A North Carolina Road Trip with the 2025 Mazda CX-70 PHEV in its Most Luxurious Form

Mazda just broadened the audience of its flagship SUV with a brand new model name. I took the all-new 2025 Mazda CX-70 on a road trip from Charleston to Asheville, North Carolina. Unsurprisingly, it punches above its weight in luxury and performance. But somewhat surprisingly, the differences between it and its three-row counterpart, the CX-90, cause one to question the need for an entirely new name. 

The good news is that once you accept the subtlety of the distinction between the CX-70 and its forebear, it is a fantastic two-row SUV with an interior that holds its own next to pricier options from Lexus, Jeep, or BMW. I drove the PHEV hybrid version in its most luxury Premium Plus trim level. 500 miles later, after a trip to the Smoky Mountains and back, I can safely say that if you like two-row SUV’s, you’ll love it. 

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DESIGN 

The CX-70 is essentially a CX-90 without the third row, and that sums up the substantive differences between the two models. There are more trim levels on the 90, different paint colors, wheels, and leather options, and the dark exterior trim on the CX-70 is sportier than the shiny trim on the CX-90. But the legroom and the cargo space are virtually identical. A few small features such as unresponsive driver support exist on the CX-70 but not (yet) on the CX-90, but after the number of rows, you’ve got to dig into the fine print to find differences between the models. 

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On the outside, the 21-inch wheels of the Premium Plus are handsomely aggressive, and paired with the dark trim, it’s the best looking full-size Mazda SUV yet. Inside, the leather trim, the infotainment system, and the overall driver and passenger experience are excellent. I particularly liked the panoramic roof for taking in the mountain views, and the cabin-filling power of the Bose sound system so we could enjoy my wife’s Chappell Roan instead of whatever nonsense was blaring from our kids’ iPads. 

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EXPERIENCE AND PERFORMANCE

It’s a very comfortable SUV for a road trip. I personally still find the non-PHEV version to be more fun to drive, but there was plenty of power for the passing lane up the Saluda Grade that took us up 2000 feet from South Carolina into the mountains. It has 323-horsepower (combined electric and gas) and 369 lb.-ft torque, with a zero-to-sixty time of under six seconds––more than enough umph for any legal driving on any road in America. 

Fully charged, it has 26 miles of electric-only range. As I was going long distance, my experience was mainly with the gas side of things. If I would’ve had more access to chargers, the battery can be charged from 20% to 80% in 90 minutes on a level 2 charger. Driving it as I did, I got about 28mpg highway. The handoff between the electric motor and the gas engine, for me, was not as smooth as other plug-in hybrids I have tested, such as the Volvo XC60 plug-in. That said, it still feels great to drive. 

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When we got to our daughter’s summer camp, there was plenty of room for her camp trunk and gear. Though when loading up, like me you may scratch your head when you see that despite the absence of the third row, the third-row cupholders are still present.

We spent the night at Asheville’s hottest new luxury boutique hotel, the Flat Iron. Navigating downtown Asheville, the CX-70 handled so nimbly you might forget that there’s a three-row version with the same footprint. 

Dony Dawson

FINAL THOUGHTS

Buying the CX-70 over the CX-90 is a subtle and largely psychological decision, because there aren’t that many practical reasons to choose this over the CX-90. But perhaps this isn’t about people who are choosing between these two, but about people only looking at two-row SUV’s as a category; people who just don’t think of themselves as three-row people. This new ’70’ nomenclature is aimed at this group. I suppose both the highest praise and the strongest critique of the CX-70 is that it takes an already great three-row SUV and nudges it into a different search criterion for a different group of buyers––with a sportier-looking trim thrown in for good measure. 

As tested in the PHEV version, pricing starts at just under 60k. As for my destination in Western North Carolina, Asheville is back open for business now and local businesses are grateful for the support.  

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