Once I wrote that making a plug-in hybrid is rather a lot more durable than you assume, Mazda was on my thoughts. The corporate is struggling to impress, partially as a result of it’s small and solely has so many sources, but additionally due to how central light-weight, reasonably priced vehicles are to its identification.

However as Mazda faces the identical tightening emission requirements and client preferences that different manufacturers have handled, it’s making an attempt the identical options: Hybrids. Because the CX-90 and CX-70 plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) present, that’s simpler mentioned than executed.

The corporate’s first U.S.-market plug-in hybrids obtained off to a rocky begin. Teething points with the early CX-90 PHEV in 2024 prompted journalist complaints (particularly about its transmission), client complications and a spot on Client Stories’ “Least Dependable SUVs of 2025” checklist.

Like I mentioned: making an amazing hybrid is difficult enterprise. Whereas making a compelling EV is difficult sufficient, first-time hybrid designs need to mesh two disparate energy sources in a manner that feels pure to the buyer. Get it fallacious, as Mazda did, and the result’s herky-jerky at greatest, and unreliable at worst. 

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Supply: Mack Hogan/InsideEVs

However the firm has executed numerous work to repair this drawback. It’s up to date its PHEVs and refined their tuning, making them nicer to drive and, ideally, higher suited to long-haul possession. I sampled each to seek out out if Mazda has ironed out the kinks.

(Full Disclosure: Mazda loaned me each a CX-70 and a CX-90 for this overview. Each automobiles arrived with a full tank of gasoline.)

I got here away with combined impressions. Mazda definitely has improved its hybrid system, but the CX-90 and CX-70 themselves aren’t automobiles I might advocate. 

Driving expertise

It might be complicated that I’m speaking concerning the CX-90 and CX-70 as if they’re the identical car. However they’re.

With much less finances to create a full-fledged lineup of SUVs than its rivals, Mazda opted for an odd technique. It minimize the third row out of the CX-90 and began promoting it as a separate mannequin. Bizarrely, the corporate dropped the bottom trim, too, so the CX-70 comes higher geared up however with a better beginning value than its three-row twin: $51,400 for the bottom CX-90, $55,855 for the better-equipped CX-70. 

Each the CX-90 and CX-70 are lengthy, wagon-shaped SUVs. (CX-90 pictured).

Picture by: Mack Hogan/InsideEVs

For simplicity’s sake, I’m going to concentrate on the CX-90. They drive precisely the identical, and if you happen to’re shopping for one thing the dimensions of a three-row SUV, you may as effectively get three rows.

Regardless, you’re going to be piloting one thing ginormous. And whereas Mazda has lengthy loved a status for making fun-to-drive vehicles, it might probably’t outsmart physics. A CX-90 PHEV weighs 5,243 kilos, and you may really feel all of them. On a switchback mountain highway, it’s not a enjoyable factor to drive, even when it handles securely. Mazda has tried the outdated trick right here of constructing the steering further heavy to make it really feel “sporty,” however there’s no really feel there.

There’s additionally an excessive amount of weight to handle, and the automobile’s try and mix electrical propulsion and inside combustion often falters, making it onerous to drive easily. I blame the transmission. The eight-speed automated has been the topic of loads of debates, buyer points and technical service bulletins to handle points with it. It’s higher than it as soon as was, and principally fantastic round city, nevertheless it’s not clean sufficient to make the driving expertise nice. (Mazda didn’t reply to my request for touch upon the CX-90’s transmission points.) 

Picture by: Mack Hogan/InsideEVs

The engine can be gruff-sounding while you work it onerous, and it typically revs greater than you’d anticipate given the load.

Even the driving force aids get in the best way of a clean expertise, particularly on again roads. There are a number of layers of land-departure mitigation, and even after turning two such techniques off, I nonetheless discovered the automobile nudging me round on windy roads.

In freeway driving, the CX-90 was higher. But it’s nonetheless stiffer than different three-row SUVs, so it’s not precisely a comfortable cruiser. That’d be okay if the reward was a really nice driving expertise, however for such a ho-hum SUV on backroads, I’d anticipate a extra supple cruiser.

