2025 Mazda CX-70 3.3 Turbo S Premium Plus

February 2024 In the press release for the all-new 2025 CX-70 midsize crossover, Mazda says the car was “designed to meet the needs of North American customers.” Specifically, people who enjoy cars as part of a hobby and passion. This got me curious. What do North American customers want from a car? I first answered the question myself, then did some informal research in my Scottsdale, Arizona, office, asking three of my colleagues—one from Virginia, one from Minnesota, and one from Canada. This led to another question: Does the 2025 Mazda CX-70 have what it takes to meet those demands?

Mazda offers two different powertrains for the CX-70. The plug-in hybrid CX-70 features a turbocharged 2.5-liter I4 engine and an electric motor. There’s also a 48-volt mild-hybrid version of the CX-70, which has a turbocharged 3.3-liter I6 engine in two states of tune and three trim levels. No matter which CX-70 you choose, it comes with rear-biased all-wheel drive and an eight-speed automatic transmission. I had a chance to see what needs the CX-70 fills, driving the high-output, top-of-the-line 3.3 Turbo S Premium Plus model, which has an MSRP of $55,950. My media loaner car had the $450 optional Polymetal Gray Metallic paint, which brought its final price (after delivery, processing, and treatment) to $57,775.

Given that the only Mazdas I’d driven before were the Mazda3 hatchback, MX-5 Miata, and CX-5, I was unprepared for the size of the CX-70. I also didn’t realize that I didn’t completely understand Mazda’s numbering system. That makes sense, to a certain extent. As you might assume, the CX-70 is larger than the CX-5 and CX-50. However, it’s not larger than the CX-90. From the outside, the CX-70 and CX-90 have the same 122.8-inch wheelbase, nearly 17-foot length, 85-inch mirror width, and 68-inch height. The main difference is inside, where the CX-90 offers three rows of seats while the CX-70 has only two. Mazda’s designers appropriately scaled all the dimensions of the CX-70’s exterior. Between the adaptive LED headlights and turn signals is a prominent grille filled with piano black mesh. Large heated mirrors are mounted in thick, power-folding housings. My test car rode on 21-inch wheels with a beautiful two-tone machine-cut finish and all-season tires. At the rear, LED taillights wrap around the rear fascia and flow to a hands-free power liftgate that can be opened remotely using the key fob or by waving your foot under the rear bumper.

As the top trim level, the 3.3 Turbo S Premium Plus comes with a few cosmetic and functional features that set it apart from the rest of the pack. First up are Tan Nappa leather seats—the only color available. Mazda used the same color on the two-tone steering wheel and a suede-like microfiber on the door panels and in the center of the dash. The fabric feels nice, but it makes me wonder what the dash will look like after a few years of sun, dust, fingerprints, and sneezes. Available upgrades include two-row LED puddle lights and a 150-watt outlet in the cargo area.

The flagship CX-70’s standard equipment is impressive. The first row gets eight-way power seats with heating and ventilation, a power-adjustable steering column, and a heated steering wheel. Behind the steering wheel is a head-up display and a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster that’s the same size as the center screen. Although it’s set very far back, which means it’s just a display, it does function as a touchscreen. Infotainment features, such as wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay and Amazon Alexa (a first for a Mazda crossover), can also be accessed and adjusted via a knob and dial combination on the center console. To the right is the volume knob for the 12-speaker Bose Centerpoint audio system. When I first encountered Mazda’s central infotainment controls in a press car a few years ago, I hated the setup because I was so used to quickly glancing at the vehicle’s center screen and reaching next to or under it to adjust the volume. But after sitting next to my wife in her CX-5 for more than a year, I now appreciate the convenience of this layout. If either of us wants to play a song, we can do it quickly thanks to the knob in our middle.

In the second row, manual sunshades help block the Arizona summer heat, while a pair of HVAC vents connected to the third climate zone keep out any air that enters the cabin. At 5-foot-10, I have plenty of legroom behind the driver’s seat, but if I need more room, I can simply slide the seat back manually. For maximum comfort, I also have the option of manually reclining the seat.

With the second row of seats in place, the CX-70 can carry 39.6 cubic feet of cargo. Pressing a button in the cargo area to remotely lower the cargo area increases that capacity to 75.3 cubic feet. There’s more room in shallow-opening boxes on either side of the cargo floor, a small cavity near the entrance to the cargo area, and a tray under the floor that holds tire irons.

So what about the totally unscientific research I conducted? The three colleagues I asked gave me a variety of different answers, but all had to do with the vehicle’s interior. Two of them told me that a comfortable step-in height is a must. Mazda doesn’t list this in the specs on its consumer or media sites. I drive a Hyundai Sonata every day, so I’m used to dropping down to the driver’s seat, but it’s easy to maneuver the CX-70. Yes, it sits a little high because it’s a crossover, but I don’t need A-pillar armrests, run-ups, or sherpas to sit down. The two colleagues also expressed the importance of a vehicle’s cargo space. The CX-70 and CX-90 have similar exterior dimensions, which translates to their interior dimensions. The CX-90 offers slightly more space behind its middle seat when the third row of seats is folded down (about 40 cubic feet). When both vehicles are in full-on towing configuration, the CX-90’s maximum gear-carrying space is 75.2 cubic feet, which is slightly less than the CX-70 (although the difference is small). I didn’t get a chance to transport anyone’s bikes or Ikea furniture, but I have a feeling my colleagues would find the CX-70’s interior space adequate. Unfortunately, the CX-70’s rear seats don’t fold completely flat or lock into place, so my colleagues wouldn’t give them a perfect score. There was one consistent response to my question about what features a vehicle needs: second-row air conditioning vents. I couldn’t agree more, and was happy to see the CX-70 have them. In fact, the rear vents were one of the features that attracted me to the Sonata.

I spend a lot of time with my wife and mother-in-law, so safety features are also high on my list of must-haves. The CX-70’s array of technologies, including blind spot monitoring, lane keep assist, lane departure warning, rear cross traffic alert, and oncoming traffic avoidance assist, gave me peace of mind.

The CX-70’s engine is a pleasant surprise. In an age where many manufacturers are using turbocharged I4s in a variety of vehicles, Mazda has opted to equip the mild-hybrid CX-70 with an 11-kW electric motor and a turbocharged 3.3-liter inline-six that produces a healthy 340 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque. In town, if I turn on the i-Stop feature, it shuts off the engine at stoplights. This is even more noticeable when I’m coasting, as I’ll watch the tachometer needle swing to zero to save as much premium fuel as possible. Under ideal conditions, my CX-70 test vehicle returned 23 mpg in the city, 28 mpg on the highway, and 23 mpg combined. All that idling I did while filming the review video with our visionary media director made a big difference in the test’s fuel economy, dropping to 21.1 mpg over the 395.3 miles. When I wasn’t concerned about how much gas I was consuming, the I6 was a joy to drive. It pulled hard and sent power through all four wheels smoothly and linearly. The eight-speed automatic transmission matched it perfectly, and it didn’t hesitate to downshift a gear or two when my right foot told it I wanted to get somewhere quickly.

Mazda may have targeted a specific customer base with the 2025 CX-70, but the pool of potential crossover buyers in North America is too large to satisfy every potential consumer. With an upscale interior, a well-appointed second row, CX-90-rivalling cargo space and an ample inline-six engine, the CX-70 3.3 Turbo S Premium Plus ticks almost all the boxes for a select few North Americans. Trust me. I did my research.