MAZDA CX-90 vs ACURA MDX Head to Head Comparison // BATTLE OF THE PREMIUM 7-SEATER SUV

Today we have this all-new Mazda CX-90 and we're putting up against the good old Acura MDX. This is about $66,000 Canadian dollars fully specced out in the signature trim, also known as premium plus in the U.S., and we're putting up against the second from the lowest trim Acura MDX A-spec. It's about $4,000 more than a CX-90. Let's see if it's worth it. So the CX-90 is priced to compete with something like a Telluride, Palisade, or a Pilot. It's also priced very similarly to those cars, but I can tell you right off the bat that this thing will blow them out the water in terms of performance and luxury. Under the hood we have a 3.3 liter mild hybrid turbocharged inline six cylinder. We do have drive mode select. Let's throw in a sport mode. We do have 340 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque paired with an 8-speed automatic transmission, and this thing is fast. All that power goes to a rear-wheel drive bias all-wheel drive system. If you haven't already watched my review on this car, you should as I go in-depth into how this inline six is way better than a traditional V6. To sum it up though, the inline six compared to the V6 is more balanced, smoother, and you have a lot more low-end and mid-range torque compared to the V6. It's also more efficient and it sounds way better. Brake boost and launch. Not bad. Gets up to speed. The V6 also doesn't sound as good as the Mazda. That inline six just sounds amazing. That 3.5 liter V6 doesn't make nearly as much power as the Mazda. This makes 290 horsepower and 267 pound-feet of torque, which is about 100 pound-feet of torque less than the Mazda. However, there is a type S which has a 3.0 liter V6 turbo, and that cranks out 355 horsepower and 354 pound-feet of torque, which is actually very similar to the numbers in the Mazda. And the type S is a whopping $20,000 more than the Mazda. This does have a 10-speed automatic transmission, and I will say it is a little faster to respond than the Mazda. That 8-speed does get a little bit laggy sometimes, but when you have it in a complete sport mode, it does a pretty good job as well. Part of why this thing handles really well is the fact that it has a rear-wheel bias all-wheel drive. So the rear wheels will spin first, just like how they do in Porsche all-wheel drive systems or BMW all-wheel drive systems. Very minimal body roll. We're taking this corner very fast, and yeah, this thing rotates. Pretty much no understeer like the Acura, and it just rotates so well. No body roll. It uses what Mazda calls kinetic posture control. It's also the fact that it's a little more stiff than the Acura. It feels kind of like a BMW in suspension, which is a good thing. It does get a little busy, especially with these large wheels, but that's a good compromise for this added performance. All right, 0-60 test. Let's give it a little brake boost and send. A little bit of turbo lag, and this thing gets going. It's fast. The steering is also very direct. You can rotate the car quite dramatically with just very little input, especially around those hairpin turns. And you forget this thing is a full-size SUV. All right, the MDX might not be as quick, but what we do get is super handling all-wheel drive, which is a real torque vectoring system that actually vectors torque between the individual wheels, unlike the Mazda, which can only brake individual wheels to simulate torque vectoring. It doesn't work like this real torque vectoring system the MDX has. Both cars do get a driving mode, and the graphics on the MDX is much cooler. Throw it in sport mode. Steering gets a little bit stiffer, but it's not as stiff as the CX-90, nor is it as quick. It is a little more numb, but it also makes it a little more comfortable to drive as a daily car. Mazda's kinetic posture control, I think, does a better job at keeping the car planted. This car is tuned more towards daily comfort. Even in sport mode, this is a full send. It's all right. There's also a little more body roll, but this super handling all-wheel drive can really rotate you around a corner. Even with that rear wheel bias all-wheel drive system in the Mazda, I like this one more. Brakes are all right. This car feels a little bit lighter, which it is. It is a tiny bit smaller. They do have a lot of A-spec badges, the red interior, all the sporty font on the dashboard. It makes it seem more sporty, especially with that Mazda, which is just a little more upscale, less sporty looking marketing, but that Mazda just handles much better, and that engine is so much faster than this, and also more fuel efficient. This thing is good, but the Mazda is still a better handling car. Let's throw it into normal mode. Very comfy. Completely quiet now. You don't hear that turbo anymore. Double-paned insulated glass, so when you're coasting or just driving normally, it's quiet. But yeah, in terms of fuel economy, the Mazda achieves 25 miles per gallon combined, while the MDX only achieves 21 miles per gallon, which is about 20% worse than this Mazda, and that's all thanks to the Inline-6 Mild Hybrid. Inline-6s are typically more efficient than V6s anyways, but with that Mild Hybrid technology, when you do coast