Vary & Effectivity

The CX-90 can go 26 miles on its 17.8 kilowatt-hour battery alone on the Environmental Safety Company’s cycle, per Mazda. I imagine it. That roughly tracks with what I skilled, although you’ll blow by way of your miles shortly if you happen to’re on a high-speed freeway in EV mode.

Sadly, getting extra granular on effectivity is difficult given the knowledge out there to the driving force. Mazda reveals miles per gallon and miles per kilowatt hour on the identical show, however by nature as one goes up the opposite falls. In case your battery is depleted, you’ll dissipate a bunch of gas whereas getting a bajillion miles per kWh. In EV mode, that reverses.  

My CX-90’s effectivity display.

Picture by: Mack Hogan/InsideEVs

On stability, the EPA cycle says the CX-90 will get 56 miles per gallon equal (MPGe), factoring within the electrical system. That’s a tick worse than you’d get in a Volvo XC90 plug-in, however acceptable. On the whole, the worth proposition will rely extra in your commute distance than the CX-90’s effectivity. Should you go lower than 20 miles a day and may cost at residence, it needs to be all-electric more often than not. When you’ve got an extended commute and don’t take a loopy variety of highway journeys, take into account electrical choices.

Inside

A spirited driving expertise shouldn’t be the primary promoting level for a household SUV. this, I do know this. I want Mazda did. As a result of not solely is the CX-90 PHEV just-ok to drive, it’s additionally obtained a bizarre inside for its function.

It makes impression, positive. The inside seems to be nice, particularly in lighter tones, and every thing feels premium. The seat surfaces are good and the plastics are high-quality. But relating to usability, Mazda has all the time felt out of its depth making bigger automobiles. The corporate simply doesn’t do an amazing job of turning more room into usable compartments and options. 

The inside definitely seems to be good.

Picture by: Mack Hogan/InsideEVs

Take the dashboard and heart console. There’s a spot in your telephone on the wi-fi charger, two cupholders and that’s it. There’s nowhere to throw the keys or your pockets with out setting off the metal-detecting fault gentle for the wi-fi charger—which by no means appears to cease blinking. The cupholders are too small for a bottle, and the door panels aren’t nice. The middle console is small, and there aren’t any extra cubbies.

That motif of poor usability continues all through. Whether or not you go for the CX-90 with three rows or the CX-70 with two, you gained’t get a flat load flooring. I’d possible blame the swap to a rear-wheel-drive structure, an outlier in a phase that has gone front-wheel-drive-based for packaging causes. Which will additionally clarify why the third row is cramped, and never a practical possibility for a lot of adults past fast errands.   

The seats fold down, however the ensuing load flooring slopes as much as the second row of seats.

Picture by: Mack Hogan/InsideEVs

Certain, the CX-90 nonetheless has loads of area. You’ll hardly discover a trendy three-row that may’t match an house’s price of crap within the again. However with 14.9 cubic toes of area behind the third row and 40.0 cubic toes behind the second, the Mazda manages to be towards the again of the pack relating to hauling both passengers or cargo. That battery has to go someplace, I suppose.

Infotainment, Tech & UX

The Mazda CX-90 helps Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. This concludes the reward I might be giving it within the infotainment and tech sections.

The CX-90’s rotary controller takes up numerous area, and I did not like utilizing it.

Picture by: Mack Hogan/InsideEVs

The second automobile I ever reviewed was the then-new 2017 Mazda CX-5, and its expertise felt outdated then. Eight years later and utilizing broadly the identical infotainment system, the CX-90 is unacceptably dated for a flagship product that debuted final yr.

Your entire system is run on a brief and large 12.3-inch infotainment display. It’s a contact display, although you’d hardly understand it. Contact controls work if you find yourself utilizing smartphone projection, and in addition when the automobile is stopped. Any time you’re in movement or in Mazda’s native system, you’re compelled to make use of a rotary clickwheel. Assume 2013 BMW iDrive, however much less subtle. 

