What is the Mazda CX-90? Is it a threat to mainstream SUVs from Toyota and Chevrolet or luxury SUVs from BMW and Lexus? Why doesn’t Micah Muzio host as many KBB video reviews as he used to?
For answers to all these questions, and a demonstration of the deepest puddle you can safely drive through with coaching from a local, click play on Micah’s latest Kelley Blue Book video.
Micah puts the 2024 CX-90, Mazda’s all-new flagship, through its paces in non-stop rain.
A “3-row midsize SUV with premium aspirations,” as Micah calls it, the CX-90 will eventually replace the CX-9 at the top of the Mazda lineup. It’s handsome, with “elegant body surfaces, upscale proportions, and long, powerful hood,” Micah says.
Its interior borders on luxury-car-good, with some lovely color choices, too. But, he says, an infotainment screen controlled by a knob instead of a touchscreen surface, while easy to use, is “swimming upstream against the technological expectations of all of humanity.” Its tight third row is a “kid zone,” Micah says.
On the road, it’s a pleasure to drive. The brake pedal feels stiff, but that’s the kind of trait an owner gets used to quickly. The turbocharged inline 6-cylinder engine in the gas-only model provides pleasant power and sounds great. An available plug-in hybrid (PHEV) model loses only the sound.
In the end, Micah says, it’s hard to decide whether the CX-90 is “an elevated mainstream SUV or a value-priced premium SUV.” And that’s probably the point.
