2026 Mazda CX-50 Hybrid Review | NEARLY 40MPG's!!!

What's up, you guys? [music and singing] Welcome back to another one. And if you are new to this channel, I am Gold Pony and I do new car, truck, SUV reviews on YouTube. And today, we are in the brand new 2026 Mazda CX-50 Hybrid, courtesy of Hanover Mazda in Hanover, PA. For more information on their inventory, please feel free to check out the link in the description box below. And so, today we're in this one cuz this is essentially the engine of a Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, but with the more upscale interior and more engaging handling that Mazda has come to be known for, which is pretty darn cool. And I haven't reviewed the CX-50 Hybrid yet. I have reviewed the RAV4 Hybrid. So, kind of excited to be in this one. But, also I do want to mention this one competes with the RAV4 Hybrid, obviously, and the CRV Hybrid, in case you were curious of cross-shopping anything. But, ultimately this video we will be testing out and going over everything about this one, from acceleration to braking, steering feel, ride quality, sound system, exhaust clip, all that fun stuff. So, having said all of that, what do you guys say? Let's just go ahead and jump right into it. And as always, let's start with pricing. And so, there will be a few different trim levels for the 2026 CX-50 Hybrid. You got the Preferred, starting at $34,750, Premium for $38,150, and lastly the Premium Plus being the one we are in today. This one starts at $40,450. But, regardless of the trim level that you go with, the power plant on this thing is going to be the same. Powering the CX-50 Hybrid is a 2.5-liter naturally-aspirated four-cylinder with three electric motors. This puts out a combined 219 horsepower, 163 pound-feet of torque. That power being sent to all four wheels. All-wheel drive does come standard through a continuously variable transmission. The zero to 60 time is going to come in at approximately 7.6 seconds. Top speed, if you're interested, 117 miles per hour. With MPG numbers, get ready, 39 in the city, 37 on the highway. That's insane for an all-wheel drive SUV taking regular unleaded fuel. With that said, before we do any kind of fun acceleration test here in the CX-50 Hybrid, I did want to mention to you guys the drive modes. And so, there is a silver toggle switch located just to the left of the shifter. It's labeled MyDrive, and that includes modes like normal, power, and trail, adjusting things like the throttle response, the all-wheel drive system distribution, and it also modulates wheel spin in in the trail mode uh for a little better traction there. But, now having got all of that out of the way, what do you guys say? Let's go ahead and find a straightaway. Let's put this thing to the test, and let's see how quickly we can get our new 2026 Mazda CX-50 Hybrid here up to speed. All right, so, we do have it in that power driving mode, so, here we go in 3, 2, 1, go. Ooh. It's okay. It's nothing to really brag about, but it definitely gets the job done. You're not going to have any issues merging onto the highway. And when you consider the MPGs in this thing, that's why you're really buying the CX-50 Hybrid anyways, that power is plenty fine. Like, it's plenty fine. That's all I'm going to say. But, anyways, to go along with that acceleration, as always, braking is equally important. So, up front you will find 12.8-in ventilated front discs, in the back 12.8-in solid rear discs. As far as that 60-0 stopping distance goes, comes in at 113 ft. That's a sports sedan number, by the way. That's an absolutely brilliant number when it comes to braking, so, I'm going to have fun with this. As far as the braking feel goes, it's nice. It's pretty darn nice. You guys probably heard whatever the heck is in the cargo area go flying there, so, absolutely nothing wrong with the brake. I'm a big fan, but that touching on suspension and handling. Up front you're going to get a McPherson strut front suspension. In the back, torsion beam rear axle. Overall, as far as ride quality goes, I'm literally about to hit the worst road in Handorf Road, I swear. Let me go ahead and actually just put it back to normal driving mode, as well. And let's test out this road real quick. It's actually not that bad. I expected it to be a thousand times worse, quite honestly. I just drove the Honda Ridgeline, and that took that road a lot worse than this, believe it or not. This is a smooth ride, relatively smooth ride. I don't have any issues with that, which is kind of surprising, because I didn't expect a relatively ride in this, because I know Mazda is known for handling. And that's the next thing I wanted to mention to you guys is this steering feel is absolutely brilliant. Like, that's where this one has one over on the RAV4 Hybrid. Like, if you wanted a fuel-efficient SUV, but you didn't want it with that loosey-goosey steering feel, you wanted something more engaging, like what this gives you, it instantly points you in the direction that you want to go, something more enjoyable to drive on the back roads, that's where the Mazda CX-50 Hybrid comes into play. So, that's something that you put higher up on the checklist, something more engaging to drive, this by all means is going to absolutely crush the RAV4 Hybrid. Now, this is a lot smaller of a vehicle than the RAV4 Hybrid. So, if you wanted more cargo space, that's why you consider the RAV4. But anyways, if you wanted more engaging drive, that's that's what this is essentially for. So, I absolutely love it. As far as cabin noise goes, this is the perfect test. We're going almost 50 mph. I'll be quiet here for a second. It's plenty fine. It's obviously