Is the Newly Redesigned 2026 Mazda CX-5 Big Enough?
What Car Shoppers Need to Know
- Mazda has increased the size of the 2026 CX-5, giving it an interior with much more backseat and cargo room.
- The additional room makes the new CX-5 much more comfortable for backseat passengers, and the larger, more flexible cargo area also boosts the CX-5’s usefulness.
- The increase in size makes the CX-5 fully competitive with the segment’s bestsellers, eliminating one of our main gripes with the SUV.
The Mazda CX-5 has been a great SUV to drive, but it’s not been a great SUV to use because of its smaller size among competitors. But behold, there’s a new 2026 CX-5 coming, and Mazda has gone all-in on making this new compact SUV a fully competitive entry against class leaders like the Honda CR-V, Nissan Rogue, Toyota RAV4 and Volkswagen Tiguan. But is its size now fully competitive?
Related: 2026 Mazda CX-5 Promises More Space, Greater Efficiency
We’ve sat in the new one and even driven it (but you’ll have to wait until Feb. 23 for that bit), and we can give you our honest opinion on just how it stacks up versus the bestsellers in the industry. And in short, based on its size and improved interior space, Mazda’s completely taken away our complaints about not having enough room in there.
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Shop the 2025 Mazda CX-5 near you
How the 2026 Mazda CX-5’s Interior Size Measures Up
Let’s look at a couple of categories, starting with overall interior passenger space. On paper, the new CX-5 now ranks highest among competitors. That’s extraordinary, but one must also keep in mind that automakers often measure interiors differently, but I can absolutely attest that it’s plenty spacious in front and in back having spent some time in its interior.
2026 Mazda CX-5 Interior Size Vs. Competitors
- CX-5: 106.5 cubic feet
- CR-V: 106
- Rogue: 105.4
- Tiguan: 103.8
- RAV4: 98.9
Backseat Comfort
The backseat is no longer a penalty box in the slightest — it has plenty of legroom, which Mazda attests to expanding the “knee clearance” by several inches. Regardless of how you measure it, I can now set the front seat to where my 5-foot-11-inch, well-padded self is comfortable, then sit behind it in the backseat with plenty of room between my knees and the front seatback.
The new backseat legroom numbers also look competitive, with the new CX-5 measuring 39.9 inches. This backseat spaciousness is a new development for the CX-5 and eliminates one of our biggest gripes about the old one: that it just wasn’t space competitive.
2026 Mazda CX-5 Legroom Vs. Competitors
- CR-V: 41 inches
- Tiguan: 40.2
- CX-5: 39.9
- Rogue: 38.5
- RAV4: 37.8
Cargo Room
The cargo numbers also bear out how much the new CX-5 is improved. It’s not the biggest in the category by a long shot, but it does come in more capacious than the old one, and given the changes to the shape of the cargo area, it makes it more useful.
There’s a lower liftover height and a reshaped cargo hatch opening that allows for easier loading of bulky items. The focus for the new CX-5 seems to have put the priority on improving passenger space, with cargo room coming in second, but I think this is an appropriate attention split, and the resulting area is plenty big enough for most families and uses. Of note is the CX-5’s unique rear seatback split — it’s 40/20/40 instead of most other competitors’ 60/40 split. This allows you to put long items in the back, like skis or a surfboard, but still maintain comfortable seating for four people, something no other SUV in this category features. You have to step up to luxury-brand models like the Mercedes-Benz CLA for such a feature these days.
We’ll have to do our own measurements back to back in our next challenge to really see whose numbers are legit, but from my in-person eyeballing of the space, we don’t see the CX-5 as lacking anymore, at all.
2026 Mazda CX-5 Cargo Room Vs. Competitors
- CR-V: 39.9/76.5 cubic feet (rear/expanded)
- RAV4: 37.8/70.4
- CX-5: 33.7/66.5
- Rogue: 31.6/74.1
- Tiguan: 26.5/58.9
Is It Big Enough?
Finally, unequivocally, we can say that yes, it is big enough to compete in this category. Mazda has eliminated one of the biggest gripes about the CX-5 by lengthening the SUV and reshaping its interior to make it comfortable in front and back and has added the 40/20/40-split, folding rear seat to make the bigger cargo area more flexible than in any of its competitors, if not more voluminous. It’s a solid win for this redesign in terms of space. For how the rest of the new 2026 Mazda CX-5 performs, check in Feb. 23 for our first driving impressions.
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