Over the last decade, Mazda has brought us some of Australia’s favourite cars. In many ways, prime examples, like the CX-5, have become the standard for the way a mainstream SUV should look, feel and drive.
The CX-60 is more than just a new car in Mazda’s range though. It’s the start of a new chapter for the brand. Mazda promises an even more premium design and feel facilitated by an all-new platform, a choice of completely new engines, and a new price-point to match.
There’s a lot to cover for this monumental moment in Mazda’s history, so read on to see if this first step into the next chapter is one you should consider.
Price and features – Does it represent good value for the price? What features does it come with?
To get started, we need to explain where the CX-60 is positioned in Mazda’s line-up. Despite looking quite large in pictures and in the metal, the CX-60 is still a mid-size SUV, and only marginally larger than the CX-5.
If you were hoping for a seven-seat offering, you’ll need to wait a little longer to hop into the incoming and even larger CX-80 and CX-90, but Mazda says the CX-60 is for buyers who are ready for something a little bigger and nicer feeling than the CX-5, but don’t need the extra seats.
This car also debuts a new large car rear-biased platform, a first for Mazda, with bigger engines and an overall more premium feel, one which the brand has been flirting with for some time.
Prices are decidedly premium to match. With a start price just shy of $60,000 for the base version, to nearly $90,000 for the top-grade, the CX-60 rivals only the most high-spec versions of rivals like the Mitsubishi Outlander, Toyota Kluger, and Hyundai Santa Fe, whilst dipping into the territory of luxury-badged rivals, like the Lexus NX, Genesis GV70, and even Audi Q5.
Thankfully, there’s a straightforward range of variants, which hasn’t always been the case for Mazda in the past.
The CX-60 is offered in three grades: The base Evolve, the mid-spec GT, and the top-spec Azami. Any of which can be chosen with one of three engine choices: The G40e inline-six turbo petrol, D50e inline-six turbo diesel, or P50e 2.5-litre four-cylinder plug-in hybrid.
With a luxury pricing structure comes a more or less premium set of standard equipment.
The base Evolve for example scores black synthetic ‘Maztex’ interior trim, 18-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights, a 10.25-inch multimedia screen and 7.0-inch digital dash both of which are upgradable to the dual 12.3-inch system on higher grades.
There’s also wireless phone mirroring, a wireless phone charger, built-in navigation, a 360-degree parking camera, dual-zone climate control, eight-way power seat adjust for the driver, and keyless entry with push-start ignition.
That’s right, no cloth seats or plastic steering wheels here, the CX-60 does stretch into premium territory, even on the base Evolve.
Next up, the GT grade nets you 20-inch alloy wheels, body coloured highlights, a driver monitoring system with facial recognition tech for automatic seat settings, a power tailgate, heated real leather seats front and rear with a heated steering wheel, electric adjust for the steering column, additional LED lighting for the interior, a panoramic sunroof and a premium audio system.
Finally, the top-spec Azami grade adds 20-inch wheels in an alternate design, adaptive LED headlights, Nappa leather interior trim, an even higher-grade adaptive cruise system, ventilated front seats, real leather door trim, additional lighting features, and more functions for the personalisation system.
Option packs include the Vision Tech package ($2000) which adds larger screens, premium cruise and driver monitoring systems, as well as a higher-grade 360-degree camera suite to the Evolve and GT grades, the Luxury package ($4000), which adds heated seats, real leather seat trim, and power seats with memory adjust to the base Evolve only.
Meanwhile, the top-spec Azami is offered with the choice of either the Takumi package ($2000), which adds white leather seat trim, bright interior inlays, and a cloth dash with maple wood highlights or the SP package ($2000) which includes tan leather interior trim with suede highlights, black 20-inch wheels in an alternate design, black exterior highlights, and a two-tone steering wheel.
Design - Is there anything interesting about its design?
