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Jul 23, 2023

Mazda CX

Most Asian car-makers have been pushing upmarket in the past decade but Mazda’s luxury crusade is at its zenith with the all-new Mazda CX-90, a circa-$100,000 seven-seat family SUV packing a pair of

Most Asian car-makers have been pushing upmarket in the past decade but Mazda’s luxury crusade is at its zenith with the all-new Mazda CX-90, a circa-$100,000 seven-seat family SUV packing a pair of lusty new six-cylinder powerplants. Mazda has never had an SUV this big, this powerful or this expensive, but insists its loyal customers are ready to upgrade to something seriously fancy. The all-new CX-90 is the ultimate expression of the Japanese brand’s luxury push, but it’s not perfect and Mazda will have its work cut out luring buyers away from established European brands.

The 2023 Mazda CX-90 has big shoes to fill. The vehicle it will effectively replace, whether the company admits it or not, is the Mazda CX-9 seven-seat family SUV that was voted carsales Car of the Year in 2016.

The ageing CX-9 is still a sub-$50,000 proposition for base grades (before on-road costs), whereas the CX-90 kicks off at almost $74,000, representing a step up of $26,000.

The CX-9 will be axed by the end of 2023, leaving the CX-8 to soldier on as Mazda’s entry large SUV. There’s an all-new CX-80 coming too, destined to slot in underneath the CX-90.

For now, the CX-90 is pitched as being in an altogether higher class than either CX-8 or CX-9.

Three model grades and two new turbocharged six-cylinder engine options – G50e petrol and D50e diesel – feature at the CX-90’s launch in Australia, combining with a new eight-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel drive.

Opening the ledger is the CX-90 Touring priced at $73,800 plus on-road costs (for the petrol, diesel adds $2000), followed by the mid-spec CX-90 GT that starts at $84,555 for the petrol. Diesel adds just $245 on the GT, which is expected to account for the lion’s share of CX-90 sales in Australia.

At the top of family tree is the CX-90 Azami priced from $92,540 plus ORCs for the diesel, with the petrol $1115 higher at this level (from $93,655).

Some of those prices are slightly lower than first announced back in March, thanks to luxury car tax adjustments that kicked in on July 1.

Nonetheless, the $93,655 ‘ceiling’ – which equates to a drive-away price of more than $102,000 – makes the new CX-90 the most expensive mainstream Mazda car ever sold in Australia, eclipsed only by the limited-run, locally-tuned Mazda RX-7 SP rear-drive sports car, which sold for $101,600 when new in 1995.

We drove most model grades during the national launch event but got to know the CX-90 Azami petrol with the Takumi package ($6500) and Artisan Red metallic paint ($995) the best. It’s also in the video.

Those options take the as-tested price to $101,150 plus ORCs. According to the Mazda website, the drive-away price for this vehicle is just over $112,000 in Victoria. Yikes.

Rivals? Based on its size and six-cylinder engine type, you’re looking at vehicles like the BMW X7 and Mercedes-Benz GLS, both of which start at upwards of $170,000. But will German car buyers consider a Mazda? Time will tell, but probably not.

The Genesis GV80 and Lexus RX are both smaller than the CX-90 but have six-cylinder powerplants, while the Hyundai Palisade and Volvo XC90 are four-cylinder SUVs only.

The CX-90 is covered by a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, with service intervals set at 12 months or 15,000km for the petrol and 12 months/10,000km for the diesel.

Over the first five years, capped-price services are set at $437, $644, $558, $1268 and $453 respectively for G50e petrol models ($3360 total), while the D50e diesel will set owners back $478, $643, $975, $643 and $478 across the first handful of visits ($3217 total).

The 2023 Mazda CX-90 needs to justify its ‘most expensive Mazda SUV ever’ tag and in terms of standard equipment it hits the target. Mostly.

You can check out what each variant gets in our separate Mazda CX-90 news story, but the top-spec Azami model with the $6500 Takumi package is pretty swish.

It adds a pair of manual-adjust, heated and cooled captain’s chairs in the second row (replacing the three-seat bench), white Nappa leather upholstery across all three seat rows, white maple wood trim and unique Japanese Kakenui stitching across the uniquely textured cloth dashboard inserts.

The $6500 SP pack adds a different look with tan Nappa leather for the seats, dashboard, steering wheel and a pair of second-row captain’s seats.

But even without one of the luxury packs the CX-90 Azami is still a head-turner, with loads of headline-grabbing kit such as power-adjustable black Nappa leather front seats which are heated and cooled, a heated and power-adjustable steering wheel, twin 12.3-inch digital screens, three-zone climate control, a panoramic twin-pane glass roof, 12-speaker Bose stereo and ambient cabin lighting.

