The Mazda CX-90 is a three-row SUV that features a turbocharged inline six-cylinder engine as its reason for being. Most manufacturers use a V6 or even more cases a turbocharged four-cylinder, but not Mazda. This engine in most of the CX-90 trims comes in at 280 horsepower, with higher trims boasting 340 horsepower. It's hooked up to an 8-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel drive is standard.

The EPA estimates that this powertrain will return 25 miles per gallon overall, but we'll have to see how it pans out in our own fuel economy testing. The good thing about the CX-90 is its super easy to fold down the third row seats - just pull the strap here and Push It Forward, then repeat on the other side. You get a nice flat cargo area, which is perfect for hauling stuff.

However, when you're hauling people, especially kids, there's not a ton of room back there. It's most suited for smaller adults. The second row has some nice things like window shades to cool things down, USB ports, and a climate system that's really nice to have at this price. The seat back has decent bolstering, good thigh support, but very little foot space and headroom.

The CX-90 has pretty decent levels of fit and finish, with soft upper and mid Dash silvery aluminum-looking weave for the center console. A leather-wrapped steering wheel feels really good to the hands. Talking to my co-workers about our test cars, there's a consensus that the leather seat is a little bit firm and short on cushion support after a full day's drive.

One issue we need to talk about is the controls in some ways - they're pretty decent, but also a bit weird. The steering wheel controls are super easy on the right side, with cruise control and audio hard buttons that don't require looking at the wheel. However, when you move to the center console area, the shifter is a real puzzle. You have to press in this little button, move the whole shifter to the right, and then come down to drive. And if you want to put it back in park, you've got to do a combination of button pushing, tilting, and twisting the rotary dial - it's always seemed like I'm twisting it the wrong way.

