Electric twist with a
Our time with the Mazda CX-60 Homura is revealing a few unusual flavours to its PHEV technology
You can count on Mazda to deliver the seemingly familiar with a technical twist.
That’s the case with our CX-60 Homura PHEV long-term test car.
It has fallen to me to report on the car as an urban commuter. Makes sense. I live in Auckland and travel to DRIVEN Car Guide’s incredibly plush central-city offices each day with a 12km commute that’s a half-half mix of 30-50km/ h roads and 100km/h motorway work.
The CX-60’s plug-in hybrid (PHEV) system is standard stuff on the surface: a 2.5-litre petrol-turbo engine with a fairly big battery that you can recharge using external power for a limited amount of pure-electric driving. And then petrol-electric operation.
The tricky bit with the Mazda is that the electric motor is sandwiched inside the eightspeed gearbox. So even when you’re driving in EV mode, it’s changing gears like a conventional petrol car.
There has been some consternation among commentators that it can be a little hesitant or jerky. That’s true, it can — if you are too. But I’ve also found if you are smooth with the throttle, the gearbox is too. At the risk of sounding like a Mazda-PHEVapologist, I rather like the sensation of this EV changing gears and working with me.
The most awkward scenario is the transition between electric and hybrid in urban driving, when the battery is depleted; the transmission can bump and thump in odd ways. Too many clutches? The CX-60 gearbox has a brace of them, one between the engine/ motor and another between the powertrain/axles.
It’s a luxurious way to travel. The sporty exterior design robs the driver of some visibility for parking but, boy — it does look cool. And the surround cameras certainly help.
Mazda has a knack for swish interior design and the CX-60 takes things up another notch. We did have a wobble with the infotainment system: the Samsung phone users among us couldn’t seem to get a clean boot-up/ connection to the wireless Android Auto, to the point where we had given up on using what’s otherwise a great setup. We were very sure it was the car; Mazda’s knowledgeable communications man politely suggested it could be our phones. Yeah, right.
Upon the car’s return we agreed to show him the problem. That week, Samsung issued two major
OS updates and by the time the big test came . . . it was all working fine. Angry journalists 0, Mazda PR/company tech 1. But really, a good result for everybody and a lesson: don’t automatically blame the car because the problem might be you. Or, ideally, Samsung.
Is the PHEV version of the CX60 the right choice? For me, yes.
The Mazda has a
17.8kWh battery which can be recharged using the Type 2 AC port, at up to 7.2kW — or exactly what most home wallbox-type stations deliver. So two-and-a-half hours from flat, give or take. Or overnight on a three-pin socket if you don’t have a wallbox for your $88k PHEV (and shame on you), for a real-world
55-60km EV commuting.
And now, I digress slightly. I’ve had more than my share of arguments with people (the editor for one) who reckon PHEVs should have DC charging ability (some do, like the Mitsubishi Outlander), so you can charge them when you’re travelling.
The one EV-USP of a PHEV is that you can have short-distance electric driving and yet still cover occasional long distances in hybrid mode without stopping all the time. So why would you want to wait for it to charge on a trip?
If you insist on holding the battery charge, you can indeed do that for later use by selecting a required percentage level (the engine can also charge the battery to that point).
True, most PHEVs are less economical on trips than comparable non-plug-in hybrids because they are heavier. But that’s simply opportunity cost for that electric commuting ability.
May I respectfully suggest that if you find yourself using petrol more than electric power in the CX-60 PHEV (or indeed any PHEV), you might have bought the wrong car; especially with Road User Charges now in the mix.
If that’s the case, may I also introduce you to the very swish and smooth CX-60 Homura 3.3 48-volt mild hybrid (no plug), which is also $6k cheaper and runs on 91-octane, rather than the 95 required for the PHEV’s petrol engine. Horses for courses, Homura choices.
MAZDA HAS A KNACK FOR SWISH INTERIOR DESIGN AND THE CX-60 TAKES THINGS UP ANOTHER NOTCH.