On the outside, the Azami models come with two-tone 21-inch alloy wheels, body-coloured wheel-arches, adaptive LED headlights, LED tail-lights and a smattering of chrome.

Eight colour options are available, with Sonic Silver, Jet Black, Deep Crystal Blue and Platinum Quartz no-cost options, but you’ll pay an extra $995 for Rhodium White, Machine Grey, Soul Red and Artisan Red.

Despite the generous equipment list there’s a few missing features offered by Asian rivals, such as massaging front seats, Matrix LED headlights, a fully functioning touch-screen and power-operated second-row captain’s chairs.

At the time of publication, the 2023 Mazda CX-90 hadn’t been tested by the independent Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP).

Given the CX-90 packs most of the features required for a solid ANCAP safety rating, expect to see a relatively high score, thanks in part to standard fitment across the range of 10 airbags covering all three seat rows and autonomous emergency braking (AEB) with cyclist and pedestrian detection.

There’s also blind spot monitoring with safe exit warning, active cruise control with traffic support, intelligent speed assist and traffic sign recognition, active lane keep assist, rear cross traffic alert and forward collision alert with junction assist.

New tech includes smart brake support with front crossing and intersection support that can now detect cyclists and pedestrians, pumping the brakes even if the driver doesn’t see them. The emergency lane keeping system also detects oncoming vehicles and will guide the car back into its lane as required.

All CX-90 models also come with parking sensors front and rear, a 360-degree camera (with see-through view on top-spec Azami models), tyre pressure monitoring and childproof rear door locks, while only GT and Azami models get adaptive LED headlights.

Two ISOFIX child seat anchorage points are provided in the second row and top tether points on all second- and third-row seats, whether it’s the six-seat or seven-seat layout.

The 2023 Mazda CX-90 has a suitably high-tech feel and is jam-packed with the car-maker’s latest technology, including an innovative driver personalisation system.

How does it work? You enter your height into the car’s infotainment system, it optimises the seating position for you, then uses iPhone-like facial recognition tech to remember all your preferences, including audio, ambient lighting, climate control and steering wheel and seat position settings.

It’s an effective system, adds a neat point of difference and once set the facial recognition is quite handy. Get in and away you go.

There’s a large and very clear head-up display showing speed limit, vehicle speed, cruise control speed and navigation directions, plus a pair of 12.3-inch digital screens in front of the driver and on the centre dash that look great but feel underutilised.

The digital driver’s display has precious few trip computer details and virtually no customisation. Sure, the digital dials turn red when you engage Sport mode but it’s piecemeal stuff and feels like an opportunity missed. Mazda could’ve added some extra visual sizzle here, something different or interesting.

The central 12.3-inch widescreen display features a rudimentary but intuitive operating system with average scope and depth. It’s controlled exclusively by a rotary dial but if you use wireless Android Auto or Apple CarPlay systems the touch-screen is enabled. Joy of joys!

Mazda’s tech boffins have listened. Annoyingly though, the touch-screen input is disabled when you plug your phone into the USB-C ports.

It boggles the mind why Mazda doesn’t offer touch-screen across all user interface systems, allowing front seat occupants to choose how they navigate. But it’s better than nothing, and all models get a large wireless phone charger.

The most complex and expensive elements of the 2023 Mazda CX-90 are the all-new 3.3-litre turbocharged inline six-cylinder engines.

Mazda believes there’s still demand for good old-fashioned petrol and diesel engines, and in the CX-90’s case the choice is between the D50e diesel and G50e petrol. Mazda says the petrol is expected to account for 60 per cent of sales in Australia.

Output for the diesel is 187kW at 3750rpm and 550Nm from 1500-2400rpm. The petrol has more power but less torque: 254kW at 5000-6000rpm and 500Nm from 2000-4500rpm.

Both engines combine with a new eight-speed automatic transmission that swaps out a torque converter for a wet-clutch arrangement.

Because of the CX-90’s American-centric development, the petrol engine features more robust cooling systems and can tow 2500kg (braked) versus the diesel’s 2000kg, despite the latter having more torque.

Based on Mazda’s new Large Product platform architecture (which also underpins the Mazda CX-60 and its stretched cousin, the upcoming CX-80), the CX-90’s new i-Activ four-wheel drive system favours the rear wheels, aimed at improving its driving dynamics.

The claimed combined-cycle fuel consumption for the 2023 Mazda CX-90 is 8.2L/100km with the G50e petrol engine and an eye-opening 5.4L/100km for the D50e diesel.

