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This year Mazda has made a great vehicle even better by redesigning the CX-5, by coming up with what could possibly be the perfect combination of a small utility vehicle and a sports car in the small sport utility vehicle!

It’s sporting a new look up front with smaller LED headlamps along with the trapezoidal Mazda grill placed now a slight forward angle. The rear sports a new shoulder line that gives the SUV a manlier look. These along with fantastic cabin upgrades, this new little Ute would have to be at the top of anyone’s list when looking in this category.

We always enjoy time with a Mazda and even more so with their SUV’s as they are such a hot selling product on the market today. The CX-5 accounts for one-quarter of Mazda’s total world wide sales and after a week with redesigned Ute it was easy to see why more folks are taking a hard look at it.

Mazda points out that the CX-5 is designed on the exterior to “catch the eye and not the wind.” of course wanting to get every mile out of every gallon possible, we had to agree that it was a very pleasing car to look at, featuring a very aggressive stance for an SUV suggesting more power and prowess. The sheet metal is sculpted to slip the wind by the car instead of pushing back, and weight has been shifted rearward to not only give the Mazda more stability but to keep with the aggressive look.

At the essence of this obsession to detail in what Mazda terms Skyactiv Technology, one might notice this emblem on all Mazda’s in the recent past, at least since 2011, so what exactly does Skyactiv Technology mean to the common man? The simple answer is it is the brand name for a series of technologies developed to increase fuel efficiencies and engine output, along with new technology in transmission and body design.

It seemed to us at the end of the week, that all these new technologies really added up to making a great small SUV no matter what Mazda wants to call them. We think it is kind of a cool name anyway and seems to appeal to most buyers in the market.

This year the CX-5 comes with only one engine choice, a 2.5 liter offering, with the engineers finding another 3 horsepower this year, now getting 187 horsepower and 185 ft.-lbs. of torque. There is also included a sport mode that keeps the engine revs higher, getting quicker acceleration, and we felt we needed to add some fun to the drive, especially on curvy canyon roads as we took a quick trip up Hobble Creek Canyon to see the fall colors on Sunday. Our gas mileage for the week was a good — 26.5 miles per gallon with mostly city driving.

Inside is where Mazda designers have really shown by redesigning most of the interior and adding all the right things in all the right places. Becoming the focal point in the cabin is the available 7-inch LED screen with what Mazda calls a Multifunction Commander Control, which turned out to be a knob in the center console somewhat like an Audi or BMW in the way it worked.

It controlled all functions in the CX-5 from navigation, to radio, to the Bluetooth phone connection. It will take some getting used to, but in the end we were experts with it, spinning through menus and clicking to make changes, and the nice thing about this type of set up is that we didn’t have to reach for a screen, all the functions were literally right at our fingertips. One of our only complaints was the voice control for the navigation was difficult to navigate causing us to pull over to set destinations.

The seats were leather trimmed and heated in the front making the cold October mornings more manageable, the designer had also included soft touch materials throughout the cabin where one’s hands, arms or even legs might need a place to rest. They have also changed the emergency brake from a pull lever to an electronic version, freeing up all that space in the center console.

The Bluetooth was easy to connect with our phones taking about 30 seconds to complete the process and worked seamlessly through the week both with our phones and music. The CX-5 also came with a HD radio and also SiriusXM radio with the upgraded Bose audio sound system was concert quality. Only thing missing in here was Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, which Mazda says will come later, with any 2017 CX-5 easily and freely upgraded to work with these platforms.

Of course the CX-5 had keyless entry and pushbutton start, a powered nine-way driver’s seat with lumbar control, now with four USB ports something a many manufactures forget as there are many times that more than two people in the car need to charge their phones, and power windows with driver one touch up and down function.

The only real upgrade our Grand Touring edition received was the Grand Touring Premium Package that gave us driver’s seat memory, heated steering wheel, heated rear seats, a six-way power passenger seat and coolest of all, a full color heads-up display! The new display works in conjunction with the navigation to put traffic signs right on the windshield where they can be viewed easily, along with speed, navigation and other pertinent information, way worth the $1,820!

Also to the new premium paint color of “Soul Red Crystal Metallic Parchment,” who would have thought a paint color could carry five words within its name? It was beautiful and very noticeable and added $895 to the cost of the SUV.

The CX-5 needs to be on anyone’s list looking for a smaller SUV that is sporty and can be had in a trim level that a few years ago would have cost thousands more to get the creature comforts and safety features that can be had on the CX-5. It is a great value for the price and deserves a look. See one today at Orem Mazda, 55 East University Parkway, in Orem, (801) 226-8555.

Base Price: $30,695

Price as Driven: $34,380