THE LOWDOWN

Donalds Mazda red car outside hotel with flowers

Say hello (or should that be Koh’nichiwa) to this brand new beauty – the super sleek and sexy Mazda CX-60 e-skyactiv PHEV, a plug-in hybrid that’s really going to set the cat among the pigeons in the large SUV market. And, it’s not all about her sublime sporty looks, she’s an absolute dream to drive too, as I found out when I borrowed her for the morning from Donalds Mazda, a family-run company with dealerships in Bury St Edmunds, Ipswich, Peterborough and Norwich.

If you’ve been considering a new family car and have been struggling to justify the prices of some of the premium SUVs from the likes of Audi, BMW, Volvo and Mercedes, then allow me to steer you in the direction on the brand new Mazda CX-60 (it only launched at the end of 2022!). There’s a lot to love about this smart SUV and you won’t believe what’s included in the very competitive price. Here’s what I thought when I took the top-of-the-range Takumi model for a spin around Bury St Edmunds.

THE LOOKS

The Mazda CX-60 is a five-seat, five-door SUV – the first of its kind for Mazda in the premium SUV market, and they’ve really thrown everything they’ve got at it. It’s sleek, with a huge bonnet, large statement grill, and streamlined windows, plus it has a generous boot and spacious cabin, meaning it’s perfect for family life. The model we drove was in Deep Crystal Red – and while I wouldn’t normally consider red for a car this size, we’re not talking bright garish red here. This colour came about after a huge amount of research by the designers and is billed as “the world’s most beautiful red” – and I definitely agree.

The CX-60 is a plug-in hybrid, which is the ideal option for anyone looking to make the move towards electric, but who isn’t ready to go the whole hog when the infrastructure isn’t quite there yet. With fuel costs so high too, it’s a smart economic move as the car can do up to 39.15 miles on all-electric power, enabling owners to reduce the amount of refuelling they need to do. You can’t tell it’s electric from the outside and when you drive it, apart from the very quiet engine, it has all the oomph and power of a classic petrol or diesel car.

Inside is plush, stylish and spacious. The cream leather is soft and buttery and I loved the fact that the air conditioning comes up through the seats (no hot sweaty thighs stuck to the seats in the height of summer here!). The car also comes with a material and metallic trim around the front dash area and on the doors, which I haven’t seen before and really liked. You won’t find any shiny plastic bits here, it’s all very high end and design-led with a black leather stripe down the seats, for no other reason apparently than it looks cool.

All the buttons and controls are curvaceous and discreet (very impressive considering the amount of cool tech you get in a Japanese car… more on that below), and the large screen is long and wide so doesn’t obstruct your line of sight, but is large enough to make it extremely user friendly and high definition.

THE BOOT AND STORAGE

There are two armrests in between the two front seats, which is a clever idea and allows each user to adjust or open the arm rest without annoying the other person. The storage space under these though is pretty shallow. No matter though because there are so many other places to stash your stuff, inclufing the large glove boxes and long and deep door cubbies. There’s also plenty of space to throw your phone and the keys when you start the engine (this is a keyless drive) as well as hidden away compartments for coins and other loose bits. My favourite little storage surprise though has to be the sunglasses holder by the rearview mirror.

The boot is huge – if you like facts and figures it has 570 litres of storage or an incredible 1726 litres when the back seats are down. If that means nothing to you our test might help…

We loaded it up with a full shop’s worth of bags, a large folded buggy and even a dog (although it has to be said Blossom is a miniature dachshund so doesn’t exactly take up much space!) and it coped admirably. It’s made with ease of opening in mind, ideal if you’re constantly shepherding around a million bits of bobs for the kids, with an option to open using the key or using a tailgate button.

My favourite thing about the boot though, was the boot cover. There’s no annoying parcel shelf (what purpose do they even serve these days!). Instead the clever folk at Mazda have devised a boot cover that is attached to the door of the boot and lifts up with is, so you don’t have to bother with it, but it still keeps everything nicely contained and hidden from view.

IN THE BACK

There are three seats in the back (two with with very-easy-to-access Isofix), but you’d only really want to use the third occasionally as it’s quite narrow and there’s a fairly high hump on the floor limiting leg room. Three large teenagers or three adults would be a squeeze. The height of the car is ample (my 6ft 4 husband fitted in nicely even with the addition of the cool panoramic sun roof in this model).

There’s plenty of leg room too, as long as the front seats aren’t pushed back to the max), so you won’t have anyone kicking the back of your seat or leaving muddy marks on that beautiful cream leather. As you can see, my toddler was a big fan of how much space she had to move around!

