Video: 2026 Mazda CX-5 Review: The Screen We've Been Waiting For?

I'm Aaron Bragman, Detroit Bureau Chief of cars.com, and I've got to spend the day with the new 26 CX-5, and the thing that excited me most is this multimedia system. Let me show you why. Why is this exciting? Well, for years, years, Mazda had a terrible multimedia system. This all new, all modern Google-based system. The standard one is 12.9 inches, this is the optional one. It's 15.6 inches. That is a laptop screen plastered right on the dash. But the thing is, I don't mind it, because it works really pretty well. So what does this fancy new screen do? Well, it does just about everything. You've got, obviously, Google Maps for navigation, that's built in, that's kind of nice, but you've also got a bunch of other functions, as well. Like this actually is the status of what the vehicle is doing right now, what doors are open, put your foot on the brake, boom, the brake lights come on. So it tells you exactly what the car is doing. You've also got all the Google Store apps, as well. You can download all kinds of different things that are increasing your functionality, or if you have a Google account, you sign into it, and all your search history, and all of your contacts, and everything automatically import right into this system. So it sounds like this thing should be an absolute home run, and it almost is, because they took out the great big knob, but they also took out the small, useful knob, and that is the volume control. There's no volume knob, it's a touch slider here, or it's a control on the steering wheel. You just leave a simple little volume knob in there, and they would've had an absolute perfect home run, that's the only flaw that I could figure out in their brand new multimedia system. I think this new multimedia system might just be the best thing about the new 26 Mazda CX-5. I would give it a solid A minus, not an A plus. There's no volume knob, but you know what? An A minus is still an A. Now, if you'd like to learn more about the new Mazda CX-5, or you enjoy car review videos, make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel. (upbeat rock music ending)