Mazda CX-90
Published · Researched 2026-09-21
Review: Mazda CX-90
Mazda built its best-driving three-row ever and then spent two years apologizing for the brakes. The CX-90 is genuinely the most rewarding big crossover to drive under sixty grand — and the early cars are a case study in why you never buy the first model year of an ambitious new platform.
Start with what Mazda got right, because it's substantial. The rear-drive-based platform, the inline-six with real character, the PHEV option with 323 combined horsepower — reviewers and owners agree this is the three-row for people who like driving. Materials feel a class above the price, and the 2026 pricing reset (from $39,300 before destination) puts legitimate premium hardware within reach of mainstream money. When a CX-90 owner in the Facebook groups says it's the best-driving three-row under $60k, they're not wrong.
Now the part that should make you careful. The rear brake squeal is not a quirk, it's a saga: persistent enough that Mazda issued warranty extension CSP14 covering certain 2024–2026 cars built before November 19, 2025, for a one-time replacement with redesigned rear pads — and owners were still reporting squeal returning after service visits in September 2026. One owner described being on visit number four. A July 2026 lawsuit report added allegations of the same brake issue plus overly corrective lane-keep assist that owners describe as yanking the wheel on narrow roads. Beyond that: owner and dealer reports of safe/limp mode events, intermittent driver recognition, parking-sensor faults, walk-away locking issues, and rough stop-start transitions. On the PHEV side, owners have debated whether reported faults required full hybrid-battery replacement, and one 2025 PHEV owner reported water ingress after heavy rain — isolated, not a pattern, but exactly the kind of thing that should make a used buyer ask questions.
Mazda deserves credit for CSP14 — extending a warranty is a real response, not a shrug. But the extension's existence is also the warning label: this car needed one. The 2026 builds look improved, though the extension still applies to early builds, which tells you Mazda isn't declaring victory either.
Who should skip it: anyone shopping 2023–2024 cars without full documented service history, anyone who can't tolerate repeated dealer visits, and PHEV shoppers who don't have a nearby Mazda dealer comfortable with hybrid diagnostics. The sweet spot is a late-build 2026 — revised pricing, mature production, CSP14 coverage as backstop. Years to avoid: 2024, the peak complaint year, and early 2023 launch cars. If you're considering a used 2024 at a tempting discount, the discount is the market pricing in the reputation — make sure the brake work is documented and the price reflects the risk, or walk.
For used shoppers, the math is specific. A 2023 or 2024 CX-90 will be priced well below a comparable Palisade or Telluride — that's the market doing your negotiating for you. The question is whether the discount compensates for the risk and the hassle factor of potential repeat dealer visits. If the seller can show the CSP14 brake work completed, the lane-keep behavior verified to your satisfaction on a test drive, and a clean service history, the value case is real: you're getting RWD-platform dynamics and a genuinely nice cabin for mainstream money. If the history is thin or the seller gets vague about the brakes, the discount isn't a deal, it's a warning. PHEV shoppers should add one more check: make sure a local dealer has hybrid-certified technicians, because PHEV fault diagnosis has been the slowest part of Mazda's support response in isolated owner reports.
The three-row segment is full of competent appliances. The CX-90 was never trying to be an appliance — it was trying to be the driver's three-row, and dynamically it succeeds. Mazda just made buyers pay an early-adopter tax in service visits. That tax is mostly paid off on late-build cars, which is why the buying advice is so year-specific here.
The CX-90 is the cluster's best illustration of a simple rule: buy the car Mazda builds in year three, not the car it launches in year one. The bones were always excellent. They just needed time — and a redesigned brake pad — to prove it.