2026 Mazda CX-90 PHEV Review: 3000 Mile Road Trip

We loaded the 2026 Mazda CX-90 PHEV for a 3,000 mile road trip. We’re traveling from North Texas all the way to South Florida and back! There’s some things I’d like to discuss that made our trip really easy, and some things we wish were better. On the way to South Florida, it was my wife, dog, and myself. Loading up was easy with the CX-90’s third row down to get our luggages and dog essentials. One of my favorite Mazda features is the 90 degree rear door opening. It made loading and unloading my dog incredibly easy, specially since he’s large and fairly anxious. My wife took the wheel first and was able to easily get the cruise control dialed in. She was loving the head up display that showed her speed, the speed limit, and indicators of vehicles in her blind spot. As the passenger, I was got the infotainment set up using the Multifunction Commander without having to reach over to the screen. With this being the hybrid, we were able to save some money at the pump. Unfortunately, I had to manually activate the battery charging once we depleted it. I wish the function of the charge button was automatic in the charging after I’ve completely consumed the charge. I did love having the EV only drive mode that allowed me to be lazy and avoid the gas station once we were in Miami and charged at my parent’s house. Overall, we enjoyed taking the 2026 Mazda CX-90 PHEV on our 3,000 mile road trip. There are a few things I’d like to be different. The first thing would be the lower 3,500 lb towing capacity that the hybrid gets. I wish it did the same 5,000 lbs that the 6-cylinder variant does, so I can tow my Miata to the race track. The other change I’d like to see, is the function of the charging for the hybrid system to be automatic. Get those things sorted, and you’d see a CX-90 in my driveway.

Added 18 Sept 2026