Mazda today unveiled an all-new 3-row crossover with a description common to many performance-oriented luxury SUVs, and a suspension trick borrowed from a tiny sports car renowned for its handling.
The Japanese automaker calls the 2024 Mazda CX-90 its “new flagship vehicle.” Mazda hasn’t revealed pricing, so we don’t know whether that means it will carry a higher price tag than the company’s largest product today, the CX-9, which starts at $38,750.
It will eventually take the place of the CX-9 in the Mazda lineup, but Mazda hasn’t put a date on when the 9 will disappear.
More Sophisticated Proportions
The CX-90 leans away from the curvy look of most of Mazda’s current SUV lineup. Behind the familiar Mazda shield grille, it wears a similar wide, flat hood to the CX-50. In this size, the treatment has more intimidating presence than Mazda’s normally playful designs. The rear proportions are slightly taller and boxier than most recent Mazda designs as well — just a kinked window away from pulling off a believable BMW impression.
Designers have used brightwork to suggest a more sophisticated design than Mazdas traditionally wear. Chrome accent badges behind the front fenders identify which of two powertrains hide under the hood. That’s another detail we’d expect on a German luxury car more than an affordable Japanese family ride.
The early models shown to the press have all warn a black-inflected deep garnet color that Mazda calls Artisan Red, darker than the bright, jewel-like red the company uses in advertisements for its other vehicles.
Bright, Expansive Cabin
Inside, the theme of sophistication continues with careful material choices. Tone-on-tone oatmeal-colored dashboard fabrics are nicely set off by hanging stiches — “specifically inspired by hand-bookbinding and an intricate Japanese weaving technique known as Kumihimo,” Mazda says. It’s a small detail, but one we’ve never seen on another car. It helps lend an air of elegance.
Light woods and Nappa leather — a softer grade of tanning usually found in the luxury classes — also contribute to the sense of a near-luxury car.
The display model shown to the press featured a set of captain’s chairs in the second row. But Mazda says the CX-90 is available with “seating for up to eight passengers,” suggesting that there will be a second-row bench seat option as well.
The center display is 12.3-inches. It is “accompanied by physical buttons that complement the interior styling,” Mazda notes. We always appreciate buttons that save the driver from paging through laborious menus to change climate and entertainment settings.
Two Powertrains: Plug-in Hybrid or Inline-6
The CX-90 will be available with a choice of powertrain choices, each of which suggest Mazda is aiming for a high-performance image with its largest vehicle.
One uses a 3.3-liter inline 6-cylinder turbocharged engine – a type of engine more historically associated with German sport sedans than mainstream crossovers. It produces 340 horsepower, making it the most powerful current Mazda product. A mild-hybrid system helps provide an immediate boost of acceleration but should do little to affect fuel economy.
Like all Mazda’s SUVs, it offers all-wheel drive. But Mazda says the 6-cylinder engine biases power toward the rear wheels.
The other option is a plug-in hybrid powertrain that, Mazda says, is tuned as much for performance as for fuel economy. It combines Mazda’s familiar 2.5-liter 4-cylinder engine with an electric motor tied to a 17.8 kilowatt-hour battery. The system is good for 323 horsepower. It “is designed to operate purely on the electric motor in a variety of driving scenarios,” Mazda says. But the company doesn’t specify how far it can travel on electric power alone.
Both units send their power through an 8-speed automatic transmission.
But Mazda vehicles are known more for handling in the corners than for straight-line speed. To dance through the turns, engineers have borrowed the Kinematic Posture Control (KPC) system first seen in the MX-5 Miata. It “suppresses body lift on tight corners to enhance the grip and allows all occupants to maintain a natural posture,” Mazda says. KPC does this by braking each wheel individually to point the CX-90 into corners with minimal body roll.
A Gamble, With Price Still an Unknown
Mazda has spent weeks slow-jamming the introduction of the CX-90. They released a series of YouTube videos hosted by actor Hiroyuki Sanada, who interviews engineers and designers as artisans hand-built a CX-90 to show off its craftsmanship.
Yet, now that it’s here, we still have many questions. Mazda released fewer details about the car than we’re accustomed to seeing from an automaker. We still don’t know what trim levels will be offered, how many all-electric miles buyers can expect from the PHEV version, and other critical details.
Most importantly, we don’t know price. The CX-90 looks more upscale than other Mazda SUVs, and has the bones of a performance car. Its front-engine, rear-wheel-bias longitudinal layout is something we’d expect from a European luxury brand. And KPC could be an ace card shrinking a full-size SUV to handle like a smaller vehicle.
But will this be priced like a high-performance rival to mainstream 3-row SUVs like the Kia Telluride and all-new Honda Pilot? Or is Mazda challenging the luxury automakers on their home turf in the $50,000-and-up range? Without that card, it’s hard to know whether the CX-90 will make sense for many buyers.
We’ll bring pricing details when we have them.
