arentz07

Hello again, it's your... sun-tanned rental review author Alex here with another rental impressions post. This vehicle was actually not something I particularly wanted to review, as my wife and I booked a "3-series or similar" for our trip to Panama City Beach, FL. As in the well-known Seinfeld episode, the reservation meant nothing. We were stuck with the choice of a GMC Terrain, a Ram 1500, or a Mazda CX-90. At first, I was unsure what to do, but then, my brain remembered that the CX-90 has an inline-six turbo engine. So, of course, I had to choose it.



Before continuing, this is all I have for photos, so I apologize for that. I recognize PCB provides a lot of good photo opportunities, but most of those were used on my family and me, not the car! Hopefully you understand that. Anyway, let's press on to the interior.

Interior and first impressions

The "premium" mission of current Mazda seems to be on display here in the CX-90. Ours seemed to be the Premium trim, featuring 21-inch wheels and black leather with contrasting dark-orange stitching on the inside. The dashboard is more squishy than it is in my IS back home, and the armrest in the center is softer than in our X3. While I wouldn't say the feel of the buttons and switchgear in the front of the cabin is luxury-car quality, it certainly seems well-made. The drive mode selector toggle has a satisfying "click" when used, and most controls have a sense of positive engagement.



The aluminum-style trim throughout the cabin is much preferred to some faux wood veneers or imitation carbon fiber, and it adds a sporty flair to the interior when combined with the contrasting stitching. Seats are so comfortable that I almost forgot to write about them. The seating position is spot-on, as I can get quite low in the car without sacrificing visibility. I'd say these seats feel like those in a sport sedan, providing fairly good support without being racy; in fact, the cushioning was quite soft. Finally, the sense of roominess is great, while also not feeling like I am swimming in the interior. My wife and I can share the armrest in the center without touching elbows, but it's not a far reach if I need to get the glovebox opened for some emergency Starburst, either.



Zoom-zooming impressions

The thing that excited me about this car was driving a mainstream-ish family SUV in the year 2024 with a NEW turbo inline-six engine. That is something that still boggles my mind. So, how about it? Well, setting off, the first thing I notice is that this car likes to get moving from a stop quite quickly. It feels similar to a dual-clutch off the line. I suspect that's the combination of the mild hybrid system with the wet-clutch automatic transmission. That's right, reader - there's no torque converter. It is much like what Mercedes have done in a number of their AMG products for some years, in concept. So, anyway, that's probably one of the biggest downsides of driving this car. The transmission is one of the most unrefined of its kind I've experienced. It can be a bit lurchy in stop-and-go traffic, and the shifts in normal, light acceleration are not smooth for the most part. When I am rushing the car a bit more, they smooth out, but they are still very much perceptible at all times. For Mazda to go out of their way to develop a new transmission, I was expecting 2020's refinement. That said, the mechanical-like engagement of the transmission makes it feel more direct than a typical torque converter, which makes pressing the gas pedal feel a bit more responsive. Response was hardly the issue with this transmission, as, no matter what drive mode I was in, it seemed to quickly figure out the right gear to select. So, props on that part, if nothing else.



The ride quality is also quite firm. Impacts are harsh, with a fair bit of noise and vibration coming into the cabin. This stiff ride, combined with the hefty, yet feel-rich steering, betray a pretense of sportiness for this three-row. When I am not avoiding potholes, the CX-90's relatively tight body control makes it kind of fun to drive around. It feels heavy but poised. There is some lean side-to-side, but it's well-controlled. If anything, the amount of pitch and dive under acceleration and braking could be a bit better, but, who am I kidding? This is a big boat of a car - thankfully, the feel behind the wheel makes that easy to forget.



Lastly, as far as the driving goes, I'll briefly touch on the engine. It's possibly one of the best things about driving this car. It's smooth, sounds decent, and has a lot of low-end grunt. Flooring it from a dead stop doesn't feel particularly dramatic, but this isn't an X5 M. It's a base-engine CX-90. For that, you get a responsive, smooth engine that pairs well, as much as it sounds weird to say, with the odd transmission.