or you're on the gas very slightly, the engine will shut off and it will say, I stop, which now you're just coasting on all electric mode, and then when you step on the gas a little bit, the engine fires up. You can't tell unless you're looking at the RPM, and you got power again. Typical Mild Hybrid works by using a 48-volt electric battery that assists the combustion engine. This all means that the CS90 is more powerful, yet also more efficient than the Acura MDX. Really good. Yeah, so solid. Mazda has what they call Eye Active Sense, which comes with forward collision avoidance, with pedestrian detection. You have road sign assist, which projects road signs like stop signs, one-way signs, and speed limits on both the heads-up display and your digital cluster. There's also blind spot monitors, which I don't really like on the Mazda, because they are quite sensitive. When a car passes by me, it will stay on for another two or three seconds, so I often think there's another car there, even though there's nothing there. There is forward and rear cross traffic alert though, which is pretty useful, and full speed dynamic cruise control with lane keep assist that works at any speed. Acura Watch has all the same features that you get in the CS90. You get lane keep assist with adaptive cruise control, you got your blind spot monitor, rear cross traffic alert, you also got forward collision warning with pedestrian detection, but what you don't get in this A-spec model is a 360 camera, which the Mazda does get. Not really a big fan of the shifter though. I prefer the more physical one. No one really complained about that, but I don't know why they got rid of it. The Mazda CS90 is only two inches longer than the MDX, but they both look completely different. They have very different design philosophies. Mazda's very much more round compared to the MDX, which has much more aggressive and sharper body lines. Up front, you do get this black grille and chrome on the CS90. You don't have an option for any black at all. Meanwhile, the MDX, you can get it chrome or in gloss black. This is much more upscale and fancy. You have this recessed headlight design, and on the MDX, everything is much sharper, more sportier looking. Everything's aggressive, you have very sharp lines that run across the hood, and you have these dual eye headlamps. On the MDX, we have 20-inch wheels, while on the CS90, we have 21-inch wheels. These are 275, and these are 255, so these are much thicker and larger than the MDX. In the back, it follows the same design. It's much more round and smooth on the CS90, while the MDX is much more aggressive and sharp. We do have these little hook taillights on the CS90, and on the MDX, we have the exact same looking light with a little hook. You can tell that the CS90 is quite a bit taller than the MDX. It makes the MDX look a little bit longer, even though it's not, and we do have pretty much blacked out trimming on the entire thing here. Meanwhile, that has a lot of chrome. Me, personally, I kind of like the more aggressive and sportier look of the MDX. Inside this car, we have a much more premium looking interior. We have suede up here, and then we have Windsor tan seats with suede in the middle as well. These seats are pretty supportive. They are heated and ventilated, and we have a 12.3-inch screen up here and a 12.3-inch screen up there as well. It is touch screen, and you can use an MMI controller to control it as well. Touch screen only works on Apple CarPlay, but that's pretty good and easy system to use. There is a heads-up display. We have Bose speakers, and we have dual pane glass on the side for better noise insulation. There's also a charger, your drive controller down here, and a pretty traditional gear shifter. There's also a brake hold and your volume button over here. Everything here feels nice. You have this fake wood, which is plastic, but it looks really good. It's much better than gloss black. Suede on the door as well, and nice and soft touches everywhere that you can find in this interior. And you also have leather knee pads on the side as well. In the MDX, we do have this ebony red leather seats, also with suede in the middle. There isn't suede up here. This is leather. You do have that red contrast stitching, and you have gloss black, which can get a little dirty and scratchy as well. These seats do feel a little bit more supportive. They are heated and ventilated as well. You have a full digital cluster up here, and then the screen is also 12.3 inches, but it's not touch screen. You have to use this little trackpad down here, which does take a learning curve to figure out how to use. You have this massive drive mode selector called dynamic mode, and you have the typical Acura push-button shifter. There isn't a heads-up display. For you to get the heads-up display, you need to upgrade to the next level platinum trim, which is now $8,000 more than the CS90. You still have a wireless charger though. Your volume knob is right here, brake hold, and a much deeper center console, but also kind of smaller than the CS90. The MMI though feels more up-to-date. You do have wireless Apple CarPlay as well, and then we do have these EOS speakers in the Acura. These are also double pane windows, and the