Expensive, but brilliant: We test the Mazda CX-60 plug-in hybrid

Thursday, 12 October 2023

The Mazda CX-60 PHEV is here as a proper challenger to the plug-in European SUVs.

Mazda’s goal of becoming a premium Japanese brand rivalling the Europeans isn’t really news these days. It has said as much since the current Mazda3 was revealed back in 2018, if not earlier, and its latest SUV offerings hammer its point home even further.

We’ve looked at the larger CX-90 and we quite like it, with its ground-up-new electrified straight-six and now-typical attention to detail in the cabin. But there’s another newbie to Mazda’s SUV range, the slightly smaller CX-60, and it comes as a plug-in hybrid.

The CX-60 only comes as a five-seater – if you want seven, look to the CX-90.

That last detail is arguably the most interesting, not because it’s Mazda’s first PHEV or anything (which it is) but more because it’s one of Mazda’s most powerful production vehicles ever, second only to the 3.3-litre straight-six CX-90. You might think that honour goes to the spiciest of RX-7s, but they came from the factory with a maximum of 206kW, whereas the CX-60 PHEV makes 241kW from its 2.5-litre inline-four-plus-electric-motor system. Torque is similarly high at 500Nm.

Mazda’s new SUVs have a bold look, which really works.

Of course, the CX-60 isn't nearly as rowdy as those rotary-powered RX-7s, but it uses much less fuel and oil. Being a plug-in hybrid, it can theoretically use zero fossil fuels in its running – if you remember to charge it regularly – but if the battery does run dry while you’re out and about, the powertrain effectively functions as a regular hybrid, shutting off the engine while the car is coasting and allowing small distances of electric travel.

Real-world EV range is about 60km. If you typically drive more than this, or don’t charge often (but still charge sometimes), expect fuel usage around 3.5L/100km. I tested how the CX-60 goes as a hybrid as well, and if you don’t charge the car at all – naughty – fuel usage rises to the mid-sevens. May as well save some coin and get the mild hybrid straight-six CX-60 at that point.

It’s quick too, hitting 100kph in 5.8 seconds and sounding surprisingly good in the process. The inline-six of the other models does sound better, but takes a bit longer to do the on-ramp dash. Electric torque and all-wheel drive grip means the PHEV is fast off the line, but the way Mazda has implemented the electricals still needs a bit of refining.

The powertrain needs a bit of refinement but the comfort levels of the CX-60 are great.

The motor sits inside the eight-speed automatic transmission, with its own clutch to retain all-wheel drive in EV mode, but the set-up means you feel gear changes when running on electric power.

This might be to keep the transmission spinning in the correct gear should the engine need to step in, but the programming means you take off in the short first gear with a lurchy change into second owing to the more linear power curve of electric motors (petrol engines have more of an actual curve to the powerband, making more power as the revs rise). After you get going and shift beyond third gear things are generally fine, but those low-speed take-offs need some work.

Takami CX-60s get a white fabric interior with cream maple inserts.

There’s also quite a lot of motor whine noticeable at those lower speeds. Of course, crank the tunes and they’re quickly drowned out, but if you’re the type to drive in silence, you’ll notice them.

If the white/cream combo doesn’t do it for you, the Homura CX-60 swaps things for a black/grey interior.

Mazdas usually handle pretty well and the company is quick to point out things on the CX-60 like the rear-biased AWD system and Kinetic Posture Control which nips the brake on the inside rear wheel to maintain cornering stability. It’s certainly decent around corners, not quite an MX-5 (which Mazda did liken the handling of the SUV to) but it’s as good as you could ask a 2.1-tonne family wagon to be.

More importantly, it’s quiet and comfortable around town, even on the big 20-inch wheels.

This particular CX-60 is the Takami model, which is the most premium of the bunch. It gets 20-inch black machined alloy wheels, bright exterior trim bits, white maple wood inserts in the console and door trims, woven cloth and exposed stitching in the instrument panel, a Bose 12-speaker stereo and white Nappa leather trim for the ventilated front seats.

It’s expensive at $90,990, which also pushes it out of any Clean Car discount and into the zero band, but the quality of Mazda’s interiors continues to seriously impress. I wasn’t sure about the white cloth upholstery and cream wood inserts but they work quite nicely. If you’re not a fan of the Takami interior, you can get the PHEV in Homura spec, which has a black/grey combo in the cabin.

The stereo system is awesome, Mazda’s pleasingly narrow infotainment display supports wireless phone mirroring for Apple and Android users, and there are physical controls for the air-conditioning system. There’s also a dial controller for the infotainment system if you don’t want to prod the screen and risk fingerprinting.

These new SUVs have a ‘Driver Personalisation System’ which attempts to sort out the ideal driving position when you input your height. It does a decent job but had my 185cm frame more crunched up against the steering wheel than I like. It also stores settings for audio and air conditioning, and can recognise up to six people, plus guests.

Mazda is targeting the likes of the BMW X3 xDrive30e and Lexus NX 450h+ with the CX-60 PHEV, and asks markedly less cash than either of those. All are worthy of consideration, but the outright cash savings of the CX-60 is hard to ignore. If you really want to save some coin, you can get the plug-in CX-60 in entry Touring spec for $78,990, netting a $4025 rebate.