I Spent A Week In The Mazda CX-90
The Mazda CX-90 is an all-new three-row SUV that elevates what is already a premium brand. No, it’s not a luxury car, but it leans heavily in that direction, especially in its top trims. This vehicle is far more premium than the CX-9 it replaces, and it’s a little larger, making it better for family life. It also offers the option for either a gas or plug-in hybrid engine, although a fully-electric model is not on the menu. It’s worth nothing that there is also what amounts to a two-row version of this same vehicle, the CX-70, for those who want something this size but without the third row and a cavernous trunk.
I had the opportunity to spend a week in the CX-90 3.3 Turbo S Premium Plus, which is the top trim of the gas lineup. It doesn’t get any fancier. There was a lot to like about this family hauler, but no car is perfect. Here are the things I loved and the things that weren’t so great about the 2024 Mazda CX-90.
What I Loved
The Eye-Catching Exterior
There’s only so much you can do with a three-row SUV to make it look good. These are big cars with expansive pieces of sheet metal. They have a necessary boxiness that can’t be avoided since making the roofline too sloped cuts into third row headroom. It’s why so many large SUVs tend to look like toasters on wheels.
The Mazda CX-90 does not look like a toaster. It manages to look sleek and even a little sporty with lovely 21-inch wheels. There are also enough curves to the design to keep it from looking dull. The grille is especially beautiful. It’s large enough to fit the vehicle without being so large that it looks overbearing. Truck designers, we’re looking at you. This grille is just the right size with a pattern that reflects the light and makes the CX-90 a standout. My only complaint here is that my test car was Rhodium White and the Soul Red Crystal Metallic paint is so much better.
An Interior Worthy Of A Luxury Car
If there’s one thing that Mazda consistently knocks out of the park, it’s interior design, and the CX-90 is a prime example. Especially in the Premium Plus trim, it’s quite simply gorgeous. My test car featured Tan Nappa Leather with plenty of suede-like trims. I was a bit worried about how that fabric would stand up to water, but hopping in for a drive in a downpour proved those worries unfounded. The surface showed lots of water spots at first, but they quickly dried up and disappeared completely.
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The interior of the CX-90 is where it really throws in with the luxury car crowd. Take off the badging, and you won’t know that you’re in a Mazda. This isn’t an inexpensive vehicle, with my tester coming in at $59,950, excluding $1,375 destination, but it looks like it should cost more. As a bonus, the seating doesn’t just look good, it also feels good, even on longer drives. If you want a luxury car interior without the luxury car price, the CX-90 delivers.
A Smooth Ride That Lets Passengers Relax
The thing with a three-row SUV is that it’s likely going to have a full load of people much of the time and, on at least a few occasions, will be used for road trips. Whether it’s a day’s adventure during the summer or a week-long excursion, the ride in the CX-90 is smooth and quiet. Rough pavement is largely muted both in terms of sound and vibration. If the kids doze off, they’re not going to be jostled awake the first time you’re in a construction zone.
This isn’t just nicer for passengers. It’s easier on the driver. That horrible road weariness that happens after hours behind the wheel doesn’t creep up on you as quickly in the CX-90. Once the kids do doze off, parents get to enjoy the peace and quiet, too.
Plenty Of Power
There are two gas engine options available for the CX-90, starting with a 3.3-liter turbocharged 6-cylinder with 280 horsepower and 332 lb-ft of torque. Next up is a more powerful version of that engine with 340 horsepower and 369 lb-ft of torque, which is what I drove for a week. This is a large vehicle, and that power proved more than enough to get the CX-90 up to speed.
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There’s nothing worse than merging into heavy highway traffic with your foot mashed on the gas and still not feeling like you’re accelerating fast enough. There’s no such trouble in the CX-90. It got up to speed quickly and quietly. That last part is key to the driving experience, too, as a car that sounds like its engine is about to explode when you hit the accelerator hard is not what you want to hear. The CX-90 is smooth, quiet, and responsive. Again, it’s simply a great choice for long drives with lots of people on board.
What Drove Me Nuts
The Infotainment Screen Controls
The auto industry is still trying to figure out the best way to give us what we want in an infotainment system without creating something distracting. This has led to a mindboggling number of ways to control those systems with touchscreens, buttons, touchpads, dials, gesture control, and voice control. Some of this works well, but some of it doesn’t, and I am simply not a fan of Mazda’s system.
It involves using a large rotary dial on the center console along with a few hot keys for common functions. What it doesn’t involve is a touchscreen, with one exception. If you connect Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, then that interface is a touchscreen. It’s confusing, especially for passengers who don’t understand why the touchscreen doesn’t always work. Mazda owners say this gets intuitive after a while, but it drives me crazy and every passenger I had in the car was equally frustrated.
The Temperature Control Buttons Are Confusing
This is such a simple thing and the fact that I’m complaining about it shows you how good this car is overall. The passenger and driver each have their own controls for the temperature. They’re little levers, one for hot and one for cold. You push the cold one down, and it quite logically lowers the temperature. You push the hot one down and it raises the temperature. What? I kept wanting to push it up since you normally adjust things up to increase. It wasn’t just me either. I had two confused passengers who also thought it was just weird.
The Small Center Console
This is a family SUV and that means you need lots of room for storing stuff, and we don’t just mean suitcases and sporting equipment. There needs to be a good place for all the little things and this is an area where the CX-90 falls short.
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There is a center console that’s easy to pop open, but the divided cover makes it hard to reach into from outside the car. If you put your wallet in there and forget to grab it, then you have to get back in the seat to reach over the cover. It’s also very shallow. A large wallet is about all you’re going to fit in there, making it less than useful. It’s just not a good setup for a large SUV.
Overall, we like the Mazda CX-90. It’s not perfect, but it’s absolutely a great three-row SUV. Although there were things I did not like, those didn’t outweigh the things that I did like about this vehicle. Families who want a smooth ride with a luxury car vibe will get just that, but at a more affordable price.
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