Mazda CX-60 Review (2022-present)
Mazda CX-60 cars for sale
4.0
Expert review
Pros
High quality interior
Large boot
Enjoyable to drive
Cons
Slightly firm ride
PHEV system could be more polished
Some key equipment items merely optional
The CarGurus verdict
The CX-60 is a typical Mazda in that it delivers an engaging driving experience and lots of creature comforts in a package that’s stylish, well made and really impressive for interior quality. You’ll judge for yourself whether the quality really is a match for the likes of Audi, BMW and Mercedes as Mazda claims, but we’d say that it certainly isn’t far off.
Granted, it probably won’t suit everyone. Those after ultimate comfort might be put off by the slightly firm ride, and although the drivetrain is fine, it could be a little more polished. But if you’re after a family SUV with a hint of something a little bit different about it, then we’d say the CX-60 is well worth a look.
What is the Mazda CX-60?
Very big news for Mazda, that’s what, and for a variety of reasons. Firstly, it’s the Japanese firm’s new flagship vehicle, automatically making it the most aspirational Mazda model on offer. Secondly, it’s also the company’s first plug-in hybrid, bringing it more into line with the environmental efforts being made by most rival manufacturers. Thirdly, it’s also the most powerful car that Mazda has ever produced, regardless of those eco-credentials.
Perhaps most significantly, the CX-60 represents Mazda’s first proper attempt to push itself upmarket more into the premium sector, alongside the likes of Audi, BMW and Mercedes. Therefore, Mazda considers the Audi Q5, BMW X3 and Mercedes GLC among the CX-60's rivals, as well as plug-in hybrid versions of the Ford Kuga, Toyota RAV4 and Vauxhall Grandland.
How practical is it?
The CX-60 is a bigger car than any of the competitors mentioned. Happily, that translates in to generous boot space. Kick your foot under the rear bumper to open the powered tailgate - which incidentally is a standard feature – and you’re met with a large, square space totalling 570 litres. With the exception of the Ford, that’s more cargo space than you get in any of the PHEV rivals we’ve mentioned, and most cases, quite a lot bigger.
You also get 40/20/40 split folding rear seats to give you more flexibility when carrying bigger loads, and there are catches either side of the loadbay that make dropping them even more convenient. What’s more, doing so leaves you with a long, flat, level load area thanks to rear backrests that lie more or less flat.
The space you get in the rear seats is a little bit less impressive. Don’t get us wrong, it’s still plenty roomy enough: a couple of tall passengers will be perfectly comfortable thanks to plenty of headroom and legroom, and a third passenger will squeeze in for short journeys provided they’re happy to sit with their feet either side of a wide hump in the floor. However, compared with the smaller Mazda CX-5 SUV, let alone larger rivals, you don’t really feel like you’re getting much more room to stretch out in the CX-60.
What's it like to drive?
When running purely on electric power (the official EV-only range is up to 39 miles), you might be expecting the eerily silent experience provided by other PHEVs and EVs, but that’s not the case with the CX-60, as the electric motor emits a surprisingly loud whirr as it pulls you around town. Things do settle down when you’re going faster, and the hybrid system usually manages to juggle the petrol and electric power sources reasonably smoothly. The standard eight-speed automatic transmission works fairly well, and you can make decent progress without having to work the engine too hard, but when you give it a bootful of throttle, the four-cylinder petrol engine does become quite raucous and noisy. Doing so results in a reasonably impressive burst of acceleration, even if that acceleration isn’t quite as, ahem, electrifying, as the 5.8 second 0-62mph time suggests.
You might be a little surprised by the car’s demeanour in other dynamic areas, too. You might be expect this large SUV to do what large SUVs usually do and deliver a plush, lolloping, wallowy ride. However, this large SUV is also a Mazda, and that’s not what Mazdas tend to do. Instead, the suspension is actually quite firm: not to the point of being uncomfortable, but you do feel more of the surface beneath you than you do in many rivals.
That firmness does at least give you a sense of connection with the road, along with good suppression of body roll in corners. This, along with the plentiful grip and traction from the standard all-wheel drive system (AWD), make the CX-60 feel impressively agile for this kind of car. The steering, which is nice and weighty and delivers very decent feedback, heightens that feeling of engagement even more. Granted, the car does feel very heavy on the brakes, as all PHEVs tend to, but it does at least escape the wooden-feeling stop pedal that blights most other such cars.
Technology, equipment & infotainment
On the face of it, the Mazda CX-60 PHEV looks like a very well equipped car. Even the most basic Exclusive-Line versions come with alloy wheels, leather upholstery, heated front seats and steering wheel, cruise control, dual-zone climate control and an infotainment system with DAB radio, navigation, wireless Apple Carplay and Android Auto, and a 12.3-inch screen.
Meanwhile, Homura and Takumi versions just keep piling on the features, the former adding styling enhancements, powered and ventilated front seats, heated rear seats and a Bose surround sound stereo, and the latter adding exterior and interior styling enhancements on top of that.
