With the Mazda CX-60, Mazda took a step higher. We drove the plug-in hybrid e-SkyActiv PHEV.
Partially succeeded in the mission
We wanted to experience Mazda’s move up close. That’s why we drove six months in a CX-60, the SUV above the CX-5, equipped with plug-in hybrid technology.
We wanted to establish conclusively that the CX-60 is higher quality than the CX-5, so we brought in the newly updated CX-5. Is the CX-60 really premium? Without a doubt, if we look at the decoration and use of materials in the interior. On that point it can even compare with, for example, the BMW X3, an opponent that it also encountered in a double test that we made during the endurance test period. Unfortunately, the driving characteristics of the CX-60 are not yet of a higher level. In fact, the CX-5 simply drives better.
Long journeys on slippery highways, then the Mazda CX-60 is the best
The largest Mazda to date is also the heaviest, partly due to the plug-in hybrid technology. Especially the adjustment of the rear axle shows that there is still some room for improvement. Refinement is hard to find at thresholds, and that it could be better showed our introduction to the CX-60 with the six-burner diesel engine. It will not come to the Netherlands, but the six-cylinder petrol version will soon make its appearance in our country. Those ‘non plug-in hybrids’ are about 200 kilos lighter, making the CX-60 the finer car. During the trips abroad, we were able to better appreciate the driving characteristics of the plug-in hybrid CX-60. The Japanese seem made for long journeys on beautifully sloping asphalt roads, and then feel better than in the Dutch street scene, where you sometimes drive from threshold to threshold.
The ‘whoop sound’ of the transmission
If you make quite a few short journeys, you can cover many kilometers entirely electrically. At autumn and spring temperatures we reached 50 kilometers on a fully charged battery, in the coldest winter weeks that was close to 40, or sometimes less. A fairly normal performance for a plug-in hybrid of this size. It is comparable to the electric performance of the Cupra Formentor e-Hybrid that we previously drove as a plug-in hybrid endurance test. Yet the Mazda’s plug-in hybrid technology, in which a 2.5-liter four-cylinder works together with an electric motor, is not the pinnacle of refinement. This is mainly due to the noises that the powertrain makes. Over time, we noticed that those sounds come from the new eight-speed automatic. When entering the sixth gear you hear a sound that can best be described as ‘woop’. Because the diesel produced an identical ‘woop’ with the same automatic transmission, the penny dropped. If you select the ‘Sport’ driving mode, the CX-60 is most like a Mazda. He then throws himself into the devouring of asphalt with great dedication. Its 327 hp comes out efficiently in ‘Sport’ and the acceleration is decent. If you want to use its electrical capacities as much as possible, you should leave that position for what it is. Without plugging, you have to be satisfied with a consumption of around 1 in 12. Due to the many long trips abroad, we arrive at an endurance test consumption of 1 in 14.2, including all the electric kilometers we made in the Netherlands.