What Do You Want To Know About The Mazda CX-50?

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Photo: Mazda

Hi, everyone! I’m going on my first press trip this week where I’ll be checking out the all-new Mazda CX-50. Before I go, I wanna know what you wanna know about the Japanese company’s latest offering.

Let’s start off with a few things we already know. The CX-50 is aimed squarely at cars like the Subaru Forester/Outback Wilderness, Toyota RAV4 TRD and Ford Bronco Sport. These are cars made with some form of rugged off-roading in mind, and so is the CX-50.

“This new Mazda vehicle has been developed for North America, particularly to support the active and outdoor lifestyles of customers in this region,” according to Mazda’s president and CEO.

What an amazing collection of PR words that was.

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Photo: Mazda

You can expect the CX-50 to come with standard all-wheel drive and a slew of drive modes, including Normal, Sport and Off-Road to show how serious they are about the vehicle’s capability when the going gets bumpy.

The CX-50 will also start at $28,025 (including a $1,225 destination charge), which isn’t a terrible price but is more than its road-going brother, the CX-5.

You have two engine options as well. There’s either a base 2.5-liter naturally aspirated four banger that makes 187 horsepower that will probably be a bit underpowered for the car, though I guess we’ll find out. Your other option is also a 2.5 liter four banger, but with a turbo strapped to it. That engine makes a far meatier 256 horsepower. However, that number drops to 227 if you use 87 octane gas, and with these prices I can’t blame you for doing that.

Image for article titled What Do You Want To Know About The Mazda CX-50?

Photo: Mazda

Mazda says the CX-50 can tow up to 3,5000 pounds depending on the package, and packages are where the CX-50 shines. There are NINE. Six are designated for the base 2.5 liter, and three more are for the turbo engine. Load a CX-50 to the brim and you’ll be paying nearly $43,000.

From base the CX-50 comes fairly well equipped – an eight-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, an eight speaker sound system and a drive safety suite all come as standard.

So, that’s what I know so far — but what do you want to know? We’ll talk Monday.