Mazda CX-30

HELLO

£ 28,875 OTR/£29,425 as tested/£353pcm

WHY IT’ S HERE

What’s it like to live with a SkyActiv engine?

DRIVER

Sam Philip IT’S ALL ABOUT THE ENGINE. A BOLD CLAIM, PERHAPS, FOR A family SUV with no pretensions at hot hatchery, but our new Mazda CX-30 is fitted with Mazda’s shiny new SkyActiv-X petrol, a very unexciting name for (potentially) a very exciting bit of kit.

SkyActiv-X is the first production petrol engine to use compression ignition – that is, to make its bang mostly without the aid of a spark. In short, this is a petrol that promises diesel economy by borrowing diesel technology (without those nasty diesel particulates).

The official numbers promise 180bhp and a 0–60 time in the eights, with economy nearing 50mpg and a mere 105g/km of CO2. Those are mighty impressive stats for a 1,500kg SUV, provided the CX-30 can get anywhere near its official numbers. If the results are as revolutionary as Mazda promises, this is the petrol engine that might keep us all in petrol engines for a few more years yet. No pressure, then.

Since we first tried the SkyActiv-X in the middle of last year, this is what we’ve been itching to discover: how economical is it in real-world driving? Time to find out, with the help of VX69GYF. We’ve gone for the toppy GT Sport trim, which gives you everything you might need as standard: nav, head-up display, smart leather, integrated milk frother, heated steering wheel. I may have made one of these up. As per our outgoing Mazda3, the interior is minimal and lovely. As not per our outgoing Mazda3, there’s actually room in the back for small people.

After a couple of hundred miles of running, first impressions are a) the SkyActiv-X doesn’t sound or drive anything like a diesel, but instead a pleasant naturally aspirated petrol, and b) fuel economy’s looking healthy, but not yet game-changing: I’m averaging in the high thirties.