The Mazda CX-90 is a new SUV that can fit six people and has three rows of seats. It's designed for families and has a powerful engine for good performance.
An eight-speed automatic transmission is a type of car gearbox that changes gears automatically and has eight different settings, which helps the car drive more smoothly and use less fuel.
The start-stop feature is a system in some cars that turns off the engine when the car is not moving to save gas. It turns the engine back on when you press the gas pedal.
The Mazda MX-5 Miata is a small, sporty car that is fun to drive. It's known for being light and quick, making it a favorite among people who enjoy driving.
The Hyundai Palisade is another family-friendly SUV that is spacious and comes with many modern features. It's a good choice for those needing extra room.
The Toyota Grand Highlander is a new SUV that provides a lot of space and comfort for families. It's known for being reliable, which is a hallmark of Toyota vehicles.
Fuel injection is a way to get fuel into an engine more accurately, which helps it run better and use less gas. It's better than older systems that used carburetors.
A supercharger is a tool that helps an engine get more air, making it more powerful. It works differently from a turbocharger, which uses exhaust gases to boost air intake.
A warranty is like a promise from the car maker that they will fix problems with the car for a certain amount of time or miles. If something goes wrong, you can get it repaired for free.
A diesel engine is a type of engine that runs on diesel fuel, which is different from regular gasoline. Diesel engines usually get better fuel economy and are often used in larger vehicles like trucks.
The Chrysler Pacifica is a family minivan that has a lot of space and features to make traveling with kids easier. The 2025 version has different styles you can choose from.
PHEV means Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle. It's a type of car that uses both gas and electricity, and you can charge it by plugging it in, which helps save on fuel.
A 3.6-liter V6 engine is a type of car engine that has six cylinders and is 3.6 liters in size. It's designed to give the car enough power to drive well while still being efficient.
A nine-speed automatic transmission is a system in a car that helps it change gears without the driver needing to do anything. More speeds can help the car drive more smoothly and save fuel.
Stow and go seating is a way to fold the back seats of a minivan into the floor so you can have more space for luggage or other items. It makes it easier to switch between carrying people and carrying stuff.
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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're 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 hey, hey, hey,
could you not? Is yours that way? Yeah. You got black plastic. Oh, I'll get gray. Mine's an accent
of the gray. Yeah. So yours are painted. Yeah. Oh yeah, painted gray or molded gray. Okay, whatever.
Interior highlights stand alone 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 backseat 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. 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've got 26.7 miles per gallon over 497.8 miles. Are you going
to say something? I'll wait you down. 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. 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 36,8. And the Toyota Grand Highlander, which
is a new model for them, 42,310. So what were you going to say? Well, I was driving in the city this
week in my new Buick, by the way. And I was getting 31.2 on a 1.2 liter turbo, normally aspirated,
fuel injected, obviously. Is it the three banger? No, it's a four cylinder. So I was getting 31.2
miles in the city. Yeah, that's good. Yeah, very good. It's not a hybrid. No, it's not a hybrid.
No, mine wasn't. Yeah. It's interesting that these new cars, especially the new ones,
with the much smaller engines, and they're boosting them, turbo charge, mostly turbo charging.
Some have a supercharger, but they're 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?
Well, hopefully if it goes out, it'll go out under warranty. Yeah, you know, you got three or 36
as a standard. 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. Yeah, exactly. So roll the dice. Yes,
and I don't know what it would cost to change out a turbocharger. I know that on a Chevy truck,
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. What? You walk into a
Ford dealership in the service department, and you see two or three of the cabs lifted up.
Yeah, just easier to get to it. And they just don't fight it. They just take it off and get to it.
Six or eight bolts, you take the rack, lift it up. Yeah, but you got to unplug everything.
Well, like us, we don't plug stuff here all the time. They remember where stuff goes.
It's color coded, and the plugs are made so that you can't
normally plug in one way. Interchange them. Okay. Well, anyway, I enjoyed the Mazda. I
have my issue with the infotainment system. Yeah, you always have. And Jack confirmed that.
Yeah, and that's just me. You might not have a problem with it. All right.
Time now for this hour's car review. I had a chance to drive the 2025 Chrysler Pacifica.
Yes, it's a minivan. If you want to call it that, there's nothing really mini about it anymore.
Final assembly location, Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Available trim levels of the Pacifica,
the Select, the Select PHEV, which stands for Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle. Limited
the Fave edition or Fav edition, however you'd like to put it, F-A-V edition, and it says it on
the side of it. They also have it in the PHEV. The premium Fav, Fave appearance PHEV, and the
pinnacle and pinnacle PHEV. I had the limited all-wheel drive. It's a minivan. Seats seven,
redesigned in 2017. So yeah, it's getting a little long in the tooth, but it still works, you know.
Exterior features, car-like front fascia with laid-back aero windshield,
sweeping roof line. It kind of dips down in the back just to touch. You can see it there
with the blacked out B and C pillars. Slide open passenger doors, handy for backseat passengers,
and parking lots. Huge, easy opening lift gate in the back end, but I liked the
best look in minivan despite its age. I truly believe that. Look at it. Looks good, don't you think?
