Mazda CX-70 2025 review: GT D50e long-term | Part 1

The Mazda CX-70 arrived the same day my family said goodbye to the Kia Carnival which had been with us for the past four months and had so completely won us over that we were looking into how to change its last name to Berry.

Seriously, the youngest was still in tears in the driveway when I came home in a Mazda instead of the Kia. Nothing it seemed could convince her that the CX-70 could be better. Except the colour. It is red, Soul Red to be precise and that was all it took to win over the two-year old. It was a start…

The full name of the CX-70 we’re testing isn’t very catchy - CX-70 GT D50e - so it became known as Big Red almost instantly. But for the record a CX-70 is a large SUV that sits above the CX-60 and below the CX-90 in Mazda’s new SUV line-up. In fact the CX-70 is essentially a two-row version of the three-row CX-90.

GT refers to the grade which is the entry trim level for this model and D50e refers to the powertrain which is a mild-hybrid diesel.

We’d lived with the smaller CX-60 D50e GT 12 months ago for a long-term test. I wasn't a fan of the transmission in that model and I was keen to see if the CX-70's gearbox was as rough.

It was going to be a baptism of fire for Big Red. The five-seat SUV arrived in late November and it was about to be thrown straight into the joy of Christmas chaos.

We were about to cover some big miles over the next couple of months going to country and regional towns so we needed something that was preferably not fully electric. We also needed something with an enormous boot. Sounds like Santa's Sleigh? Well if he’s ever looking for a replacement, Big Red could be it.

The diesel in the CX-70 is a 3.3-litre inline six-cylinder unit making 186kW and 550Nm. It’s a superbly smooth and grunty diesel engine that sounds tough but thankfully not like a delivery truck. I can also report now after more than 600km of driving that the eight-speed transmission has none of the rough and grinding feel or sounds of the CX-60’s unit. 

If you are planning to tow the braked towing capacity is a decent 2500kg.

The fuel consumption was higher than expected at 9.1L/100km especially considering Mazda’s official combined claim of 5.4L/100km, but for the most part this month our journeys have been urban - dashing around doing school runs, getting groceries and picking up Christmas trees.

The Mazda CX-70 has 598 litres of boot capacity to the top of the rear seat backs, which is not enormous, but has worked well for us. That increases to 2015L with the second row stowed.

With the weather hardly getting below 30C the three-zone climate control has been keeping us cool and those rear sun shades on the kids' windows have only ever been up.

Thank the tech lords that the media display in the CX-70 also works as a touchscreen while the vehicle is in motion. I remember the touchscreen function of the display in the CX-60 was disabled while driving - a deal breaker for us.

So far Big Red is impressing, but there’s still two months to go full of school holidays, a beach trip and whatever else 2025 will throw at us.

Acquired: November, 2024

Distance travelled this month: 622km

Odometer: 1809km

Average fuel consumption this month: 9.1/100km (measured at the pump)