2022 Mazda CX-60 (inc. 0-100) review: Mazda's answer to X3, GLC & Q5!

  • last year
Mazda is going premium and it wants the all new Mazda CX-60 to be the brand's answer to the BMW X3, Mercedes-Benz GLC and Audi Q5. How close does it get? Paul Maric heads to Portugal to test the Mazda CX-60 PHEV to see if it can take it to its European competitors.

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More Mazda CX-60 content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/mazda/cx-60

Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Exterior 01:05
Interior 05:48
Infotainment 07:31
Safety Tech 09:59
Practicality 10:40
Charging 14:22
On the Road 14:59
0-100 km/h 19:47
Verdict 25:42

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#mazda #cx60 #review
Transcript
00:00 G'day, I'm Paul.
00:01 Mazda is on a mission.
00:02 They wanna find an SUV that's gonna fit
00:05 literally every single buyer,
00:07 and that means they're creating SUVs
00:08 to just blend into all the little gaps in their model range.
00:11 And this is the latest.
00:12 It's called the Mazda CX-60.
00:15 It focuses on being a premium offering.
00:18 It's also rear-wheel drive based as well,
00:20 so it's a bit of a sporty SUV in that sense.
00:23 Now, this is gonna compete with things like the BMW X3,
00:26 the Mercedes-Benz GLC, the Audi Q5,
00:29 it's that type of buyer that they're currently targeting.
00:33 We don't know pricing just yet,
00:34 but Australia is gonna get this one here,
00:36 which is the plug-in hybrid.
00:37 It'll sit at the top of the tree,
00:38 but eventually we're also gonna get an inline-six petrol,
00:41 an inline-six diesel,
00:42 and then also a smaller capacity four-cylinder as well.
00:45 Now, today we're gonna do a detailed review of this car
00:48 before it finally arrives in Australia.
00:50 If you do want to skip ahead to other parts of this review,
00:53 you can use the time codes that are on the screen,
00:55 or if you're on YouTube,
00:56 you can scroll down and use the chapters below.
00:58 And if you haven't done so already,
01:00 subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon.
01:02 That's gonna help us grow.
01:04 Let's talk exterior design.
01:07 Now, I've got to apologize for the wind.
01:08 We're on the coast here in Portugal,
01:10 and while it is very beautiful, it is very windy as well.
01:13 CX-60 is gonna be offered in eight different colours,
01:16 depending on the specification,
01:17 including this, which is Solred Crystal.
01:20 It's kind of Mazda's signature colour,
01:22 and I think it works really well here
01:23 in the plug-in hybrid variant.
01:25 There's also gonna be a few different changes
01:26 in terms of the fascia at the front,
01:28 depending on the variant.
01:29 So, have a look at this big grille.
01:31 So, huge mouth there, big Mazda logo,
01:34 and just behind that, you've got those variable vanes
01:36 that open and close, depending on what the car is doing
01:38 and whether it needs to heat up or cool down.
01:41 I like these black highlights around the front here.
01:43 They integrate nicely with the LED daytime running lights
01:46 that skirt along the top there.
01:48 And then down the bottom,
01:49 you have one of these matte-coloured diffusers.
01:51 With this design, Mazda has to be careful
01:53 with how it's doing it,
01:54 because it has to differentiate itself from other variants,
01:57 but it also kind of doesn't wanna look
01:59 the exact same as everything else.
02:00 So, I'll be interested to see what happens
02:02 when they start rolling out things like the CX-70,
02:04 the 80, the 90.
02:05 They really have quite a lot ahead of them
02:07 in terms of different models
02:08 that are going to be coming to market.
02:10 Over here on the headlights,
02:11 you have those LED daytime running lights
02:14 that run along the side there.
02:15 In here, you have a full LED headlight cluster.
02:18 We don't know exactly yet
02:19 which specification Australia's gonna get,
02:20 but this is likely to be a matrix LED setup
02:23 with a washer there as well, front parking sensors,
02:26 and then a little vent here
02:27 that projects air around the side.
02:29 I'll pop around here and show you what the wheels look like.
02:31 So, the plug-in hybrid is gonna be offered
02:33 with a mix of 18 or 20-inch alloy wheels.
02:35 The 18-inch alloy wheel will get you more driving range
02:37 and also better efficiency.
02:39 This one here is the 20-inch.