I like it. I particularly like the white model. Yeah. I do too. The black wheels and the black
grille looks good. What could use improvement? I put a question mark because I don't know.
Interior highlights, seating surfaces, kid-proof, yet comfortable. Infotainment screen is small by
comparison to other screens these days, but it's built in between the air vents. I like that a lot.
Lots of cubbies add storage nooks for tons of stuff throughout the cabin. Top notch,
pinnacle trim has uber-lux upholstery. Boy, I'll tell you what. I mean it. Seriously. They went to
the upholstery shop and say, goose it up, and they did. Storage room, like a concert venue.
What I liked about it, the dual sunroof panels for kids and stow and go seating. So the kids can
enjoy the sunroof too. Not now because it's a little too warm here in Texas, but it works for
all the kids. What could use improvement? How about a bigger infotainment screen? Use it as an
option. I don't know what their plans are for the Pacifica. It's the only vehicle actually right now
that Chrysler builds. It comes with the venerable 3.6-liter V6 engine, has 287 horsepower. They've
been building the thing forever. 262 pound-feet of torque, nine-speed automatic transmission
with a tow rating of 3,600 pounds. It gets 17 miles per gallon in the city, 25 on the highway
for a combined of 20. I got 21.3 miles per gallon over 370 miles. What I like about it,
the engine, adequate power for a people hauler. What could use improvement? Maybe an optional
engine, maybe a turbo four. Do they have an electric version of it in the works? I don't know.
We haven't heard a lot about Chrysler lately, but I have a feeling that that name is going to
reappear on people's radar and they're going to be coming out with more stuff here in the not too
distant future. Ride and handling, nice. What could use improvement? Nothing. Leave the ride
and handling alone. Base trim price, $52,565. Price is tested, $59,165, and it's not the one
the Pinnacle version, which is even more than that, but you can get into one of these for the low,
low, low, low, low, low sale price of $42,450. When you figure for what you're getting for
basically a family vehicle, we'll haul the whole family. Let me tell you something. That
stow and go seating system is something to see how it works. When the seats are up, so the whole
thing tumbles down into the floor, put a lid over the top of it that comes with it, obviously,
and it's all flat back there. Don't even know that there's seats involved. Then you put the
seats up where the seats were in the floor, now become storage. You want to take a big trip?
You want to take the Christmas presents to Aunt Mary with the 10 kids? There you go.
Well, I was thinking of something like you're going on a vacation, you're taking a road trip,
having that, and then you put the stow seats down and you get one of those air pumps and blow up
a little air mattress and you can spend the night in there on a lake or something. True.
You put the beer in the below floor storage or wine, as in your case.
They probably even have those with little plugs in the bottom, so they drain it out.
Absolutely. See, this is the reason that you watch Vision.
Because of all of the wonderful things that we've come up.
It was for guests like Mary and then our next guest coming up. That's why they watch.
Exactly. Here you go.
About this episode
The review kicks off with the 2025 Mazda CX-90, highlighting its attractive design, powerful turbocharged engine, and comfortable seating for six. However, the infotainment system is criticized as one of the worst in the industry. The conversation then shifts to the 2025 Chrysler Pacifica, praised for its stylish exterior and spacious interior, featuring stow-and-go seating. While the engine performance is adequate, there's a call for a larger infotainment screen and potential engine options. Both vehicles showcase unique features that cater to family needs and driving enjoyment.
Two family haulers, two very different promises. We put the 2025 Mazda CX-90 and the 2025 Chrysler Pacifica through their paces to find out whether driving joy or everyday ease should lead your next purchase. If you’ve ever stood in a dealer lot torn between a sleek three-row SUV and a minivan that just works, this head-to-head is your shortcut to clarity.
We start with the CX-90’s immediate curb appeal: balanced lines, tasteful chrome, and those painted arch moldings that make it feel premium without shouting. On the road, Mazda’s 3.3-liter turbo lights up with 340 hp and 369 lb-ft, backed by an eight-speed that helps it feel quick and composed. Our long loop returned an impressive 26.7 mpg. Still, there are caveats. A fussy start-stop system and a first-to-second shift that nags in traffic chip away at an otherwise athletic package. And the infotainment? It’s still behind the best, which matters when carpool chaos hits and you just need things to work.
Then we slide into the Chrysler Pacifica, a minivan with real presence. The laid-back windshield and blacked-out pillars deliver clean lines, while sliding doors and a generous liftgate make every errand easier. Inside, practical storage and durable, comfortable seating keep the cabin tidy. Top trims add surprising luxury, and dual sunroofs brighten both rows. The V6 and nine-speed won’t win stoplight sprints, but they deliver the right blend of power, quiet, and stability. The ace up its sleeve is Stow ’n Go: seats that vanish to create a flat, low cargo floor, then reappear when duty calls. Add competitive pricing and AWD, and you get a family machine that solves problems before they start.
Looking for a driver’s SUV with real power and premium vibes? The CX-90 makes every commute feel special. Need maximum flexibility, painless loading, and trip-ready storage on demand? The Pacifica proves why the minivan still reigns for real life. If this helped narrow your shortlist, share the episode with a friend, hit follow, and drop a review with the one feature you can’t live without.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
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