The 2025 Mazda CX-70 PHEV Is An Upscale Large Hybrid SUV With A Sporty Aura

If you're one of those buyers who simply can't decide between purchasing a mainstream and a luxury brand, Mazda has been one of those companies that just gives you the perfect compromise. In fact, a couple of years ago, the company introduced a new flagship vehicle called the CX-90. It was built on an all-new large rear-wheel drive architecture, and it also introduced a family of new turbocharged inline-six and plug-in hybrid powertrains. However, with the huge success of the CX-90, Mazda is expanding the family to also include this new 2025 CX-70. As you can see from the design, it definitely gives it a sportier edge. This particular one that we're showing you is the plug-in hybrid model, which means you can go up to 26 miles of all-electric range and get up to 25 MPG in hybrid mode. Today, we're actually out here in Palm Springs, California, and the big question I want to answer is if you guys are an empty nester looking for the perfect electrified two-row SUV, has Mazda managed to create the perfect vehicle with this new CX-70? Stay tuned to find out. So, we've been waiting for Mazda to introduce a slightly less expensive and smaller version of the flagship CX-90 ever since we saw that vehicle first come into production about a couple of years ago. So, it's a great pleasure of mine to finally be showing you guys the CX-70. Now, before we start talking about the exterior styling, let's go ahead and talk about what's underneath the hood. Now, I'm going to actually show you guys a separate video of the Turbo S, which has the inline-six with a mild hybrid system. This is also a powertrain that Mazda also says is very popular. It combines, essentially, the company's 2.5-liter high compression gasoline direct injection naturally aspirated four-cylinder with a powerful 68-kilowatt electric motor. The gas engine on its own delivers around 189 horsepower. The electric motor gives you around 173. Combined, Mazda says you have a total of 323 horsepower and around 369 pound-feet of torque. So, that's a little bit less horsepower than the Turbo S inline-six, but also the same torque. So, that torque figure, as you guys know, is going to really help this car get off the line, and it's really going to give it that power that you're looking for for a vehicle in this class. Now, it all goes out through an eight-speed automatic transmission. It's a Mazda-designed torque converter automatic, although technically Mazda plucks out the torque converter and they replace it with a wet clutch system. And it has a big battery pack because this is a plug-in hybrid, a 17.8-kilowatt-hour battery pack, which will give you up to 26 miles of all-electric range. Mazda says if you drive it as a hybrid, it'll get around 25 miles per gallon. Plug in the battery, keep it fully charged, you'll get around 56 MPGE, which that number really doesn't mean much. Combine that with the 18.5-gallon fuel tank, you're looking at a total of around 490 miles of range, as Mazda quotes. The company doesn't quote a zero-to-sixty time, but we'll have to see what we get when we actually get this vehicle out on the road. It has a top speed of around 118 miles an hour. This vehicle will tow a maximum of 3,500 pounds, and as this car sits, it's the heaviest version of the CX-70. It comes in at just over 5,100 pounds. This car is about 40 pounds lighter versus the CX-90. But let's go ahead and close up the hood here, which it's a little bit windy out here, so bear with me. But talking about the exterior styling of this vehicle, you can see the CX-70, Mazda essentially gave it its own front fascia. So you have the signature Mazda five-point grille with this kind of chain-link fence design with a lot more black accents. So if you guys remember, I didn't love the chrome accents on the CX-90, so it's great to see the black accents here on the CX-70 to give it that sportier edge. All models will come standard with these full LED headlights with the kind of double stack design. You also have a sequential or kind of a fade-in fade-out style to the turn signals, which also is an LED. You have an LED low and high beams. These are also the adaptive headlights. No fog lights on the vehicle, but you can see the front fascia is just slightly different where you have this larger fake grille opening here with some functional openings here, this kind of silver trim. And then, by the way, this color, guys, this is a new color for Mazda entirely. It's called Melting Copper Metallic. So this is the introduction of this color. It's about $450 extra. I have to say, in the desert-like environment here in Palm Springs, this color certainly pops. And you probably noticed the interior is also red. So I'm looking forward to showing you guys the interior color combination. But let me know in the comment section below what you guys think of the design. Essentially, the car looks just like a CX-90, and that's because the car actually is. When you look at the side profile of the vehicle, I was expecting Mazda to make this car shorter, and it's not. The overall length is around 200.8 inches long, a little longer if you factor in the front license plate. We'll show you guys a separate clip later of some of the competitive set where the Mazda, you can clearly tell, is the bigger vehicle, 122.8-inch long wheelbase. So again, a lot longer than most of its other midsize rivals. If you guys are looking for a full paint finish here on the fenders, you can get that on the Inline-6 model, which I'll show you guys in a different review. And you can see this model here also comes with these really nice-looking 