THE TECHY BITS

This is Mazda’s first foray into plug-in hybrid cars. The website says it’s possible to get 188 miles to the gallon, but in reality in hybrid mode it’s much nearer 45mpg. In EV mode you can do an impressive 39.15 miles of pure electric driving though and CO2 emissions of 33g/km meaning it qualifies for the 8% BIK bracket .

Parents will be delighted to know that the Mazda CX-60 passed the Euro NCAP crash test with flying colours with a five star rating (out of a possible five stars). There’s also clever crash technology that allows the bonnet to pop-up in case to reduce serious injury if the vehicle should come into contact with a pedestrian. Other safety features include lane assist, steering wheel assist, and cross traffic assist.

It felt like the right thing to ask how quickly the Mazda CX-60 goes from 0 – 60 and apparently it’s 5.8 seconds. That means very little to me, but I was delighted by the acceleration when I drove, so I’m guessing 5.8 is pretty nippy.

THE DRIVE

Smooth as you like! And so quiet when you pull away that I may have pressed the on button a few times thinking I hadn’t started her up yet! The CX-60 feels quite wide to start with and the bonnet huge, but it’s also a really nimble car and gripped beautifully to the winding country roads around Bury so I felt confident and safe straightaway. She accelerated like a dream, and over-taking or joining motorways in her is a doddle, you’d never find yourself muttering “come on” to her.

All versions of the CX-60 come with blindspot monitoring, and once you’ve driven with this techy extra you’ll never look back (see what I did there!). You can also add on adaptive cruise control, rear cross-traffic alert, and rear emergency braking. While I was worried the car would be bleeping at me from all sides like some sort of space shuttle with these many safety features, it was all very subtle and easy to decipher.

COOL STUFF

Who has time to be adjusting their seat and mirror position every time they get in the car after another driver? Well, in this car you can just hop in and start your journey in mere seconds thanks to an ingenious bit of tech… face recognition-activated driver personalisation! The dashboard camera scans you face then instantly adjusts your seat position and steering wheel like magic. It’s the natural next step, after all our phones have been recognising us for years, so why shouldn’t our cars, but I was still wowed by it.

The other cool feature I was very taken with was the on screen speed display. Only the driver can see the speed limit digitally displayed on the windscreen and it’s not distracting at all, but really handy to help you keep to the speed limit without having to look down constantly. The front and rear cameras were also a real help when it came to parking, as the car does feel rather long, and the camera display was really clear and user friendly.

Finally I loved the adaptive cruise control, which means the car automatically slows down when it detects a vehicle ahead and cleverly works out safe distances too. With the amount of traffic on the UK’s roads I’ve never found traditional cruise control particularly useful, but this modern take on it certainly would get a lot of use from me on long journeys.

THE MUDDY VERDICT

Good for: Families with one or two kids, possibly a dog, and lots of stuff! It’s ideal for people who value looks and style in their cars, but aren’t snobby about a super high end badge. This car isn’t just all style and no substance. There’s a lot of cool high tech add-ons to make life easier and driving fun, but it’s all user friendly so you don’t have to digest a manual to understand it.

Not for: If eco credentials are priority number one for you in a new car, this hybrid probably isn’t the right option. Other similar cars have a longer electric range and cost less when it comes to tax.

The damage: The on-road pricing for the plug-in hybrid Mazda CX-60 Takumi model that I test drove ranges from £45,655k-£55,000k depending on which of the packages you add on. This is really good value for money considering the car feels so large and luxurious and has so many cool gadgets and extras as standard. It’s a really smart choice if the prices of premium SUVs at Mazda’s German rivals make you wince, but you still need a big family car that gives you something to smile about as well as the kids.

Fancy a test drive? Head to Donalds Mazda, which has branches in Bury St Edmunds, Ipswich, Peterborough and Norwich. This family-owned car dealership is well known for it’s amazing service and friendly staff and we had a brilliant morning on our test drive, thanks to their super efficient staff, who were really knowledgeable, personable and not pushy at all – just how we like them.

Donalds Mazda Bury St Edmunds, Moreton Hall Industrial Estate, Bury St Edmunds, IP32 7BY, 01284 723336

Donalds Mazda Ipswich, 7 Crane Boulevard, Ipswich IP3 9SQ, 01473 287788

Donalds Mazda Peterborough, 50 – 64 Burghley Road, Peterborough, PE1 2QD, 01733 565787

Donalds Mazda Norwich, 101 Cromer Rd, Norwich NR6 6XW, 01603 427011

Mazda CX-60 review: Is it worth the price?

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