The awkwardly formed display distorts the picture from the rear digicam. Look how a lot of the automobile’s personal license plate you possibly can see.

Picture by: Mack Hogan/InsideEVs

Navigation utilizing the built-in system is, due to this fact, primarily unusable. The one option to enter textual content is by utilizing its rudimentary voice-control system or the rotary controller. All letters are laid out alphabetically round a circle, and it’s a must to rotate round to click on one by one. That’s already indefensible, however you possibly can’t even use it to seek out companies or parks. You need to use a 2010-esque “POI search” the place you refine by class first. Was the park I used to be searching for in sports activities and actions, authorities or out of doors? The reply is: Who cares, the Mazda couldn’t discover it anyway. At the least looking out took some time!

The odd side ratio of the display additionally means the rearview digicam has a weird side ratio, stretching the entire discipline of view unnaturally and making it powerful to guage distances. Charging and effectivity information is spare and onerous to parse. The digital gauge cluster can be, in idea, customizable, however you get nearly no decisions for what to place there.

It’s all simply too dated, too sloppy and too annoying. I perceive that expertise shouldn’t be the core a part of Mazda’s identification—I’ve owned a number of Miatas, and really helpful loads of CX-5s. However the firm nonetheless must discover a option to take software program far, much more significantly if it desires to exist in 10 years. 

Picture by: Mack Hogan/InsideEVs

Security & ADAS

The CX-90 comes commonplace with adaptive cruise management, blind spot monitoring and ahead collision braking. It additionally provides lane protecting, although the system was not notably subtle. And given the bizarre jargon within the Mazda menus, it was not notably straightforward to show it off.

The CX-90 acquired a five-star general security score from the Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration, with 4 stars for its general efficiency in entrance crash exams. The CX-90 is an Insurance coverage Institute for Freeway Security High Security Choose+, that group’s highest honor.

Pricing & Trims

The CX-90 PHEV begins at $51,400, far above the $39,500 beginning value of the usual six-cylinder CX-90. Each numbers embrace supply. However PHEVs come higher geared up: Even the bottom Preffered mannequin comes with leather-based, a moonroof, heated entrance seats and all the security stuff.

Step as much as the $56,355 Premium Sport model and also you get a panoramic moonroof, 21-inch wheels and stop-and-go assist for the adaptive cruise management system. The $59,405 Premium Plus model—which I examined—will get nicer leather-based, second-row captain’s chairs and cooled entrance seats.

There aren’t any main possibility packages, however a lot of the colours value an additional $595.  

Picture by: Mack Hogan/InsideEVs

Verdict

That leaves us with two questions. Do I like to recommend the CX-90 generally? And: Is the plug-in hybrid price the additional value? On each counts, I’ve to say probably not.

The CX-90 is designed to be a household hauler, and by most metrics, it’s the worst in its class at hauling households. It has a nasty third row, a nasty cabin format with not sufficient small-item storage and a small cargo maintain for its class. Its inside seems to be nicer, nevertheless it doesn’t really feel designed for the rough-and-tumble lifetime of small children and pets. Its expertise is unacceptably behind the occasions, and its worth proposition isn’t nice.

That worth proposition will get worse while you step into the $50,000 PHEV, a product that isn’t clean sufficient to be any firm’s flagship. It might prevent some gasoline cash however—except you may get the tax credit score by way of the leasing loophole, which is prone to go away—you most likely gained’t make your a refund earlier than eliminating the car. Consumers searching for an electrical possibility are higher off with a Kia EV9, whereas hybrid consumers ought to most likely persist with a Toyota Highlander or Hyundai Santa Fe.

Like I mentioned: Making hybrid is difficult. Mazda realized some onerous classes with its first try right here within the U.S., and I’m positive it’s subsequent technology will get higher. However till the corporate refines the CX-90’s powertrain and wholly replaces its historical tech suite, it’s best to steer clear.

Contact the writer: Mack.Hogan@insideevs.com.