The 2019 Mazda CX-5 XDL in metallic black is a crossover that arrives having taken everything that already makes the CX-5 one of the most beautifully designed vehicles in its segment and sharpened it, darkened it, and elevated it into a presentation that is genuinely and thoroughly exceptional. The metallic black finish moves across the CX-5's Kodo-sculpted body with a depth and a darkness that is as dramatic as it is sophisticated, the metallic quality of the coat shifting in light from a deep, absorbing obsidian to a rich, polished brilliance that traces every flowing surface and every precisely drawn line of this crossover's award-winning design with a theatrical intensity that makes the exterior impossible to overlook and equally impossible to forget. The bodykit takes that intensity and amplifies it further, reshaping the front apron with a lower, more purposeful aggression, extending the side skirts to draw the CX-5's already taut stance even closer to the ground, and refining the rear with a sporting precision that closes the vehicle's profile with a completeness and a conviction that the standard car, exceptional as it already is, simply cannot match on its own. The daytime running lights thread through the front fascia with a sharp, jewel-like clarity that gives the metallic black CX-5 XDL a watchful, dynamic expression even in standstill, completing an exterior presentation that is as resolved and as thoroughly compelling as any crossover in this class has any right to be.

Step inside and the CX-5 XDL opens into a cabin of fine beige leather upholstery that creates an interior atmosphere of warmth, elegance, and genuine premium quality that immediately and completely rewards the expectation its striking exterior creates. The beige leather runs throughout the seating with a consistency and a richness of finish that flatters every surface it covers, its warm tone providing a beautifully considered contrast to the drama of the metallic black exterior and creating a cabin environment that feels as inviting and as luxurious as it looks from every angle within it. The front seats deliver both heating and cooling with the precision and the completeness that the XDL specification demands, while the heated steering wheel keeps the driver perfectly comfortable and intimately connected to the car from the very first moment of every journey. The memory function recalls each driver's preferred seating position with an effortless and instantaneous accuracy that makes every return to this cabin feel personally prepared and completely familiar, and the high-tech cabin reveals its considerable depth gradually and generously, its suite of driver assistance technologies, its intuitive controls, and its thoughtfully integrated systems working together to produce an interior environment that is as intelligent and as contemporary as it is beautiful and as warm. Presiding over the cabin's audio world with a richness and a clarity that transforms every journey into a listening experience of genuine quality is the Bose sound system, its output detailed, powerful, and beautifully layered in a way that fills every corner of the beige leather interior with a warmth of sound that perfectly matches the warmth of the space surrounding it.

Beneath the bonnet, the 2,200cc diesel engine is the accomplished, capable, and thoroughly refined powerplant that carries the CX-5 XDL's premium ambitions forward with complete conviction and complete competence. The Skyactiv-D diesel technology delivers its deep torque reserve with an immediacy and a generosity that gives the crossover a confident, effortless muscle from the very first pull away, providing the kind of low-end capability that makes the CX-5 feel thoroughly in command across every driving scenario it is likely to encounter, from the stop-and-go rhythm of the city to the more sustained demands of open road cruising. The engine is beautifully isolated and refined within the cabin, its diesel character completely absorbed by Mazda's exceptional engineering, ensuring that the beige leather warmth and the Bose-filled atmosphere of the interior above it remain undisturbed and serene at every speed and every occasion.

The 2019 Mazda CX-5 XDL in metallic black with its bodykit and beige leather interior is a crossover that has been taken to its most complete, its most compelling, and its most thoroughly desirable form. From the sharp, kitted drama of its blacked-out exterior to the warm, high-tech luxury of its Bose-filled, memory-equipped beige cabin and the accomplished diesel confidence that moves it all, this CX-5 XDL is Mazda operating at the very peak of its crossover ambition, a vehicle that delivers beauty, technology, and capability in a combination so convincing and so cohesive that it makes every rival in its segment look considerably less certain of itself by comparison.