Mazda teased a special kind of high-mpg diesel zoom-zoom for a decade. So it fizzled in months.

Past the time the 2019 Mazda CX-5 Skyactiv-D finally arrived in 2019, diesel was on the verge of irrelevance outside of bigger trucks intended to haul long distances. Several intriguing EVs its size were almost to hit the market. Hybrids crush it in fuel efficiency, price, and performance.

That's essentially the tl;dr version for this model, which in quick retrospect was a last whimper of the passenger-vehicle diesel for the U.S. market. If you really want one, information technology's going to accept some patience. As of this past week, I couldn't find a single used or certified pre-endemic one in a search of dealerships.

Mazda confirmed in Jan that after evaluating consumer demand information technology would no longer offer the diesel in the U.Due south. market—although information technology would continue to advance its diesel fuel tech globally. Information technology still won't say exactly how many it ended up delivering, only we suspect it'due south in the very low thousands—mostly to people who had waited for them.

A decade in the making

A little context and history is in order. Ironically, given the Volkswagen diesel scandal, it was VW that Mazda had seemed to be chasing into the U.Southward. market initially with its long-winded diesel project. I was one of those eagerly anticipating the engine so badged Heaven-D—many years agone, before long-range mass-marketplace EV options, and before hybrids and PHEVs accelerated their evolution.

Mazda originally touted that with its agile ceramic diesel fuel particulate filter, there was no need for urea exhaust handling. Visitor officials said that information technology would be the cleanest diesel for the Due north American market—cleaner than the versions of VW's TDI engine at the time. Mazda boasted that its approach, which relied on a lower compression ratio and more fifty-fifty combustion, would likely result in lower levels of the fine particulates that take been the subject of greater public wellness concern in the past decade.

Mazda CX-5 Skyactiv-D

Mazda CX-5 Skyactiv-D

Mazda CX-5 Skyactiv-D

Mazda CX-5 Skyactiv-D

Mazda CX-5 Skyactiv-D

Mazda CX-5 Skyactiv-D

An early on bulldoze in 2011 was promising, and I found this combination to be very perky and engaging.

The engine, which was announced in 2010 and originally due to arrive in 2012 in the Mazda 6 sedan, was touted as existence capable of reaching an EPA rating of 43 miles per gallon highway, better than the Toyota Camry Hybrid and, at that fourth dimension, Ford Fusion Hybrid and Hyundai Sonata Hybrid.

Hybrids have advanced tremendously in efficiency, though. The Camry Hybrid and Sonata Hybrid both hit an EPA combined 52 mpg today. Shifting more than to the CX-v's form factor, the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid and Honda CR-Five Hybrid achieve forty mpg and 38 mpg combined, respectively.

A series of delays did bring the engine to the U.South.—retuned, with the addition of urea injection. Based on some time with the CX-5 Skyactiv-D in Baronial 2019, I found it didn't evangelize what had been promised all along.

Underwhelming numbers for the driving experience

Today or nearly ii years ago, none of the numbers are particularly compelling. In its terminal U.South. spec, the engine made 168 horsepower and 290 pound-feet of torque, information technology was paired with a 6-speed automatic transmission, and simply came in all-wheel-drive class. The Signature all-wheel-drive model I tested—the only way to become it—was optioned upwardly with a roof rack, a trailer hitch, and a few other accessories, bringing the total MSRP to $44,040, and its window sticker listed EPA ratings of 27 mpg urban center, 30 highway, 28 combined.

Mazda CX-5 Skyactiv-D

Mazda CX-v Skyactiv-D

I gulped at the value proposition, thinking that I could accept a luxury brand plug-in hybrid for that coin—or, a few months afterward, a Tesla Model Y.

Temperatures were by and large in the 80s, and I ran errands for several days, mostly brusk trips, and was rather shocked to run into the CX-5 had averaged less than 21 mpg over effectually fifty miles of driving. The Skyactiv-D was a petty rougher and coarser than Mazda's gasoline engine in the CX-five until information technology fully warmed up, reaching a smooth purr of a depression idle, simply I never smelled even a whiff of diesel outside of when I was filling it.

