Over the years, Engine included has become an important design element of the engine compartment of any car. And it seems that the more expensive or high-end the model, the more complex the engine cover. Lift the hood on any Lexus, BMW or Mercedes and you won’t see the engine. Instead, you get a whole sea of clean, neat plastic, often with debris to make it “look” as if it were part of the engine. Some make mechanics (professionals or home garages) difficult to access. And then there was the CX-90’s engine cover that brought a whole new cover to the game.
completely new CX-90 uses an all-new turbocharged I6 engine designed specifically for this all-new crossover. And of course, I wanted to see it, because we were entering the age of electric vehicles and a company developed a completely new internal combustion engine – the I6 at the time. It is a treatment.
With great enthusiasm, I lifted the hood of the CX-90, and instead of looking at the engine, of course, I was greeted by an engine visor. Worse yet, the cover isn’t much to look at. Most automakers at least make some fake loader runner or something on top of the cover. Not here. The CX-90 is just full of lines that are supposed to look like… to be honest I don’t know.
But don’t be completely fooled by the simplicity of the engine cover. Oh no. There’s more. And Mazda, perhaps took it to new heights unnecessarily with this one.
This cover does not necessarily need to be bolted or need to remove a few tabs to pry it out of the motor head. On the CX-90’s lid, you have to open the two plastic latches located on either side of it. Once you do that, you can lift up engine cover. To keep it engine-ready, Mazda designed what it calls a “service mode” into the lid. It includes a yellow plastic hook—visible at This video presentation, made with Dave Coleman, Mazda’s Vehicle Dynamics Team Leader – stowed away on the underside of the lid when not in use. The hook is attached to a lanyard-like cord, which can then be hooked onto the underside of the hood, where the cap hangs to access the engine.
Look familiar? It’s basically a little hood, under your hood.
Outside of that ridiculous point, sure enough, I have a need to set up the engine cover like this. But it raises some questions, such as, what happens if this piece of plastic falls into the engine? The lanyard it attaches to is made of rope-like material. Slipping on the underside of the engine cover exposes the cap to high temperatures that could melt the hook or burn the tether, which could cause some of this to fall onto the motor and disable the cap. engine. Of course that’s just speculation and I’m sure it can’t happen. But, I’m curious, could it be a problem?
I mostly say all of that to say that I personally hate the engine cover. enthusiasts Usually hate engine covers because they hide the beauty of an internal combustion engine, but as you know, they serve a purpose. Engineers add engine covers on top of the engine to support NVH (noise, vibration, and loudness) as well as help protect the engine from things like dust and debris. But automakers really love them because they clean up the look of the engine bay. No one wants to look at that metal, wire, and plastic. But with a future filled with electric vehicles fast approaching us, I guess we won’t have to look at it anyway.
