Mazda CX-90 vs Volvo XC90

What's the difference?

There are many reasons I quite like this CX-90. It sells the plush luxury promise when it comes to its interior and design, it feels big and purposeful, and has a refreshingly minimalist approach to its cabin tech. As a seven-seat SUV it’s particularly impressive, with plenty of amenity and a third row that can genuinely fit an adult in comfort.

However, there are areas where it could use more polish, from the drivetrain to the ride, and it ultimately strikes an odd point for price and ownership which feels lost between the premium segment and the mainstream rivals.

If you’re a long-term Mazda owner, I still think you’ll love it, and this Touring grade is definitely the best value in the range. It offers the lion’s share of equipment at a price more comparable to Mazda’s traditional mainstream rivals.

The XC90 Recharge makes a lot of sense for a family with a couple of kids, who live and spend most of their time in the city and surrounding suburbs.

You’ll need access to a power point for charging and you’ll have to do it regularly to get the best out of this SUV, but in return you’ll get effortless and efficient driving, along with the practicality and prestige which comes with any XC90. 

The CX-90 is an impressive car to behold. Moving things onwards and upwards from its CX-9 predecessor, the CX-90 is bigger and even more refined in a lot of ways.

Mazda’s signature design language has evolved into something a bit beefier, trading out the delicate sharp angles and chromes of its front-wheel-drive predecessors for something a bit more upright, with a wide stance and tough proportions.

The long bonnet and expansive body panels stress the long-engined, fluid nature of this car’s design language. It certainly gives it a more premium vibe than the boxy American-influenced style of the Hyundai Palisade, and leans more European than the science-fiction styling of something like the Kia Sorento.

If anything, there’s some clear BMW influence in the shape of the tail and light fittings. Light lashings of chrome keep it in-line with Mazda’s previous design language, and on this base model at least, plastic claddings over the arches toughen it up a bit.

Inside is plush. In fact, it’s treading on Lexus territory when it comes to the design and feel of the seats, dash, doors and there are even padded leather touches down the sides of the centre console for your knees to rest against. Even the standard leather seats are nice (with softer Nappa leather available on higher grades), and I actually find the somewhat monochrome interior treatment on our test car to be the most modest option. It’s off-set by silver trims and a touch of chrome in the steering wheel and doors.

The dash is in a more traditional style (again, it feels influenced by BMW here) with a padded insert across the front, inset vents and a climate control panel leading down to a nice wide console with tasteful patterned trims, and an electronic shifter. The screen in this base car is of modest dimensions compared to most cars today, but those who aren’t sold on giant touchscreens will love it.

Even the digital dash elements are tastefully executed, although they’re not particularly customisable, which is a shame. 

Cars are like dogs in that a year for them ages them more than one for us. So, this current-generation XC90 which came out in 2015 is getting on in age. Still, the XC90 is a design lesson in how to defy the aging process because the styling even now it appears modern and beautiful. It’s also big, tough, and prestigious looking which is how the flagship SUV in a premium brand should be.

The Thunder Grey paint my test car wore (see the images) is an optional hue, and it suited the battleship size and personality of the XC90. The enormous 22-inch five -spoke Black Diamond Cut alloy wheels were standard and filled up those giant arches nicely.

Maybe it’s the minimalist styling which has kept the XC90 looking cutting edge, because even the interior looks like the inside of a very expensive psychiatrist’s office with those leather seats and the brushed aluminium trim.

The vertical display is still impressive even in 2021, and while fully digital instrument clusters are in everything these days the XC90’s has a prestigious look and matches the rest of the cabin in its colours and fonts.

As for the XC90’s dimensions, it’s 4953mm long, 2008mm wide with the mirrors folded and 1776mm tall to the top of its shark fin antenna.

The CX-90 is enormous, but despite its long bonnet, it feels on the inside like it makes good use of its dimensions.

Up front, it’s easy to find a seating position thanks to an array of adjustability, from the seats to the telescopic adjust for the wheel, and the cabin is wide and tall enough to accommodate pretty much anyone with ease.

Unlike some Mazdas which have a strange zoom-factor on their rear vision mirrors, the CX-90 doesn't have this problem, and visibility generally out the windows is impressive. I can see the long, tall bonnet and cosy dash design creating visibility issues for shorter drivers, however.

