This week I was hauling around the 8 seater 2025 Mazda CX90 MHEV. Those who saw me with it commented that I was driving school bus, and it did feel like it.
It drove as stocky as it looked. It was heavy on turns and it felt like I was dragging the tail end around like a trailer. As a result it felt labourious to drive. Every motion required two additional steps and plenty of adjustments. Given that I don’t spend more than 7 days with any given vehicle, I never grew accustomed to it, and it never grew easier to handle through repetition.
I also felt a delay on acceleration, if I didn’t put some muscle on to the pedal I would stay stuck. Like there wasn’t enough power to propel. It was slow and lethargic during lane changes, when accelerating off the line, and overall with any fluctuation of speed. It felt like the van was hesitating, and I felt like I was delaying traffic trying to coax it.
During all this movement I felt my body shift back-and-forth heaving and lurching the same way the Mazda did. Thus making it a rocky ride.
Physically, the CX-90 stuck out of many parking spots and it was harder to find street parking with such a load. There was extra time and energy put into inching my way into narrow parallel spots.
And naturally, plenty of gas needed to fuel such a heavy brick. The mild hybrid, rechargeable battery could only do so much, when more power was needed to propel it, than that which I earned coasting on it.
Sadly, I’m not a fan of the CX-90, as a single woman with no dependents it was not made for me in mind. The size does not meet my lifestyle needs but as Mazda’s largest SUV it definitely fits the family segment.
