Exploring the 2025 Mazda CX-90, Luxury SUVs and the 2025 Infiniti QX80

2025 Mazda CX-90 Car Review

Speaker 1 0:10

All right time now for this hour's car review 2025 Mazda CX-90 . Oh boy , I had the 3.3 Turbo S Premium Plus . This is a standard SUV seating for six in three rows , all new for 2024 . One of the better looking SUVs on the market , I say Well balanced overall , attractive , conservative front grille . What is he doing down there ? He's fiddling with his headset , that's okay . You done fiddling with his headset , that's okay . You done fiddling , okay , thank you . Chrome accents give an overall high-priced appearance . Rear hatch and booty carries the balanced look , also with lighting beneath the glass . What I liked about it overall look gets an A in my book . What could use improvement ? Nothing Like the painted wheel . Well , opening moldings on it . That was different , because usually the manufacturers these days don't paint them . The black plastic and it's like a kitchen nut .

Speaker 3 1:19

Is yours that way . You got black plastic . No , I got gray Mine's an accent of the gray , so yours are painted . Yeah , black plastic . No , I got gray Mine's an accent of the gray , so yours are painted yeah , oh yeah , painted gray or molded gray , okay , whatever .

Speaker 1 1:31

Interior highlights Standalone center screen with instrument cluster underneath the sunshade there for the driver . Alcantara dash accent is attractive but it sure seems to me that could be a dirty point later on in the car's life . Comfortable seating for six . Overall design is attractive on the interior , cargo kind of on the small side , with the third row up , which is pretty typical for three rows of seating . That back seat kids only . What I liked . Attention to the detail is noteworthy . What could use improvement ? Infotainment is one of the worst in the business and I have not liked it from the beginning . I shared that sentiment with our dear friend out on the West Coast , jack Nerad , and he agreed with me . He said you know they need to do some work in that area .

Speaker 1 2:17

3.3 liter turbocharged engine , 340 horsepower , 369 pound feet of torque , so it doesn't lack in the power . Eight-speed automatic transmission towing 5,000 pounds Gets 23 in the city , 28 on the highway for a combined of 25 . I got 26.7 miles per gallon over 497.8 miles . Are you going to say something ? I'll wait till you're done . What I liked about it ? The power . What could use improvement ? The start-stop feature kills the engine at any speed when the accelerator is not pressed and it's disturbing . So you're doing 70 miles an hour and you let off the accelerator , the engine quits . Okay , I'm not sure about that . Transmission shift from first to second is bothersome as well . What I liked about it the overall feel of the car is responsive and quick , sports car-like actually , and they've done quite well in the sports car department with the Mazda Miata MX-5 . What could use improvement there ? Nothing .

Speaker 1 3:15

Now , base trim price on this is $56,450 . It's not cheap . Price is tested $57,905 . Base model price is $37,845 . Competitors to this vehicle in base and size Kia Telluride starts $36,190 . Hyundai Palisade $36,800 . And the Toyota Grand Highlander , which is a new model for them , $42,310 . It's interesting that these new cars , especially the new ones with the much smaller engines and they're boosting them even turbocharged , mostly turbocharging . Some have a supercharger , but there's not that often . But you got to wonder sometimes about the longevity of it . How long is that turbo going to last and what does it take to change out the turbo , should it , you know , bite the big one ?

Speaker 3 4:06

Well , hopefully , if it goes out , it'll go out under warranty . Yeah , you know you've got three or 36 as a standard .

Speaker 1 4:12

I can't imagine that they would put a turbocharger on a car these days from the factory that ain't going to last at least 50,000 miles . So roll the dice , I guess , and I don't know what it would cost , to change out a turbocharger and I think most of them the turbocharger on the diesels . They're in the center of the rear of the engine and you have to lift the cab off of the chassis to change it .

Speaker 3 4:41

What ? You walk into a Ford dealership in the service department and you see two or three of the cabs lifted up .

Speaker 2 4:47

Yeah , it's just easier to get to it and they just don't fight it , they just take it off and get to it .

Speaker 3 4:52

It's like six or eight bolts . You take the rack , lift it up yeah , but you've got to unplug everything .

Speaker 2 4:56

Well , yeah , well , like us .

Speaker 3 4:58

Young guys have memories .

Speaker 2 4:59

They remember where stuff goes . It's color-coded and the plugs are made so that you can't . They'll only plug in one way .

Speaker 1 5:06

Interchange them , okay , well , anyway , I enjoyed the Mazda . I have my issue with the infotainment system you always have and you're right . Jack . Jack confirmed that . Yeah , and that's just me . You might not have a problem with it . All right , let us take a break , shall we Speaking of time ? Time now for Jeff's feature little-known facts about popular car brands .

Speaker 3 5:39

Yes , and here we go . It is the world's best luxury brand tend to lend one thing in common to another . They've all been around for a long time and they have stories of their own . However , every brand defining highlight is lesser known . So here we go .

Speaker 3 5:57

Mercedes-benz made a 269 mile per hour car in 1938 , michael . A lot of Mercedes history during the late 30s has been obscured . However , its engineers produced some truly remarkable cars during the Wehrkordwagen that's what this is called which set a record of 268.9 miles per hour on the German Autobahn in 1930s . The car was based on the decorated W125 race car and it featured a new streamlined body for maximum slipperiness . Mike , to help set the record , powering the car was a 5.6 liter v12 engine with twin superchargers . Isn't that great ? Next one we have is a cadillac designed , uh , called the city car is to rival the mini .

