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Living with the new Mazda CX-90: Long-term review

It’s the biggest and most expensive Mazda ever but is the CX-90 a worthy luxury flagship?

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2024 Mazda CX-90 long-term review

JUMP AHEAD


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Welcome

Model: Mazda CX-90 D50e GT
Price as tested:
$85,550 + on-road costs
This month: 798km @ 6.5L/100km

Things we like so far

  • Big boost in space over CX-60
  • Bigger dimensions deliver an even more handsome exterior design
  • Great efficiency and big cruising range from the 3.3L turbo diesel

Not so much...

  • Hefty price premium over an equivalent CX-60
  • Extra size and weight dulls engine performance
  • The ride and transmissions niggles that plague CX-60 are still present

Amazing, isn’t it, how quickly your priorities can shift.

Not so long ago, in the relaxing, carefree and golden-hued dreamland before children, shopping for a new car was wonderfully selfish. How does it steer?, what does it sound like? and how worn are the sticky Pilot Spot tyres? were all genuine concerns.

Having kids, however, sends all of that tumbling into the ether of irrelevance faster than an ousted opposition leader.

Suddenly, instead of calling up mates to discuss steering feel and whether the 1.6L or 1.9L engine is the one to go for, you find yourself creating spreadsheets that compare boot space litreage, rear knee-room, crash test percentages and whether or not the middle row is on rails.

So here’s a reality check for anyone about to cross the threshold into parenthood: no matter what your significant other might tell you elsewhere, when it comes to the domain of sprogs, prams and travel cots, size does matter.

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Which is perhaps why the Mazda CX-90 you see pictured here is looking so smug. A biggun’ isn’t it?

If this were a rugby match, you’d slot the CX-90 in as a replacement for the mighty John Eales. Or perhaps, given it weighs a gargantuan 2241kg, as a super-sub for the legendary All Black winger Jonah Lomu.

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It’s certainly a decent wedge bigger than Mazda’s other new family SUV, the mid-size CX-60, which we’ve also recently run as a long-termer. Both cars are spun off Mazda’s all-new Large Platform and they share the same engine line-up, meaning the choice of either a 3.3L inline six cylinder petrol or diesel, or a more powerful and efficient 2.5L plug-in hybrid. For now it’s six-cylinders only, though, as the PHEV will join the CX-90 line-up later in 2024.

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The CX-60 and 90 even look remarkably similar — so much so it’s easy to confuse them with a cursory glance — however there are some important differences.

The 90 rolls on larger 21-inch wheels, the profile of the rear glass is more ballooned to better accomodate an extra row of seats, and the wheelbase has been stretched by a hefty 250mm.

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Overall length is up by 360mm to 5100mm and the CX-90 is also 104mm wider and 65mm taller than its smaller sibling.

In other words, the CX-90 is utterly enormous and a genuine 7-seat rival for the Hyundai Palisade, Kia Sorento and Toyota Kluger.

It makes good use of the extra space, too. Ahead of the B-pillar, the CX-90 and 60 are virtually identical inside, but the 90’s middle row slides and is noticeably more commodious.

You also get a big boost in luggage space. Officially Mazda says you score 608L behind the second row, which is 131L more than the CX-60 (though still far less than the van-like Hyundai Palisade) and that grows to 2025L if you lay the seats flat.

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Even with all seven seats in use, boot space remains a useful 257L, or 40L more than you get in the boot of a hybrid Toyota Corolla.

We’ll test the third row out in greater detail in future updates — COF531 is down for a six-month stint in the Wheels garage — but initial inspection reveals it’s a place for adults, not just kids. And importantly the third row has top-tether mounts so you can fit kiddy seats back there, unlike some rivals.

The trade off to all of this extra space is more weight (about 250kg+) and a big uptick in price. The CX-90 is the biggest and most expensive Mazda ever, so much so that the flagship Azami PHEV will tip into six figures once you get it on the road.

Our test car is slightly more palatable. It’s the mid-spec GT diesel, which retails for $85,550 before on-road costs, and it’s bursting with so much standard equipment that it might be the sweet spot in the range.

It’s still a hefty $15,150 more than an equivalent diesel CX-60, mind, which is a lot when you consider the only key difference between them is size.

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So is the 90 worth the extra outlay? That’s one of the pressing questions to address over the next six months.

Another is exploring whether the CX-90 falls victim to the same ride and laggy gearbox issues that plague the smaller CX-60. Initial impressions are both bugbears remain, however we have an interstate road-trip planned next month to properly see how the 90 performs on the road.

