﻿Mazda's push up market continues and this is the ultimate expression
of that strategy. It's the Mazda CX-90 SUV and it's Mazda's most powerful and
most expensive model ever. We're here at the Lang Lang Proving Ground for an early taste
with this left-hand drive prototype. So, let's take a closer look at the details.
The CX-90 now sits a top the Mazda range, above the soon-to-be discontinued CX9. A
number of grades will be available, starting from around $75,000 plus on road costs,
whereas the car you see here is representative of the flagship Azami, which will be around $100,000
on road. Two engines are available, both 3.3 liter turbocharged straight 6s, one diesel,
and one petrol. This prototype is fitted with the petrol, which produces 254 kilowatts and
500 Newton meters, resulting in 0 to 100 Ks an hour, in 6.9 seconds. While this combination
might not sound particularly fuel efficient, Mazda claims combined consumption is just 8.2 liters per
100 K. It's attached to a new 8-speed automatic gearbox and rear biased all-wheel drive system.
One thing that pictures don't necessarily convey is just how big the CX-90 is. At 5.1 meters long
and 2 meters wide, this is an enormous car. Up there with the likes of the BMW X7 and
Mercedes-Benz GLS. So let's see how these vast dimensions translate on the inside. So,
this is where the CX-90 really needs to impress and justify that $100,000 price tag, in the cabin,
and in general it does a pretty good job. We've got some nice soft touch materials,
this interesting caramel suede like Alcantara, some different surfaces,
this steering wheel looks like it's straight out of a Bentley. We've got big digital instrument
display and a large infotainment screen. Though this infotainment does look a little bit lo-res.
This test car also features the $5,000 SP package, only available on the flagship
Azami. This includes the tan interior trim, 2-tone steering wheel, and suede dashboard,
as well as turning the CX-90 into a 6-seater, thanks to the center row captain's chairs.
The Azami can be had as a 7, or as this car is, a 6-seater, with these captain's chairs that slide
back and forth, they recline, they're heated and ventilated. We've got separate temperature
controls. Pair of USB-C ports in this center console with plenty of storage space. Only thing
is that some of the materials down here, a little bit cheap at this price point. Here in the third
row, the CX-90 puts its size to good use. I'm a little bit short of foot room if, I'm honest,
but plenty of head room, plenty of shoulder room. Even as 180 centimeter adult, I'm actually pretty
comfortable back here. I've got USB-C ports either side, couple of cup holders, and there's ISOFIX
points on on the passenger side, so presumably they'll be on this side for Australian cars.
Again, here we have one of the advantages of the CX-90's size, with a proper boot, even with all
three rows in place, and if we drop them, piece of cake, that is a mammoth space. There's also a
bit more storage under here and we've got a proper 230-volt outlet and another 12-volt outlet here.
Okay, so our time with the CX-90 is brief, we've got a few laps of the ride and handling course
here at Lang Lang, to get an initial first taste of what Mazda's new flagship is like.
But thankfully this ride and handling course should provide everything we need to know.
Feels like quite a big car, but the ride is, in general, pretty good. It's... being a Mazda,
they always tend to err on the firmer side of things, to make sure we've got a
decent dynamic, some decent handling. Again, it's clearly a big car, it's clearly a heavy car,
but feels well controlled. Again the ride is maybe slightly on the firmer side.
Floats over bumps pretty well, we've got a couple of train tracks here.
Reasonable control, we get a little bit of shimmy back through the steering,
little bit of sort of bump steer. It's not terrible. Certainly it's quite composed through
these longer turns. Let's up the pace a little bit. Still remains flat, still remains neutral.
Seems pretty good so far. Steering is very direct,
quite a lot of weight to it, but not in a... not a sort of laden sense. In terms of your day-to-day
comfort, you'll feel the road beneath you, feel some lumps and bumps in the road, but it's in
general pretty comfortable. Let's test out this engine, and this 3.3 liter straight 6 turbo.
Yeah, it's just... certainly got some punch. Obviously the most powerful Mazda ever headlined
is a little bit misleading, because yeah, okay, it's got the most power and torque of any Mazda,
but it's also weighs a hell of a lot too, if you compare it to a RX-7, which is next in line,
it's a very different kettle of fish, but... sounds pretty good. Little bit synthetic, but...
yeah, this thing holds, this thing holds.
Gearbox feels very slick too. So this is Mazda's own automatic and it's an automatic
with a clutch-type arrangement, similar to sort of AMGs MCT. It's not a dual clutch box,
but sort of picked up that I'm driving in an enthusiastic manner, so it's holding gears
longer. Very slick in its shifts up and down the box, and they happen pretty much imperceptibly,
which is quite impressive. Yeah, okay, dynamically the only real thing I can pick up, that's
a problem, is that when we are hitting some of these bumps mid-corner we're just getting a bit of
shimmy through the steering. And again, it's not a huge problem, in what is essentially a family SUV,
not too many a gonna be driven in an enthusiastic manner. But Mazda is also keen to point out that
this is a, you know, driver-focused car, so, you'd hope that those things would be resolved.
So, obviously this is a very brief and very limited taste of the CX-90.
We'll have to wait for a proper drive, on proper roads, in a proper right-hand drive car,
for the full verdict. But it's at least given us a taste of Mazda's new flagship,
it's new hero product, and there's plenty to like. It feels like a Mazda. It feels like
a slightly sporting family car. Dynamically it feels quite polished. This new engine is good. The
new gearbox feels very good, underway at least. We'll see what it's like in stop-start traffic,
at a later date. So, I guess now all that's left is to stay tuned for the full review.