How's the Paint Quality on 2026 Mazda CX-5?

Added: 2026-05-18

[00:00:00]But anyhow, let me measure the paint thickness here.

[00:00:03]It's 93.5 microns.

[00:00:06]93 again, 93 microns, exactly the same.

[00:00:09]108 microns and 101 microns. So, more or less, it's about the same and it's exactly what I expect from Mazda.

[00:00:16]They're usually about 100 microns, a little bit thicker sometimes, a little bit thinner sometimes. But because their paint process is so accurate, Mazda's 100 micron paint looks way better than some other competitors' 150 microns paint, if you know what I mean. It's not always the thickness that kind of tells the real story. It's really the process.

[00:00:37]So, Mazda has been able to figure out a way to make the paint reasonably thin, which is 100 microns, but provide the durability that you expect from modern car. So, I'm not too worried about the fact that the paint thickness is about 100 microns. It's more to do with the overall quality and the manufacturing process they use to get this level of paint. There's also something interesting called the zebra effect, which all Mazda cars have, which give you kind of zebra lines, and I'll show you that in a second. Um but I also want to point out that all the panels when I checked it are actually steel panels, not aluminum. So, even the hood is steel. And I prefer that because they cause less problems in terms of the vibration sometimes you get when you're driving with aluminum panels. Also, they're easy to repair and generally speaking, they provide better rigidity than aluminum panels. So, actually it's good that everything is steel. But let me show you what I mean by that zebra effect. So, I know it's going to be a little bit hard to see from the camera's perspective.

[00:01:30]But if you look carefully, you'll see there are lines that goes from here, like a wave of lines, and then drops this way. You can really see it from this angle. You can kind of see this kind of zebra effect from many, many lines, curved perfectly, and it's almost like an artwork. So, they designed the panels so that these kind of curves happen and it gives you the artistic feel. And no other brands, no other auto makers have been able to do that. In fact, they wouldn't even bother spending the time to make this happen because it takes so much effort from engineers and manufacturing people to get this right.

[00:02:06]But Mazda have this zebra effect look on all their modern, newer models.

[00:02:12]I started talking about this in the CX-70 and CX-90. You can really see the zebra effect on that one. And it's really cool because if you're just walking to the car and there's some light reflecting, you'll see all these patterns. And it's just incredible quality and incredible engineering to get these things done just right. There's also some interesting elements here that are inspired by Japanese craftsmanship in terms of how things fit together. And so, yeah, the paint quality, the body integrity, the body fit and finish, what can I say? It's world-class.