The bigger question facing the CX-90, however, regards its flagship status. At close to $100,000 (and more than that in the flagship Azami PHEV!), is it a very expensive Mazda or a genuine alternative to proven luxe players like Lexus, BMW, Mercedes and Audi? Or both? All of these questions and more will be answered over the coming months, so strap in.

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Road trippin'

CX-90 faces its sternest challenge yet: a 2000km road trip and a huge amount of luggage

Price as tested: $85,550 + on-road costs
This month: 2262km @ 6.4L/100km
Overall: 3060km @ 6.4L/100km

It’s easy to romanticise the great Aussie road trip. Big days, big kays and a big brown land to explore are as deeply sown into our cultural DNA as Akubras and meat pies.

But as much as road trips are about car games and creating family memories, they’re also about something else. And that is packing.

Few families take this as seriously as we do, or pass it down from generation to generation so steadfastly as the Inwoods. Get it right and packing a car delivers the same sense of deep satisfaction as dropping in the final piece of a jigsaw puzzle or nailing that final move in Tetris.

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Just some of the luggage we had to pack for our getaway. Happily, CX-90's boot was up to the task

Get it wrong, as I once witnessed my father do when I was a young boy, and it can mean the spectacular turfing of a late arriving esky into the backyard and then six hours of stony silence before he uttered “why wasn’t it in the packing pile?”

To avoid such mishaps, my strategy is to stack absolutely everything in front of the car before a single thing is packed. This is followed by a long period of visualisation — or “blankly staring” as the wife kindly puts it — before items are placed in the boot and then arranged and rearranged to ensure no square inch of space is wasted.

In one of those quirks of the universe, we always seem to pack enough stuff so that it just fits, no matter what car or SUV we’re taking along to test. Except in the CX-90. With the boot starting to fill, I turned around to grab another bag and grasped nothing but air — we had no more to pack. And the boot had room to spare.

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Far from needing to put a well-timed shoulder onto the tailgate as it closed, we could have thrown the BBQ on top if we’d wanted to. I felt cheated, unsatisfied, discontented, unfulfilled, disgruntled — and just a little disbelieving.

Officially Mazda says the CX-90 has 608L of luggage space behind the second row. On paper that figure is good but not outstanding. A Hyundai Palisade, for example, has 740L, and the CX-90’s boot is exactly the same size as a Kia Sorento’s, despite the Kia being considerably smaller and more wieldy to drive.

Yet like the budget for a state infrastructure project, the CX-90’s boot seemed to keep expanding. Credit that to a deep and wide loading bay, a good amount of underfloor storage and a second row than can slide forward to liberate even more luggage litreage.

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The positives keep coming once we’re on the road. Unlike other CX-90 and CX-60s we’ve driven, our test car has light coloured upholstery and the impact is transformational.

With dark seats, the cabin can feel sombre and unremarkable to the point that you really need the optional SP or Takumi packs for it to feel properly luxurious.

The light grey leather, however, which Mazda calls stone, lifts the ambience considerably and pairs it nicely with pale, fake-wood inserts on the doors and console. The result is an airy and pleasant place to spend long periods of time, aided by a big panoramic sunroof, an excellent driving position and good seat comfort in both front rows.

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Cabin storage is average, though, due to a bulky centre console that really only offers two cupholders as space to put things. Other items end up being balanced on the console itself and things can quickly pile up and become cluttered.

Freeway cruising is a CX-90 strength. In the city, the big Mazda’s sheer size and relatively heavy steering mean it can feel cumbersome — keeping those big 21s clear of kerbs in tight backstreets and carparks is a full-time job — but away from such confines, the CX-90 is quiet and relaxing.

Adaptive cruise control, a great stereo and the big, smooth 3.3L diesel also help to make short work of big distances. And talk about economical. Even fully loaded and with some big hills to tackle over the Great Alpine Road, the diesel CX-90 returned an economy figure of 6.4L/100km.

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Trouble is, those same mountain roads saw some familiar issues bubble to the surface. The ride quality on big 21-inch alloys is overly firm and on some of the Great Alone Roads bumpier sections it even verged on terse.

Road joins slap home, ruts shudder and skip unpleasantly and pot holes are felt keenly enough to wake sleeping children. And that’s enough to put it on The Wife’s blacklist. A stint in the backseat — to placate the now awake infant — revealed the ride is even more jostling in the second row.