Most of our (very enthusiastic) driving was on open country roads around the Hunter Valley, with only a few small towns seeing speeds drop below 80km/h.

For what it’s worth, we achieved 10.4L/100km in the petrol CX-90 and 7.6L/100km in the diesel.

Both models have a 74-litre fuel tank and, according to RedBook data, the diesel CX-90 could theoretically cover almost 1400km from a tank, the petrol 1000km.

They both tick over at about 1500rpm in eighth gear at 100km/h on the freeway, which is when they’re at their most efficient. Both feature a 48-volt mild-hybrid system designed to reduce fuel consumption, allowing the engine to ‘coast’ when cruising, effectively turning the combustion engine off.

They also come with an ‘i-stop’ or engine start/stop feature that uses the 48V mild-hybrid system’s integrated starter-generator to smoothly and promptly bring the engine back to life after an extended wait at a T-intersection, for example.

The 2023 Mazda CX-90 offers a commanding view of the road, reasonably good sight lines out its windows and is a doddle to drive with its automatic transmission and direct steering.

Everything is smooth and responsive and this imparts a convincingly upmarket feel, enhanced by the lusty six-cylinder engines.

But it doesn’t have the plush ride quality you might expect of a Lexus-rivalling luxury SUV, and following an earlier drive of a CX-90 prototype, we’ve found the production version follows a similar path to the smaller new CX-60 – if less acutely.

The CX-90 has a firm suspension tune, there’s no doubt about that, and it’s something Mazda makes no apologies for. The Japanese brand’s objective was to create a sporty seven-seat family SUV and, well, that’s what it’s delivered.

The good news is the CX-90 can be satisfying to drive in a spirited manner.

It generates loads of grip from its big 21-inch wheel-and-tyre package, the suitably wide 275/45R21 tyres biting into the road surface with impressive resolve and the double-wishbone front and multi-link rear suspension maintaining pretty good body control, so you can carve your way through corners with confidence.

The rear-biased AWD system helps rotate the vehicle into corners better than a front-drive SUV and there’s a sense of glee that creeps in when turning up the tempo in the CX-90.

But the large SUV’s sporty persona comes at a cost – ride comfort.

Over smaller, sharper, repeated cracks and baby potholes and ragged road surfaces – especially at lower speeds – the CX-90 feels fidgety and sometimes jittery, with the hits occasionally reverberating through the vehicle’s body. It’s almost as though the tyres are over-inflated.

These traits fade slightly in the entry-level CX-90 Touring models, which are equipped with smaller-diameter 19-inch alloy wheels with taller, more absorbent tyre sidewalls (265/55R19). But it doesn’t completely eradicate the firmness and skittishness on choppy surfaces.

I can see what the Japanese brand is aiming for here and it’s admirable. But we know from the CX-90’s rivals that driving dynamics and ride comfort aren’t mutually exclusive.

Why a vehicle of this size, price and predisposition doesn’t have adaptive dampers is perplexing, because they would allow the CX-90 to switch between ‘softer’ and ‘stiffer’ damping tunes in an instant.

Instead, the shock absorbers struggle to smooth out road ructions with any finesse… unless you’re really having a crack.

Indeed, at higher speeds the suspension becomes more compliant and the Mazda isn’t overly flummoxed by mid-corner stipples and ripples. But unless you drive the CX-90 everywhere at warp speed you’re going to be intimately familiar with all the pockmarks on your local roadways.

We asked one of Mazda’s senior engineers and the CX-90 vehicle manager, Mitsuru Wakiie, whether suspension updates (and adaptive dampers) could be made to the CX-90. He said if customer complaints were persistent, recalibrations of the current suspension system could be undertaken “quickly” but cautioned that all-new dampers or suspension hardware would be “difficult” and take more time.

There was no suburban driving involved during the CX-90 launch, so we’ll reserve judgement (again) for its around-town abilities. But for what it’s worth, the 10.8m turning circle is pretty good for a big 5120mm-long SUV.

Where Mazda nails the luxury vehicle brief is in the powertrain department, the turbo-petrol 3.3-litre G50e donk a real delight. Like most inline six-cylinder engines it’s a sonorous, smooth and sophisticated number.

The SUV’s bulk is apparent at lower speeds as the engine works to get that 2.2-tonne mass moving (the 6.9sec 0-100km/h claim seems optimistic), but the CX-90 never feels doughy or slow. At higher revs it’s an absolute pearler, humming along beautifully and eagerly overtaking.

