What if you paid the same price for the same vehicle, but got less? Would you really do that? Possibly. Meet the 2025 Mazda CX-70, a new nameplate for the Hiroshima-based automaker, but one that should look very familiar. It’s basically the CX-90, introduced last year, with blacked-out trim and two rows of seats rather than the CX-90′s three rows of seats.
Well, it actually is if you’re, say, a young family, an empty nester or an older buyer that needs schlepping space for stuff, not people. What you get in the CX-70 is basically what you get in the CX-90. That means that you’ll have a choice of three powertrains.
Most models will have a turbocharged 3.3-liter inline-six engine producing either 280 horsepower or 340 horsepower depending on trim. There’s also a plug-in hybrid, powered by a 2.
5-liter four-cylinder engine and an electric motor that generates 323 horsepower and approximately 26 miles of pure electric driving range and that can tow up to 3,500 pounds. While you may be tempted by the plug-in hybrid, you may not appreciate its steering feel, which fails to impart the communicative nature you’d assume it to have. Instead, opt for the more-powerful V6 turbo, which actually does impart the joie de vivre that you expect from a Mazda.
Its agility and sharp steering make for a more enchanting drive — even though the transmission shifts slowly when asked to switch gears from its steering-wheel-mounted paddles. If there’s one area where the CX-70 truly disap.