the joy of driving an Italian car, but with Japanese reliability. Or, in Mazda-speak, there’s a little Miata in every one. That mostly describes the 2026 CX-5 crossover.

There’s a strong family resemblance with its big Mazda grille, squinty LED headlamps, and aggressive front facia, but looks especially sinister with our vehicle’s black trim. Bodysides are neatly sculpted with 19” black wheels filling the fenders. Around back, smoked taillamps, dual exhaust outlets, and MAZDA spelled across the hatch leave a lasting impression on other motorists.

As handsome as it looks, I could park this generation and the previous two together and you’d have a difficult time telling them apart. While that helps with resale value and keeps the vehicle feeling familiar over many years of ownership, it doesn’t exactly express creativity.

On my first drive, the interior felt both fresh and familiar with comfortable leather seats, panoramic glass roof and Bose audio. Front seats are heated and ventilated; back seats and the steering wheel are heated too. Everything looks expensive, but when I tap-tapped the door tops and dash, there’s a lot of hard plastic where softer materials should live. Flatscreen gauges and the head-up display are crisp and bright.

It’s been Mazda’s plight to have beautiful infotainment screens connected to infuriating menus. That was absolutely true of the previous generation’s joywheel-controlled screen that required too many clicks to do simple tasks. The new 15.6-inch touchscreen dominates the dash, but confusion remains. First, there are no knobs for volume and tuning, so you must touch-touch to adjust either. Put on your glasses and look for small light gray icons to access climate functions beyond temperature. Satellite radio is swipe-controlled, but I still don’t know how to find the local NPR station (Seek didn’t work…and there’s no tuning knob). Even the car’s odometer reading is menus deep. Grrrrr…

Mazda should learn its lesson, benchmark virtually any other automaker, and repent from this silliness. At least wireless connections for Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and console charging calmed my grumpies when hitting the road. Safety was obviously a priority with a full suite of crash avoidance systems that include a driver monitor and vehicle exit warning.

The 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine sounds a bit agrarian under full throttle, but the six-speed automatic transmission makes the most of 187 horsepower and 186 lb.-ft. of torque. All-wheel-drive with torque vectoring tightens corners on weekend two-lanes and handles a splattering of snow in the off season. If you’re looking for an Alfa to strafe backroads, this isn’t it, but there is an optional turbo that delivers a more enthusiastic 250 horsepower and 320 lb.-ft. of torque.

Even with out the turbo, there’s enough power for everyday commuting, long trips, and comes with relatively frugal 24/30-MPG city/highway. Engineers tuned the chassis and steering well with enough compliance to rumble over rough pavement while plotting a precise course through corners. It’s fun to drive, but also very peaceful every day.

The CX-5 is the compact crossover for people who like Italian style and dynamics, but won’t tolerate poor quality. It’s fun to drive, beautifully styled, and safe. I just wish Mazda would include an intuitive infotainment system also. A base price of $29,990, or $41,080 as-tested, makes it strong competition for the Chevy Equinox, Dodge Hornet, Honda CR-V, Kia Sportage, Nissan Rogue, Toyota RAV4 and Volkswagen Tiguan.

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