Mazda CX-5 vs INFINITI QX30

Mazda wants to move into the same premium product territory currently occupied by Acura, Buick, MINI, Volkswagen and, increasingly, Kia. To support this move, Mazda is launching a new “Feel Alive” marketing campaign, which the company says is a fan-focused effort that describes how the automaker’s cars and SUVs make you feel.

I’m a Mazda owner and fan. And I can attest that Mazdas do make you “feel alive”—if that relates to having a good time while you’re behind the wheel. Does the 2018 CX-5, Mazda’s compact crossover SUV and one of its best-selling models, do that?

Yes, it does. And with a few tweaks, it would be worthy of premium status.

Crossovers are the hottest segment in the automotive landscape, and compact crossovers represent the hot spot within that booming category. Infiniti had a high-riding wagon in the form of the EX35 (the current QX50), but it needed something fresh and new in a hurry. So what to do? Rather than building a whole new tiny SUV from the ground up, it borrowed from a competitor.

In an unlikely arrangement between Mercedes-Benz and Infiniti parent company Renault, the German automaker provided Infiniti with the GLA-Class platform as the basis of an all-new compact crossover: the 2017 Infiniti QX30.

Originally, the QX30 was supposed to be two separate vehicles; the Q30 hatchback and the QX30 crossover. Infiniti has revamped the names for its entire lineup, replacing the G37 with the Q50 and the M37 with the Q70. Each crossover and SUV model became a QX, followed by a number based on its size. The brass at Infiniti must have felt that two very similar cars with two different names was confusing, so it combined the two, violating its own naming convention… which is also confusing.