02:40 I like this design.
02:42 It's kind of like a glossy black finish.
02:44 And again, it works well with this colour.
02:46 It really offsets the sole red nicely.
02:49 Mazda seems to have ditched lately
02:50 the big sort of wheel arch protectors
02:52 that have been fitting to a lot of their cars
02:54 and just going with body colour instead.
02:56 I think it's probably a better option
02:57 given this won't be an off-road-focused vehicle.
03:00 Ditching things like that kind of just keeps it in line
03:02 with being a stylish proposition
03:04 that you're just gonna be driving on the roads.
03:06 Up the top here, you have a faux vent.
03:08 It doesn't really do anything,
03:09 but it does have P-HEV on it.
03:10 That signifies that this is indeed
03:12 the plug-in hybrid variant.
03:14 Up the top here, you have a piano black cover
03:16 on the wing mirror, an indicator built into the side,
03:19 and then a camera there for the 360 camera.
03:21 Now, this car doesn't have it,
03:22 but the CX-60 will be available
03:25 with a full-length moonroof,
03:26 and it also opens as well, so it acts as a sunroof,
03:28 which I think is good.
03:30 Privacy glass, and then whip around to the back.
03:32 So, have a look at this.
03:33 I love what Mazda's done here.
03:35 So, LED taillights, they wrap around the rear there,
03:38 and they've got that frosted design to them as well,
03:40 which means that this is going to stand out
03:42 beautifully at nighttime.
03:43 It's a full LED setup across the entire range,
03:46 front and rear, which is great.
03:48 Just sick of manufacturers still using
03:50 incandescent globes, I mean, seriously.
03:52 So, good to see that Mazda's gone down the path
03:55 of just doing everything LED.
03:57 In terms of your badges, so CX-60, all-wheel drive,
03:59 they will be offering rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive,
04:02 depending on the engine configuration,
04:03 so that's where you're gonna find
04:05 exactly what's fitted to that.
04:06 And then over here, you'll have the designation
04:08 of the engine, so this one is an eSkyactiv-FEV,
04:11 so a bit of a mouthful there.
04:13 Now, in terms of the rear design here,
04:14 you have another brake light tucked into here.
04:17 I would've loved for them to move this wiper up
04:19 into here as well, but they've kept that here.
04:21 I don't know why they don't just try and move
04:23 all that stuff out of the way to keep this nice and clean,
04:25 because it is a pretty impressive-looking
04:27 setup at the back.
04:28 Got a lower section here with the diffuser.
04:30 Let me show you something I'm not a fan of, though.
04:33 Fake exhaust pipes, and I just don't understand
04:36 why they do this, because there are actually
04:39 exhausts under here, but they just pipe down
04:41 onto the ground instead of out of here,
04:43 so it is a little bit disappointing
04:44 they've gone down the path of putting fake exhaust pipes in
04:47 when real exhaust pipes would've been perfectly fine there.
04:51 Now, let me know what you think about the exterior design
04:54 here of the CX-60.
04:55 Do you think they've done a good job?
04:57 When I first saw it in pictures,
04:58 I wasn't entirely sold on it,
05:00 but now that I've seen it in person, it looks fantastic.
05:03 It feels like a big step up from the CX-5 in terms of size,
05:06 and while we are talking about size,
05:08 in terms of the actual dimensions of the vehicle,
05:10 it comes in at just over 4.7 metres long,
05:13 little under 1,900 mil wide,
05:15 and just under 1,700 millimetres tall.
05:18 It is the wheelbase that's interesting, though,
05:20 so it's almost 2.9 metres,
05:22 so it's significantly bigger than a CX-5,
05:24 and then in terms of the actual dimensions of the vehicle
05:26 compared to others in this segment,
05:28 or others that they're competing with,
05:30 it is slightly longer than an X3, too,
05:32 so it is gonna take up a fair bit of room on the road,
05:34 but it doesn't feel all that big
05:36 when you are actually next to it.
05:37 It is a bit of a weird vibe there,
05:39 so let me know in the comments section below,
05:41 what do you think of the design?
05:42 Do you think Mazda's hit a home run with this,
05:44 and are you looking forward to the other variants
05:46 that they're about to roll out?
05:48 So we're inside the CX-60.
05:50 Let me start off with the key.
05:51 I'll show you what that looks like.
