Mazda CX-60
FIRST DRIVE Premium SUV is Mazda’s most powerful road car yet
THIS new CX-60 SUV represents Mazda’s push to go premium and take on established German brands such as Audi, BMW and Mercedes.
Plenty of rivals have tried the same trick in the past with mixed results, but Mazda has engineering heritage and experience on its side, and it’s launching the CX-60 with a very ‘of-the-moment’ powertrain. It’s a plug-in hybrid that combines a 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine and a 17.8kWh battery feeding an electric motor for a total of 323bhp and 500Nm (making it the most powerful road car Mazda has ever built), plus an all-electric range of 39 miles.
In some ways, that latter figure is a shame, because just one more mile would see it drop from the 12 per cent Benefit in Kind tax banding to just eight per cent. But there’s still plenty to like, with the potential for up to 188mpg and 33g/km of CO2 emissions, yet the benchmark 0-62mph sprint takes a rapid 5.8 seconds.
We’re trying the top-spec £48,050 Takumi model, which shows the CX-60 in its best light. Mazda is making much of its heritage with a ‘Crafted in Japan’ tag line; the tactile fabric, intricate stitching on the dash, light maple wood inlays, metal detailing and soft leather are all smart touches. What plastics there are feel plush, too.
Even this range-topping model costs £4,915 less than an entry-level Audi Q5 50 TFSI e Sport, however. The Mazda gets lots of equipment, too, with a pair of 12.3-inch displays comprising a digital dash and a central screen. The latter features sat-nav, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
There’s dual-zone climate control, heated seats front and rear (the fronts are also vented), a heated steering wheel, full keyless go, LED lights, a reversing camera, a 12-speaker Bose stereo and 20-inch wheels.
Those big wheels combined with the weight of the battery means the CX-60 sometimes doesn’t deal with bumps quite as well as we’ve come to expect from Mazda’s finest SUVs. However, it’s still on a par with most of its rivals and when you increase your pace, the ride smooths out.
Body control is decent, and combined with weighty but precise steering, the CX-60 is fairly agile. The chassis contains the PHEV’s extra mass fairly well, but it has clearly been compromised slightly. It still handles sweetly and offers engagement, though, balancing this with enough comfort and fair refinement.
The Mazda’s powertrain is more of a mixed bag. Most of the time, noise from the naturally aspirated unit is actually well suppressed on the move and the CX-60 delivers decent cruising refinement. However, the 2.5-litre petrol engine sounds coarse when revved, and around town you can hear a whine from the electrified side of the propulsion system.
A few jerks were apparent in our test car as the electronics worked out the best combination of power sources, so the CX-60 isn’t at the cutting edge of the class for smoothness. At least the eight-speed automatic gearbox’s shifts are slick.
There’s plenty of space in the rear seats, with decent legroom and no issues with headroom, despite our car’s £1k sunroof; the 570-litre boot is competitive, too.
You get two charging cables: a three-pin plug and a Type 2 connector. Use the latter with a 7kW wallbox and the battery takes two hours and 20 minutes to replenish fully.
“This range-topping model costs nearly £5k less than an entry-level Audi Q5 50 TFSI e Sport”