Padded materials are everywhere they should be (and more), and when it comes to storage there’s a large bottle holder in each front door, two more cupholders in the centre console (with a flip-out cover), a split-opening centre console box (which hides USB-C connections, great for cable management) and a wireless charging bay up front below the climate unit.

It’s rare these days to see a full array of physical buttons and toggles for a dual-zone climate set-up, but the Mazda has the whole lot. It’s a breeze to adjust on the fly and integrates into the design in a subtle way.

It’s also worth calling out the multimedia screen isn’t a touch unit. Instead, you need to control it through a handful of buttons and a rotary dial on the centre console. It’s nice to have a physicality to it, and it works well for the relatively simple base operating system, but it’s a clumsy way to interact with phone mirroring.

In my experience Apple CarPlay has simply too many icons and menu features to work around with a dial-operated system, to the point where it’s distracting to use on-the-go (thus, defeating the purpose of having physical controls).

The second row is a real highlight. Set to its default position, I have leagues of legroom behind my own driving position (at 182cm tall). Again, heaps of width and headroom here, and even the huge rear doors open nice and wide, which should make loading luggage and fitting child seats easy.

The seat trim is just as good as it is in the front, with decent side bolstering, and top-notch amenities, with shades built into the windows, decent-sized bottle holders in each door, a further two in the drop-down armrest, soft pockets on the backs of each front seat, and a separate climate zone with independent temperature and fan speed controls.

There are two adjustable air vents with a lock-off, as well as two USB-C ports for power. Top marks.

The third row is usually where things get tricky for SUVs like this, but the CX-90 isn’t out of tricks yet.

Access isn’t the easiest. The second row can fold forward, but the left over aperture for clambering in, even though the doors are quite large, isn’t great, which will make it a no-go for anyone with mobility issues.

However, once you’re back there, I was surprised to find a full-sized adult like me can fit in relative comfort. With the second row set as far back as it can go, my knees are hard up against the back, but when rolled forward for more third-row space, there's still plenty of room in the middle. I was left with ample room for my knees and feet in the back seats. The seat trim also offers decent padding and comfortable trims, which is rare for most three-row SUVs, and while you wouldn’t want to be too much taller than me, the roof was just tall enough to have a little airspace above.

The armrests are hard plastic, unfortunately, but offer two large bottle holders on each side, as well as a USB-C port, and vents with decent air flow, which is again, quite rare for a three-row SUV.

I’d go so far as to say this is one of the best SUV third rows I’ve been in when it comes to space, comfort and amenity.

Now for the luggage space. I was pleased to find, even with the third row up, I could fit the largest (124 litre) CarsGuide luggage case with room to spare on either side. Officially, space here is 257L, but it’s rare to fit a case this size in a three-row SUV.

With the third row folded down, space comes in at 608 litres, which is on-par for this segment, and with the second and third row down, it tops out at 2025L.

With such space on offer it’s probably worth keeping in mind the payload, which is 580kg, and for those who want to add a trailer to the mix, the maximum towing capacity is 2500kg braked or 750kg unbraked for the 50e petrol straight-six versions like the one we’re testing here.

Clever interior packaging means the XC90 Recharge is more practical than many large SUVs. There are flashes of utilitarian brilliance everywhere from the children’s booster seat which pops out of the centre of the second row (see the images) to the way the XC90 can crouch down like an elephant to make it easier to load stuff into the boot.

The XC90 Recharge is a seven-seater, and like all SUVs with third rows those seats in the very back only offer enough room for kids. The second row is spacious even for me at 191cm tall with plenty of leg- and headroom. Up front as you’d expect has good head-, elbow- and shoulder room.

Cabin storage is good with two cup holders in each row (the third also has containers under the armrests) and there are large door pockets, a decent sized centre console box and a net pocket in the front passenger footwell.

The cargo capacity with all seats being used is 291 litres and with the third row folded flat you’ll have 651 litres of boot space.

Storage for the charging cable could be better. The cable comes in a stylish canvas bag that sits in the boot, but other plug-in hybrids I’ve driven do a better job of providing a storage box for the cable that’s out of the way of your regular cargo.  