The hilly terrain also placed the engine under the microscope. Unlike the 3.3 petrol which was gifted some extra kW and Nm compared to its application in the CX-60 to counteract the CX-90’s extra heft, Mazda left the diesel’s outputs unchanged and at times it felt underbaked.

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It’s really only noticeable when overtaking where, after a gratifying initial surge the big oiler doesn’t pile on speed as urgently as expected. Switching to Sport mode helps but the powertrain certainly doesn’t feel as muscular as in the smaller CX-60.

So there are some wrinkles to iron out — adaptive dampers and some extra herbs for the diesel would make a huge difference — but the measure of a good road-trip hauler is how you feel after a long day in the saddle.

By the time we pull up, the twisty, bumpy mountain roads have long ago been replaced by stretches of smooth tarmac and it’s hard not to give COF531 a good-hearted tap on the tailgate. It’s not perfect but the CX-90 is certainly a worthy long-distance cruiser.

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Lots to like, niggles to fix

Mazda's boldest SUV yet waves goodbye, but is it a hit or a miss?

Price as tested: $85,550 + on-road costs
This month: 1519km @ 7.2L/100km
Overall: 4579km @ 6.5L/100km

Here we are then: crunch time for Mazda’s biggest, grandest and boldest SUV yet. After four months and 4500km, the CX-90 is heading back to company HQ, which means we now have to answer the questions we posed at the beginning: is it a worthy flagship? And more crucially, is it worth its near-$90K asking price?

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I wish the answers were more clear cut but unlike most farewell reports, which sign off with either a cheery “Yep, it’s a goodun’ or a cautious “maybe give this one a miss”, the CX-90’s verdict is more complex.

On the one hand, there’s so much to like. Mazda’s big 7-seater has real presence in the metal thanks to its sheer size, elegant detailing, and sporty proportions that come from its long bonnet and short overhangs. The interior is beautiful. The boot is big. And the all-new six-cylinder diesel engine fitted to our test car is smooth and freakishly frugal.

It takes real effort to get the average fuel economy reading to go beyond 6.4L/100km, such is its incredible efficiency in everyday and open-road driving. So in many ways, the CX-90 is everything we hoped it would be from a brand looking to push into the luxury space.

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But then there’s the ride quality, which is just too firm and niggly on big 21-inch alloys, especially for a car hoping to deliver a driving experience on par with legacy posh brands like BMW and Lexus. Like its smaller CX-60 sibling, this is an SUV crying out for adaptive dampers.

The 8-speed gearbox is a frustrating weak link, too, and its low-speed clunks and clumsy relationship with the 48-volt sub-system don’t only make the CX-90 feel jerky and cumbersome, but its tendency to grind and vibrate as you roll through intersections further undermines the CX-90’s sense of luxury and refinement.

Why Mazda decided to use a healthy chunk of its R&D budget on designing and building its own gearbox, when it could have bought a tried and tested unit from Aisin or ZF will forever be a mystery. It’s a niggle that permeates the entire driving experience and because the drivetrain isn’t silky smooth, it never fades into the background. Which can cause your mind to ask challenging questions like: “would this SUV actually be better if it had a fizzy four-cylinder turbo?”.

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That might sound like blasphemy but while Mazda’s new inline six cylinder engines are good and give the CX-60 and 90 a personality that’s muscular and barrel-chested, they fall short of being truly great. You only need to drive a Volvo XC90 to know how well a modern turbo four can work in a big premium SUV.

So the CX-90 hasn’t quite knocked it out of the park, has it? Objectively it has some issues but here’s the thing: I can totally understand someone wanting to buy one. And then being fiercely loyal of it.

Much of that comes down to its ability to get under your skin. You smile when you walk up to the CX-90 and because the interior is so elegantly designed, spacious and tightly screwed together, you relax when you slip into the comfy, leather-trimmed seats.

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I also reckon this near-top GT model grade is the one to go for. It’s superbly equipped and, at $85K before on-roads, it feels better value than the $8000 pricier flagship Azami. Just be sure to select a light interior trim colour. Dark seats can make the cabin feel overly somber.

Sales figures are the real arbiter of success, of course, and on that front Mazda’s shift upmarket is off to a slow start. Some green shoots are starting to appear but overall sales are down and Mazda has relinquished its longstanding spot as Australia’s #2 brand to Ford. Will it pay off in the long run? Just like our assessment, it seems the verdict is still out on that one.

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