Hopping into a CX-90 GT model with the diesel D50e engine reveals a more muscular powerplant with better low-end torque and more drive from standstill. I prefer the diesel to the petrol engine in most respects – it even sounds a bit gruntier and revs almost as eagerly, which makes manually blasting through gears with the steering wheel paddle shifters way more entertaining than anticipated.

Speaking of the gearbox, Mazda’s new eight-speed automatic cog-swapper has pros and cons. The good bits? It’s a relatively quick-shifting unit and generally chooses the right gear for the job at hand.

The not-so-good bits? We noticed the odd thunk and clunk when dropping the hammer on a couple of occasions, full acceleration bamboozling the gearbox’s brain momentarily. There was also a little shunting during one roundabout approach, deceleration followed by acceleration confusing the transmission.

There are three drive modes available on all 2023 Mazda CX-90 models – Normal, Sport and Off-Road – while a fourth mode, Towing, is added when Mazda’s genuine towing kit is added.

The CX-90 also features a hill descent control system, but if you’re rolling on the 21-inch tyres anything beyond an ungraded gravel road might prove problematic.

Mazda has done a tip-top job with the 2023 Mazda CX-90, crafting a high-end cabin that’s spacious, airy and very luxurious.

All the touchy-feely bits are lavish, and the plush leather upholstery on the seats, steering wheel, door inserts, dashboard and beautifully ergonomic gear shifter heighten the experience, as do the twin 12.3-inch digital screens and neatly integrated air vents.

Does it feel like a $100,000 vehicle? Yes and no.

There’s certainly more of a Lexus vibe than, say, Nissan, the heated, cooled and power-operated front seats are wide and welcoming, the power-operated steering wheel and sunroof are lovely and all the concealed storage lids are smoothly damped and pleasant to operate.

The overall cabin design is rather classy, while build quality and fit and finish feels very good.

The $6500 Takumi package for top-spec CX-90 Azami models adds white maple woodgrain accents on the doors and centre console, not to mention a lovely stitched cloth finish on the central dash. Overall, it adds a level of polish and detail that will raise eyebrows.

But lesser models, like the GT and Touring, have fewer cabin highlights and average plastic finishes, their fake metallic and faux wood accents looking and feeling cheap.

The second-row seats offer ample room for adult passengers, a third climate zone, twin USB-C ports and window shades, while top-spec Azami versions with the Takumi or SP packs delete the three-seat bench and add twin adjustable, heated and cooled captain’s chairs, along with extra storage and spring-loaded cup holders. And they’re pretty special, I won’t lie.

Folding and sliding the manually operated second-row seats grants access to twin third-row seats, which are tight on foot space but generous for headroom and shoulder-room. USB-C ports, air vents and cup holders are also located in the third-row seats, making this a genuine six- or seven-seat hauler.

The power-operated tailgate features a hands-free, kick-to-open feature that I just couldn’t master, but boot space is excellent. Even with all three seating rows in place, the 257 litres of cargo space isn’t that different to what a Toyota Corolla hatchback offers, which is enough room for a couple of mid-sized suitcases or mega grocery shop.

Flip the rearmost seats and you open up 608 litres (including underfloor storage), which is enough for a short camping trip or a couple of weeks away with the family – lots of suitcases.

Fold all seats (even the captain’s chairs fold flat) and you get 2025 litres of space, enough room for a six-foot adult human to stretch out and sleep in. Trust me, I tried it. Dad life makes you tired.

The boot also features a 220V household-style power point and a circular 12-volt socket. A temporary spare wheel is fitted, not a full-sizer.

Mazda dealers will be stoked to have this six-figure luxury SUV taking pride of place in their showrooms, where all other models sharing the floorspace will be bathed in its extravagant glow.

The new 2023 Mazda CX-90 is generously equipped, with a finely finished interior and a pair of stirring six-cylinder powerplants. It’s an impressive vehicle and will make owners feel special.

That said, the ride comfort is substandard, there’s a couple of annoying cabin quirks and the price tag will make even the most loyal Mazda buyer flinch.

But these aren’t deal-breaking issues, and with a few tweaks here and recalibrations there, the CX-90 has the potential to become a very competitive entrant in the luxury family SUV class.

2023 Mazda CX-90 Azami G50e at a glance:Price: $93,655 (plus on-road costs)Available: NowPowertrain: 3.3-litre six-cylinder turbo-petrolOutput: 254kW/500NmTransmission: Eight-speed automaticFuel: 8.2L/100km (ADR Combined)CO2: 189g/km (ADR Combined)Safety rating: Not tested

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