The 2025 Mazda CX-70 Turbo S Is A Sporty Upscale 2-Row SUV With BMW Vibes

About two years ago, Mazda introduced a new flagship SUV to their portfolio called the CX-90. Now the CX-90 was a peculiar car because this was a large rear-wheel drive platform with a new turbocharged inline six, the recipe to me for a brand new BMW. Now sales took off and for 2025, Mazda is expanding their portfolio with the introduction of this vehicle. This is the 2025 CX-78, an edgier and slightly sportier version of the CX-90 designed to appeal to empty nester couples or a young professional without kids. And today we're actually out here in Palm Springs, California to finally get behind the wheel of this CX-70 Turbo S and the big question I will answer, has Mazda managed to create a premium SUV that feels more like a Japanese BMW? Stay tuned to find out. Now, before we start talking about the exterior styling changes compared to the CX-90 and the CX-70, I thought I'd pop the hood and remind you guys what's powering this thing. Now, because the two vehicles share the same large rear drive platform and are essentially the same car, they're also gonna share similar powertrains. So this particular one that we're showing you here is actually the top engine option. It's known as the Turbo S just because Mazda really loves to troll on Porsche. And this powertrain essentially gives us the most powerful production engine that Mazda has ever created. It's a 3.3 liter gasoline direct injection turbocharged inline six. So that's right, Mazda has developed an all new straight six. And I already had a chance to drive this engine in the CX-90. However, the company tells us that they've made some software changes to the transmission to allow this vehicle to have slightly sportier performance. They've also retuned the steering and suspension a little bit. So we'll talk about that later on in the driving scene. The great news about this powertrain sharing it with the CX-90 is pretty impressive power. So you have 340 horsepower and 369 pound feet of torque. That is about 60 more horsepower versus what you get in the base turbo version, which has a 280 horsepower version with around 332 pound feet of torque. Mazda says the boost pressure on this model are tops out at 19 PSI. It all goes out through an eight speed automatic transmission with the torque converter replaced with a wet clutch system. And this car also comes standard with the company's Skyactiv all wheel drive system. So it's a rear drive based vehicle, but there are no rear drive offerings here in the US at least. All of them come standard with all wheel drive, including the plug-in hybrid model. If you wanna see our video on that, it's a separate video. Be sure to click on the link in the description below to watch that. Now, in terms of the fuel efficiency, because this engine is augmented by their M hybrid boost, which is a 48 volt mild hybrid system. It allows the fuel economy to increase to 23 city and 28 highway and 25 miles per gallon combined. Premium is gonna be required with the Turbo S engine. If you go for the base turbo, you can actually run it on regular fuel. This has a 19.6 gallon fuel tank. You're looking at around 400 to 450 miles of range. It also has a 0.33 kilowatt hour lithium ion battery pack. So very small battery pack. It basically allows the electric motor portion to add like 16 horsepower and like 113 pound feet of torque. That's on its own. And it really just assists with kind of getting the vehicle started. It doesn't really actually add power to the top end when you guys are accelerating hard. Mazda doesn't quote a zero to 60 time, but I'd estimate it to be in the low six second range. It has a top speed around 130 miles an hour. And this vehicle will tow a maximum of 5,000 pounds. So it's around 1,500 pounds more versus the P-HEV. And as this car sits, it weighs in at just under 5,000 pounds. So in general, this car is only around 40 pounds lighter versus the CX-90, because remember the two cars are pretty similar. Now you guys saw you're able to open up that lid or that cover there to show off the engine, but let's go ahead and close up the hood here because there are some styling differences between the CX-90 and the CX-70. So before you dismiss this car as a two row CX-90, let's go ahead and talk about some of the styling changes. First of all, this Turbo S that I'm showing you is painted in Zircon sand metallic. It's actually a unique color exclusive to the CX-70. The CX-90 is not available with this color. You can see the front fascia is unique. You can see the five point Mazda grill here is boldly present. You also have some black accents as opposed to the chrome, the newer current Mazda logo, of course, with this kind of interesting piano black chain link fence design with these integrated parking sensors, a nicely integrated front camera system. I love all the black chrome accents on this car because that was one of my criticisms about the 90 is I wanted more black chrome. The lower front fascia also has more aggressive air intake openings. Some of them are functional. Some of them are fake. You can see completely body colored here. And then all CX-70s will come with the company's full adaptive LED headlights with an LED daytime running light, LED turn signal. You can see it almost has this interesting fade in and fade out property when you have the turn signal on. And then these headlights are also adaptive. No fog lights on this vehicle. I actually think that it could've used some fog