2024 Mazda CX-5

Mazda Certified Pre-Owned 2024 Mazda CX-5 2.5 S Carbon Edition AWD Red Leather Interior Polymetal Gray, Heated Seats
59,957 Miles Polymetal Gray Metallic over Red Leather Standard AWD Stock #PE514378

Open the door on this one and you will understand immediately why the Carbon Edition has a following. Red leather. Not red stitching on a black seat — an actual red leather interior, which is the Carbon Edition's signature and the version people specifically hunt for. A red cabin is something you normally find two price brackets up, in vehicles wearing German badges, and it is essentially unheard of in a compact SUV at this end of the market. Against the black dash and door trim it reads deliberate and expensive rather than loud. It is the single reason a lot of people choose a Carbon Edition over any other CX-5, and it is why the ones with red interiors move faster than the ones without.

The exterior was chosen to set it off. Polymetal Gray Metallic is exclusive to the Carbon Edition — you cannot order this color on any other CX-5, at any trim, for any money — and it is a cool, liquid gray with real metallic depth that goes nearly gunmetal in overcast light. Paired with 19-inch alloy wheels in a black metallic finish and the Carbon Edition's blacked-out exterior trim, the whole vehicle reads as a single monochrome statement on the outside, which is exactly what makes the red inside land the way it does. Mazda designed the two together.

That kind of thinking is the whole Mazda argument, and the interior is where you feel it. For years now Mazda has been building cabins that embarrass vehicles costing considerably more — materials chosen carefully, switchgear that operates with a proper weight to it, a dashboard laid out by people who apparently drive. Sit in this one and then sit in anything else in the segment at the same price. The gap is not subtle, and it is the reason CX-5 owners tend to buy another Mazda.

It drives like one, too. The Skyactiv-G 2.5-liter four makes 187 horsepower and 185 lb-ft of torque — an ordinary number used in a distinctly un-ordinary way. Steering that loads up properly, a chassis that settles rather than floats, brakes with a firm and predictable pedal. And every CX-5 is all-wheel drive: i-Activ AWD is standard across the entire lineup, reading throttle, steering angle, wheel speed and even outside temperature to move power before the tires slip rather than after.

The equipment list holds up. Heated front seats with three-level adjustment, an 8-way power-adjustable driver's seat with power lumbar support, a power sliding-glass moonroof, dual-zone automatic climate control, and a 10.25-inch Mazda Connect display. This one also carries the Mazda Navigation System ($450) — built-in turn-by-turn on that screen without draining your phone's data or battery, which matters most exactly when you have no signal, and in the North Georgia mountains that happens more often than people expect.

The safety equipment is standard. Forward collision mitigation senses an impending impact with the vehicle ahead and acts to prevent or reduce it. Pedestrian impact prevention monitors the road, identifies and tracks pedestrians, and takes action if a collision becomes likely. There is a rear camera, smart device mirroring so your phone's apps run on the vehicle's screen, and a built-in Wi-Fi hotspot.

59,957 miles is what puts a red-leather Carbon Edition within reach — and it is fully covered. A low-mileage one costs Carbon Edition money, and this is the trim people go out of their way to find. Same year, same exclusive paint, same interior, same equipment, at a number you can actually get to.

Mazda Certified Pre-Owned. This CX