First Drive: 2025 Mazda CX-70 Is a Two-Row CX-90
There's precious little to differentiate the two quick and agile SUVs beyond seating capacity
Update: Since this first drive was originally published in May, 2024, we finished testing the Mazda CX-70. Read the complete Mazda CX-70 road test.
It would be logical to assume that the new 2025 Mazda CX-70 is a smaller, less expensive two-row version of the CX-90 midsized three-row SUV. Yet only one of those things is true: It’s simply a CX-90 without a third-row seat. Just about everything else is identical or nearly identical, including the length, width, wheelbase, available powertrains, cargo room, cabin design, and price.
Which leads to the question: Why badge the elimination of the third-row seat as a new model?
To find out, we rented a CX-70 from Mazda and compared it to the CX-90 and CX-90 PHEV we bought and tested. It turns out there’s very little difference between the two models.
Mazda points to the CX-70’s slightly altered front and rear styling and “increased storage,” along with the adoption of Alexa and Mazda Online Navigation, the latter two that the CX-90 doesn’t have. Those don’t seem like big enough changes to call it a new model and could lead to confusion for potential buyers who, understandably, might think that the smaller model number equates to a shorter, less expensive vehicle. Meanwhile, some other two-row competitor vehicles that have also been spawned off of three-row versions show much greater differentiation, such as the Honda Pilot and Passport, Jeep Grand Cherokee L and Grand Cherokee, and Volkswagen Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport pairs.
Photo: John Powers/Consumer Reports Photo: John Powers/Consumer Reports