lights. But overall, I definitely love the new front fascia. In fact, I actually kind of hope that Mazda will put this on the 90, but I don't think they will because, again, this is what differentiates the CX-90 from the CX-70. It just has an edgier and sportier, darker theme to it, which looks really good with the zircon sand exterior color. Now, moving around the side profile, remember this is built on their large rear-wheel drive architecture. And Mazda likes to put this vehicle in the midsize two-row SUV category. But in reality, this is as big as a Toyota Grand Highlander. It's bigger than like a Kia Telluride or a Honda Pilot, for example. So with a 122.8 inch long wheelbase, this is, again, as long as like a BMW X7, its overall length is 200.8 inches long. So this is an opportunity where Mazda could have shrunk this car by about six inches to put it in the midsize segment. And I kind of wish they did, but at the same time, there are some reasonings behind the company's madness. Let's go ahead and talk about the wheels. These are the upmarket 21 inch alloys that you get with a machine and black two-tone look to it. It's riding on a Falcon Zeke all-season tire, and it has a pretty wide 275 by 45 R21 inch wheel. You have a 13.8 inch rotor at the front, a 13.7 inch rotor at the back, all independent suspension, but still no adaptive dampers, no air suspension, no rear wheel steering. This car is roughly 7, I'm sorry, 8.1 inches of ground clearance, so it can do some off-roading, but I actually think that Mazda should consider doing a Meridian edition of this car and give it more off-road capability. I do love the full paint finish. This is what you're gonna get if you go for the Turbo S models. It really just gives this car more of like a sleek long roof wagon design. The fender over here has some trim that also says inline six. That's how you can tell that this is the six cylinder versus the plug-in hybrid, which would say P-HEV, and you can see here the side mirrors are black painted integrated turn signals. These are also power folding. I love the black trim along the window trim, along the roof rails. You have a panoramic sunroof that's standard on every Turbo S trim level. As you can see, it opens up, but it doesn't also open up quite as big as some competitors, but it's nice that, again, Mazda includes that. Every version of the CX-70 comes with a sunroof, but you have to go for the Premium Plus trim on the base Turbo or get a Turbo S. That'll include the standard panoramic style sunroof. Now, moving around to the rear of the vehicle, this is where the rear of the car, just like the 90, has some controversial design elements. It almost looks like it has a massive forehead because of the way this top portion of the rear bulges out. I do wish that Mazda had given this car a bigger spoiler. The rear wiper here, you can see, is kind of pointing out. It's not integrated or hidden like some competitors. You can see the taillights have a full LED design with that sequential style where it fades in and out for the turn signal. The badging, of course, tells you that this is the 70 and not the 90, even though they're essentially the same car. There's an eSkyActiv-G badge here to show that it's the inline six. It'll say SkyActiv-PHEV on the plug-in hybrid version. And then down here, the rear bumper looks a little bit different from the 90, from the fake, more aggressive-looking vents that you see at the rear of the splitter. And then looking at the tailgate, you can see it's obviously power-operated where it's hands-free. And then this is where, again, Mazda wanted to give you the most cargo space in the segment, and that's why they kept it as big as they did because with the second row seats up, there's no third row. So they essentially removed it. You get a maximum of 39.7 cubic feet of total space. And if you want, you can basically push these buttons over here, which this remote release function is actually standard equipment on every trim. That folds down the seats electronically to expand the cargo to just over 75 cubic feet of space. Now, 75 is definitely a lot. However, if you're looking at some competitors like the Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport, the Honda Passport, for example, those vehicles also have pretty similar amounts of maximum cargo in the mid to low 70 cubic feet. I think the Passport actually has just under 80 cubic feet. So that kind of shows you that Mazda still has some issues with packaging and space efficiency, because while this is a lot, it should have more considering how big and long this vehicle is because it's as long as a Grand Highlander, and Toyota does like around 90 cubic feet with the, or 97 cubic feet with the seats all the way folded. Now, a couple of things that remind you that this is a CX-90 with the third row seat removed, there are cup holders back here, which is kind of funny to see because there are no seats back here, obviously. You also do have a 120-volt power outlet back here where you can power some external equipment. You have a 12-volt here. In the P-HEV, you actually get an extra plug on the driver's side as opposed to just on the passenger's side. And then, of course, there's a nice underfloor storage area here, which allows you to kind of hide a few things. And then, because this is where the third row would usually live, if you lift this up, you can see that's where the third row would have been, but Mazda gives you another storage cubby there, which is a nice place