At first blush, this comparison didn’t seem fair at all. After all, the NX300 is the spawn of Lexus’ RX, the best-selling Asian luxury SUV in Canada, while the CX-5 is, well, a Mazda, a marque hardly renowned for its leather and wood trim. I was going to mention the silliness of such a comparison, but Mazda recently introduced a Signature version of its hot-selling, mid-priced crossover with turbocharged engine liberated from the upscale CX-9. The hot-rodded 2.5-litre four boasts 250 horsepower — when juicing on 93 octane; 227 hp when feeding on the low-grade stuff — which is actually 15 more ponies than the more expensive NX300 can manage. Game on.

We could have compared the NX300 to an X3 or Q5, but those would probably cost $30K more for the same features, so that’s a little ridiculous. Plus, I couldn’t get past the irony of it – for years we would look at the pricing and say, “Why spend $60K on the German option when you can get all the same stuff and usually better practicality and definitely better reliability in a Lexus?” Well, looks like Lexus needs to start looking over its shoulder with Genesis coming to the luxury market, but right here, right now, Mazda is absolutely creeping in on the luxury class in a way that Buick and Acura have failed to do.

#mazda #lexus #crossovercomparison

Read more at: https://driving.ca/mazda/cx-5/reviews...

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