2024 Mazda CX-90 Review
2024 Mazda CX90
Price as tested: $61,920
3.0 Liter Twin Turbo Inline 6 w/48 volt mild hybrid
340 HP / 369 TQ
25 mpg as observed
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Guy who did stuff: Yousef Alvi
Photography: Manufacturer
Let’s get this out of the way first, if you’re pricing out a CX90 compared to its plebeian competitors such as the Highlander, Pilot and Santa Fe…the CX90 is more expensive. Like a lot more expensive. BUT, here is the thing…don’t compare it to the plebeians. The CX90 doesn’t belong there at all, let’s compare it to the Acura MDX, Infiniti QX60 and the Genesis G80. The CX90 undercuts those vehicles by $5000 across the board! Now, I know you’re saying that a Mazda is not an Acura/Infiniti or Genesis…but let me tell you how this CX90 has dropped kicked the Mazda brand into Luxury Car territory.
“BUT, here is the thing…don’t compare it to the plebeians. ”
At first glance, the 2024 CX90 starts off on the right foot. It looks elegant, expensive and well…European. Pictures do not do it justice but the CX90 has ‘that look’. Chiseled elegance that EVERYONE of its competitors lack. Either they look like they were designed by commitee or designed by copy and paste of their next nearest competitor.
Now, it looks as expensive as it is but how is the interior? Surely, there is no way Mazda can match Zee Germans in interior quality and design?? You’re wrong. They can and they did! The CX90 has one of the best (if not the THE BEST) interiors in the segment. It’s nothing short of sumptuous, luxurious and divine! From the leather on the dashboard to the leather on the door cards…the CX90 just plain ‘wows’ you every time you get inside! Unlike Genesis, where their interiors are equally ‘wowzers’ looking but always a bit ‘hollow’ feeling…the Mazda materials feel substantial, hefty and expensive.
So how does she drive? You can’t talk about a Mazda without talking about its handling. Now IMHO, every model except the Miata, falls short of expectations. From the 6 to the CX30-50 and the lot. They all have heavy but numb steering, pushy handling and just doesn’t have the ‘flingability’ you would expect from the former zoom-zoom people.
The CX90 solves that. It’s one of the best handling three row crossovers on the market! The CX90 is riding a RWD (albeit ours has the optional AWD) platform. That means it is using the divine order of longitudinal goodness, which yields handling more like a X5 rather than a lowly Highlander or even the MDX or the GX. Heck, if anything, the CX90 corners flatter and more reassuringly than the X5. Each time you decide on a ‘frack it’ moment and dive into the corner, the CX90 responds back in a sports car ‘I got you’ manner, rather than ‘hold on to your butts’ like other pedestrian crossovers.
The drivetrain is Mazda’s selling point on the CX90 and while 9/10 is pretty damn great…1/10 it’s a bit annoying. The straight 6 is a beaut. Producing a guttural induction noise as the revs climb and with the hybrid assist, plenty of power throughout that rev range to boot. It’s not blistering, nor does it throw you back in your seat…but it’s enough to make you squeeze out a grin or two.
Unfortunately it starts up sounding like a tractor, fortunately if you drive the 3/10ths to 5/10ths range…it’s pretty silent and unobtrusive. If you decide to boot though, the tractor sounds come back…which wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t for the transmission. Now, again, puttering around town it’s fine. Cruising on along the highway it’s fine. It’s when you give it the beans is where it falls apart. It’s slow to downshift, slow to apply the power and jerky when it figures things out. Highway passing makes everything a bit worst, so much in fact it feels like the CX90 has to email Mazda HQ for approval and instructions each time you plant your foot down.
Efficiency though is where the drivetrain shines! Taking a trip down to Orlando we got damn near 30 mpg on the highway. Thats with the CX90 FULL of people and cargo:
That’s with the 3rd row folded down, every square inch was used
Every. Square. Inch.
It just sipped fuel the entire way down. If wasn’t for my OCDness of filling it up whenever a vehicle hits 1/4 of a tank, it would’ve made it from Atlanta to Orlando in less than one tank of gas!
So how do I sum up the 2024 Mazda CX90?
Move over Genesis, Acura and Infiniti…you have a new player on the market.
Yousef Alvi
