Long-term report: Our Mazda CX-5 goes on an overseas adventure

There’s one word for the weather in the first few months of the year: grim. When it’s not freezing cold, it’s chucking it down with rain. And when neither of those things are happening, the sky is a relentless shade of 1990s-filing-cabinet grey, and the roads are… well, they’re the same colour as our CX-5, as it happens.

Anyway, I reckon the best cure for blue Monday is a holiday: catch some winter sun, immerse yourself in another culture, that sort of thing. Which is why I was thrilled to be able to take the CX-5 on a bit of a road trip a few weeks ago, to sit underneath the balmy, cloudless skies of uh, Belgium.

Alright, it’s not Alicante, but there was a good reason for going. The Brussels Motor Show – yes, it’s a thing – just happened to be on, and Mazda was whipping the covers off a new plug-in hybrid version of the MX-30 coupe. What better way to get there than to simply point our CX-5 at the Channel Tunnel and arrive in comfort two hours later?

I won’t bore you with the sights of Belgium’s incredibly flat and straight motorway network, but I can confirm that the Mazda makes for a very relaxing partner on a European jaunt. It probably helps that, by and large, the tarmac that paves Autoroutes across the channel is much smoother than our own, but nonetheless the CX-5’s seats proved as supportive and supple as ever.

Brussels itself proved a bit more of a challenge, both for man and machine. While it’s comically easy to get to the centre of Brussels initially – thanks to some enormous dual carriageways tunnelled under the city – trying to navigate around it once the roads get narrow is a different story.

Ever the studious product tester, I relied on the Mazda’s inbuilt sat nav to get us to our hotel – and do you know what, it did very well, just as it had for every UK-based journey I’ve ever used it for. Unfortunately, its talents don’t extend to knowing where the local government has suddenly dropped a traffic-calming boulder – leading to some rather awkward three point turns in side streets littered with electric bikes. Praise the Lord for parking sensors.

The fun didn’t stop there, though. Despite our hotel’s otherwise enormous proportions, its underground car park seemed to be half pub cellar, half off-road course – with a narrow, twisting, 30 degree slope to thread yourself down for access. Suddenly the longer, wider CX-60s piloted by other people on the trip didn’t look like such a comfortable way to travel after all. Our CX-5 – naturally – squeezed its way around without incident, although my recurring nightmares about the ordeal might take some time to dissipate.

New plug-in Mazda revealed, and executives interviewed, the trip back was similarly stress-free – even allowing some time for the obligatory last hurrah of a petrol and wine fill-up in Calais. 18 bottles of red, if you were wondering. Bearing in mind the capaciousness of the CX-5’s boot, I probably should’ve been more ambitious.

That wasn’t the last that our CX-5 has seen of international travel either – albeit indirectly. Not long after, I set off on an actual holiday abroad: to the Mazda’s homeland of Japan, no less. Things were not so exciting for the CX-5 this time around – sat round the back of an ageing Heathrow hotel for 15 days and nights – but I’m sure it’ll forgive me.

Having trekked around Tokyo, Kyoto and even the CX-5’s birthplace of Hiroshima, our car was a very welcome sight to return to after a sleepless 14 hour flight. Our two person, four suitcase entourage slotted back in with relative ease – though our particular pack-heavy philosophy did require use of the back seats for luggage too.

Still, it highlights just how much usable space has been crammed into the relatively compact CX-5. Having a tall, square boot might mean sacrificing some swoopy rear styling – the like of which you’d see on an Audi Q5 Sportback – but it pays dividends when it comes to actually using the car.

That’s the thing with the CX-5: it’s not a particularly new or eye-catching prospect compared to some of its jazzier rivals, but it feels much better thought-out, and as a result, much easier to live with. Clearly, it’s Mazda’s best selling car worldwide for a reason.

Model: Mazda CX-5 2.0 165PS 2WD Sport Black
Price: £33,690
Engine: 2.0-litre petrol
Power: 163bhp
Torque: 213Nm
0-60mph: 10.5 seconds
Top speed: 125mph
Fuel economy: 41.5mpg (WLTP combined)
Emissions: 154g/km
Mileage: 15,290