Rent Mazda CX-5 2024 in Dubai

The Mazda CX-5 2024 belongs to the renter who wants a real mid-size SUV for city and highway Dubai without paying mid-size SUV money for it. We rent it from age 18, which most desks in this city will not do, and we deliver it to wherever you are. It sits in our economy column, but nothing about the way it drives is economy. This is a 4.5-metre SUV with a 2.5-litre engine, a properly finished cabin and a boot that swallows airport luggage. What it is not is a desert car, and that distinction decides whether this is your week's rental or the wrong shape entirely.

A mid-size SUV wearing an economy price tag

Most cars in this rate band are small crossovers with a 1.5 or 1.6 doing its best. The CX-5 is a size up and an engine class up. The 2.5-litre naturally aspirated four makes 188 hp and 252 Nm through a conventional six-speed automatic, and that combination matters more in daily use than the numbers suggest. There is no turbo lag to wait through and no CVT drone when you ask for speed. You press, it goes, and it changes gear cleanly.

The gearbox is a generation behind the eight and nine-speed units in newer rivals, and in Dubai traffic that turns out to be a strength. It holds a gear instead of hunting between two of them on a rising flyover. Inside, the materials and the switchgear belong to a more expensive car, and after a week of daily driving that is the thing renters comment on.

Luggage, the back seat, and the airport question

The boot holds about 440 litres behind the rear seats, which in practice is two large hard cases stood upright plus a couple of soft bags on top. That covers four people flying into DXB with a week's luggage, which is the exact scenario where a smaller crossover forces someone to ride with a bag on their knees. Fold the rear seats and the floor goes close to flat, so a flat-pack run or a big grocery week is no trouble.

The back seat is the other reason to pick this over something a size down. Two adults sit comfortably behind two adults, and knee room behind a tall driver is genuinely fine rather than tolerable. Three across works for a shortish trip and for kids all day. It seats five and no more, so a group of six or seven should book a seven-seater rather than stretch this one.

Specifications

Cooling a cabin that has been sitting in the sun

Park anything outdoors in July here and the first two minutes are unpleasant. The CX-5 has a bigger cabin than a hatchback, so it takes slightly longer to pull down than a small car, but the front vents move a lot of air and the interior is fully insulated in a way cheap cars are not. Set it to recirculate, drop the windows for the first thirty seconds to dump the hottest air, and it is comfortable before you are out of the car park.

One honest note. Rear air outlets are not standard across every grade of this car, so if you are putting children in the back on a 45 degree afternoon, give the AC a few minutes of head start rather than assuming they will be cooled directly.

Where it belongs on the road, and where it does not

On the E11 the CX-5 is in its element. It tracks straight at 120, the steering has weight to it, and road noise stays low enough for a phone call. Overtaking with five people aboard needs a moment of planning rather than a downshift and a shove, but it never feels short of breath, and on a curving interchange ramp it stays flat where softer SUVs lean. At 193 mm of clearance it clears the tall speed bumps and steep mall ramps without you flinching, and it still fits older multi-storey bays with room to open the door.

Now the part people get wrong. Some grades of the CX-5 are front-wheel drive and some are all-wheel drive, and the all-wheel-drive system is an on-road one with no low range. Do not assume the car we hand you is all-wheel drive, and do not take either version onto soft sand or a dune track. If the desert is on your plan, book a proper 4x4 and be happy about it. On tarmac, including the mountain road to Hatta, the CX-5 is excellent.

On running costs, the manufacturer's combined figure is about 7 L/100 km and real Dubai driving lands closer to 9, which gives you roughly 600 km between fills. Most renters fill once in a week. Our 300 km a day allowance is well ahead of what a normal city week uses, and extra kilometres run at AED 0.5 each. Salik tolls and any RTA fines during the rental pass to you, so watch the cameras on Sheikh Zayed Road. Seat belts are mandatory in every seat and under-fours need a child seat, which we can supply with the car.

Who should book it, and who should size up

Rent the CX-5 2024 if there are two to four of you, you want SUV height and a boot that takes real luggage, and you would rather drive something that feels expensive than something that merely is cheap. For a family of four on a Dubai week, or a couple who want a comfortable highway car for airport runs and day trips, it is one of the strongest value picks we hand out.

Skip it in two situations. If you need six or seven seats, this car cannot do it, and stretching is a miserable way to spend a week. And if there is any real off-road driving in your plan, the CX-5 is not the tool, whichever drivetrain it carries. Everyone else should book it, because it is a better car than the rate implies.