The Mazda CX-70 is clearly trying to reach a specific buyer. Mazda once stated it’s trying to appeal to active customers looking to have more room for their gear and don’t need an extra row of seats to haul people. The CX-70 is also attempting to give the Japanese automaker a serious challenger to the Jeep Grand Cherokee.

But is the Premium Plus trim the best flavor of CX-70 for buyers to choose from in the family? We were eager to find out.

CX-70 is the fun member of the family

At first glance, the CX-70 can be a bit hard to distinguish from the CX-90 with the two sharing the same core look. The CX-70 benefits from some minor exterior tweaks,but you would be hard pressed to spot them without a discerning eye, and perhaps a magnifying glass.

The exterior styling is more stately than what you would find in key rivals including the Jeep Grand Cherokee, with Mazda designers clearly trying to give the CX-70 a very playful personality to help it stand out from the rest of the two-row crowd. Despite the lingering winter weather, our dark colored Premium Plus still managed to stand out with blacked out badging adding more to the visual effect.

Losing the third row opens up so much space

Slip inside, and you’ll find the CX-70 is the same as the CX-90 when it comes to the core presentation. The dashboard design is shared, the infotainment system is shared etc. That’s to be expected from a vehicle that’s essentially a CX-90 with the rear seats removed.

However, the missing third row is the biggest difference here in this cabin, and it transforms the CX-70’s character. While the missing seats means the CX-70 is no longer fit for big family duty, chucking them out of the SUV not only helped cut weight, but it also allowed Mazda to transform the space where they were into an item organizer with the space being accessed when you lift up the rear panel for the cargo area.

The loss of the third row also proved to be a gain in other regards with the 40 cubic foot cargo area being easier to load thanks to not having to deal with the redundant seats. Meanwhile, second row passengers also benefit from increased rear leg room since the loss of the third row allowed Mazda to improve the available space back there.

It’s no Miata but it’s sure fun to drive

Performance for the 2026 Mazda CX-70 comes from two different engines, While a plug-in hybrid version serves as the range-topper in the family, our tester was powered by a 3.3-liter turbocharged inline-six which is also shared with the CX-90. A base tune makes 280 horsepower but our tester arrived with the beefier “S” tune which makes power go up to 340 hp. Going for an S variant like our example forced you to skip the Preferred trim and you get a choice of either Premium or Premium Plus.

But even with old man winter playing one final cruel joke on Metro Detroit during its stay earlier this year, our tester still managed to post a strong showing for itself out in the cold. Acceleration was good and the CX-70’s steering was very crisp and fluid. An eight-speed automatic is the lone transmission here, and all CX-70s come with a fully mechanical all-wheel drive system which is perfect for any season of commuting.

The eight-speed itself proved to be a weak link in the CX-70’s chain and there were times where it felt the transmission was not in sync with the driver with wonky gear changes and its fuel economy tuned character occassionally giving us the wrong gear. The EPA says a CX-70 like our example can get 25/23/28 mpg which puts it firmly in the pack with other rivals like the Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Value Quotient

Pricing for the 2026 Mazda CX-70 starts at $42,750 for the base Turbo Preferred model with the base engine tune. As mentioned, the “S” treatment is limited to two trims and a base Premium S starts at $53,440. Move into a range-topping Premium Plus like our example, and you will be greeted with a slightly higher base price of $56,870. Our Premium Plus ended up being very close to $60,000 due to fees and taxes.

This pricing puts this particular trim in the near luxury category but other CX-70 trims are very attractive purchases with the slightly less powerful $42k Turbo Premium being a good balance of performance and equipment for under $45,000. It’s also less expensive than the Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited. Meanwhile an S grade Premium Plus is still less expensive than the range-topping Grand Cherokee Summit which starts at just over $60,000.

For now, the 2026 Mazda CX-70 continues to be a strong pick in the two-row SUV segment. However, we are looking forward to seeing what comprehensive updates Mazda has planned for this SUV. It has been applying a light touch so far, but sooner or later we would like to see some noticeable upgrades to both the transmission and the interior technology.