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2025 Mazda CX-70.

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While it pains me to say this, to me, this new Mazda CX-70 is another Mazda disappointment.

As expected, it doesn’t look like the car under the cover in the teaser Mazda published a while ago. A shorter CX-90 wouldn’t be that bad if the larger model was the best-looking SUV around. The CX-90 looks fine except for the ghastly and old-looking front end. It seems Mazda has not improved the front design, but actually made it worse.

But wait! While you would think Mazda made the 5-seater version shorter, they didn’t! The CX-70 and CX-90 share the same length and wheelbase. This is a basically just “3rd row delete” option on the CX-90, and not a new model. Deleting the 3rd row and calling it a new model is the cheapest thing I’ve seen in years. Even smaller car companies like Subaru and others never thought of that…

I guess the new model will marketed as the sporty option, and they took the chrome away. And they added horrible fake black plastic vents into the bumpers, something that never, ever looks good or premium. I remember criticizing Honda about the Passport a few years ago, which was mostly a shorter Pilot. But at least, they gave it different front and rear ends. And it is indeed shorter than the Pilot. This isn’t even trying to be its own model. I also noticed all official photos show a super shiny black car, which of course, tries to mask some of the non-descript design. The interior is exactly the same as the CX-90 (minus the 2nd row of course), and Mazda is just showing it in the black/red combo since we all know “red” means sporty.

So far, I’ve read pretty good reviews about the 6-cylinder version of the new Mazda CX-90. But nothing really positive about the 2.5 Liter Hybrid. The PHEV is also a $7000 premium over the similarly equipped 6-cylinder, which just doesn’t make any sense for anyone.

The 2-row mid-size SUV will grow with a few new models this year, which is a bit surprising. There will be an all-new 2025 Honda Passport, based on the new Honda Pilot. Nissan is getting an all-new Nissan Murano ready as well. We have already seen the new Toyota Crown Signia, which is just very nice inside and out, and has a standard Hybrid powertrain with a 36MPG average. At the same time, we will finally say goodbye to the Ford Edge, with an end-of-production scheduled for April.

I think life could be a hard one for the new Mazda CX-70. That face alone makes it look 10 years old already. The interior is of course very nice. But I think Nissan could be coming up with something really modern too. I saw the Crown Signia in person a few months ago and was very impressed. It also looks much more modern and current than the Mazda.

Conversation 7 comments

  1. If they were going to do that, they should have just certified and imported the CX-70 from Japan and Europe (which has smaller dimensions) and called it a day. But maybe they’re planning to do that essentially with the CX-5 in the next model redux. Ive seen the CX-90 in the wild, and I can say it didn’t do much for me.

  5. This is such a bizarre decision that I almost wonder if it was not the original plan. Why on earth not release it at the same time as the 90 if it is the same vehicle with a missing seat? The expectation from most was that it was going to be similar to the larger one, though a bit shorter and possibly some other changes, but THIS?! The reaction I’ve seen across multiple automotive sites is near universal surprise and disappointment. A lot of Mazda people had been waiting for the reveal to possibly move into something larger from their CX-5s, and this is not cutting it. At all. It’s TOO BIG.

    I’m happy with my CX-5 and was behind a 90 the other day, noticing how much I don’t like the design. The rear is especially unattractive and no amount of black trim is going to make it appear more sporty. I don’t know what is going on with the decision makers at Mazda, but they’ve really lost the plot from the great stuff they were turning out 5-10 years ago.

  6. Is Mazda trolling us? Something must have happened for them to bring out this disappointment. It was never supposed to be just a 3rd row delete CX-90. What were they thinking?? They were better off keeping it as an empty promise like the Skyactive-D engine.

  7. And I was worried they were just going to bring the CX-60 here and call it the CX-70. Now I really wish they would have done exactly that. If I wanted this large of an SUV, I would just buy the CX-90 and keep the seat folded. Not since the Mazda MX-30, has Mazda missed on a vehicle execution this bad. Glad there’s other smaller options out there from it’s competition.

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