AS FAR as corporate glow-ups go, Mazda’s has been fascinating to watch. Now deep into the most transformational period in its history, the Japanese automaker’s premium product offensive is in full swing – and the first results of it have charm, glitz and glamorous good looks in abundance.
But our first experience with the CX-60 – the first of Mazda’s all-new (and we mean “all new”) vehicles to utilise its freshly-minted longitudinally-engined Large Product platform – produced mixed emotions. On the one hand it rewards keen drivers through its powertrain and chassis talent, but a brittle ride and poor refinement means the rest of the driving population arguably won’t be as impressed.
And now, less than a month after the Australian launch of the CX-60, we have its bigger sibling the CX-90 to consider. Taking the same architecture as the -60 and stretching it longer and wider, the CX-90 is a hulking, 5.1-metre long, three-row family bus that makes the CX-60 look like a Mazda 3 and even puts the CX-9 (which is due to be retired soon) in its shadow. Its pricing is just as imposing – at least, for regular Mazda customers – but the
