We spoke, Mazda listened

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/01/2025 (279 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The 2025 Mazda CX-70 epitomizes automotive journalism that makes a difference.

Now, I’m not saying it was my reporting that did it, but there’s been a clear shift in how well the company’s latest hybrid, the CX-70, responds to accelerator input since myself and plenty of other journalists sharply criticized how the CX-90, in both mild hybrid and plug-in hybrid form, handled transitions between deceleration and acceleration.

You’d come out of a turn and ease into the accelerator pedal and … wait.

The transmission would go, “Oh, no. He wants to go … we better find the right gear,” and a second later you’d start to feel motion again.

It was a clear “Has Mazda lost its way?” moment.

The company that had built a good bit of its fun-to-drive identity on transmissions — even automatic ones — that were responsive and quick-shifting had seemingly taken a left turn.

A second or less waiting for the vehicle to figure out it needs to go may not sound like much, but it adds up to a lifetime of regret, since you feel it every time you come out of a corner.

Imagine my surprise, then, when the new CX-70, a mild hybrid like the non-plug-in CX-90, exhibited none of that.

Mazda took the feedback — from journalists, customers, perhaps even its own engineers — to heart, according to Mazda Canada spokesman Chuck Reimer. The resulting reprogramming of the hybrid powertrain is a sea change in how the vehicle responds. The same programming changes have been baked into the CX-90 models, as well, he said.

It’s not oversimplifying things to say the CX-70 is little more than a CX-90 without a third row. Even Reimer admits that. It is, however, a chance to speak to a different kind of customer and sports some subtle styling differences, he said.

The main difference is that the cargo space in the CX-70 is massive.

Mazda doesn’t provide a volume, but using the length, width and height of the cargo space, and converting the resulting 1.1 billion cubic millimetres to litres, the CX-70 rivals even a GMC Yukon XL. It’s close to the space inside the CX-90 with the third row folded.

The styling inside and out represents the attention to detail that drives Mazda’s reputation, a reputation built on confirming design decisions in clay, a step some other manufacturers skip.

It’s also incredibly fuel-efficient, averaging 8.4 L per 100 kilometres, which is excellent for a vehicle this large.

Not all was great, however. I’m accustomed to bringing a good portion of the gravel road that leads to the cottage home with me, but it’s almost always on the outside of the car. When I returned home, part of that road was in the rear footwell. Reimer said Mazda’s quality control department has already received enough complaints of dust leaking into the interior that work is underway to resolve it. Given the relative speed with which they fixed the hybrid’s transition to acceleration, the fix may be on the assembly line already.

The CX-70 is also available as a plug-in hybrid, which for most people might be the ultimate choice for electrification the way things stand now. For daily commuting, there’s a good chance you’d drive entirely on electric, but for road trips, you’d be free of worrying about charging locations.

Of course, a consideration may also be this: as electrification technology and infrastructure improve and the need to lug both a combined gas and electric powertrain around diminishes, resale value could be an issue. In an all-electric future, gas vehicles may be at a premium among the nostalgic, but resale values of gas-electric vehicles might crater.

The CX-70’s starting price less than $50,000 is competitive in its class, but is about $4,000 more than the three-row CX-90.

kelly.taylor@winnipegfreepress.com