The CX-60 brings with it a tweaked design language. It’s still iconically Mazda with its big open grille, signature bonnet shape, and expansive panel-work down its sides, but it’s longer, wider, and even sleeker than before.
Gone are some of the 3D detailing bits of the CX-5’s face, replaced by a more flat, but shapely profile, tough inset light signatures, and a long profile in the body with big curvaceous door panels. The rear is more wagon-like than the hatch rear of previous Mazda SUV models, putting it more in-line with cars like the Genesis GV70, for example.
A choice of big intricate wheel designs and black or colour matching body highlights also remove it from the plastic cladding look of its more affordable siblings.
Inside, there is a range of new material choices, designed to elevate the brand even further than before, and you can expect things not usually seen on Mazdas past like suede touches and a reliance on intricate patterns, and even more soft-touch materials.
It’s not as though Mazdas weren’t already a cut above their mainstream contemporaries, and yet here we are with an even broader choice of luxurious touches and trims. If this doesn’t tell you the intent for the car, along with the pricing, I don’t know what should.
I can report it all feels the part, too. Despite sharing a few bits of switchgear with the rest of the Mazda range, the CX-60 feels every bit as luxurious as rivals like the Lexus NX or Genesis GV60 when it comes to materials and design inside the cabin.
Practicality – How practical is its space and tech inside?
No complaints for seating position, which is not only comfortable, but highly adjustable too, and visibility out of the cabin is great, despite the long bonnet and high beltline. The electric steering column on high grades is a nice touch.
The digital dash looks super slick, but isn’t very customisable, with only a side menu to flick through some basic information displays. It’s odd because it’s such a large screen with such little flexibility.
At least the theme is distinct for each drive mode, and it is quite useful in the plug-in hybrid, as it shows different power gagues depending on whether you’re in full EV, hybrid, or running in primarily combustion mode.
Similarly, the large multimedia screen looks good and has simple software which is nice and easy to control via the central dial on the console, although it’s not the best for operating phone mirroring software which is designed with touch interfaces in mind. It’s just clumsy having to flick through several pages of home screen to get to one particular app using a dial in Apple CarPlay, for example.
I am very glad Mazda continues to persist with a physical dial for volume control, shortcut buttons on the centre console, as well as buttons for the climate control, with toggles for temperature. Much easier to use compared to a touch system while driving.
For storage, front passengers get two large bottle holders in the door pockets, a further two in the centre console with a flip-away cover, a wireless phone charging bay under the climate unit, and a padded split-opening centre console box to go with the glove compartment.
Interestingly the centre console box is quite shallow, leaving you minimal additional storage space, although it is nice the USB-C connectivity is located there, so you can hide your cables away and declutter the cabin.
In the back seat it was a surprise to find my knees so close to the back of the front seat set to my own driving position, given this car’s long wheelbase. At 182cm tall though, I had sufficient headroom, and all of the lovely padded trims from the front continue into the rear.
The centre position is actually useful for an adult, too, because the bump in the centre needed for the drive shaft is very low profile, giving centre occupants somewhere to put their feet.
Storage is a similar story to the front, with big bottle holders in the doors, with two more in a drop down armrest, and pockets on the backs of the front seats. Amenities are impressive, with higher-grade cars getting heated outboard seats, although all cars get dual adjustable air vents and USB-C outlets. It is also good to see Mazda making the most of this car’s strong 48-volt electrical system by providing a full-size household power outlet on the back of the centre-console too. Usually this bit of kit is reserved for fully electric cars.
The cargo area is a bit larger than this car's CX-5 sibling, landing at 477 litres measured to the VDA standard. This is true regardless of variant, although the plug-in hybrid loses the space-saver spare wheel in favour of a repair kit, and its fuel tank drops from 58 to 50 litres.
Interestingly, braked towing maxes out at 2500kg for the petrol and plug-in hybrid variants, while the diesel is knocked down to 2000kg. The official towing accessory kit will also set you back a smidge over $2000.