The gesture control tailgate works with a foot swish under the rear of the car and the proximity key means you can lock and unlock the vehicle by touching the door handle.

The cargo area is filled with hooks for bags and a lift-up divider to hold items in place.

Four-zone climate control, four USB ports (two in the front and two in the second row) dark tinted rear windows and sun blinds top off what is a very practical, family SUV.

My family is small – there’s just three of us – and so the XC90 was more than what we needed. That said, we found a way to fill it with holiday gear, shopping, even a mini trampoline.

The XC90 Recharge lists for $114,990 making it the most expensive grade in the XC90 range.

Still, the value is excellent considering the number of features which come standard.

The 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster standard, so is the nine-inch vertical centre display for media and climate control, there’s also sat nav, a Bowers and Wilkins 19-speaker stereo, wireless phone-charging, four-zone climate control, power-adjustable front seats, proximity key with auto tailgate and LED headlights.

My test car was fitted with options such as the Nappa Leather perforated and ventilated seats in Charcoal ($2950), the Climate pack which adds heated rear seats and a heated steering wheel ($600), power folding headrests in the rear ($275) and Thunder Grey metallic paint ($1900).

Even at a grand total (before on-road costs) of $120,715 I think this is still good value.

The CX-90 gets a bit exciting under the bonnet with its big 3.3-litre in-line six-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine. It produces a whopping 254kW/500Nm, well above par compared to its mainstream rivals.

This engine is mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission. This is no run-of-the-mill transmission though. Instead of the usual smooth hydraulic coupling this style of transmission is known for, the Mazda uses a hybridised single clutch set-up instead.

This is in the name of efficiency. A single-clutch plate has less loss, and is therefore more fuel efficient, with a small electric motor helping to push things along as part of the mix.

The catch is, like the sometimes-derided dual-clutch automatics, it’s not as smooth to operate. More on this in the driving section.

Efficiency – What is its fuel consumption? What is its driving range? 8/10

As a result of this unusual transmission set-up, fuel efficiency isn’t bad for such a big and powerful engine, and for such a large vehicle.

The official combined fuel consumption for the CX-90 G50e is 8.2L/100km, which is already impressive, and in my week with the car over a few hundred (mostly urban) kilometres it landed close, at just 8.9L/100km.

It’s seriously impressive and runs rings around the six-cylinder Hyundai Palisade (10.7L/100km combined) while producing significantly more power than the more efficient Toyota Kluger Hybrid (5.6L/100km). On the flipside, you’ll need to fill its massive 75L fuel tank with mid-shelf 95RON fuel.

The XC90 Recharge (Volvo calls it this, so for simplicity let's do it, too) is an all-wheel drive SUV with a 2.0-litre four-cylinder supercharged and turbo-charged engine, producing 246kW and 440Nm, plus an electric motor which adds 65kW and 240Nm.

Shifting gears is an eight-speed automatic and acceleration is rapid at 5.5 seconds for the 0-100km/h sprint.

All XC90s have a 2400kg braked towing capacity.

The 11.6kWh lithium ion battery is located under the floor in a tunnel which runs down the centre of the car covered by the centre console and hump in the footwell of the second row.

If you didn’t realise, this is the type of hybrid you need to plug into a power source to charge the batteries. A power point is fine but a wall unit is faster.  If you don’t plug in, the battery will only get tiny whiff of charge from the regenerative braking and that won’t be enough to put a tiny dent in your fuel consumption.

For all its clever, efficient drivetrain, the CX-90 has a bit of a mixed drive experience. Initially, it comes off as impressive. It’s plush and quiet from behind the wheel, and the primarily rear-drive nature of its drivetrain gives it the big premium steering response missing from its mostly front-drive rivals.

The flaws with its tricky transmission quickly become evident, though. The clutch constantly needing to engage in stop-start scenarios makes for a slightly jerky and uneven experience, similar to the feel of a dual-clutch auto, particularly in traffic, while the at-speed gear shifts, which in a dual-clutch tend to be much smoother are telegraphed more physically by this Mazda system.

As evidenced by the actual fuel consumption, it’s clear this system does what it sets out to, and it even feels like it could be significantly better, but Mazda will need to invest some time in calibration. For what it’s worth, it feels better than its original implementation I drove at the launch of the CX-60, which was the first car to get this system.

