5 Affordable Luxury Highlights Of The 2024 Mazda CX-50

The 2024 Mazda CX-50 brings the "zoom-zoom-zoom" mantra to the great outdoors as Mazda's first soft-roading crossover. Dressed up with plastic cladding over the fenders, bumpers and lower trim pieces, the all-wheel drive CX-50 will carry you and yours through more than a few rough trails without fear of scratching up much of the paint (especially Mazda's signature Soul Red Crystal Metallic) along the way. It's also shorter than its siblings like the CX-90 and CX-5, all the better to load the roof with everything from camping gear to a pop-up roof tent for the ultimate overlanding adventure.

Despite rolling up on the likes of competing soft-roaders like the Ford Bronco Sport, Toyota RAV4, Jeep Compass, and Honda CR-V, the 2024 Mazda CX-50 doesn't leave the luxury behind when dipping into rougher terrain. Here are the five affordable luxury highlights you can expect when hopping into the crossover for wherever the roads and trails take you.

The 2024 Mazda CX-50 has a couple more firsts in its cargo area. One of them is the panoramic roof, the first time any Mazda crossover could be purchased with such a feature. It makes a lot of sense to swap metal for glass, too, being the outdoor-oriented model of the family. When the roof isn't covered by a pop-up tent or any assortment of cargo boxes and racks, blue skies, brilliant stars and beautiful trees are just a button-push and a sliding headliner away.

The other first? The 2024 Mazda CX-50 is the first U.S.-built Mazda since the 2012 Mazda 6 sedan. The soft-roader is built alongside the Toyota Corolla Cross at the Mazda Toyota Manufacturing Plant in Huntsville, Alabama. The CX-50 shares nothing but the assembly line with the Toyota, though, as it rides upon the same platform as the Mazda 3, CX-30, and MX-30.

Though the 2024 Mazda CX-50 comes standard with a non-turbo 2.5-liter inline-four with cylinder deactivation, the real fun is found upon upgrading to the turbocharged trim levels. There, the Skyactiv-G Turbo 2.5-liter is ready to plant 227 horsepower and 310 lb.-ft. of torque to the full set of 20-inch aluminum alloys if using 87 octane fuel. Fill the tank with 93 octane, though, and you'll unlock the full power of the turbo-four's 256 horses and 320 lb.-ft. of torque for the most exciting run up through the mountains ever. 

The turbo-four also includes the ability to tow up to 3,500 pounds along the way to the cozy cabin in the woods, besting the likes of the Ford Bronco Sport (2,200 pounds) and Honda CR-V Hybrid (1,500 pounds), as well as members of its own family like the CX-30 and CX-5 (2,00 pounds) while matching up with the Ford Escape and Toyota RAV4. After all, real luxury is about not having to compromise.

One of most luxurious features of the 2024 Mazda CX-50, let alone any Mazda in the lineup, is the company's signature Soul Red Crystal Metallic paint. The $595 option gets applied via Mazda's Aqua-Tech Paint System, a three-layer wet paint process designed for maximum efficiency. Unlike traditional methods, the Aqua-Tech system condenses everything down to one visit to the paint booth for base and top coat — including both high-brightness aluminum flakes and light-absorbing flakes for Soul Red — then a single bake.

The result from this method is an environmentally friendly paint job with a uniform thickness found in higher-end luxury vehicles. The Japanese government was so impressed by how green Mazda's paint system is — a 78% reduction in volatile organic compound emissions by 78% over other automotive painting methods, plus a 34% reduction in CO2 emissions — the automaker received an award from the Prime Minister in 2015.

Sitting inside the 2024 Mazda CX-50, leatherette or full leather seating are there to greet up to five occupants. That alone is sitting in the lap of luxury, but Mazda goes further by making heated front seats standard across all trim levels of the crossover. Upper trim levels contribute ventilated front seats to keep the driver and lucky passenger cool on those warm Sunday drives to the cozy little towns near home. 

The rear passengers aren't left out once you truly step up, though, as those same upper trims include heated rear seating for the 60/40-split bench. They also get to enjoy some much needed privacy with rear privacy glass to prevent prying eyes from peering in. That adds to the sense of limo-like anonymity, but also helps keep the rear compartment cool even if you parked up in direct sun.

Unlike most infotainment systems where everything's controlled by touching the screen, the 2024 Mazda CX-50 features a 10.25-inch center display controlled by the dial located behind the shifter on the center console; thus, no fingerprints to clean off. While Mazda's own infotainment interface is clean, crisp, and easily to interact with, the system also supports wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, so there's no need to plug-in your iPhone or Pixel to make the most of the display. 

The wireless charging pad also keeps the cables at bay, providing for a cleaner, neater interior overall. Throw in a 12-speaker Bose system to bring out the best in your favorite stations, songs and podcasts, and it's as if you never really left home, even when camped out underneath the stars.