Infotainment

I am making a separate section for the infotainment system just because I think it merits its own discussion. Why? Well, in theory, this seems like it could be a great system to use. The BMW-iDrive-style **** suggests iDrive-like interaction, but this is hampered by the sluggish responses of the system. Inputting a navigation destination is tedious because every keyboard selection is met with about a second of lag. I tried voice recognition, and, despite my somewhat generic American accent, it couldn't understand anything I asked. I was just trying to navigate back to our hotel, which was a Hotel Indigo, and it couldn't even understand the name "Hotel Indigo". Come on, Mazda. And, changing the FM radio station also took my wife and I over a minute to figure out, perhaps two minutes. See, when you select FM radio as your audio source, a screen shows up with the radio station frequency in the top-left corner but is otherwise mostly blank. You'd think you could just rotate the scroll wheel to change stations, but no, that will only cycle through favorites. This car had no favorites saved, probably because none of the dads on vacation who rented this before me wanted to fool with learning how to do it. Anyway, what you actually have to do to change the station is click the button down to summon the menu (which, to be fair, is indicated on the far-left side of the screen), and then you can bring up a station list, which is the fifth option down the list that is displayed. The problem with this is that I wouldn't typically think I'd need to open a menu. I'm already where I want to be - playing FM radio. Just let me tune it! There's no tuning ****, either. This is a really strange setup, almost as if Mazda is actively encouraging us to get out of the stone age and simply use our phones for audio. As a rental car, though, I don't like pairing my phone up. Alas. Maybe I need to get over that and stop expecting decent radio controls in cars.

Otherwise, the infotainment isn't terrible. As mentioned, it's laggy, but the navigation seems pretty much identical to what is in my Lexus, including the voice of the spoken directions. The screen looks crisp, and most other things I did in the car were intuitive, though, that was a short list of things. Actually, nothing. I only ever navigated and changed radio stations. And those things weren't the best. So, maybe I'd learn the system if I owned it, but it shouldn't be a struggle to do basic activities.

Conclusion

The CX-90 seems like a car that was tuned by driving enthusiasts rather than folks who actually have to deal with family-SUV problems. Trying to have your kids sleep while the transmission clunks away, trying to tune the radio while you're on a road trip with unfamiliar radio stations while driving, and even having to listen to the blaring chime to tell me to put the seatbelt on every time I hop in the car are just little annoyances modern cars don't need to have. Having said that, it is surprisingly fun to drive this thing. Though it could be a little frustrating to live with, the CX-90 totally gets the job done as a classy family hauler and isn't a snooze behind the wheel.

That's about it. Do any of you have one of these? If so, I'd love to know how it has treated you in the real world.

Random photo of the bay near our hotel, for fun:

Allen K

iTrader: (4)

Thanks for sharing! One of my neighbors has the PHEV one and she likes it.

Disappointed to hear about the infotainment issues. In my wife's CX-5, that was also the weak spot for the car. It was pre-refresh so tiny screen and no Android Auto or CarPlay support. Did you stick with the stock infotainment or use AA or CarPlay?

arentz07

We just stuck with the infotainment, as we typically do in rentals. This experience has changed my view on that though. It's probably worth it to set up AA if only to have a consistent experience!

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

no review is complete without mentioning "emergency Starburst"

nice write-up as always, thanks.

i think mazda vehicles, outside the miata/mx-5, are basically cheaper imitation bmws and just not as good.

their appeal overall is pretty limited i think with buyers going one way (rav4, rogue, outback/forester, etc) or the other way (x5, glc/gle, etc).

i know this one's a 3 row and from what i've read, the 3rd row is not roomy, so it's kind of a funky vehicle.

arentz07

That is true. The third row looked pretty tight, though I guess it could work in a pinch. We left the rear seats down most of the time just to have better visibility out of the rear glass.

timmy0tool

iTrader: (7)

i've heard of ride harshness on other reviews as well, so it's consistent here. it's a difficult balance to get a good handling car that rides well w/o having to resort to adaptive suspension = more $.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

yes, my cheaper santa fe was not a handler but sure was comfortable. i'm good with that compromise at that price point.

if you wanna be a performer, you're gonna have to put in more sophisticated parts.

SW17LS

This was pretty much my experience with the vehicle. Too firm and taut to be a family hauler my wife would want and for trips. If you are forced to drive a 3 row vehicle and you like taut BMWs etc. you'll like it.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

the days of 'taut' mainstream bmw's are over. they're comfortable (and still capable) - thank more advanced engineering and adaptive dampers on most models?