How Do Cold and Snow Affect Our 2024 Mazda CX-90 Plug-in Hybrid?

One of the pluses of having a Detroit office is that our yearlong review test fleet can be torture- and snow-tested in the great white north. Even if Michigan is mild, a trip to Northern Ontario is guaranteed to provide a winter wonderland of driving experiences. Two years ago we took our 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz to Canada and got a couple feet of the fresh white stuff on Christmas Eve. It was with that in mind that we aimed for a repeat performance with MotorTrend's long-term 2024 Mazda CX-90 SUV plug-in hybrid. With its snow performance already tested, this time we were interested in seeing how the cold affected our plug-in hybrid SUV's EV range.

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Winter Range

Our CX-90 PHEV is EPA-rated at 26 miles of range on a full charge under normal conditions before its gas I-4 fires up. But our Detroit team is finding that in the cold, the stated range is less (perhaps in part due to our fitting winter tires). A full charge in my garage only nets 21 miles of range on a full charge. Testing director Eric Tingwall just returned from a ski trip where he noted our Mazda's range in the cold seemed to be constantly shrinking, with a full charge estimate as low as 14 miles. That would barely get him to his child's daycare and back. Few errands or trips can be made with this little range, frustrating us to the point where it barely feels worth the effort of plugging it in. You really need to be plugging the CX-90 PHEV in constantly, multiple times a day, to make it worthwhile and even then, there are no guarantees the gas engine won't kick in to assist when it shouldn't be needed.

Technical director Frank Markus also found it difficult to utilize the full electric potential of our Mazda in the winter. The screens would show reasonable battery levels, but the engine would come on, we suspect to run the heat. When he parked it in his 42-degree heated garage, it allowed full electric mode when he pulled the CX-90 PHEV out, but only until he reached the freeway. Light acceleration to 70 mph triggered the engine. Having the heater on (it was 15 degrees outside) also prompted the engine to kick in. He tried on another day, with a full battery, to warm the cabin and drive to the nearby office on electric power only. For an unknown reason, the shifter refused to come out of park and remained locked even after he'd turned the ignition on and off several times as his heated garage heat was flying out the double door. When the SUV finally went in reverse, he zoomed out the back and turned on the combustion engine in doing so.

On a positive note: the seat heaters and steering wheel heater have proved useful and up to the task, although it has been a milder-than-usual winter.

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Winter Living

Lower-than-expected range and odd behavior notwithstanding, our CX-90 PHEV has otherwise been a steady winter warrior. With a fresh set of Vredestein Wintrac Pro winter tires fitted ($1,262.72, courtesy of Tire Rack) for safety, food, presents, and warm clothes were piled into our Mazda for our holiday journey north.

We left the dry streets of Detroit and six hours later we were crossing into Canada. To our surprise, the streets were clear there too. No white Christmas this year—still a merry one, though. With the second- and third-row seats folded down, we were able to get two Christmas trees that we had cut down into the back and safely transported to the house for decorating. A wooden kitchen table and three chairs fit in the CX-90 for transport back home after the holidays.

Though it was an uneventful trip, winter isn't over yet. So far we are finding that while the hybrid component of the CX-90 doesn't like winter, its AWD system is up to the task.

More on Our 2024 Mazda CX-90 Long-Termer:

• A Cold Cross-Country Trek In Our 2024 Mazda CX-90 PHEV Gets Into Tire Trouble
• Mazda Habits Are Hard to Kick

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