nothing that would bother me, so that's perfectly on point. Then touching on rear visibility, looking out my rearview mirror, headrests are a little beefy. I would have been nice if they kind of tucked down into the seats, but I know this is just a two-row SUV. Typically, that doesn't happen in two-row SUVs, so other than that, this is a smaller SUV, so you really should not have any issues with rear visibility. Also coming standard though, touching on forward visibility is rain-sensing windshield wipers. So, that's always nice, cuz whenever this thing detects any kind of mist or rainfall, it's going to automatically turn on the windshield wipers for you. So, just one less thing you got to worry about there. And one last thing when it comes to forward visibility, and this is a big one. For the Premium Plus trim level only that we have with us here today, you get an adaptive front lighting system. So, that's definitely going to help out with forward visibility, especially at night, because the headlights are going to swivel based on the direction of your steering angle, better help illuminating what is around the bend. So, you're less likely to hit a deer or a rabbit or a Sasquatch or an alien or whatever the case. So, that's definitely going to help out as well. But, that pretty much rounds out the performance segment of this review, you guys. Let's now go ahead and take a look at the exterior now of our brand new 2026 Mazda CX-50 Hybrid. All right, so here she is, you guys, the new 2026 Mazda CX-50 Hybrid finished in Polymetal Gray Metallic, in case you were curious of our exact exterior color name that we have with us here in this one. But, as always, let's go ahead and start with where this thing is made, taking a look at the VIN. First character is the number seven, indicating that the CX-50 Hybrid is built and assembled here in the US. So, American-made there. But, starting up front, gloss black mesh front grille will come standard. You get LED headlights to the sides with LED daytime running lights. Get the auto-leveling feature with the Premium Plus trim level. You get the automatic feature for all trims, along with automatic high beams as well. Meaning, if you have your high beams on at night and it senses a vehicle coming in the opposite direction, it's going to automatically dim them back to low beams. And when that vehicle is gone, it's going to automatically bounce it back up to high beams for you there. Also like those amber daytime running lights down below. I think that's a pretty cool look for this one as well. But, that pretty much rounds out the front end of this one. Let's now go ahead and make our way into the corn, and let's check out the exterior of this one. All right, so I told you guys I was making my way into the corn. We got corn all around us here. Crazy. But, anyways, starting to the side here, aluminum roof rails will come standard. You get a satin chrome finish for the preferred and premium plus trim levels, a black finish then for the premium. Rear privacy glass does come standard as well. Then when it comes to the side mirrors, they are gloss black power adjustable side mirrors with LED integrated turn signals. They will be heated coming standard for all trim levels as well. And then you get the power folding feature for the premium plus. Let's take a look down at the wheel setups. There's a couple different wheel configurations here. 17-in aluminum alloys with a black metallic finish for the preferred and premium trims. And then 19-in aluminum alloys with a black and machine finished kind of color combination there for the premium plus trim level then. But that pretty much rounds out the side profile. Let's now go ahead and swing around to the back. It's Subenewsis. We are around to the back of this one starting all the way to the top. You do have that shark fin antenna. Got a center high mount stop lamp. Got a rear spoiler with an integrated brake light just below that. You got the rear window wiper then. LED tail lights for the premium plus trim level only. So wanted to emphasize that. Otherwise, you're going to get the halogen bulbs in the back. Dual exhaust outlets. So Mazda always does this. They expose their exhaust, which is absolutely brilliant. Even on their hybrid, they got looks absolutely amazing. You're going to get a bright finish with the preferred and the premium plus. So that's what you guys are looking at. And then a black finish for the premium. In case you guys haven't noticed yet, the premium is kind of like the sportier trim level, I guess you could say. But nonetheless, I do believe you guys know what we have to do next here. As always, here is that exhaust clip. It's Subenewsis. We are around to the back of the CX-50 Hybrid. When it comes to opening that rear tailgate, a power tailgate does come standard, believe it or not. So you got to appreciate that. There is a button on the key fob, rubberized button on the tailgate itself then as well. But once opened up, cargo capacity behind that second row comes in at 29.2 cubic feet. If you were to fold that second row down, by the way, there are levers in the cargo area to fold the second row down, so that was kind of convenient. I liked that. But, that's going to bump that up to 56.3 cubic feet, which is probably the least amount in the segment. Uh if you compare this to the RAV4 Hybrid, like I was saying earlier when it comes to the cargo space, it comes in at 69.8 cubic feet. So, substantially more there, and then the CRV Hybrid even more, coming in at 76.5 cubic feet. So, 56.3, kind of on the small side, but again, the trade-off is the better handling and the steering feel in the CX-50 Hybrid. But, anyways, you do have