Mazda CX-5, BMW X3, MG S6 EV and Cupra Formentor All Score Five Stars With ANCAP

Image credit: Mazda Australia

If you are shopping a family SUV right now and want the paperwork to say five stars, the field just got a lot broader. ANCAP has handed maximum ratings to four popular options in a single sweep: the all-new third-generation Mazda CX-5, the current-generation petrol BMW X3, MG's new electric mid-sizer the S6 EV, and the updated Cupra Formentor. Every one of them was assessed under the outgoing 2023-25 protocols, so this is effectively the last big batch of ratings before the tougher 2026 protocols take over as the default benchmark.

The really interesting bit is not that they all cleared the bar. It is where each one sits inside the four scoring pillars. The Mazda CX-5 walks away with the highest vulnerable road user score of any car tested under the 2023-25 regime, at 93 per cent. The MG S6 EV posts the strongest adult occupant number in this group. And the Cupra Formentor rating comes with a couple of asterisks that anyone speccing an Extreme Package or a VZ5 needs to know about before signing.

The four pillars, side by side

ANCAP scores every car across four categories. Adult Occupant Protection covers what happens to the front-seat passengers in a crash. Child Occupant Protection covers rear-seat kids in ISOFIX-mounted seats. Vulnerable Road User Protection covers pedestrians and cyclists on the outside of the car. Safety Assist covers the electronic aids like autonomous emergency braking, lane keeping and speed sign recognition. Here is where each of these four SUVs landed.

Mazda CX-5: the pedestrian-protection standout

The new-generation CX-5 landed in Australia earlier this year. It grew 115mm in length to 4,690mm, gained AWD as standard on every grade, and swapped its old turbo option for a naturally aspirated 2.5-litre four making 132kW and 242Nm through a six-speed automatic. The five-star ANCAP result rounds out the launch package.

The 93 per cent vulnerable road user score is the number that jumps out. It is the highest of any car ANCAP has assessed under the outgoing 2023-25 protocols, and it reflects a bonnet, bumper and sensor-suite combination that is unusually kind to pedestrians and cyclists in impact and pre-impact scenarios. The adult and child occupant numbers of 90 and 91 per cent are strong without being class-leading, and the 87 per cent safety assist score sits at the higher end of what modern AEB and lane-keep stacks are doing.

2026 Mazda CX-5 pricing

MG S6 EV: strongest adult occupant score of the batch

Image credit: MG Motor Australia

MG only put the S6 EV on sale here in late May at $49,990 driveaway for the single-motor Essence RWD and $56,990 driveaway for the dual-motor Essence AWD. The rear-drive variant carries a 77kWh NMC battery, 180kW and 350Nm, 530km of WLTP range and a 7.3-second run to 100km/h. The AWD steps up to 266kW and 540Nm for a 5.1-second sprint, with 485km of WLTP range. Standard kit on both includes MG Pilot, seven airbags with a front centre bag, a 360-degree camera and rear cross-traffic braking.

In the ANCAP batch the S6 EV posts the strongest adult occupant number at 92 per cent, one point clear of the Formentor and two clear of the CX-5. Child occupant sits at 87 per cent, vulnerable road user at 84 per cent and safety assist at 81 per cent. MG's Euro NCAP result already had it at five stars, so this is a confirmation rather than a surprise, but it is a useful one at this price. The seven-year unlimited-kilometre warranty extends to 10 years or 250,000km when the car is serviced only in the MG network.

BMW X3: five stars for the petrol G45

This is the current-generation petrol X3, not the all-electric iX3 that just cleared the tougher 2026 protocols. In Australia the petrol X3 range spans the X3 20 xDrive at $87,300 to the six-cylinder X3 M50 xDrive at $130,600, all before on-roads. ANCAP has not broken out pillar-by-pillar percentages in this announcement, so the confirmed piece is the overall five-star result. BMW confirmed the outgoing petrol X3 already sat on a five-star rating, so this is best read as the current shape formally being recertified.

Cupra Formentor: five stars, with two footnotes

Image credit: Cupra Australia

The updated Formentor five-star rating applies to Australian-delivered cars built from December 2025 onwards. Adult occupant 91 per cent, child occupant 86 per cent, vulnerable road user 79 per cent and safety assist 79 per cent. It is a strong result, right in the mix with the other three.