I'd just been in a RAV4 Hybrid a couple of weeks earlier and noted that the Toyota had felt quicker around town. A substantial turbo lag at lower speeds delayed quick responses, and it was lazier to rev than earlier versions.

Mazda CX-5 Skyactiv-D

Mazda CX-5 Skyactiv-D

I and then took the CX-v on a 245-mile loop by Mt. Hood and through high desert and part of the Columbia Gorge, on a mix of two-lane highways and 65-mph freeway stretches, keeping shut to the speed limit but not hesitating to enjoy the CX-5'southward nimble handling and comfortable cabin. The Skyactiv-D, which several test sources accept pegged at about 9 seconds to 60 mph, isn't quick, but particularly on curvy roads effectually Mt. Hood, keeping the engine on heave, it was rewarding to drive and felt stronger than gas or hybrid alternatives.

Mazda CX-5 Skyactiv-D

Mazda CX-5 Skyactiv-D

Over that trip my average was 31 mpg according to the trip reckoner, confirmed at that according to a precise fuel make full. Because that effect had been a bit disappointing versus what I'd expected, I ran the CX-v diesel on an out-and-dorsum 65-70-mph highway trip, covering 118 miles in all and resulting in an indicated 33.5-mpg boilerplate—less than I've seen in recent versions of the RAV4 Hybrid and CR-5 Hybrid.

Diesel fuel era is long over—even for niche models

Diesel fuel is more than expensive than gasoline. When I collection the Skyactiv-D I noted that diesel costs about 15 cents more a gallon versus gasoline. At present, on a national average, the difference is even more pronounced. The last fourth dimension I'd tested a gasoline CX-5 I got within 2 mpg of my 31 mpg trip total, and without seeing close to the claimed numbers around boondocks, I simply don't see how the numbers would ever deport out in favor of diesel over the life of the vehicle.

Mazda CX-5 Skyactiv-D

Mazda CX-five Skyactiv-D

The diesel era for passenger cars in the U.Southward. didn't accomplish an actual choke point until sometime in 2020, during the pandemic—a lung-related one. It'southward no coincidence that was when automakers were making larger commitments to EVs and big bombardment supply announcements.

Diesel isn't just big, heavy-breathing pickups, only this year the selection of diesels offered in the U.Southward. without a pickup bed has been winnowed downwards to simply a handful of models: the Jeep Wrangler, the Country Rover Range Rover and Range Rover Sport, and GM's total-size SUVs, the Cadillac Escalade, the GMC Yukon, and the Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban.

Green Machine Reports will go along taking a pragmatic look at what each of those models provide. Just the environmental advantages of EVs are undeniable, and with the inflow of trucks like the Rivian R1T, the Ford F-150 Lightning, GMC Hummer EV SUT, and the Tesla Cybertruck, amid pickups, and the Rivian R1S and GMC Hummer EV SUV, amid other electric trucks on the way, that window of opportunity is endmost rapidly.

What's ahead: Enough of quirk yet, with EV+rotary and Skyactiv-X vi

Mazda announced a large-scale electrification strategy before this month, including a dedicated EV platform by 2025 plus various hybrids and plug-in hybrids. The MX-30 electric crossover is also coming to the U.South. later this yr, with a range-extended version expected to join the lineup with a version of Mazda's rotary engine.

2022 Mazda MX-30

2022 Mazda MX-30

In the meantime, Mazda also confirmed to Green Car Reports this by week that it'south continuing development on its Skyactiv-X homogeneous charge compression ignition engine—including making it a 6-cylinder engine.

These technologies take a massive amount of engineering resources, and just because a company is capable of perfecting them doesn't mean that—like chasing VW's TDI—they should. But Mazda's role as an automotive outlier, making different decisions than other large automakers, will fuel a lot of exciting vehicles yet, and nosotros expect forward to them. They'll almost certainly make more sense than this diesel fuel did.