21-inch alloy wheels with a slightly different design to the multiple spokes. It has a two-tone machine and gloss black effect. You have a 13.8-inch rotor at the front and in the rear, along with a fully independent suspension. No adaptive dampers or air suspension or active rear-wheel steering. Remember, this is still a Mazda. It's not going to have those really upscale features that you find from a luxury SUV. Now you can see over here, this is where you can tell it's a PHEV. It'll say P-H-E-V here for plug-in electric vehicle. The Inline-6 will have Inline-6. There's black painting side mirrors here, which are power folding integrated turn signals. You have black accents for the door handles, black trim again around the window area, which looks a lot better to me versus the chrome along with the black roof rails. And then you can see the panoramic sunroof. That's going to be standard equipment on all versions of the PHEV model. We'll talk about the Turbo S and the Turbo later on in a separate video on where you can get the sunroof. And then over here, this is where you find the charge port door. Now there are two doors on this car because it's a plug-in hybrid. So you can see on this side, you're going to find the J1772 plug, no CCS combo, because remember it's a plug-in hybrid. And like I said earlier, 17.8 kilowatt hour battery pack, 26 miles of range. It has a 17, or I'm sorry, it has a 7.2 kilowatt onboard charger, which means you can go from zero to a hundred percent in this car in roughly two, two and a half hours. So relatively quick charging, definitely quicker than some of its competitors in the luxury space. And then looking at the rear here, you can see this looks practically identical to a CX-90 aside from some different tweaks here. So obviously it says CX-70 as opposed to CX-90 all-wheel drive. E Skyactiv P-HEV, that's going to tell you that this is again a plug-in hybrid vehicle. And then looking at the rear bumper, you can see it's a slightly more sportier looking design versus the 90 with this kind of more sculpted rear splitter, nicely integrated parking sensors. You have a camera back here. You also have full LED taillights where the turn signal also has kind of like that sequential fade-in fade-out design, which I actually think looks good. It looks better than the last BMW X5 that I tested. Back here, you can see, I kind of wish Mazda gave it a bigger rear spoiler. You do have the availability of a digital camera rear mirror. You also have a rear wiper here. And then one of the big areas about the CX-70 is going to be in the cargo capacity, because this is where Mazda really focused hard on giving consumers, buyers, what they wanted here. And this is exactly why the company said they didn't want to make it smaller, because what you're looking at here is around 39.7 inches of, or cubic feet of total storage space. That's essentially the same as the CX-90 with the seat folded, because as you guys know, this car doesn't have a third row. It's essentially just a two-row version of the CX-90. Mazda also gave you some nice handy features here where you can push this button here. That's going to basically hydraulically push the seats down. If you fold down the seats, Mazda says you have a total of 75.2 cubic feet of space. I'll show you guys some of the competitive set later to really show you just how much more space the CX-70 has. And that's one of, again, selling features for this car. All the plug-in hybrid models will also include a 1500-watt, 120-volt outlet back here. That's standard equipment where you can essentially power like campsite equipment, a laptop, for example, other accessories, which is a nice feature to have. This is only included on the P-HEV model. And you also get another outlet over here. So technically there's two outlets on each side of the cargo area, along with an actual separate 12-volt power outlet here, which is nice. If you look underneath the rear seat here, you can see this is where you're going to find a little bit of storage with the charge port cable. And then typically that's where the third row is, and Mazda decided to give us a little more space there. So you can see, lift that up, there's another separate hidden storage compartment there, which is where the third row used to go. So again, Mazda kind of made it a little easy for them, but at the same time, it's kind of ingenious because people who are looking for, you know, a bigger SUV like this and want the cargo space, you now are going to get probably the most you're going to find in the midsize segment. Although technically this car is a large SUV. Now, moving on to the interior of the new CX-70. First of all, if you guys thought the exterior looked just like the CX-90, it's going to pretty much carry over here into the interior. Aside from a small tweaks, first of all, this interior color is unique to the CX-70. This is essentially the red Nappa leather seats that's included with the premium plus trim. The seats are identical in the design and in the shape, but I have to say the red color looks fantastic with the contrast stitching, the black piping and accents. It's also perforated because these seats are heated and ventilated. You have a 10-way power driver and passenger seat with a two-person memory here on the driver's side. This red color for me really clashes with the melting copper exterior. So let me know in the comment section below if you guys like this combination or you think, or if you think Mazda was a little too bold. Now, getting inside the CX-70, this has roughly 8.1 inches of ground clearance, so it has a nice easy step in height. As I shut the door, you