to kind of hide your stuff. So again, overall, if you're looking for one of the biggest cargo areas in the segment, this certainly will deliver. Just remember, it's significantly bigger versus most of its two-row midsize competitors. So obviously, the exterior of the CX-70 looks pretty similar to the CX-90, but let's go ahead and take a look at the interior. First of all, this color combination, the zircon sand on the outside with this tan quilted Nappa leather seats, this is included when you guys go for the Premium Plus trim. And I have to say, I love the way Mazda's interiors look, especially if you go for their lighter colors. The tan here with the leather and the ultra suede and the contrast stitching and the black accents here just looks really upscale, looks very modern. These seats also adjust in eight different ways with two-way lumbar support. You have a two-person memory here on the driver's side, and these seats are also heated and ventilated. You'll get that heated and ventilated function if you guys go for the Premium Plus trims and up. I also love the way the steering wheel has like a two-tone finish to it with the contrast stitching. It looks like it almost belongs in like a Mercedes, a BMW. It very much feels upscale, and Mazda has been very good, of course, at blurring that line between mainstream and a luxury brand. Now, getting inside with 8.1 inches of ground clearance, you do have a nice, easy step-in height. And then as I shut the door, you can hear the door has a relatively solid-sounding thunk, which adds to that impression of quality. Now, here's the key fob for the vehicle. You can see this is Mazda's current intelligent access key fob system, which is standard on every version of the 70. It has your buttons here for lock, unlock, panic, and of course, the remote tailgate function. No remote start from the fall, but I think you can access that if you have access to this vehicle through your smartphone, of course. Turn the vehicle on, you can hear the engine has a traditional starter noise, which is interesting to me because typically, when you have a straight six or when you have a mild hybrid system, it'll kind of whir to life, but not Mazda's system. It actually has a traditional starter noise. And if you want to listen to the engine, I'm actually genuinely surprised how sweet and snarl-sounding, or snarly-sounding the engine sounds. It sounds a little bit nicer versus when I first remember listening to this motor in the CX-90. So I don't know if Mazda has adjusted the sound tuning of the engine, but we'll have to talk about that later on during the driving scene. Now, let's go ahead and talk about the door panels. Here, you can see on this premium plus trim, you have this soft-touch injection molded plastic, which feels really high quality, although I would have liked to see actual stitching here on the upper end. You can see this material here almost looks like a combination of a dark alloy with a wood grain trim. It's definitely different versus the wood that you're gonna find in the CX-90. You can see you have some gray painted plastic here, metal-accented door handle, of course. You have Alcantara here, nice and padded here. Window controls also have a high-quality feel. They're kind of accented in a chrome metal finish. You have a power-folding mirror. You have a door lock switch over here. And overall, the door panel looks pretty nice. All our Turbo S versions will also come with the 12-speaker Bose premium sound system. If you guys go for the preferred trim, it'll come standard with an eight-speaker sound system. That trim will also come with a seven-inch display. All the other upper trims will have a fully digital 12.3-inch cluster here, which is customizable. You can see if I switch the drive mode here into normal, it'll change the color and background of that. You can also go into an off-road setting where we're kind of on this gravel road, and it also changes the look of that. The Turbo S models will also include a power-tilt telescoping wheel, which is, again, a feature that you typically expect in a luxury brand. You have paddles on the wheel to control the eight-speed auto. I also love the chrome and the metal trim around the steering wheel airbag cover around this lower portion here. You have your buttons here to control the audio and Mazda's adaptive cruise control with traffic jam assist. That's actually standard on every version of the 90, which is also a pretty nice touch. This upper trim also includes a heads-up display, which is slightly customizable. It's great, of course, to find a feature like that in this standard on higher-end trims. And you can see the upper portion of the dash has a soft-touch injection molded plastic with the same graining material that you find on the door panels. And then all versions, except for the base preferred, will have the 12.3-inch display. This is the latest version of Mazda Connect head unit. You can see it's finally a touchscreen when you have it in the CarPlay or Android Auto function, and it's also a touchscreen while the vehicle is moving. Now, you can turn that feature on and off, but most of you, I imagine, will have it on. You can see the screen itself is a good size, although compared to some luxury brands, which have gone to 14, 15-inch, 17-inch displays, this is starting to look a little bit small, but in the mainstream class, it's perfectly acceptable. If you go back to the Mazda native system, which you can do by tapping that, this is where it's not