2024 Mazda CX-90 PHEV: Will It Dog?

The 2024 Mazda CX-90 PHEV, even in this Premium Plus trim, doesn't quite feel like a highline car. But it does a pretty good impression of one, and I enjoyed driving it. Our pet Bramble wasn't quite as enthusiastic, but it certainly can carry quite a few fluffy butts and dog bones.

This is a sizable SUV, a true six-passenger vehicle—seven if they're small, eight if you spec the middle bench seat and they are really small—with surprisingly decent driving dynamics and a pretty plush ride. That's an impressive combination to lock down. You won't be able to fool yourself into thinking you're in a Miata, but the CX-90 feels swift and satisfyingly responsive for its size.

A $60,000 list price on a new Mazda is a little eye-twitch-inducing to aging millennials like me who remember when a twin-turbo RX-7 was half that *shakes fist at cloud* but really, the CX-90 looks reasonably priced when parked next to fancy models in its weight class like the $90,000 Mercedes-Benz GLS or the $84,000 BMW X7.

Featured Dogs

Interior Materials and Layout

The PHEV Premium Plus CX-90 has split captain's chairs for the second row, meaning the back seats are basically the same as the front seats. A robust and comfortable third row of three seats on a bench is behind that, and of course, is stowable. There's a little bit of cargo room behind it even when that third row is up, but not quite enough to put a dog in. Not even a little pet should be crammed between the cargo hatch and the back of the third-row bench.

Up front, the dashboard and center console are really quite elegant. The super-wide 12.3-inch infotainment screen is tucked into flowing lines of plastic and wood-like veneer. Main touchpoints like the steering wheel, door handles, and shifter are all reasonably nice but the wood paneling's weirdly soft texture breaks the spell of luxury a bit.

I don't mean to dwell on this too aggressively, but the wood trim is a little like Las Vegas architecture—looks nice as you skim it with bleary eyes, but it doesn't take much scrutiny to see that it's all kind of fake.

The seats are all quite comfortable, and the leather is very soft. But it's the type of material that I worry about abusing. To better articulate what I mean, the leather in a Volvo, for example, can take paws and claws and mud and clean up nicely to do it all over again the next day. There's a thickness to it that communicates robustness and inspires confidence. We didn't do any dog-paw damage to this CX-90's bold white upholstery while we had the car, but I simply don't trust it to take hard use exceptionally well.

Climbing In and Out

Our agility-trained Australian Shepherd mutts make hopping into almost any car look easy. But getting dogs in or out of this thing won't be super smooth for everybody. The back seats and rear cargo area are both pretty high off the ground. And likely in the interest of third-row legroom, there's not an abundance of space between the back of the front seats and the second row.

That said, there's plenty of room to keep a pet ramp stashed in this car. But if you have a larger, less agile animal, this is simply not the easiest vehicle for ingress or egress.

Driving With the Dog

I said at the top that our dog Bramble "wasn't particularly enthusiastic" about the CX-90. Well, this is where you'll have to bear with me as I rely on an animal's vibe check.

There are some cars that Bramble gleefully hops into and settles down in right away. Sometimes, she takes a second to find her footing and relaxes after a few miles. But at the risk of sounding like a dog-whispering weirdo, she never really seemed to get completely comfortable in this vehicle.

I hypothesize that she was weirded out by the second-row captain's chairs. She often likes to stand in the middle of a second-row bench and "surf," while belted in, moving against gravity as the car tilts watching the horizon through the windshield.