Title says most of it. Toyota powertrain without Toyota tax, built at the Mazda-Toyota plant in Huntsville, Alabama. This means you get a interest tax DEDUCTION on a New Car, which is made in America from the One Big Beautiful bill, passed about a year ago. This applies "even if" you dont itemize deductions. Ask your accountant.
I had gotten fed up with Toyota special tax. The Toyota dealers calls them "market adjustments", "nitrogen in tires", "fabric or paint protection packages", "dealer profitability protection packages", "doc fees" or anything else the toyota dealer can make up to raise the price.
So, I decided to look at Mazda Cx50 hybrid and Subaru Forester hybrid, since I like the extra power "and" fuel savings of the hybrid, and Im familiar with the reliability of the Toyota hybrid technology, where cab drivers of it get 500,000 miles on their cabs regurarly.
I was disappointed the forester gave up several mpg vs the mazda, with the exact same toyota powertrain. That is because of Subaru's "vanity"...they think 4wd/awd must me mechanical with a drive train..that an electric motor wont make it real awd. I dispute their thinking. Mechanical awd guzzles gas, all the time, not just when in use (awd).. Electric does not. The electric motor simply does not power the wheels until or unless its needed.
This, and driving the forester, eliminated it from consideration even tho, Subaru has a great reputation moslty.
Mazda offers buyers many many choices, and value. That is what I want! I want the color, and equipment I want to buy, and not just "well that's what this allocation has, you can buy this color you hate, or do without as Toyota has not given us any more allocations this year".
There are dozens of Mazda hybrids on the lot. Pick your color. Pick your equipment. Pick your price, then negotiate it downward. Availability matters. "Gimmicks" such as when stores offer a very low price on items they are out of, is, well just a con game. So, an available now on the lot Mazda, is worth much more than an allocation of Toyota six months from now, after they build it and ship it, and hope the msrp has not increased because you will have to pay the higher price, too. No thanks.
Upsides to cx50 hyrbid: More powerful than gas only, as electric motors combine with gas to give more HP. Uses less fuel than non hybrids. Rids nice. The firm ride, which at first I did not like, now I love it. You get used to it. I have taken it on long trips without discomfort, tho you need to take the time to tweak the seat, seat angle, height adjustments and steering wheel adjustments to get it just right in the sweet comfortable spot. I mostly get over 40 mpg, rarely less. My high was 47. low 36, average 40.
Interior is nice, fit and finish great. The often cited "dial for" the info tainment system is not hard to use with a little practice. Its sort of like the mouse on your computer..click and point. Except its a round dial.
Downsides to the CX50 hyrbid.
Im disappointed in LKA (lane keep assist). It does not keep the car "between the white lines" like the Toyota Safety sense 3.0 will do.
I wanted the heads up display bad. But, that is only available in the premium plus, with the sport 20's inch rough riding tires and wheels, and that is a no go.
Of course, like Toyota and other makes, it has a glitchy infotainment system.
Overall, it has amazing value, low cost per mile to drive, comfortable, nice looking, safety features. One testor said that it performed BETTER than the Subaru Forester hybrid wilderness model, on his off road test. That is suprising since the Forester hybrid wilderness has quite a bit more ground clearance then the mazda. And, "ground clearance" matters when off roading. This may be due to the fact Mazda has a lot of plastic under the car protecting the undercarriage...more than forester. That plastic undercarriage is sort of like a tough plastic "sled", where rocks and debris "slides along" doing little or no damage to undercarriage.…
5.0
Outstanding vehicle
by TDDFL | on 7/16/2026 6:46:25 PM
I've had the CX-50 hybrid for 2 months and I love it. The interior is primo as is the mileage. The safety features are excellent and work the way they are supposed to. Although it's a bit slow, the steering and cornering are tight. I came out of an Audi A-5 and I am enjoying the Mazda much more. The Audi's acceleration was blistering but many features didn't work correctly. I highly recommend the Mazda.…
5.0
2025 Mazda CX-50 2.5 Turbo Meridian Edition
by bebe | on 7/12/2026 12:23:10 PM
I had Mazda vehicles pretty all my life, now the 2025 Mazda CX-50 2.5 Turbo Meridian Edition its a totally different vehicle from the natural aspirate 2.5 4 cylinder , it has a lot of torque for this turbo engine , can tow 3500 lb, and still has actual physical buttons like the cx5 where they put pretty much a tablet and no physical buttons whatsoever , now the ride is a little more stiff then the cx5 . overall a beautiful car and yes the meridian edition turbo you do pay a premium and they are harder to find and I hope that they will not take away the turbo engine like they did with the new cx5…
3.8