a touchscreen, which is kind of annoying, but this is kind of the way Mazda's system works. It also comes standard with embedded GPS, which is kind of like powered by TomTom or Garmin, I believe. Most of you will ignore that, and you'll probably just use the CarPlay function anyways. If I push this button here, you can see there's your full 360 camera, where you can also kind of do a perimeter scan around the vehicle and show like close up to wherever it is you're trying to avoid hitting while you're backing up. So again, the quality and resolution is fine. Not super class-leading, but also still very good. You can see traditional air vents. I also love the way the dash looks here with the Alcantara, although this is going to look horrible after a few years, especially if you have kids with dirty hands and fingerprints. It's going to get all over that, more of that gray painted plastic here. You have three zone automatic climate temperature control, your heated and cooled seat function is actually a hard button, which I appreciate. You also have a heated steering wheel. These features are included with the premium plus trim. The other trims will just have heated seats, but no heated steering wheel on the lowest trim. You can see down here, this is where your wireless phone charging pad is. You can see this shifter is controlling the eight speed auto. It's an interesting shifter because there's a trigger here. You push that and you kick it over to the right to go into reverse and then come all the way down to go into drive. Park is you have to go forward and then back over to the left. So it takes a little bit of getting used to if you aren't used to that. Your drive mode selector is here. I showed you before there are three drive modes. You have cup holders here, of course. They're a pretty good size. There's also a nice sturdy lid that covers it. You can see the controller to control that is right here. And it feels pretty high quality and tactile. So like the feel of the buttons, you also have an actual volume knob there, which is a nice touch. Electronic parking brake, nice padded center console here. And if I open this up, you can see this is a pretty shallow storage area, but you do have two USB-C charging ports. Compared to some competitors, the CX70 is definitely lacking a little bit in maximum storage capacity, but it's still pretty, pretty good or pretty good. Above me, you can see a woven material for the headliner. This panoramic center of also, you know, you can open it up to vent air, but just like in the CX50, it doesn't open up fully. And I really don't like how it kind of stops almost like at the three-quarter position. You can't open it up further, but it is nice that it at least opens up to vent air, which is a nice touch with the power shade. The auto-dimming rear view mirror also has a frameless design. My test car doesn't have the digital camera feature. That is available for an extra 800 bucks. Glove compartment you can see here is deep. It goes deep into the dash. It's stamped and it's lined with felt. So there it provides a little bit better storage options. But overall, as you can see, the interior is practically identical to a CX90, of course, minus the fact that Mazda offers more interior color options like a red interior, and you don't have some of that wood trim. Instead, the company has replaced it with a metallic alloy-like trim. Now moving to the back seat of the CX70, this is again where it's gonna remind you that this is essentially a two-row version of the 90. First of all, the rear door. You can see it opens up in a very large manner where it gives you a lot of space to get into this rear seat area to perhaps fit a car seat, which is a nice touch for families out there. The second row bench, as you can see, also seats up to three people across. There are no captain's chairs available on this model, but there are a couple of features that have carried over from the 90. For example, this seat, it slides forward and back, and it actually, it slides up pretty far where you can essentially, now it doesn't lock in position here, but you can slide it up so far that it gives you all this additional space back here to kind of utilize the floor space over here. I don't know why you'd wanna do that, but that's essentially where it'll lock. You can also slide it back if you'd like, where it gives you maximum leg room. You pull this lever here, you can also fold the seat down. It's not a completely flat floor, but again, it does expand the cargo to maximum amounts for its segment. It also gives you the ability to recline the seat, which you can see actually reclines a pretty good amount. So there's a lot of comfort to be had back here, and that's precisely why a lot of people look at a midsize two-row SUV, because you want maximum second-row comfort. Now, getting back here, you can see, when I get back here and shut the door, ignore that noise, that's actually a water bottle in the door panel, you can see most versions of the 70 are also going to include these manual retractable sunshades or peasant blockers. You can see you have the soft-touch materials here on the upper portion, just like the front, this alloy wood-look trim with that gray-painted plastic padded area here with the ultra suede, which is also a nice touch. And then in terms of the legroom space, you can see Mazda says there's around 39.4 inches of legroom back here, which is around two to three more inches of legroom versus most of its rivals, although