can hear the door also has a nice solid sounding thunk. Remember this is built on their new large architecture. Now, here's the key fob for the vehicle. You can see this is the newer Mazda Intelligent Access Key. It's standard on every version of the plug-in hybrid model. It has the usual buttons here for lock, unlock, power liftgate, and panic. No remote start from the fob itself, but I believe if you connect to the Mazda Connect app, you can also remote start it from your phone. Start stop button is located where you expect it to be, and because this is a plug-in hybrid, as I turn the vehicle on, there's no traditional starter noise. Instead, you just hear the new Mazda chime, the vehicle whirs to life. It'll say ready in the instrument panel, and essentially you get the same kind of starter sequence as the CX-90. Now, looking at the rest of this interior, you can see Mazda typically does a great job of blurring that line between luxury and mainstream, and this is certainly no exception. I love the way the steering wheel looks. This is the Mazda new corporate steering wheel with the alloy trim. It's got paddle shifters, of course, to control the eight-speed auto. You have controls here for your cruise control, for your audio controls. There's also a heads-up display. You have a manual tilt and telescoping adjustment, which is where some competitors offer a power tilt telescope when you look into the luxury space. The horn, it actually sounds pretty decent. It's a little nondescript, but it also says, get out of my way, appropriately sized for this vehicle as well. You can see the door panel has a soft-touch injection molded plastic with some alloy look trim. This kind of gray colored plastic over here, more of that beautiful red Nappa leather. You have an aluminum accented door handle, and then the window controls are one touch up-down for all four, which is nice. This car also comes standard with a 12-speaker Bose stereo system. That's going to be standard on every version of the P-HEV. Essentially, Mazda threw it in when you go for the premium trims and up. And then looking at the dash, you can see this is identical to the CX-90. So you have a soft-touch injection molded plastic at the upper end. You have beautiful Nappa leather here on this lower portion where it's nice and padded, more of that gray painted plastic. Down here, it is hard-touch plastic over the glove box. And then over here, it's also hard-touch plastic as well. And if you're looking at the infotainment system of this car, Mazda, unlike the CX-90, makes the 12.3-inch screen standard. So that's definitely a nice touch, which also means it includes wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. This is the new Mazda Connect system here, which now allows for touchscreen functionality when the vehicle is moving. However, it's only a touchscreen when you actually have it in the CarPlay function. If you go to the native screen, which you can access by clicking that Mazda display here, it's not a touchscreen when you go to the Mazda native system. I really think Mazda needs to rethink that. They want you to use their rotary dial here, which I think is a mistake. I think people really just want the touchscreen aspect. And you can see this 12.3-inch display looks nice. It's appropriately sized. It's also complemented by this 12.3-inch fully digital cluster. Now, most or all PHEV models are going to come standard with this, which is a nice feature to have. The gauge display is slightly customizable. If I go into an off-road setting, for example, it'll change the look to kind of like a grayish tan sand look where it gives you a tachometer. You can also go to a normal mode, which kind of gives you just basic looks, the purple, almost like the purple and white look of the EV. And then there's red accents when you go into the sport mode here. So there's four different drive modes. It gives you back attack when you go into sport mode. We'll try that on later on in a driving scene, but you can see looking at the stack here, this looks identical to the way the dash fence are. You have three-zone automatic climate control, so that kind of reminds you of the CX-90. And then you have a wireless phone charging pad here, which is actually standard. You have your drive mode selector here. This controls the eight-speed auto. Put that into reverse there, you can see the engine comes on and it gives you a full top-down 360 camera. That's included when you guys go for the premium plus trim. You can see it also has cross-traffic braking, front cross-traffic alert, parking sensors, front and rear. And the graphics and resolution is also perfectly fine. I think Mazda did a pretty good job there. You can see there's more alloy trim here. There's a controller to control the Mazda Connect and along with an actual volume knob here, electronic parking brake, cup holders. And then there's a nice padded center console here, which opens up in two different sides. You can see you have two USB-C charging ports here. It's slightly a shallow storage compartment area, although it still fits most of my camera gear nicely in there, which is fine. Above me here, you can see you have a woven material for the headliner, standard panoramic sunroof, which also opens up to vent air, which is nice. It actually opens up only over the front seat area, but it's nice that Mazda gives you that feature. Although I will say it doesn't open up as large as I would like it to, and that's because it slides out, you know, I guess to give you a little bit more headroom back here. You have an auto-dimming rear mirror. My test car is missing the digital camera mirror for an