The two footnotes matter for anyone actually spec-ing one. First, the five-cylinder Formentor VZ5 at $94,990 was not part of this assessment and remains unrated for now. Second, any four-cylinder Formentor ordered with the optional Extreme Package steps out of the rating too. The Sabelt sports bucket seats bundled into that package physically prevent the fitment of a front centre airbag, and without a centre bag the car cannot meet the rating criteria. So if you are chasing five stars on paper for FBT, novated-lease or fleet policy reasons, the equivalent Formentor VZx at $69,990 with standard seats keeps its rating, while the same car with the Extreme Package does not.

2026 Cupra Formentor pricing

Why this batch matters right now

ANCAP switched over to its tougher 2026 protocols earlier this month. Those new rules restructure crash testing around Safe Driving, Crash Avoidance, Crash Protection and Post Crash, penalise distracting infotainment layouts, and put a serious weighting on how well the driver-assistance stack avoids the crash in the first place. The BMW iX3 has become the first vehicle to clear the new bar, on scores of 73, 83, 86 and 95 per cent across the four stages.

Everything in this ANCAP wrap sits under the older 2023-25 rules. That is not a knock. It is just useful context. The percentages you see for the CX-5, S6 EV and Formentor are directly comparable to every other 2023-25 result on the ANCAP register, and only loosely comparable to what the iX3 posted this month. Every brand-new nameplate launching in Australia from here has to face the harder test.

How it stacks up on CarSorted

Take a real family-SUV shopping list and drop these four in. On CarSorted the base Mazda CX-5 Pure AWD at $39,990 sits about $10,000 under the current-shape BMW X3 20 xDrive at $87,300 once you strip like for like, and roughly $10,000 under the entry-grade Cupra Formentor S at $49,990 before on-roads. The MG S6 EV Essence RWD at $49,990 driveaway is the only electric of the group.

Line the safety scores up next to price. Per dollar spent, the CX-5 is doing extremely well: five stars, class-leading pedestrian protection and $39,990 to start. The MG S6 EV is the outlier the other way, giving you an EV drivetrain and the strongest adult occupant score of the four at a driveaway price that is roughly on par with a mid-grade CX-5. The Formentor lets you have a plug-in hybrid VZe at $68,990 or a proper 245kW hot AWD VZx at $69,990 with the same five-star result, provided you keep away from the Extreme Package. And the BMW X3 buys you the badge and the inline-six option at the top end. If you want a side-by-side, our Mazda CX-5 vs Cupra Formentor compare page puts the two petrols in the same spreadsheet, and you can jump straight to the full Cupra Formentor spec sheet from there.

What this means for buyers

The practical read is short. If you are cross-shopping mid-size family SUVs under $60,000, the new Mazda CX-5 has just become the safest option in the segment on paper, and every grade from the $39,990 Pure to the $54,990 Akera carries the same five-star rating. If you want the pedestrian-protection edge specifically, that is a CX-5 decision. If you want an EV and you want the strongest adult occupant number in this batch, the MG S6 EV Essence RWD at $49,990 driveaway is the pick, with the AWD at $56,990 for buyers who want the acceleration. If you want a hot four-cylinder AWD SUV that still ticks the five-star box, the Cupra Formentor VZx at $69,990 does that, but leave the Extreme Package alone if the ANCAP tick matters for your policy. And if the BMW badge is non-negotiable, the current petrol X3 range from $87,300 keeps the tick under the older protocols while the electric iX3 40 at $89,900 becomes the first car to hold a five-star result under the tougher 2026 rules.

One more thing. From now on, brand-new launches face the harder 2026 protocols by default. The gap between a strong 2023-25 result and a strong 2026 result is not enormous on paper, but the 2026 scores punish over-reliance on touchscreen menus and reward genuine crash-avoidance performance more heavily. If you are picking between an old-protocol five-star car and a new-protocol five-star car later this year, the newer rating is doing slightly more work.

Compare these four side by side and against every other mid-size SUV we track on the CarSorted directory, or jump straight to our CX-5 vs Formentor compare page.