technically the Honda Passport has similar amounts of rear seat legroom and the Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport, which I think has over 40 inches of legroom. So again, there could be more, but this is still among the most spacious you're going to find in its segment. You can see back here, there's also nice touches like rear seat air vents, two USB-C charging ports, your own set of climate control functions, three level heated seats, but again, no cooled seats. I kind of was hoping Mazda would throw that in, especially at the top Turbo S Premium Plus trim. You do have some nice storage cubbies here, not a completely flat floor, but again, still lots of space. You can see, fold this down, there's an armrest here with two cup holders. And then in terms of the headroom space, you can see at five foot seven, my head actually, you know, I have plenty of space, but if you're over six feet, it might get a little bit close, especially with the panoramic sunroof eating into the headroom space. But overall, you can definitely tell that this car has a really generous sized back seat where you could easily fit a car seat, you can easily fit full-size adults. But just remember, some rivals that aren't as big on the outside offer similar, if not more, amounts of second row space. So with the CX-70 being the exact same size as the CX-90, a lot of you may be wondering, why am I even bothering to drive this vehicle? They should essentially drive the same. Now we're gonna actually hop into the plug-in hybrid later on, but we're gonna start off, of course, in the Turbo S model. And this has the most powerful production engine Mazda has ever made, with a 340 horsepower turbocharged inline six. So let's go ahead and see if we can get zero to 60 wise. We have it in sport mode here. We'll brake torque it. I really like the sound coming from the engine. And we got 6.15 seconds there. Now that's with it more going slightly downhill, but I have to say that time pretty much matches the time that I got back home in the CX-90. Now that was more on a level road surface. So if we get another opportunity, I might zero to 60 test it again. And then we'll try zero to 60 testing the P-HEV version to see if there is a noticeable difference. Now Mazda claims that they have retuned the suspension slightly and the steering in this model. And they've also retuned the software programming in the transmission. And they said that it's a lot more responsive this year. And I have to say, it definitely feels a lot smoother. If you guys remember our review on the early CX-90s, that car was a little bit jerky at times at low speeds. And especially in the transmission, that's where a lot of people actually realized Mazda wasn't using a torque converter. They were using a wet clutch system to kind of give you, you know, that quicker shifts. But the engine itself with its eight speeds and the 3.3 liter twin or turbo inline six, it also sounds a lot better. The 90, when I first drove it, the engine had more of a whiny tone to it. And I think this now has that signature straight six snarl. Does it sound like a BMW X5 or a BMW B58? Obviously not. It has its own unique character to it, which I think is, you know, a great thing. Mazda, you know, developed this engine from scratch and it should obviously, you know, give it, you know, some unique characteristics compared to some rivals. But let's go ahead and accelerate slowly here. And I have to say, you know, while when you're driving the car just normally at like five tenths, it's very smooth. There's none of that jitteriness or jerkiness or confusion that you got in the old, or in the CX90. So it's a nice little upgrade. Now there are still paddles on the wheel. If I start pulling the paddles here, going into manual mode, it does rev match down shifts, but it could be a little bit faster. Put my foot down here. Really nice. There's a lot, there's a linear progression of power where it doesn't feel like it has any turbo lag. In fact, I couldn't even tell, you know, the engine feels turbocharged. It has lots of low end torque. It feels effortless. It has a nice sound, a nice snarl to it. And it's, I think it's well matched to this powertrain. So I'm really interested to see, you know, if Mazda is going to make these same changes to the CX90 that they made in the CX70, because I think they've definitely improved. I mean, obviously the platforms went on sale for almost two years. So they were getting some feedback from customers and from media alike. And I think this car does a really good job at just, you know, feeling a little bit sportier than your average, you know, family two row SUV. But in terms of the seat comfort, these are the premium Nappa leather seats and they feel very plush. I actually love how the padding in this car feels, you know, surprisingly supple. It's actually even softer than the last Genesis GV80 that I tested, which I guess you could almost compare this car to a GV80, although Genesis again has the luxury prestige. Mazda does not. And then because this vehicle is a rear drive biased all wheel drive system, you put your foot down here, it actually does feel like it sends a little more power to the rear. You can see the engine, you know, really still has a nice sound. Even when you're in the normal mode, there's probably some kind of augmentation in the sound itself, which, you know, I don't have a problem with as long as the engine sounds good. In terms of the forward visibility, I can see out of the front, the