LED cargo lighting back there. You actually have four grocery bag hooks. Was super surprised to see that many. You have two grocery bag hooks on both sides in the back. That's something I utilize all the time in my own SUV, cuz you don't want your groceries flying everywhere, especially the stuff that could pop open, like the containers and stuff. So, that's definitely super convenient. I liked that. There's a 12-V power outlet I found in the back as well. Then, if you were to lift up underneath of that cargo floor, you will find a spare tire, which I always love to see, as opposed to the fix-a-flat. A spare tire is just easier. I'm just saying. But, then making our way up to the rear legroom, that comes in at 37.8 in. For reference, I am even 6 ft tall. This is how much space I had in the back seats there. Rear center armrest with cupholders does come standard. You got rear USB charging ports, dual rear USB charging ports, so got to appreciate that. Rear ventilation back here as well, so the rear passengers stay comfortable there. And then, heated rear seats for the Premium Plus trim level that we have with us here today. So, that is how you're going to go ahead and get those. But, then making our way up to the front seats, eight-way power driver seat with power lumbar coming standard. You get a six-way power adjustable passenger seat for the Premium and Premium Plus then. Preferred is going to give you leatherette seats. Leather seating though coming with the Premium and Premium Plus. Heated seats do come standard for all trim levels. You got to appreciate that. And then, ventilated front seats for the premium and premium plus trim levels. So, overall, as far as the comfort goes, it was plenty fine. I certainly did not have any issues when it comes to that. But, now, let's go ahead and make our way to the steering wheel. This tilt and telescoping, of course, it is leather-wrapped. That does come standard. 10:02 grips are pretty average, not uh not too beefy, but definitely not on the small side, either. It's pretty much as expected there. So, I don't have any issues with that. Then, make your way to the startup. Let me start up by showing you guys the key. You got your Mazda logo on the one side. When you flip it over, absolutely nothing because all of your buttons are on the side of the key. You got lock, unlock, and the button to pop the power tailgate there. But, it is all keyless entry with a push-button start. So, all I'm going to do here is simply put my foot on the brake and press that matte black engine start button located kind of by the driver's right knee. There would have loved to have seen that finish in a nice like silver finish or something more high-end looking. But, I digress. Let's get to the gauges. Once started up, 7-in digital gauge cluster does come standard. And actually, the gauges don't look bad. I like the rings to them. It's not just like a full digital screen um completely. And there is a little bit of customization when you press the info button on the left-hand side of the steering wheel. You can display things like just a regular basic digital speedometer if you wanted to with some safety information. Or, you can go back to the regular uh speedometer that you probably typically used to. Um I also like the illumination changes a little bit when you change the drive mode. So, if I were to put it in that power driving mode, it's going to illuminate in a bunch of red hues. If I were to put it in trail, it's going to give me a bunch of kind of a desert storm kind of hues. And then, normal is going to be black and white, obviously. So, I do like there's a little bit of a color difference there. So, the gauges aren't horrible, honestly. I probably would be perfectly fine with them. Of course, it gives you things like your outside temperature, how many miles you have left until you hit empty. There's even speed limit recognition up there, as well. So, overall, gauges are pretty nice. And I didn't mention this before because I had polarized sunglasses on, but there is a head-up display, which you cannot see with polarized sunglasses, by the way, but that is available projected onto your windshield as well, giving you your speed and speed limit and safety feature. So, that's kind of nice to have, too. But, now let's go ahead and make our way to overall interior quality. A panoramic moonroof does come standard for all trim levels across the board, believe it or not, so that's pretty cool. LED interior lighting for all trim levels, as well. You got an overhead sunglass holder up here, and uh feels pretty heavy-duty, too. Auto-dimming rearview mirror for the premium and premium plus trim level, and then the premium plus is going to give you HomeLink controls for up to three different garage doors there. Dual-zone climate control does come standard, so both driver and passenger can set their own individual temperatures there. Wireless phone charger, though, coming standard for all trim levels across the board, and the placement is not typically where you would expect it to be, kind of in front of the cup holders, that's where I would think it to be. It's actually behind the circular dial, which I'll get to in a second, but it's actually kind of hidden underneath of the center armrest here, behind the circular dial, so it's kind of hidden, but that's where the wireless phone charger is located on the Mazda CX-50 Hybrid, in case anybody was curious, but just surrounding the shifter, you got a bunch of piano black finishes. I personally like that. Just in front of the shifter, you got the dual cup holders, a little bit of rubberized storage up there, 12-V power outlet up there, as well. As far as space goes in