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Mazda CX-5 diesel's fuel economy is barely better than the gas version

No wonder Mazda's in no hurry to bring it to the US.

Andrew Krok Reviews Editor / Cars
Cars are Andrew's jam, as is strawberry. After spending years as a regular ol' car fanatic, he started working his way through the echelons of the automotive industry, starting out as social-media director of a small European-focused garage outside of Chicago. From there, he moved to the editorial side, penning several written features in Total 911 Magazine before becoming a full-time auto writer, first for a local Chicago outlet and then for CNET Cars.
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Andrew Krok
2 min read
Mazda

You'd be hard-pressed to find a company that wants to bring a new diesel vehicle to the US in 2018, but Mazda's always been a bit of an outlier. It's just a shame that the new diesel is not much more efficient than the gas variant it'll live beside.

The EPA has finally released fuel-economy figures for the upcoming 2018 Mazda CX-5 diesel. With front-wheel drive, it's rated at 28 mpg city, 31 mpg highway and 29 mpg combined. The numbers drop a smidge when adding all-wheel drive, to 27 city, 30 highway and 28 combined.

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Mazda's been promising a diesel CX-5 in the US for a hot minute, so it's nice to see it's almost here.

 Mazda

Sounds fine enough, right? Place it alongside the gas version, though, and it doesn't look that appealing. A front-wheel-drive gas CX-5 gets 25 city and 31 highway, so the only benefit to the diesel engine there is in the city, and it's not that big of an improvement. The story is the same with AWD, which, again, is only 3 mpg down in the city compared to its diesel sibling.

Things aren't much better when you compare it to other, similar vehicles. The FWD diesel Mazda CX-5 gets 28 mpg city and 31 mpg highway, which is 8 mpg less on the highway than the FWD diesel . It's down 5 mpg city and 4 mpg highway compared to the FWD Hybrid. While it does have the beat on the highway (31 mpg vs. 30), it's 6 mpg less efficient in the city. Woof.

(I would have just embedded AutoPacific analyst Dave Sullivan's tweet, as he made these comparisons first, but his Twitter account is protected. So, thanks, Dave.)

Yet, it's still a good thing that Mazda spent a bunch of money bringing its diesel CX-5 to the US. Increasing consumer choice is always nice to see, and there's already some baked-in competition by way of the Equinox. If you're not entirely sold on hybrids, or you don't need mega fuel economy, the CX-5 diesel could be worth your attention.

Mazda CX-5 combines sharp styling with sharp handling

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