The next-generation 2026 Mazda CX-5 will ditch physical climate controls and a rotary dial for its infotainment system, eschewing long-standing mainstays for the Japanese auto brand. However, Mazda promises its new touchscreen-based controls won’t be distracting.
“Mazda’s driving philosophy remains the same,” Mazda’s project manager of in-vehicle technologies and human-machine interfaces, Matthew Valbuena, told Motor1.
“We are focused on minimising driver distraction.
Despite our approach to the solution being different from what we have done before, it’s the same goal how do we provide connectivity for the driver and features they are looking for but in a safe way that does not distract their driving.’ He added on his statement at an interview with The TelegraphOnline today.
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New-generation CX-5
Mazda has been offering models with a rotary dial for infotainment since the MZD Connect system debuted for 2014 in the third-generation Mazda 3.
At the time, it said that the new system was designed with a “top priority on safe driving [that] reduces the factors leading to driver distraction”, and had – in fact ‘commander knob’ which is meant to be operated by touch alone.
The brand currently offers a range of infotainment systems, each confusingly with different operating principles.
For example, MZD Connect remains in the ageing Mazda 2 and CX-3, and features the rotary dial and touch functionality for the screen but only when the vehicle is parked.
Outgoing CX-5
The fourth-generation Mazda 3 was released in 2019 with the launch of its next generation of Mazda infotainment tech, Mazda Connect. This removed touch functionality, with the infotainment screen controlled exclusively by rotary controller control of this info-to-the-screen screen (i.e.
Some Mazdas running the Mazda Connect later added touch functionality to some of their cars to further confuse things, but only for use with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto (infamously finicky to use without a touchscreen).
This means some Mazda model lines either have or don’t have touch functionality, depending on the variant.
It is the new CX-5 – due to be launched in Australia in mid-2026 – which has reached a 15-year milestone. 6-inch touchscreen, up to 10 inches (up from 10) of . A 25 inches to become Mazda’s largest in Australia… at least for the time.
Similarly, in the US market it will also have Google Built-in with embedded apps like Android Maps and the Chrome Assistant (although Mazda Australia has yet to confirm whether local CX-5s will support this feature).
Mr Valbuena said ‘consumer sentiment will help support this to spread through the lineup’, meaning more Mazdas will ditch the rotary controller and physical climate controllers.
While the next CX-5 will have a huge touchscreen for a Mazda, they new mid-size SUV will soon be surpassed by its electric counterpart, the CX-6e.
The new CX-6e (like the 6e liftback) is an electric vehicle (EV) developed and built by the Chinese Changan Mazda joint venture, has a huge 26-inch touchscreen that effectively integrates the digital instrument cluster, infotainment screen and passenger display.
While the outgoing CX-5, which has separate physical climate controls, is a different type of , these are moved to the touchscreen in the new Cx-5. Yet, they’re anchored at the bottom to ensure that you can see them always on the top of .
Several functions, including steering wheel controls and the embedded voice assistant, are still under control of Mazda’s many-year-old programmers, according to Mazda. Mazda argues that the rotary controller was “nixed for simplicity and ease of use” (and because most adults own a smartphone) while it is still in operation, Mazda says.
Mr Valbuena told Motor1 ‘It would be very hard to control that great variety of apps with one command knob.
He said ‘We didn’t want this super complicated user experience, which involved reading a huge owner’s manual. This system gives that sort of jumping in, going and discovering.’ We wanted that kind of jump in and go and discover for we hoped to see the real thing was there. Paraphrast.
Similarly, Mr Valbuena contrasted the new and outgoing Mazda infotainment systems with the now-defunct iPod Classic and iPod Touch ‘Both can do exactly what they are saying; but it is more flexible than the iPod touch that can be used to do things.’ The iPhone Touch has much more flexibility in its own right (and does not have an iPod classic) Paraphrast.
Mazda is the latest proponent of rotary infotainment controllers to move away from them.
BMW has been gradually removing its iDrive controller (first in its new-generation compact models), and now with the Neue Klasse electrics, while Audi phased out its MMI ‘rotary’ controller.
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