What have become common Mazda issues mar CX-70 experience?
2025 Mazda CX-70 has been in our fleet for about three months, and so far, it’s proving to be a solid road-trip warrior. It tackled a long haul to Texas and back over the holidays without breaking a sweat and has served as a trusty chariot for multiple interstate adventures, effortlessly shuttling our families in comfort and confidence.
While we’ve been pleased with its long-distance performance and comfort, we’ve noticed there’s room for improvement in its behavior around town—particularly in its infotainment system and low-speed refinement, where it doesn’t quite hit Mazda’s usual high bar.
Driving our long-term Mazda at parking lot speeds, for instance, makes the CX-70 feel unpolished. The mild hybrid powertrain and eight-speed automatic transmission don’t always sync up smoothly, resulting in more head toss than we’d like. Add in a brake pedal that’s a bit too touchy, and maneuvering at low speeds—especially between 5 and 8 mph—can feel jittery rather than seamless.
While those issues disappear at higher speeds, low-speed refinement is pretty important in traffic-clogged Los Angeles. We’ve also noticed a choppy feel when accelerating from a stop. If the stop-start system is slow to fire up the engine, there’s a noticeable hesitation—almost as if we’re asking too much from the mild hybrid starter/generator before the engine is fully awake.
The CX-70 often feels unpolished when cruising through neighborhood streets or creeping through stop-sign queues. Disabling the i-Stop (stop-start) system improves low-speed refinement somewhat, but head toss still continues. We also wish the i-Stop system operated more smoothly—it’s neither as quiet nor as seamless as we’d like, with noticeable vibrations and an audible thud every time the engine shuts off or kicks back to life.
We thought the low-speed issues would only plague the plug-in hybrid, like we noted on our previous long-termer (the CX-90 and CX-70 share the same powertrains), but the issue appears to hurt our I-6 mild hybrid, too. On the PHEV, we blamed the wet multiplate clutch setup that forgoes a conventional torque converter to meld gasoline and electric power. This issue clearly affects the internal combustion CX-70, too. We’re starting to suspect the shared Mazda-developed transmission might be to blame.
“If Mazda could dramatically improve low-speed refinement, we’d really be in business,” buyer’s guide director Zach Gale said on a recent trip from Los Angeles to Monterey, California. “Driving smoothly shouldn’t be so difficult. I see this as a real issue that could discourage a CX-70 owner from getting another one when a lease is up.”
After poor experiences in our CX-30, CX-50, and CX-90 PHEV, we continue to be frustrated by the infotainment system in our CX-70. A new frustration we’ve encountered involves our CX-70’s infotainment system driver profile settings. At startup, we can select our personalized profile via the infotainment system.
In theory, it automatically adjusts the seat, steering wheel, and side mirrors to our preferred positions. Far too often, however, the system overrides our choice and defaults to the Guest profile—even after we’ve manually selected our own. While this is a minor inconvenience, it’s one that shouldn’t be happening. Adding to the hassle, Mazda doesn’t allow profile changes unless the car is in park. On some occasions, the infotainment system struggles to process profile changes altogether, displaying a loading message for about 30 seconds before giving up and reporting that it couldn’t complete the request.
Despite the early annoyances, there’s plenty to love about our yearlong review Mazda CX-70. Because it shares its dimensions with the CX-90 but ditches the third row, cargo space is generous, and the second row feels airy and accommodating. Mazda’s push toward a more premium experience is also evident—the cabin exudes sophistication, with sleek design and high-quality materials that punch above its class. We just wish Mazda would iron out the quirks, because with a little fine-tuning, the CX-70 could truly shine.
Reference: https://www.motortrend.com/
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