extra 800 bucks, but it looks nice with its frameless design. And overall, I think people are going to be pleased with this cabin. Again, it is identical to ACX90. But let's go ahead and hop into the backseat area and show you guys the space back here because Mazda claims this car has best-in-class rear seat legroom. Now, the seats do fold down and they also recline. I'll show you guys that feature in the Turbo S separate review. But total, there's around 39.4 inches of legroom back here, which this space is actually pretty big. It's practically identical to the space in the CX90 in the two-row model. Obviously, no capstan chairs. You just have a bench that goes across. You have these manual retractable sunshades or peasant blockers. You have these padded materials here. Aluminum trim, nice and padded over here with the metal covers or the metal door handles, which is also a nice touch. Looking over here at the center stack, you can see you have rear seat air vents, climate control functions because it's three-zone, two USB charging ports. You have three-level heated seats, but no cooled seats. There's actually a button here where you could add it Mazda, but they don't offer it here in the States. You have these two storage pockets. And overall, you can see headroom space is pretty good for somebody my height at five foot seven. Legroom space is also plentiful. So again, this is the reason why Mazda didn't make this car any smaller because they wanted to give it best-in-class rear seat legroom and best-in-class cargo space, which you guys saw when we were walking around in the competitive set. So again, because the CX70 is the same exact size on the outside as the 90, it gives this vehicle best-in-class cargo and rear seat space. And Mazda is so confident about the positioning and the luxury features of the CX70 that they actually brought out three competitors for us to kind of compare and contrast because these are vehicles that Mazda claims will likely be cross-shopped with the CX70. Now that's a very bold claim. I have to admit, I've spent some time with all three of these vehicles. So let's kind of go down the line and talk about the styling and of course the size and the cargo space. Now this right here is the 2024 BMW X5. This is one of the top-selling vehicles. It's a mid-size luxury SUV. And you can see under the hood of this vehicle, which I won't bother to pop it, but you can also get it with a plug-in hybrid powertrain, just like the one that I showed you. This offers up to 483 horsepower from a three-liter turbo inline six and up to 37 miles of all-electric range. So more range and more power versus the Mazda, but it's a BMW. I kind of expect it to give it that additional power and that additional features. In terms of the size, the BMW is around 194.7 inches long. So it's around six inches shorter than the CX70. This is where I was kind of hoping Mazda would make the CX70 a little bit smaller. This is again, a mid-size SUV, kind of the right-sized vehicle for a lot of people out there looking for a two-row vehicle without, you know, the need of a third row. Now in terms of the cargo area, this is where the X5 is also among the best in its segment, but it does have less than the Mazda. You have around 34 cubic feet of total storage space. If you fold down the second row seat, it expands it to around 72 cubic feet. I do love the split tailgate design of the X5. It kind of reminds me of a Range Rover. And when you close it, you can see it just closes up in such a fluid way. And it's also great if you guys have stuff back here that's rolling around, because when it opens up, it doesn't actually allow stuff to fall out, which is a nice touch. Now let's back ourselves back over to the Lexus here, because the Lexus RX is the best-selling vehicle in the segment. This did like 114,000 units last year in America. And you can see under the hood of the RX, you can also get it with a plug-in hybrid powertrain. It combines a two and a half liter four-cylinder with three electric motors, 304 horsepower. So this has less power. It's actually the least powerful model here, but it also will do up to 36 miles of all-electric range. So pretty similar to the BMW. And as you guys know, the Lexus is built off of their TNGA architecture. Its overall length is the shortest here at around 192.5. So this is around eight inches shorter than the Mazda. And I do think that the Lexus looks a lot smaller, especially when you view it in person. The size of the CX-70 is more comparable to the TX, which also is available as a plug-in hybrid. The other downside about the Lexus is this being the smallest vehicle on the outside, it also has the least amount of cargo space. So you have around 26 cubic feet of storage space with the seats up. Fold down those seats, it expands it out to around 46.9. So again, significantly less, almost half the cargo capacity in terms of the size compared to the Mazda and significantly less even than the BMW. Now behind me here, this is the Jeep Grand Cherokee, the Grand Cherokee 4xe. I don't really think people are going to compare it to the Mazda because this is, again, it's a Jeep, it's an off-road oriented vehicle. And under the hood of the plug-in hybrid version, the 4xe, you have a two-liter turbo four-cylinder paired up with around a 17 kilowatt lithium-ion battery pack, giving you around 25 miles of electric only range. So pretty similar range to the Mazda. The downside with the Jeep, however, or not so the downside, the upside Jeep is you do get more power versus the Mazda. So 375 horsepower and 470-ish pound-feet of torque. So that torque output is actually really good. I