05:53 So you've got a Mazda logo there,
05:55 then you have lock, unlock, boot,
05:59 and then this actually looks like
06:00 an interior activity alarm off,
06:03 which I think is fascinating,
06:04 and then nothing on the other side.
06:06 It's a proximity sensing key,
06:07 so you just leave that in your pocket.
06:09 Then once you're inside the car,
06:10 you have a push-button start.
06:12 Let's talk about the design.
06:13 So Mazda obviously wants this to be a premium offering,
06:16 competing with things like X3, GLC,
06:18 and look, on first impression, I think it does.
06:21 The problem is, though, that this is a pre-production car,
06:24 and unfortunately, that means they haven't been able
06:26 to fit it with the interior that was on the show car,
06:29 and I think that really is just a stunning big step forward
06:32 in this segment in terms of the textured materials
06:35 that they're using, the stitching,
06:36 and just the color contrasting.
06:38 This, don't get me wrong, looks really nice.
06:40 I just think that having the ability as a buyer
06:42 to go down the path of that really stylish-looking interior
06:45 will really win them over customers
06:46 that perhaps wouldn't have considered Mazda to start with.
06:49 But in terms of your materials, though,
06:51 all of this stuff up here is soft touch.
06:53 You've got this brushed aluminum look
06:54 that runs long ways along the side of the vehicle.
06:57 This material, I'm not such a big fan of.
06:59 It looks just a little bit funny.
07:00 I would like to see like an open-pore wood grain
07:02 or something around here to give it that premium feel,
07:04 but for the most part, this does look nice and expansive,
07:07 especially in terms of technology
07:08 that I'll run you through in a second.
07:10 What about your touch points?
07:11 So this stuff here is nice to lean your arm on.
07:14 Same story on the door,
07:15 and then the padded areas on the side here for your legs.
07:18 Really is a good place to be seated
07:20 if you are going for a drive.
07:21 So they've done a good job there.
07:23 I won't do my hardness meter or the build quality here
07:26 because this is a pre-production car,
07:27 but on first glance,
07:29 I think this is a really nice-looking setup.
07:31 Let's talk about infotainment
07:32 and just some of the technology features inside the P-HEV.
07:36 So look at this screen, 12.3-inch display.
07:39 There's also a 12.3-inch display ahead of the driver.
07:43 Now, it was my understanding
07:44 that this would be a touchscreen,
07:46 but it doesn't look like it's a touchscreen,
07:48 and I don't know whether that's related
07:49 to this being a pre-production car
07:50 or whether it will just stay driven
07:52 by the controller down here.
07:53 I guess if it is a touchscreen,
07:54 it is a little far to reach,
07:56 but I guess it would be good functionality
07:57 to have for your passenger to adjust it as required.
08:00 But either way, so 12.3-inch display,
08:03 and it's a really high-resolution display.
08:04 It's nice and quick as well.
08:05 There's no lag when it is processing
08:07 all the commands you throw at it.
08:09 In addition to that, in terms of smartphone mirroring,
08:11 you have both wireless Apple CarPlay
08:12 and wireless Android Auto.
08:14 So a big step forward there
08:15 in terms of that technology suite.
08:18 AM/FM, DAB+ digital radio.
08:21 In addition to that, depending on which spec you go for,
08:23 you can also get a 12-speaker Bose-branded sound system,
08:26 which this particular car has good sound system.
08:29 I was pumping some Portuguese beats before
08:32 and it sounded pretty good.
08:34 In addition to that, there are a few smarts
08:36 that they've loaded into the car
08:38 in terms of driver functionality.
08:40 So what you can do when you're first setting up
08:42 your seat settings is run through a personalization program
08:47 that allows you to basically tell the car
08:49 what height you are.
08:50 Once you select the height,
08:51 it will adjust your seat steering and wing mirrors,
08:55 and also the head-up display to be perfect
08:57 for your posture and that type of thing.
08:59 I did find it not that great though,
09:01 because I have this weird body
09:02 where I have super long legs and a short torso,
09:04 and I had to make some further adjustments after it.
09:07 But in addition to that sort of self-setup menu,
09:10 it also has a camera that will scan your face
09:13 and remember all of your settings.
09:14 And it can remember up to 250 functions,
09:16 everything from favorite radio stations
09:18 to regular navigation, climate controls,
09:21 and setting positions and that kind of thing.
