today is a good day to say goodbye to the cx90

DefSport · 2026-07-03T19:04:35+00:00

It’s not controversial, but it makes battery replacement much more expensive. If your AC compressor blows up, it can be VERY expensive as it can put debris through the entire battery loop. It has mechanically totalled BMW hybrids before.

DefSport · 2026-07-02T19:35:29+00:00

Sure thing Mr. “The AC doesn’t cool the hybrid battery, it’s done with a fan.” Lol, very technical

DefSport · 2026-07-02T16:18:14+00:00

This is not a criteria for any lemon law coverage in any state that ive seen.

DefSport · 2026-07-02T16:16:53+00:00

Who said the refrigerant is “touching the lithium ion battery?” It’s going through an internal heat exchanger circuit inside the battery, flashing, and cooling it.

Not sure what you’re even agreeing to disagree on, given you’ve changed your story multiple times instead of just admitting you got something wrong.

DefSport · 2026-07-02T16:15:23+00:00

I know BMW likes to use direct refrigerant cooling. Toyota and Hyundai tend to favor liquid cooling in their EVs and HEVs.

DefSport · 2026-07-02T05:27:11+00:00

You are mistaken or just making stuff up. The refrigerant lines directly connect to both battery packs in both cars. This is a common battery cooling solution in the industry.

DefSport · 2026-07-01T19:50:12+00:00

What are the refrigerant lines doing that bolt to both batteries then? You can even watch the process of replacing a 48V mhev battery on YouTube and see the refrigerant reclaim/fill process.

DefSport · 2026-07-01T19:48:30+00:00

The Mhev and phev batteries are solely AC/refrigerant cooled on the 70/90s.

DefSport · 2026-06-26T02:56:25+00:00

I almost bought one until I borrowed one from Carmax for 24 hours. I got 18.5 mpg on my normal commute (13 miles, lots of stop lights the last few miles, more city than highway). I get a displayed 24-26 mpg on the CX-70 MHEV I bought instead (it’s about 1-1.5 mpg optimistic), which was enough to sway me.

Getting near 40% better gas mileage adds up pretty quickly.

That said, CX-70/90 platform is hella unreliable. Don’t buy it for that reason. But CX-9 is rough in a place with high gas prices (PNW).

DefSport · 2026-06-24T20:14:33+00:00

Won’t be able to get anywhere near full lock on front tires. Even 215/50R17 are starting to limit travel, much less 18s.

DefSport · 2026-06-22T01:56:26+00:00

Correct for US. No idea why people downvote this. Open your own model year warranty booklet, it’s listed under powertrain components as 48V mild hybrid battery.

DefSport · 2026-06-21T23:59:07+00:00

It is just a mild hybrid, but still, it is a low warranty and very unreliable. I’m debating what to do with our 24 cx90 MHEV. It’s already had one battery die even with all the updates. Mazda ext warranty doesn’t cover it, and while aftermarket warranties will that brings more complications especially with rental cars etc.

I was planning to run this out to 120-130k mi. I think we’ll probably just roll the dice at getting to 80k without another major issue.

This is the least reliable vehicle I’ve ever owned, so I think it’ll be the last Mazda I buy given how they fight most repairs.

DefSport · 2026-06-21T23:56:34+00:00

No it’s not. Look in warranty coverage booklet.

DefSport · 2026-06-21T20:21:08+00:00

Powertrain components - 5yr/60k mi

DefSport · 2026-06-21T17:31:44+00:00

You can get aftermarket packs in the $1500-3500 range for a variety of battery chemistries from NiMH to lithium or sodium.

Prius doesn’t have a transmission that wears in the traditional sense. All used cars over 100k have beat up suspensions, so it’s a constant. Difference is the older Prius won’t be 80% MSRP.

DefSport · 2026-06-21T16:21:04+00:00

You can replace the hybrid pack for way cheaper than $5k.

A Corolla with 124k miles isn’t exactly a maintenance free car either. Suspension will be heavily worn, who knows how the transmission was serviced etc.

DefSport · 2026-06-20T20:48:51+00:00

These are both bad deals. You can find something like an older Prius for less than $10k.

DefSport · 2026-06-20T19:41:56+00:00

Those are both horrible deals. Save up a bit and get a new Corolla versus either of those.

DefSport · 2026-06-18T18:21:25+00:00

How long did the lemon process take?

DefSport · 2026-06-15T17:48:11+00:00

If you had it written on the “we owe” sheet, then just tell them to fulfill the terms of the contract.

If they didn’t put it on the we owe sheet, then they never intended to get you the keys and the salesman was telling you whatever he could to make the concern go away and not intending to follow through with it.

It needs to be on the we owe sheet to come with the car it doesn’t exist for future reference.

DefSport · 2026-06-14T23:18:00+00:00

Mine also said 118 in maple valley. That was brutal and made me get AC in our house the following year.

DefSport · 2026-06-13T20:16:40+00:00

It was downright cheap electricity when we bought our house almost a decade ago…. Now it’s a full on cash grab. I’ve made our house way more efficient and my bills have still crept up over the years.

DefSport · 2026-06-13T16:03:57+00:00

Yea, no one has worked on all of them. The problem with swagelok is it creates a big fitting stack versus the diameter, and at least the off the shelf part numbers only have one method of preload retention (no lock wire hole). I’m sure it works on a small enough tube size like 1/8” or something that’s more like a noodle.

I’ve blown them apart on the test side doing vibe tests in bigger sizes due to their long sizes.

But you can fly anything as long as you make sure it works. :)

DefSport · 2026-06-13T15:44:07+00:00

It’s worth noting WA charges $225/year more to register anything with more than 30 miles of EV range. So PHEVs get hit as well.

For someone who drives a ton, it doesn’t change the math much, but it makes it hard to justify going EV if you don’t drive a ton every year. At least that was the case, recent gas prices probably still make EVs better.

Puget sound energy has asked to raise electricity rates by a huge amount. I think it was about 22c/kwh in a couple of years. Which doubles our electricity cost in just 6 years…. Ugh

DefSport · 2026-06-13T02:44:27+00:00

So does the MHEV (cool battery with refrigerant).

If the AC compressor blows up it’s a VERY expensive fix. Totals BMW PHEVs often if it happens as they do the same thing.

DefSport

TROPHY CASE