the center armrest here, it's actually it's okay. There's a couple USB charging ports in there, though. Didn't expect to see that. I I do like the chrome door handles, the silver door handles here, and uh nice orange contrast stitching found on the doors, also above the passenger-side glove box. It's a nice little added touch. So, overall, because of the nice finishes, even the grab handle on the side is texturized. Definitely better finishes than a RAV4 Hybrid, I'm just saying. And that's what Mazda has come to be known for is their uh more upscale finishes, more of a premium finish, so definitely a big fan of that. But, now let's go ahead and make our way to the infotainment screen. So this is hit and miss here. It's not touchscreen, by the way. Everything is controlled by using the circular dial and buttons located directly behind the shifter. You really couldn't make it touchscreen because it's so far up on the dash here. It would be a heck of a reach and that would be distracting while driving anyway. So circular dial and buttons you do get used to them. I played around with Mazdas enough at this point. It is something that you get used to. Your driving information is going to be that first kind of thing. Entertainment is going to be your radio information. Communication is Bluetooth and audio streaming, that kind of thing. Wireless Android Auto Apple CarPlay, by the way, does come standard for all trim levels here. So that's kind of nice. Let me see what navigation says. Yeah, that's just like a compass and elevation and altitude and things like that. So it's not actually navigation like a navigation system, but that's what you got wireless Android Auto Apple CarPlay for anyways. As far as your radio information goes, as far as your sound systems, I should say, go. Eight speakers coming with the preferred trim level and then a 12 speaker Bose sound system for the premium and premium plus trim level. So that is the one that we have with us here today. So let's go ahead and turn on the radio. Let's see what we got playing this morning and let's test out the clarity of this one. >> Hey what's America? It's Megan Moroney. >> Hey y'all, it's Luke Combs. [music] >> This is Ella Langley. >> All right. So apparently SiriusXM is on this vehicle. It is not set up yet. I typically like to test out the sound systems with the SiriusXM cuz FM and AM just don't give you a true test because everything's a little distorted, but it's not set up yet, but it seems like it would be good. And I've had Bose sound systems in my cars before and they've never failed me. Extremely reputable company there. So I'm sure it would be just fine. But again, it's not set up yet. But anyways, last thing I wanted to mention to you guys on that infotainment screen at least is when you do put the CX-50 Hybrid in reverse, you will find a pretty darn high definition rearview camera. It kind of sucks it doesn't take up the entire screen, which is what I would have preferred. But nonetheless, it is high definition and of course since this is a hybrid, it's going to make that sound like you're going up to heaven as well, which is always nice. And uh that is always is going to lead us into safety. And so, let me start with the best part. The CX-50 Hybrid is an IIHS Top Safety Pick Plus, which is the highest rating possible given by IIHS. That's what Volvos gets, so that pretty much says it all right there. Front, side, side curtain airbags do come standard. Driver and passenger knee airbags up front as well. In the back, you got LATCH, aka lower anchors and tethers for your children for the rear car seats for your child. Door locks, tire pressure monitoring system, but also coming standard, hill start assist, a blind spot monitoring system with rear cross traffic alert, adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go, lane departure warning, lane keep assist, front and rear parking sensors. That's one that typically does not come standard, but does on the CX-50 Hybrid. That's pretty cool. Driver attention monitoring system and emergency lane keeping with road keep assist then as well. So, overall, when it comes to my final thoughts, let me just get to the very best part, brilliant MPGs for an all-wheel drive SUV. 39 in the city, 37 on the highway. There's nothing wrong with that. Also, amazing steering feel, incredible handling for an all-wheel drive SUV. This thing's actually playful and fun to drive. Uh pretty darn good interior quality as well. And absolutely brilliant safety. You can't beat an IIHS Top Safety Pick Plus. But, as far as the uh constructive criticism goes, of course, in typical Mazda fashion, every single one of their vehicles is kind of uh less space than their competitors, and that is my first constructive criticism, minimal cargo space for its class. But, if you wanted more cargo space, I suppose you could jump up to a CX-70 or CX-90. You're not going to get the MPGs that this thing gets, but they do have bigger Mazda SUVs if you did need more space. And then, the only other thing that kind of bothers me a little bit is the matte black side skirts and fender surrounds. Uh the CX-5 has body-colored side skirts and fender surrounds available, but the CX-50 does not. So, it is what it is. But, that's about it for this one, you guys. Thank you so much for watching. Feel free to follow me on social media stuff if you wanted to see what's coming next on the channel before it gets to YouTube. Be sure to hit the subscribe with the bell notification button if you're into new car reviews. That is what I've been doing for 12 years now. I do appreciate you guys watching more than you know, and I will see you guys all in the next video. Stay gold.