The Mazda Tribute has a clean, attractive appearance. The grille is black, in Mazda's wedge shape that suggests a grin, with a chrome Mazda gullwing logo centered in a chrome strip across the top. The halogen headlights, small and simple trapezoids, complement that shape. Under the nose there's a slim valance that contains the halogen fog lamps.

The seven-spoke alloy wheels fit the look well. The flares around the wheelwells look just right, and, thankfully, there's no cladding. There's no chrome for the sake of chrome, except for one wide strip over the rear license plate indent, matching the strip over the grille.

The B-pillar slopes back with a small angle to give the side windows some angularity, but there's no attempt at fancy shapes as with, for example, the Honda CR-V, a competitor to the Tribute. This allows a practical-sized rear cargo window, for better visibility and safety. The liftgate window opens separately, a nice feature. The taillights, like the rest of the Tribute, are no-nonsense: Big and blocky enough to be safe, with just enough shape to be handsome.

The rear bumper has a flat shelf with a rubber strip, making climbing up to the roofrack easier; that rack is standard on all models but the i Sport.

Interior

Inside, the Tribute is comfortable, roomy and practical.

Second-row passengers get good legroom and kneeroom, even behind driver whose seat is slid back, and the elevated seating gives them visibility out the windshield. The view to the sides is also broad and open. For the passengers in the rear seat, there are two fixed cupholders on the console between the front seats, a small storage bin, an AC outlet, map pockets on the front seatbacks, and door pockets. There are no reading lights for them, however. The rear doors close easily with a solid hand-hold.

The rear seats fold easily enough, although not totally flat. The seat bottoms slide forward, and the seatbacks then flop down. We carried a bunch of windsurfing equipment without a problem, including masts that extended between the front seats to the dashboard, and one sailboard that was nine feet long, which obscured vision out the right front window, but still fit. It could have easily been strapped to the roofrack, but we were tired after windsurfing and too lazy.

Everything the driver needs is easy to see, reach, and operate. The gauges are clean and easy to read, with a neat tachometer and speedometer, split by small fuel and temperature gauges. It's all clean and simple. The center stack contains everything that's needed, with dials for the main controls of the sound system and climate system, and buttons that have simple standard icons and are big enough to see and use. It's a blessed relief, nowadays, to find controls that aren't unnecessarily challenging. This simplicity makes for a safer vehicle, because the driver's concentration isn't interrupted by confusion or problem solving.

The air conditioning is powerful. We drove off on a 100-degree day and the cabin was comfortable within two miles. We have driven much more expensive vehicles that had air conditioning systems that did not match that of the Tribute.

Under the center stack, there's a forward tray with a grippy rubber liner, the right size for CDs. The shifter has positions for 1, 2, and D, and a button that turns Overdrive off, for towing. Beside the shifter there's a slot for a pen, and behind it there are two deep fixed cup holders. The center console compartment is a deep box, with a small removable tray and three slots for coins. It's covered with grippy ribbed rubber that works for an armrest. Rubber liners in the cup holders and front bin keep things in place and quiet and are removable for easy cleaning.

The only thing about the interior we found inconvenient was the parking brake release, which we felt was tucked away and low and difficult to reach.