We're really pleased to see temperature switches, but when you think about making it hotter, the red arrow pointing up might lead you to think that's what you need to toggle up to do. In fact, that doesn't work at all - you have to both toggle down these temperature controls to adjust the temperature correctly. Even though your mind might think that the arrow is pointing up means you should press it that way, it actually requires pressing it down to change the temperature.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enI'm Mike Quincy and I'm here at the consumer reports Automotive test center and this is the early review of the 2024 Mazda cx-90 we bought a mid-level preferred plus model for our test program we added a digital rear view mirror in gray metallic paint and with destination it came to 48 670 this is Mazda's top of the line SUV and the big news is that it comes standard with a 3.3 liter turbocharged inline six-cylinder engine the reason that's a big deal is most manufacturers use a V6 or in even more cases a turbocharged four-cylinder this engine in most of the cx-90 trims comes in a 280 horsepower the higher trims have 340 horsepower they're all hooked up to an 8-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel drive is standard the EPA estimates this powertrain will return 25 miles per gallon overall we're certainly looking to see how it pans out in consumer reports own fuel economy testing so three row SUV probably hauling people maybe hauling kids but you're also hauling stuff and the good thing about the cx90 is it's super easy to fold down the third row seats you just pull the strap here Push It Forward the strap here Push It Forward you have a nice flat cargo area so if you need to utilize the Third Road put people back there to access it is a little bit of a process you have to pull up this button on top of the second row seat back and then push the whole thing forward once you get your folks settled in back there you want to return the second row seat back which requires a little bit of muscle because they're all pretty heavy like many three row SUVs there's not a ton of room back there it's most suited for kids adults will find very little foot space and Headroom so when you think three-year-row SUVs you're going to think what are the family friendly features that you're looking for and the cx90 has a lot of them the second row has some nice things like like a window shade you want to cool things down there's also USB ports there's a second row climate system which is really nice feature to have at this price the seat back has pretty good bolstering there's decent thigh support very good foot space and Headroom so the cx90 has pretty decent levels of fit and finish again keeping in mind this is about a mid-level model it's a pretty nice soft upper and mid Dash silvery aluminum looking weave for the for the center console and a really nice leather wrapped steering wheel feels really good to the hands as is the case of all of our test cars a number of us drive these it's not just one person deciding how the seat feels talking to my co-workers the consensus is the the Mazda cx-90s leather seat is a little bit firm a little bit short on cushion support after a full day's Drive I felt pretty comfortable pretty refreshed but then there is this little issue that we need to talk about and that's the controls in some ways they're pretty decent pretty straightforward for example the steering wheel controls are super easy on the right side you've got cruise control on the left side is audio they're hard buttons you can do all of this stuff without looking at the wheel but then we moved to the center console area here and the first thing that you notice obviously when you're driving this car is this shifter you have to press in this little button move the whole shifter to the right and then come down to drive Mazda for whatever reason wants you to do this little dog leg to the left to put it back in to park and this is strange because there's so much real real estate right here for the shifter it seems odd to me that Mazda is is making this area so compact so unlike most manufacturers that use a touch screen for the infotainment system Mazda keeps pushing their rotary dial thing and what that means is you're doing a combination of button pushing tilting the rotary dial and twisting the rotary dial but it always seems like I'm twisting it the wrong way you might think oh I want to play this song so you put your finger up here and of course it doesn't work because it's not a touch screen so you have to get the the cursor just to the exact spot but I suppose every day driving you would get used to it now we're really pleased to see temperature switches but when you when you think about making it hotter and you see the red arrow pointing up you might think that you toggle up to do it but in fact that doesn't do anything what you need to do is both of these temperature controls are toggle down that's how you adjust the temperature even though your your mind might think well the arrow is pushed is pointing up so that's the way I need to press it but that in fact is not the case as we do with all of our test cars here at Consumer Reports we get each model up to about 2 000 miles and then we perform over 50 tests on them including acceleration braking fuel economy and a whole lot more if you're interested in how the cx90 does check out consumerreports.org foreign foreignI'm Mike Quincy and I'm here at the consumer reports Automotive test center and this is the early review of the 2024 Mazda cx-90 we bought a mid-level preferred plus model for our test program we added a digital rear view mirror in gray metallic paint and with destination it came to 48 670 this is Mazda's top of the line SUV and the big news is that it comes standard with a 3.3 liter turbocharged inline six-cylinder engine the reason that's a big deal is most manufacturers use a V6 or in even more cases a turbocharged four-cylinder this engine in most of the cx-90 trims comes in a 280 horsepower the higher trims have 340 horsepower they're all hooked up to an 8-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel drive is standard the EPA estimates this powertrain will return 25 miles per gallon overall we're certainly looking to see how it pans out in consumer reports own fuel economy testing so three row SUV probably hauling people maybe hauling kids but you're also hauling stuff and the good thing about the cx90 is it's super easy to fold down the third row seats you just pull the strap here Push It Forward the strap here Push It Forward you have a nice flat cargo area so if you need to utilize the Third Road put people back there to access it is a little bit of a process you have to pull up this button on top of the second row seat back and then push the whole thing forward once you get your folks settled in back there you want to return the second row seat back which requires a little bit of muscle because they're all pretty heavy like many three row SUVs there's not a ton of room back there it's most suited for kids adults will find very little foot space and Headroom so when you think three-year-row SUVs you're going to think what are the family friendly features that you're looking for and the cx90 has a lot of them the second row has some nice things like like a window shade you want to cool things down there's also USB ports there's a second row climate system which is really nice feature to have at this price the seat back has pretty good bolstering there's decent thigh support very good foot space and Headroom so the cx90 has pretty decent levels of fit and finish again keeping in mind this is about a mid-level model it's a pretty nice soft upper and mid Dash silvery aluminum looking weave for the for the center console and a really nice leather wrapped steering wheel feels really good to the hands as is the case of all of our test cars a number of us drive these it's not just one person deciding how the seat feels talking to my co-workers the consensus is the the Mazda cx-90s leather seat is a little bit firm a little bit short on cushion support after a full day's Drive I felt pretty comfortable pretty refreshed but then there is this little issue that we need to talk about and that's the controls in some ways they're pretty decent pretty straightforward for example the steering wheel controls are super easy on the right side you've got cruise control on the left side is audio they're hard buttons you can do all of this stuff without looking at the wheel but then we moved to the center console area here and the first thing that you notice obviously when you're driving this car is this shifter you have to press in this little button move the whole shifter to the right and then come down to drive Mazda for whatever reason wants you to do this little dog leg to the left to put it back in to park and this is strange because there's so much real real estate right here for the shifter it seems odd to me that Mazda is is making this area so compact so unlike most manufacturers that use a touch screen for the infotainment system Mazda keeps pushing their rotary dial thing and what that means is you're doing a combination of button pushing tilting the rotary dial and twisting the rotary dial but it always seems like I'm twisting it the wrong way you might think oh I want to play this song so you put your finger up here and of course it doesn't work because it's not a touch screen so you have to get the the cursor just to the exact spot but I suppose every day driving you would get used to it now we're really pleased to see temperature switches but when you when you think about making it hotter and you see the red arrow pointing up you might think that you toggle up to do it but in fact that doesn't do anything what you need to do is both of these temperature controls are toggle down that's how you adjust the temperature even though your your mind might think well the arrow is pushed is pointing up so that's the way I need to press it but that in fact is not the case as we do with all of our test cars here at Consumer Reports we get each model up to about 2 000 miles and then we perform over 50 tests on them including acceleration braking fuel economy and a whole lot more if you're interested in how the cx90 does check out consumerreports.org foreign foreign\n"