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Facelifted 2018 Mazda CX-5 Spotted at Southern California Gas Station

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Mazda has been facelift-crazy lately, giving updated looks to its whole lineup, and then tweaking its models here and there, updating the Mazda6 in 2016, and then revealing the new face of the Mazda3 for its 2017 model year.

Now, according to spy photos snapped in Southern California, the Mazda CX-5 will mostly likely be the next vehicle in the lineup to get a new face.

The 2018 CX-5 was slated to have its debut later this year, and it seems like it will be getting a slight size upgrade, increasing interior space, and according to Car and Driver, we could see some significant changes to the car’s platform and possibly some improvements on its current engine choices. On the outside, though, the most obvious difference is the CX-5’s front end.

When you squint slightly to look past the eye-bending camouflage, you can see that the opening near the bottom of the bumper seems to be narrower, and the air scoops to either side have been omitted entirely. In addition, the iconic smiley-face five-pointed grille has received a style update. First, it is no longer a grille of horizontal bars—it is now a black mesh. Then, the grille has gone from being fairly smoothly integrated into the front of the car to being offset by a strong raised lip, which also juts forward from the hood a few inches. This border, in addition to outlining and emphasizing the grille, is also incorporated into the headlight design.

The headlights are much slimmer than in current models. Stylistically, they almost appear to be the iridescent wings on either side of the Mazda grille, as the inside corners are cupped by the sections of the grille border.

All in all, it is a very good-looking design and far closer to the brand’s newest majorly refreshed SUV, the CX-9. I think we can fully expect the CX-3 to receive the same treatment before too long.

Side note: I have been noticing lately that Mazda has been using flat-fronted badges on its new lineup rather than three-dimensional chrome logos. Has it been doing this for years and I just didn’t notice, or is this a new stylistic choice for the brand?

So, why model year 2018? Well, the current CX-5 was only recently redesigned into its current version, so Car and Driver expects the brand to keep the look around at least through 2017 before changing it up.

News Source: Car and Driver