I rode in the CX-90 again this afternoon with Tom and I have to say its still not great. I am glad to hear he has the same complaints I do about it. If this car was in the $35K range I could overlook alot of the downfalls but at $58,000 I just do not see the value.
Oh good, it wants premium fuel, too. 
Keith Tanner said:In reply to J.A. Ackley :
Do you have those CX-90 numbers split out between PHEV and ICE? The Mazda press releases don't distinguish, at least the April one doesn't. I did find one reference from September to 5.9% of total volume although it's unclear if that is total Mazda or total CX-90.
Good question. I'm curious, too. Let me ask and see if I can find out.
That's fair. It all comes down to what you expect. An ICE with a little more zoom zoom (about 50 hp and hopefully better response than the standard version) and the ability to operate in EV-only mode briefly and occasionally? Or an EV emulation that can kick in an ICE when you want to go further than the all-electric range - more like the Volt or i3? One difference between this sort of vehicle and the Ferrari SF90 is that the ICE experience is viewed as a plus on the latter but is a negative on the Mazda :)
A couple of things I noticed looking at Mazdausa.com. That source says the PHEV electric motor is 68 kW, or about 91 hp. That's less than a 1990 automatic Miata :) No wonder it feels anemic. Also, the PHEV uses the 2.5 turbo four whilst the ICE-only uses a 3.3 turbo six. The latter is obviously going to be a lot smoother. So yeah, there's your driving experience difference. It's pretty hard to come up with a justification for $12k overall, especially since I can't see any real trim upgrades in the different levels.
Mazda is scrambling to catch up with electrification. They've been pushing weird ICE variations for the past decade (compression ignition!) and their limited R&D seems to have been caught out. Hopefully this will be a short-lived blip before they figure out how to do this well. The next Miata will be a hybrid of some sort, let's hope they have it sorted by then.
I did a 0-60 run in EV mode and timed it by hand with a stopwatch. 13 seconds. 
Well, people have said they don't need the outlandish EV performance - just give us something slow and cheap. One out of two is a start :)
Pure EV mode is realistically more about gaining access to areas that only allow EVs or charge extra for ICE vehicles. I think central London is like that. Again, like the SF90 :)
Is there a direct competitor to this? I'm having trouble coming up with another 3 row PHEV (if we don't count the Pacifica). There are quite a few standard hybrid 3 rows, and a short list of 2 row PHEVs (Santa Fe, Grand Cherokee 4xe, Outlander, Escape) but is there another 3 row PHEV that I'm missing? Something German? Used Aviator PHEV?
In reply to Chris Tropea :
I have owned 3 modern Cx-9's and they wouldn't be able to do $35k, when the bottom rung is that cost. I enjoy our Cx9's, for the cost and features it was cheap. However Mazda doesn't have much skin in the game with Hybrid and Electric and it makes sense that on a newish model (cx-90 is different then Cx-9) that it's problematic and has it quirks.
J.A. Ackley said:Keith Tanner said:In reply to J.A. Ackley :
Do you have those CX-90 numbers split out between PHEV and ICE? The Mazda press releases don't distinguish, at least the April one doesn't. I did find one reference from September to 5.9% of total volume although it's unclear if that is total Mazda or total CX-90.
Good question. I'm curious, too. Let me ask and see if I can find out.
I have an answer from Mazda: "PHEV accounts for about 40% of overall CX-90 sales."
One of the coolest things about plug-ins is you can usually run the climate control on shore power to pre-condition the car. This is more energy efficient and more convenient--you can always walk out to a comfortable car.
Unless you drive one of these... Mazda doesn't allow the car to be started while it's plugged in. 
In reply to Tom Suddard :
Well that's just dumb. But also just software, so maybe they can fix it.
Interesting, J.A. That's a much higher take rate than I'd expect given the price differential. 40% of CX-90 buyers are finding some worthwhile attributes that Tom isn't.
Tom Suddard said:One of the coolest things about plug-ins is you can usually run the climate control on shore power to pre-condition the car. This is more energy efficient and more convenient--you can always walk out to a comfortable car.
Unless you drive one of these... Mazda doesn't allow the car to be started while it's plugged in.
I get that feature with BEVs, but are there PHEV's that allow pre-conditioning the cabin? My Ford PHEV won't, and I just assumed that was pretty universal as the ICE could potentially kick on to support HVAC demands and unknowingly fill whatever space with toxic fumes/CO.
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