side, the rear pretty well. This A pillar is a little on the thicker side. And then my test car is missing the digital camera rear view mirror for an extra 800 bucks. Although the, you know, the shape of the rear glass allows you to have a pretty decent view out of the front. The ride quality in this car also, Mazda says they've retuned the suspension slightly. We're still on these big 21 inch wheels and on this smooth pavement, the ride feels pretty good. We'll, I'll talk about the P have later on and see if the ride feels a little bit different. I still think that there's room for Mazda to like an, at least an adaptive suspension. I'm hoping that at some point the company will consider, consider doing that. All the driver assistance tech is also standing on this car, which is a great thing to find. Some competitors still make you pay a little bit extra for it, especially if you're going for a European brand. And you can see with the 48 volt mild hybrid system, the engine actually shut off right now. It says I stop in the instrument panel and we're just kind of coasting along using no gas. But that is, if I put my foot down a little bit more, we go up a hill, the engine wakes up, put my foot down a little harder, the transmission's quick and it gets us into the right gear. And then the engine kind of wakes up and puts you right back in the meat of the power band. So overall, I'm liking the changes that Mazda has made for the straight six. I still haven't had a chance to drive the base turbo, only the turbo S, but let's go ahead and hop into the P have and see if those similar changes here also apply to the plug-in hybrid version. So after just hopping out of the turbo S branded vehicle, Mazda actually says about 40% of customers choose the plug-in hybrid powertrain. That doesn't surprise me. I mean, you have essentially similar horsepower, the same torque output, and you also get the same MPG, but you get the benefit of 26 miles of electric only range. I'll have to get one for a full week to test out the actual range, but I just want to try out the zero to 60 and compare to the turbo S, the inline six powered version of the car. Now we are starting off with a full charge on the vehicle. I have it in its sport setting here and let's go ahead and just brake torque it and floor it. Car actually does a really interesting augmented sound, but we got 6.96 seconds. Now that's with it more going slightly uphill. If there's an opportunity, we might try it again. There are some great straight roads here just outside of Palm Springs, California, but as opposed to the inline six, which has that nice straight six snarl, you get a slightly more whiny, but kind of more guttural tone of the four-cylinder, which again, most of it is augmented, but I think the car, the engine actually sounds pretty decent. It has, again, that eight-speed automatic transmission with the torque converter replaced with a wet clutch system. And overall, I think this car is going to provide enough power for most people in most driving conditions. So let's go ahead and try it one more time. And this time I'm not going to brake torque it. See if we can get a different number. Feels a little faster actually without brake torquing it. 6.8 there. So again, we're still going slightly uphill. And if you guys remember my review on the CX-90, you'll also remember that the times are pretty similar between the straight six turbo S and the plug-in hybrid powertrains. I still have not had a chance to drive the base turbo powertrain, which Mazda says will be coming later this fall. So you're going to have to wait a little bit longer for the detuned version of the straight six. Now, in terms of the handling dynamics, the plug-in hybrid model is a little bit heavier versus the turbo S. I don't really feel it in day-to-day driving. This car definitely has a sportier feel with the steering response, the way the suspension is. I will say that the ride quality of this car with the 21-inch wheels, I think this is where Mazda could have gone with adaptive dampers, but everything's kind of to a price point. That would have really done a better job at kind of quelling the vibrations when you hit those potholes, especially when you guys go for the bigger wheels. You can also get a smaller wheel if you guys would like and not have to go for the higher trim model. But one of the beauties about the plug-in hybrid powertrain is it also gives you an EV mode. Now, the EV mode, I've noticed, is a little finicky. We've been driving this car mostly in sport and in normal, and for some reason right now, it's not letting me go into the EV mode. So we'll have to wait until we get one back home for a week where I can test out an EV-only mode. Mazda's system technically doesn't allow you to go full throttle acceleration in electric-only mode. It'll wake up the gas engine when it does use too much power, when you request too much power, so that's something to keep in mind. But I have to say, for Mazda's first effort as a plug-in hybrid vehicle, they've done a pretty good job. It's not quite as refined as some of the best from, Rob's still trying to see if it'll go into the EV mode by turning off the air conditioning. I think the car just doesn't like the heat out here. But overall, I think for Mazda's first effort, it's not quite as refined as the last Lexus RX plug-in hybrid vehicle, but it's definitely up there in terms of refinement as, like, the Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe. But overall, I think