Under the bonnet – What are the key stats for its engine and transmission?
As previously mentioned, you can choose any of the three new powertrains on any of the three variants.
These consist of two 3.3-litre straight-six turbocharged engines with 48-volt mild hybrid assistance. The G40e petrol produces 209kW/450Nm, the D50e diesel produces 187kW/550Nm.
The plug-in hybrid mates a 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine with a 100kW motor located in the same housing as the clutch, which produces a combined 241kW/500Nm.
On the topic of the transmission, the CX-60 uses a traditional automatic eight-speed orbital gearset (that is, not a CVT or a dual-clutch), but instead of the usual hydraulic coupling, there’s a computer controlled clutch plate, making it feel a little like a dual-clutch might drive.
The plug-in hybrid has a battery capacity of 17.8kWh allowing it a purely electric driving range of 76km on the WLTP cycle. It charges up using a standard Type 2 AC port, at a maximum rate of 7.2kW.
This means a charge time of around 90 minutes from 20 - 80 per cent, much better than the 2.7 or 3.2kW systems employed by some of its rivals, which make for very slow charging periods. With the ability to pull 7.2kW, it makes it worth plugging in your Mazda at a public AC charging station at the shops, for example.
Efficiency – What is its fuel consumption? What is its driving range?
If you were wondering why Mazda would take a risk and dump the traditional transmission set-up which it is well known for, it’s in the name of efficiency.
According to the brand, it needed to dump the smooth hydraulic coupling for two reasons. Firstly, it needed the space to fit the electric motor here, and secondly, according to the brand, a clutch plate has much less drag, and is therefore much more efficient at delivering torque compared to a traditional hydraulic automatic.
We’ll talk about what this does from a driving perspective shortly, but when it comes to efficiency, it seems the brand was right.
Despite nearly double the outputs of their four-cylinder equivalents, the pair of big inline six engines deliver the same or less fuel consumption.
In the case of the 3.3-litre turbo petrol, this means an official consumption of 7.4L/100km, for the diesel it’s a very impressive number of 4.9L/100km, and for the plug-in hybrid, there’s a claim of 2.1L/100km, although this assumes you’ll charge the car up and drive it in ‘Normal’ mode.
We were swapping in and out of different cars during the launch, and therefore won’t be able to give you a real-world number this time around. However, I can say each vehicle reported close to the claim, despite being driven reasonably hard. Even the PHEV didn’t seem to be too far off its 76km range claim. Further investigation will be required on a longer follow-up review, but for now we’re impressed.
Driving – What's it like to drive?
It’s an all-new chapter for Mazda, with the brand launching into uncharted territory with a big rear-drive platform, inline six engines, and a heavily electrified transmission.
The results are interesting. The CX-60 instantly feels more substantial, both in terms of the brevity of its heavy steering feel, and the weight of the overall platform, especially compared to its featherweight CX-5 sibling.
The new engines are also superb. No matter which choice you go with, there’s plenty of power on offer. The petrol revs hard and pulls strong through its entire rev-range, with a signature straight-six tone working its way up from around 3000rpm. It’s a joy to have engines like this return.
The diesel turned out to be my favourite of the bunch. While it’s a tad noisier than the petrol six at low speed and when cruising at highway speeds, it has an extremely agreeable guttural straight-six roar when on-song at around 4000rpm. It’s a diesel which feels like a petrol engine to use, with the most comparable contemporary engine I can think of being the BMW inline six diesel of recent years. It’s big praise, and I mean it, the diesel is my pick of the range.
The plug-in hybrid is the most interesting and complex system, and it feels it. As an EV it has some very impressive traits. The motor is quite powerful, so it makes for smooth sailing despite the need to pull a big heavy car and its combustion engine along with it. It is also capable of supporting purely electric driving at up to 100km/h, allowing you to maintain zero emissions commuting, even if your daily grind involves an expressway.