believe only the BMW has more torque and it's going to give the Jeep pretty quick acceleration. But this is also likely going to be the heaviest vehicle because it has those off-road capabilities that you expect with a Jeep. In terms of the overall length, this is around 193.5 inches long. So it's around seven inches shorter than the Mazda, but you can really see that the Jeep is a right size, a right proportioned vehicle. And the L, remember, is the longer wheelbase version. That's really more along the same size as the CX-70. The other great thing about the Jeep is the cargo area is more like the BMW. So you get around 33 cubic feet of space here with the seats up. Fold down those seats, it expands it to around 70 cubic feet. So despite the fact that the Mazda is, you know, between six to eight inches longer, between the Jeep and the BMW, the cargo space, max cargo space difference is really only between about five to around three cubic feet. So that kind of shows you with the packaging how Mazda could have done a little bit better. But overall, you know, comparing it to these three vehicles is a, you know, a bold claim. I'm not entirely sure people are going to compare the BMW, but I could see people cross-shopping perhaps the Lexus. The Jeep buyer is slightly a different buyer, but also keep in mind the pricing of these vehicles is going to be different because the Jeep starts at 60 grand, the Lexus starts at around 70 grand for the plugin, and the BMW is the most expensive that starts at around $74,000. So while some of you may be wondering why the heck didn't Mazda just call this car a CX-90 two-row, the company says they're confident that they really wanted to do a different name because they're saying that the client's hell for the CX-70 is going to be a different buyer. They're really targeting empty nesters who are looking for a luxury oriented vehicle with best in class space in the backseat and in the trunk area. And after seeing the new CX-70 plugin hybrid model in person, it's pretty easy to see that there's lots to like about this model. Just like the CX-90 on which it's based, this vehicle is big on the outside. It's big on the inside. It has a ton of technology features. It has a really high tech plugin hybrid powertrain that should give you around 26 miles of all electric range and the design. I love the design changes that Mazda has made to the plugin hybrid version between all the black accents, the different wheels, the unique front and rear bumper. It essentially looks like the way I wanted the CX-90 to look when it first came out by giving it kind of like a blackout appearance package or a sport package. But again, I can see why Mazda was saving it for again, the likes of this vehicle here. Now you guys also saw with the competitive set, they had a Lexus RX, a BMW X5, a Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe. Personally, I'm not entirely sure people are going to be cross shopping those vehicles with a Mazda, but with the company selling around 30,000 CX-90s, the company is also targeting around 100,000 total US sales between the CX-90 and the CX-70 annually, which is a very bold claim. But I have to say this model here, I think is going to appeal to a lot of people who again, can't decide between a luxury and a mainstream brand. Because if you look at the pricing of this vehicle, pricing for the CX-70 is going to start for the plugin hybrid model at around $54,200. That's actually around $5,000 more versus a CX-90 plugin hybrid model. That's because the CX-70 starts at the premium trim as opposed to the preferred trim. So there's a lot of extra equipment this car also gives you. My particular test car here is the premium plus, it's an extra $3,000 add-in destination and $450 for the color. And you're looking at just over $59,000. I know 59 grand sounds like a lot of money, but if you're comparing it to those other luxury brands and the Jeep, this is where things get interesting because the BMW starts at around $73,000 for the plugin hybrid model. The Lexus RX 450h plus with its plugin hybrid powertrain starts at just over $70,000. And I will say the Lexus and the BMW offer around 10 more miles of electric only range. The Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe starts at $60,000. So again, it's more expensive for $6,000 more expensive than the Mazda. It has similar electric only range, although it does have more horsepower. It has off-road capability. So the CX-70P definitely plays in an interesting space. And I'll be curious to see how it does for Mazda in terms of sales, because the company says between the CX-90 sales and the take rate, about 40% of customers choose the plugin hybrid models. So I want to know in the comment section below, let me know what you guys think. If you would consider this vehicle, if you don't need a third row, but again, you want a luxury oriented vehicle, but you don't necessarily want the baggage of a luxury brand. And unfortunately we weren't able to drive the car in this video, but be sure to come back on May 21st, where we will actually upload a video, a full video on the Turbo S driving scenes and driving scenes of this vehicle. So be sure to set your calendars for that review. But with all that said, I hope you guys have enjoyed my full overview on the 2025 Mazda CX-70 plug-in hybrid. If you're also looking to see the latest cars I'm testing, be sure to follow me on Instagram at Redline underscore reviews, like us on Facebook. And as always guys, please keep subscribing to the Redline Reviews YouTube channel for all the latest reviews. Thank you so much for watching. I'll catch you all in the next video.