that the CX-70 is going to make a fine addition to Mazda's North American portfolio. So this is the same spot that we did another zero-to-sixty test in the P-Hub, and I just wanna see if the Turbo S can also beat that time. So we're just gonna floor it. So a little bit faster. Not much faster, but a little faster. So after spending the day driving both the inline six and the plug-in hybrid versions of the CX-70, I have to say, even though this car essentially is just a two-row version of the CX-90, if you like the way the CX-90 drives, you're going to really like the way the CX-70 drives, because Mazda did make a couple of changes here to make this car feel a little bit different. Obviously, the fact that it doesn't have a third row is gonna look different in your rearview mirror, but I also love the changes that they've made to the software programming in the eight-speed automatic for the inline six models. The plug-in hybrid model also delivers that electric-only range, along with similar amounts of fuel efficiency, slightly more range, but also similar power. I'll have to wait until I get both of them back home to retest the zero-to-60 timing to see if this actually gets closer to what I got in the CX-90 when I had one back home for a week. In terms of the look of the car, I do love the styling changes that Mazda has made, but again, a lot of you have just asked yourself, why the heck didn't the company just call this a two-row CX-90? Well, the simple answer is Mazda basically said that they are targeting a different customer with this model. They also said that the CX-90 offers 11 different trims and configurators to go through, which is a little overwhelming. The CX-70 is a little more simplified. They offer a total of seven different trims, five for the inline six, two for the plug-in hybrid models, and that's precisely why they wanted to essentially give it a different name, just to simplify the ordering process for customers and, of course, for dealers, and they kept it the same size, which allowed them to preserve the interior space, because my guess is if they actually shortened the car, it actually would have significantly reduced the cargo and rear seat legroom, and that's not typically what Americans want. A lot of you also are wondering, why the heck didn't Mazda just bring the smaller CX-60 that they offer in Europe? Well, that's because the CX-60 is actually about the same size as the CX-50 here in America, which I believe they don't get in Europe, so there's no reason to have both vehicles, so there's always a reason behind Mazda's madness. The company's always been a quirky company, and it definitely shows with the CX-70, the CX-90, and a lot of their different offerings. Now, if you are looking to get your hands on the CX-70, these vehicles are heading to Mazda dealerships as we speak. You're gonna have to wait until the fall if you guys want the base turbo model. That's gonna essentially get you into the cheapest price, because the base price of the CX-70 preferred turbo starts at around $40,445. That looks like it's around $3,000 more versus the CX-90, which doesn't make sense. However, if you look at the trim structure, the CX-70 starts at the base preferred trim. The CX-90 starts at a trim below or called the Select. The Select is not available in the CX-70, and that's why this car costs a little bit more, and if you look at the pricing apples to apples, it actually has the same starting price as a CX-90 if you look at the preferred trim compared to the CX-70 preferred trim. The difference, of course, is the look of the vehicle, and Mazda also makes navigation and the 12.3-inch screen a standard where it's optional on the CX-90. So they technically give you more content. Now, if you guys want the Turbo S trim level like the one I'm showing you here, this is gonna start at around $52,400, which is, again, the same price as the CX-90. Going up to the Premium Plus like this model will add another $3,000. The plug-in hybrid model starts at around $54,000, going up to around $57,000, which is also, again, the same price as the CX-90. My test car here with the Zircon Sand color, which is an upcharge, and the Destination comes in at just over $57,000. I know 57 grand definitely sounds like a lot of money, especially when you're looking at something like a Honda Pilot or a Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport, or I'm sorry, the Honda Passport. Those vehicles top out in the low $50,000 range, but I'd argue the Mazda, with its rear-drive premium architecture, its sportier driving dynamics, its upscale interior, and that sweet-sounding turbocharged inline-six definitely makes for a more premium upscale driving feel. Is it as nice as, of course, like a Japanese BMW? Is this a Japanese BMW? I'll have to wait until I actually drive both of them back-to-back, although I did just drive an X5. The dynamics of this car doesn't have, like, isn't quite the same as an X5, but I have to say Mazda comes pretty darn close considering how this car is around $15,000 to $20,000 less expensive. But with all that said, hope you guys have enjoyed my full overview on the 2025 Mazda CX-70 in the Turbo S trim level. If you're also looking to see the latest cars I'm testing, be sure to follow me on Instagram at Redline underscore reviews. Like us on Facebook. And as always, guys, please keep subscribing to the Redline Reviews YouTube channel for all the latest reviews. Thank you so much for watching. I'll catch you all in the next video.