A subsequent software update has solved some issues, but it still can’t compare to a regular auto when it comes to smoothness.

However, the engine is immensely satisfying. The big six has a low roar when pushed, and motivates the big CX-90 with ease when you step on it. It pairs nicely with the weighty steering to make for a car which feels purposeful and satisfying to steer when it gets going.

In this sense it nails the brief of elevating Mazda out of the regular crop of front-drive seven-seat SUVs, giving it a distinct and more premium edge.

As also noted with the CX-60 though, the CX-90 has the same issue with its ride quality. It’s a little too hard to give it the kind of refined response to road imperfections we’ve come to expect from brands like Lexus and BMW. The firm response to the road helps this big heavy SUV feel controlled in the corners, but it doesn’t deal with suburban bumps how it should.

Larger hits in particular are often communicated to the cabin. The CX-90 is better than its smaller CX-60 sibling, which went so far as to have its rear dampers recalled, but the brand is even considering similar updates to this large SUV, so keep an eye out.

While this version of the CX-90, the base Touring with its smaller alloys and larger tyres, is more comfortable than any other Mazda on this new platform I’ve driven, it still leaves room for improvement.

It’s a shame, because otherwise the CX-90 is a lovely and luxurious SUV to drive, with a quiet, plush interior and a satisfying engine. It’s so close to greatness that it’s frustrating.

We put more than 700km on the clock of the XC90 Recharge during the three weeks it stayed with my family, covering a lot of motorway miles, country roads and a stack of urban usage, too.

Now without sounding like one of the haters who hated on me the last time I test-drove a Volvo hybrid, you will need to charge the XC90 Recharge all the time if you want to get not only the best fuel economy, but also the best performance from the SUV, too.

There’s the extra oomph from the motor, when you have enough charge in the ‘tank’ but also the serene and smooth pleasure of driving in electric mode on city and urban trips.

That tranquil electric driving experience feels kind of at odds with a large SUV at first, but having now tested a few big family plug-in hybrids and EVs I can tell you it’s a more enjoyable one.

Movement is not only smooth, but the electric grunt provides a feeling of control with an instant response which I found reassuring in traffic and at intersections.

The transition from electric motor to petrol engine is almost seamless. Volvo and Toyota are only a couple of the few brands which seemed to have achieved this.

The XC90 is large and that presented a challenge when trying to pilot it into my narrow driveaway and in car parks, but light, accurate steering and excellent visibility with large windows and cameras galore helped there.

The auto parking feature works well even on the higgledy-piggledy streets in my neighbourhood.

Topping off an effortless driving experience is air suspension which provides a cushioned and composed ride, with great body control all while wearing those 22-inch wheels and low-profile rubber.

Volvo has for decades been a pioneer of safety systems to such an extreme that people used to make fun of the brand for being overly cautious. Well, take it from this helicopter parent: there’s no such thing as being overly cautious! Besides, these days all car brands are striving to offer advanced safety systems which the XC90 has had for years. Yep, safety is cool now. Which makes Volvo the Kanye of car brands.

Coming standard on the XC90 Recharge is AEB which works at city speeds to brake for pedestrians, cyclists, vehicles and even large animals.

There’s also lane keeping assistance, blind spot warning, cross traffic alert with braking (front and rear).

Steering support provides assistance during at evasive manoeuvre at speeds between 50 and 100km/h.

Curtain airbags cover all three rows and for child seats there are two ISOFIX mounts and three top tether anchor points in the second row. Note, there are no mounts or points for child seats in the third row.

A space-saver spare is under the boot floor.

The XC90 was given the maximum five-star ANCAP rating when it tested in 2015.  

The usual five-year and unlimited kilometre warranty applies to the CX-90 range, with a matching five years of roadside assistance.

Servicing is required once every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever occurs first, and a schedule of costs on Mazda’s website extends to seven years. Over the first five years, prices fluctuate between $469 and $1304 annually, with an average yearly cost of $693.30. The price puts this big-engined Mazda up the premium end of mainstream automakers when it comes to service costs.

The XC90 is covered by a five-year, unlimited kilometre warranty. Two service plans are offered: three years for $1500 and five years for $2500.