Both Homura and Takumi models also get the Driver Personalisation System, which asks you to input your height and then offers up recommended settings for your seat, steering wheel, head-up display and door mirrors. Once you’ve fine-tuned your position (we found the automatic system didn’t really get very close to that we would’ve chosen for ourselves), the system then saves them, and uses facial recognition technology to apply them automatically every time you get in the driver’s seat.
All that being said, though, it is slightly disappointing that radar cruise control is a cost-option on all models, when it comes as standard on lots of cars that cost a lot less.
Mazda CX-60 running costs
The official WLTP fuel economy tests may be more accurate than the old-school NEDC ones, but they’re still unrealistically flattering when it comes to plug-in hybrid cars. As a result, you might as well completely discount the CX-60's official fuel economy figure of 188mpg. The figure you actually end up getting will depend entirely on how you use the car. If you keep the battery charged up and never use petrol power, you won’t use a drop of fuel. If you never bother juicing up the battery and rely on petrol power the whole time, you’ll lose absolutely loads due to the extra weight of all the hybrid hardware. The likelihood is that your use will fall somewhere in between, so if you strive to follow the former example rather than the latter, you’ll get much better economy.
Purchase prices for the CX-60 are fairly middling compared with the competition we’ve mentioned. The Ford Kuga and Vauxhall Grandland PHEVs will cost you less, the Toyota about the same, while the PHEVs from Audi, BMW and Mercedes will – predictably – cost you a fair bit more.
Those who stand to save most from choosing the CX-60 over a more conventional petrol or diesel car, though, are company car drivers. The plug-in hybrid drivetrain means you’ll pay a fraction in monthly benefit-in-kind tax, leading to huge savings both in the short- and long term. Having said that, though, if a full-on electric car fits into your motoring life, then choosing one of those will save you even more in monthly tax bills.
Mazda CX-60 reliability
The CX-60 is a brand new car, built on a brand new architecture, so at this early stage, there are virtually no clues to how reliable it’ll be. And, it’ll take a while before any meaningful data comes to light.
That said, potential buyers should be encouraged by the very solid reputation Mazda has built for reliability in recent years. In the most recent instalment of the What Car? Reliability Survey, the Japanese manufacturer placed 8th in the rankings of 30 car-makers, while in the latest Driver Power Survey - which is an owner satisfaction survey that takes reliability into account – Mazda placed 7th out of 29 manufacturers.
That said, the three-year, 60,000-mile warranty provided with the CX-60 is about the bare minimum that any new car buyer can expect these days, and many rival manufacturers are much more generous on that score.
- The drivetrain combines an electric motor with a 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine to give a very healthy power output of 323bhp, which makes this the most powerful car that Mazda has ever produced. The CX-60 is good for 0-62mph in just 5.8 seconds (although as we said earlier, it doesn’t quite feel like it). More importantly, this car gives you a very respectable electric range 39 miles when it has a fully charged battery, and the official WLTP figures reckon you’ll get 188mpg, although you should have a similar amount of trust in those figures as you do a politician’s promises.
- If you have visions of fast-charging your CX-60 PHEV, then think again. The maximum charging speed it’ll accept is a 7.2kW AC connection, so the quickest you’ll get a 0-100% charge is around 2 hours and 20 minutes. A Type 2 charging cable for home wallbox chargers and public AC chargers is included in the price of the car, as is a cable with a three-pin domestic socket for emergencies.
- The CX-60’s roster of standard safety kit includes seven airbags, blind spot monitoring with rear cross traffic assist, lane keeping assist with lane departure warning and two Isofix child seat mounting points. However, as mentioned earlier, if you want radar cruise control on any version of the CX-60, you have to pay around £1,100 extra for the Driver Assistance Pack, which also includes adaptive LED headlights, front cross traffic assist and a semi-autonomous traffic jam self-driving function.
- Best choice of powertrain: Well there’s only one at the moment, and that’s the PHEV reviewed here. Give it a while, though, and CX-60 buyers will also have the choice of six-cylinder petrol and diesel versions, combined with mild hybrid technology.
- If you want the most affordable CX-60: Even the most basic Exclusive-Line versions are fairly generously equipped, coming with alloy wheels, leather upholstery, heated front seats and steering wheel, cruise control, dual-zone climate control and an infotainment system with DAB radio, navigation, wireless Apple Carplay and Android Auto, and a 12.3-inch screen. This entry-level version costs in the region of £44,000 on the road.
- If you want a more tooled-up CX-60: Choosing the Homura version adds around £2,700 to the price of the CX-60, but also adds plenty to the equipment roster. That includes styling enhancements, powered and ventilated front seats, heated rear seats and a Bose surround sound stereo, among many other items.
- If you want the most stylish CX-60: For another grand-and-a-bit on top, you can have the range-topping Takumi version. Be warned that it doesn’t actually add very much in the way of luxury equipment, but it does feature plenty of styling enhancements, especially inside the car, where you get white leather upholstery, a white maple wood centre console and a stitched fabric dashboard panel.