Speaker 3 6:42

Cadillac is best known for its huge , opulent vehicles , I know , but in 2010 , it decided to explore a different direction , aimed at capitalizing on the emerging trend of luxury compact cars in Europe . The Cadillac Urban Luxury concept was around the size of a Mini . However , it featured an interior as luxurious as the brand's full-size cars . The car was powered by a one-liter engine which borrowed from Peugeot . The next one is this John's going to love this . Every Jaguar chassis is brushed with emu feathers . Oh God , main process .

Speaker 1 7:18

That's what it is . That's what's wrong with the damn thing Jaguars .

Speaker 3 7:22

They choose to use emu feathers for brushes as they can statically charge and are excellent at picking up stubborn remaining pieces of dust and debris . They're also larger and most of the natural feathers are Allowing each one to cover a wider area of the chassis . Using emu feathers is significantly more expensive than using regular feathers or synthetic materials , but it claims they do the best job for Jaguar . So that's why they made that commercial and the last one we have . You didn't know this , but Mercedes motorcycles were created because of a legal mistake . I'm sorry , maserati , I said Mercedes , it's Maserati . Where am I going ? Maserati was taken over in the early . A notary public accidentally granted the spark plug manufacturer the legal right to use the Maserati name on anything it wanted . So they made a motorcycle . They can still use it today , but they don't do it anymore because of legal reasons . So there you go Maserati made a motorcycle . Was it called the Maserati ? It was called the Maserati .

Speaker 2 8:44

It was called the Maserati . I was headed for you were daydreaming over there . I was headed for auto history , because that's what Jeff had up there , but that's okay .

Speaker 2 8:50

That's okay . So we had the 2025 Infiniti QX8080 . Now this is the century sensory all-wheel drive . Now it's all new for 2025 . It's been 14 years since they did a major update to the qx80 so it's kind of gotten along in the tooth , but it is so . It makes it the third gen . There's actually four trim levels pure lux , century , the autograph . We are driving the century , so it's not top of the line , but it's kind of up there .

Speaker 2 9:14

This is a full-size SUV . We have the captain's chairs in the second row , so it will seat seven . You can get it to where it will seat eight . Now , this is a full-size . This is a big vehicle . You know you're into a full-size vehicle when you're driving this thing . We have the LED lighting up front , got a big grill . The hood sticks way up . You've got to kind of look out over it . To me it kind of blocks some of the things you can see right in front of you , but it's got a camera system to help you out , got automatic folding heated outside mirrors . We got an infinity light path . You know some of them have got puddle lamps where it shines down . This has got a light path , moon roof , not a sunroof , a moon roof and a hands-free lift gate , rolling on some 22-inch aluminum wheels . Now you get inside . We got the semi-aniline leather seating surfaces so we had heated and ventilated first and second row seating . The front seats have massaging . The third row is a power folding seat . Wait a minute , why , why , why ?

Speaker 2 10:22

they let you have this car to drive well , I'm not sure they let me have it , but I got it , you got it , I got it go ahead . So we had the dual 14.3 inch displays across the dash . So it's a lot of stuff , a lot of information there for the driver and the passenger to see . And it's got the 9-inch lower touchscreen control panel . It's kind of down on this console .

Speaker 2 10:45

Yeah , I like it and it's really it's a touch but it's got buttons , it has reactive touch points on it and I really like that part of it , but it's kind of down to where it's at . I have a tendency to say I'm going to the mail to mail some stuff , I lay it down there and then I can't see where my shifter . Anyway , it has the heads-up display , it's got a smart rear-view mirror .

Speaker 1 11:06

It's got a 3D around-view monitor . Is that what you told me to do ? No , I was looking at Jeff's .

Speaker 2 11:11

I made the mistake of looking at Jeff's pictures there . So we had technology , we had the wireless chargers , we had Android , Apple and Google in there for your use . It had the Clipse Premier 24-speaker audio system and it had the speakers in the headrest .

Speaker 1 11:26

I saw that yeah .

Speaker 2 11:27

It was really cool because when you're talking on the phone it comes right into your ear . It's not coming out of the dash , so it makes it easier to hear whoever you're talking to maybe not them . In the back , inside the liftgate it had a cargo shelf . When I opened it up , put some stuff back there . There's a shelf behind the third row . That kind of makes it a little bit easier to put stuff in there that you don't necessarily want to stack . I thought that was a really nice touch Up

Luxury SUV Power and Features

Speaker 2 11:49

under the hood .

Speaker 2 11:49

3.5 liter twin turbo V6 , 450 horsepower , 516 pound-feet of torque no more V8s , nine-speed transmission . It will . With an automatic it's rated to tow 8,500 pounds , properly equipped . Epa says in the city you should get 16 . Out on the highway , look for 19 . Combined that comes out to about 17 . I got 17.4 . Costs the 291.1 miles I drove this vehicle . Speaking of driving electronic air suspension so you can adjust the ride up or down as you want to get in or get out of it makes it real nice . The turbo v6 got good low-end power . Works pretty good . You get up into the upper speed that highway speeds that you just normally wouldn't be driving . It's a little starts breathing a little hard but it's good .

Speaker 2 12:34

Uh , but it is a big vehicle around town and when you're parking it , base model price 82 450 oh my gosh . Base trim price 100 645 dollars . Msrp is tested 107 215 with a two thousand dollar destination charge . I thought was kind of strange . Lincoln navigator if you're looking for something there , this let me hold that one for a minute . Jeep Grand Cherokee Wagoneer Jeep Grand Wagoneer $84,945 , start . Cadillac Escalade $87,595 . There's you , juan , I'm in . But Lincoln Navigator , same type big luxury vehicle , starts base $99,950 . So if you're looking for one of these big vehicles , this is one that's really nice and got plenty of power and you really ought to look at it if you're up there in that category .

Speaker 1 13:24

Thank you , sir today's in real time . Thank you .