The regenerative braking is also nice and strong, with two settings available through the multimedia screen. The highest setting isn’t quite a single-pedal mode, but is very good at slowing the car down, and maximising energy return whilst doing so. When driven in the ‘normal’ driving mode, the CX-60 seems to have a sensible blend of electric driving and combustion assistance, which is heavily speed and load dependent.
Further investigations are required on a longer test, but I came away initially impressed with how this system works. One odd thing worth noting is the strange noise the plug-in hybrid makes when driving as an EV. It’s a high-pitched robotic whirring. I’ve never heard anything quite like it. It suits the car, and offers you rare audible feedback on what the motor is doing, but I wonder if it would get annoying constantly hearing it in traffic.
Then there’s the eight-speed automatic transmission. Mazda, once masters of the smooth but sporty torque converter, have decided to take a risk on an automated clutch, and the results are mixed.
It feels entirely like a normal automatic when you’re at cruising speed, but it has introduced some lumpiness to your initial acceleration from a stop, doubly so on hills, or if the PHEV decides it needs to switch between electric and combustion power. There’s a fairly transparent engagement of the clutch as the car lurches forward to get going. It’s not as frustrating as some dual-clutches can be, and the overall result is certainly not as lifeless as a CVT, but if you own a Mazda right now, be prepared, it’s maybe not as smooth or slick as what you’ll be used to.
The suspension is also firm and sporting, with some clever body-levelling tricks at play to seal the handling deal. It’s impressive to see thought put into this despite a non-active setup, with the CX-60 feeling athletic despite its weight, and the posture of this car when accelerating, braking, or cornering pairs wonderfully with its strong engines and solid steering for a very engaging drive.
It’s not perfect though. The ride is hard to a fault at times, with sharp bumps and sudden jolts communicated vividly to the cabin, doubly so on the larger 20-inch wheel options.
There also seems to be a disconnect between the springs and dampers to create an odd sensation of softness over undulations, offset by the sharpness of sudden impacts. It’s no dealbreaker, the nice handling comes at a cost, but it’s worth noting the ride isn’t as luxurious as some rivals.
Safety – What safety equipment is fitted? What is its safety rating?
Mazda continues its legacy of maintaining a high level of safety even in base cars, although there are a few more advanced items that are reserved for higher grades.
Standard active equipment includes auto emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection, lane keep assist with lane departure warning, blind spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert, rear auto braking, driver attention alert, and adaptive cruise control.
The mid-spec GT gains a more advanced driver monitoring system, while the top-spec Azami adds adaptive headlights, cruise and traffic support features, and front cross traffic alert.
There are eight airbags, as well as Mazda’s signature vectoring control, alongside the usual rear outboard ISOFIX child seat mounting points and standard brake, traction, and stability systems.
The CX-60 was just awarded a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating.
Ownership – What warranty is offered? What are its service intervals? What are its running costs?
Mazda offers its usual five-year warranty and five-year roadside assistance program with the CX-60, on-par for the segment, and there’s five years of fixed price servicing, too.
Interestingly, prices aren’t near as cheap as its mainstream competitors, with the diesel by far the most expensive to service, at an average of $643 a year for the first five years.
The plug-in hybrid is the cheapest of the lot, costing an average of $518 a year, while the petrol six-cylinder will set you back an average of $576, sitting between the two.
Verdict
While Mazda has flirted with the idea of inching into premium car territory before, the CX-60 commits to this idea by looking, feeling, and driving like a luxury car should. There are a handful of small things we’d like to see ironed out but its premium rivals should be on notice, Mazda’s next chapter is one worth checking out.
My pick of the range? I’d take a base Evolve with the diesel engine. You get the improved ride quality from the smaller 18-inch wheels, with the best drivetrain option, and, honestly, the Evolve already has such a nice interior you won’t miss the extra stuff.
Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with travel, accommodation and meals provided.
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