‘All-paw only’ delivers potentially peasant pricing for those who thought front drive was a cheap choice.

CURTAILING front-drive a drivetrain choice for Mazda’s highest volume car here, the CX-5, has been undertaken with minimal pricing pain.

Announcement of stickers for the new family landing in August shows the cheapest edition in the now purely all-wheel-drive family, a 2.5-litre Touring, costs just $2200 more than the price leader of the outgoing range, a front-drive GLX.

It is almost $1000 cheaper than the popular GSX front-drive and undercuts $50,290 2.5-litre AWD GSX the Touring and a new SP choice most directly usurps.

All of those have less specification and the cheapest choice in the outgoing range has a 2.0-litre engine set to retire.

Even the new base choice adds in ingredients of an electric tailgate and heated seats for entry spenders.

The new family also includes a Limited and, at $67,890, the range-topping Takami.

The outgoing range also held a Takami, but that one had a turbocharged 2.5-litre, an engine choice now absent as Mazda seeks to improves its fuel burn and emissions figures.

Now power across the entire lineup comes from an updated edition of the highly familiar 2.5-litre naturally aspirated SkyActiv-G petrol four-cylinder, with outputs of 132kW of power and 242Nm of torque also representing as decreases for that engine, also to meet emissions compliance.

Mazda says the updated engine benefits from revised internals, including a new balancer shaft to reduce vibrations, and says economy is better, with 7.9 litres per 100km on the WLTP cycle cited.

The car retains its modest 1800kg braked towing capacity across all grades and keeps association with a six-speed automatic.

Aside from already-mentioned features, the entry-level Touring cloth front seats, a 12.9-inch touchscreen infotainment system with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, an eight-speaker sound system, wireless phone charger, dual-zone climate control, privacy glass and 17-inch alloy wheels.

The SP on which volume aspiration most heavily weighs has 19-inch alloy wheels, gloss black roof rails, an electrically adjustable driver's seat, leather-look trim, a head-up display and a heated steering wheel among its extras.

The Homura introduces black exterior detailing and a panoramic sunroof, it take actual leather upholstery, a 12-speaker Bose sound system, heated outer rear seats, and a new surround-view camera system with a see-through function.

Takami has tan leather trim, ventilated front seats, steering wheel paddle shifters, a 15.6-inch infotainment display, a hands-free power tailgate, and is the only edition with Mazda's Driver Personalisation System, first seen on the larger CX-90.

Shipments land from August, with order books now open.