noise insulation is good as well. You do have a little bit more features in the MDX. You have this feature called cabin talk, which can use the mic up here to amplify your voice through the rear speakers, making conversation a lot more clear. This interior doesn't feel as premium as the CS90, but it feels way more sporty and also still luxurious as well, especially in red. All right, open up the rear door here. This doesn't open nearly as wide as the CS90. The door is also a little bit smaller. You still get sun shades back here as well. Same finishes in the back as the front. Getting in, quite a bit of space. You can recline the seat, and you can also move it forward and back. There's your own climate control system. There are heated seats back here, but you don't get ventilated seats like you do in the CS90. You also have USB ports and a 12-volt outlet. Oh, and this panoramic sunroof is larger than the CS90. So this MDX is set up to be a seven-seater, and you can also fold this down to be your armrest. These doors are much wider than the MDX, and they open up pretty much 90 degrees. Sunshades in the back, same materials with suede on the side as well. Nice soft touches, and getting in is pretty easy. You have quite a bit of space. This is configured for the six-seater. You don't have the option for the seven-seat when you get this signature trim, and you can recline the seat and also move it back and forth as well. You do have your HVAC controls, and you do have heated and ventilated seats in the back, which is pretty rare for this class. These windows are also completely automatic up-down as well. The panoramic sunroof here is a little bit smaller than the MDX. It doesn't go as far back, but somehow it feels more spacious and more open in here. Getting to the third row is easier with this one-button seat thing. You can either click this button here or the bottom down there. The seat just moves all the way up automatically. The opening to get in is a little bit smaller than the CX-90, but there is still a bit of space back here. You don't get as much seat space as the CX-90 because these rails do get in the way. Put the seat all the way back, and you have my knees are touching the seat. Not as roomy as the CX-90. You don't get any USB ports back here, and these seats do not recline either. Getting in the CX-90 isn't as easy as the MDX because you do have a manual latch here, and you have to push up the seat automatically. The height is a little bit higher, but the opening is bigger than the MDX. Once you do get back here though, and put the seat all the way back, way more legroom than the MDX, and you do have a few inches more in headroom back here as well. You have your USB-C ports, and two cup holders, and your mat here. There is quite a bit of foot space. It isn't as cramped up as the MDX. You can pretty much sit here pretty comfortably. In the CX-90, you do get a little light here, and also light on the side as well, and a one time outlet here, and a USB port. You got 16 cubic feet of space back here. You do have a strap which folds down the rear seat, which opens up to 40 cubic feet. The loading height on the Mazda is also a little bit lower than the MDX, which makes getting things in and out easier. In the MDX, we have 16 cubic feet of space as well. It's the same exact space as the CX-90. You do have a lever to fold down the seat, which opens up to 39 cubic feet, which is pretty much the same as the Mazda, only one cubic feet less. There is just one light for the third row. There isn't the cool little second light like the Mazda though. Both cars are quite different in this very over-competitive segment of full-size SUVs. Remember, the CX-90 only competes with something like Telluride or the Ford Explorer, but you get the driving dynamics and performance of almost something like an Acura MDX Type S, which is way more expensive than the CX-90. I've seen a drag race between this and a BMW X5, and they're both pretty much tied. The MDX, I will say, does have a better all-wheel drive system. I like that super handling all-wheel drive a lot since it uses a rear torque vectoring system, which makes it feel a little more athletic. But the CX-90 rear wheel drive bias system and this incredible motor they have in here just makes it so much more fun than the MDX, and it's exceptionally better in terms of fuel economy. We've been averaging 27 miles per gallon, which is very, very impressive for a vehicle of size and power. That sounds so good. You can hear the turbo, and it just has this really deep grunt, and it's also smooth because of the M6. The Acura MDX is as luxurious as you expect it to be, but the Mazda is on a different level of premium now. The MDX might hold a more prestigious name, but Mazda emerged out of nowhere with their premium upscale products now at a much more affordable starting price. This car is a bang for your buck in terms of both premium luxury and performance. Despite the lower price point though, this doesn't compromise on anything. Both are ultimately great SUVs. They're both reliable, they both look good, and it really just comes down to personal preference. You can't go wrong with either. But for my money, I definitely take this Mazda over the MDX. That's all guys. Thanks for watching.