09:23 So pretty smart system, and it seems to work well
09:25 once it does actually recognize your face and run with it.
09:29 The screen ahead of the driver, it's a big display.
09:31 It's nice and sharp and also fast.
09:32 You have two different display settings you can have,
09:34 and those two display settings
09:36 are very easy to switch through.
09:38 There is a good feature here if you are hard of vision,
09:42 like my dad, if you go over to the settings,
09:45 you can actually supersize the display here
09:48 in terms of the speed reading,
09:49 and it means that you're going to very easily
09:51 be able to see exactly how fast you're going.
09:53 The head-up display is also good,
09:55 loaded with information and just a big step forward
09:57 in terms of what Mazda offers right now.
10:00 Let's talk safety technology.
10:01 So you have autonomous emergency braking
10:03 with pedestrian and cyclist detection.
10:05 There's blind spot monitoring.
10:06 You have a lane departure warning
10:08 and a lane keeping assistant.
10:09 You also have a semi-autonomous steering function.
10:12 And radar cruise, you have rear cross traffic alert.
10:14 And I do like this feature.
10:16 When you do engage the 360 camera,
10:19 you actually get a top-down view
10:20 when you're able to see around the car
10:23 while you're driving, and it's a little bit freaky,
10:25 but it works quite well,
10:26 especially given that it is such high quality
10:29 and you can see exactly what's going on.
10:30 On the parking front, you have both front
10:32 and rear parking sensors.
10:34 And like I mentioned before,
10:35 the camera is high quality as well.
10:36 So it actually looks quite decent.
10:38 You can see exactly what you're doing.
10:40 What about your practicality?
10:41 And we'll start off with connectivity.
10:43 So you have wireless phone charging down the front here.
10:45 You can store your phone down there
10:47 and it will fill it with juice.
10:48 You've got a 12-volt outlet just next to that.
10:50 The entire car has moved to USB-C.
10:53 So in the center console here,
10:54 you have two USB-C ports in addition
10:56 to some USB-C in the back.
10:58 On the storage front, bottles, look at this.
11:00 We've got a coffee cup in here and also a bottle as well.
11:04 Fits in fine with little teeth there to hold it in.
11:06 You also have bottle storage inside the doors big enough
11:08 for smaller bottles and bigger bottles as well.
11:11 Now this center console,
11:13 I've got a bone to pick with you, Mazda.
11:14 It is bloody tiny.
11:16 There's sort of no room in there at all.
11:17 It looks huge, but then when you try
11:19 and put anything in there, it is very shallow
11:21 and it's really kind of pointless as a set of console,
11:24 if I'm honest.
11:25 You do have a glove box over here as well.
11:27 That is much bigger,
11:28 so you have plenty of room to store your things in there.
11:30 And finally, you have a sunglasses holder up the top.
11:33 Now let's talk comfort.
11:34 You have dual zone automatic climate control,
11:36 heated and cooled seats for the front row,
11:38 heated steering wheel here on the top spec model.
11:40 In addition to that, you have electric seat adjustments.
11:43 You can go forwards, backwards,
11:45 backrest can go forwards, backwards.
11:46 You can lift the seat up and down
11:48 and you also have lumbar support.
11:50 Steering wheel offers both tilts
11:52 and reach adjustment electrically.
11:54 And then in terms of the steering wheel itself,
11:56 it sits nicely in the hand.
11:58 For our reach test,
11:59 all of this stuff is easy to reach while you're driving.
12:01 Okay, second row of the CX-60.
12:04 What do we think?
12:04 In terms of room, so my driver's seat is pretty far back
12:08 and you can see there that knee room is not too bad.
12:11 Toe room is excellent and headroom is pretty good
12:15 despite having this big moonroof here.
12:17 I was kind of expecting maybe a little bit more
12:19 leg room back here.
12:20 I am sort of mindful that this seat is quite far back,
12:22 but given the expansion of the wheelbase,
12:24 I thought that maybe it would be just a little bit more room
12:27 to play with here,
12:27 but we'll see how it goes when we get it back in Australia
12:30 and have a proper play with it.
12:31 You've got air vents down here.
12:33 You have heated seats for the two outboard seats.
12:35 You have another two USB-C outlets.
12:37 And then in addition to that, a power socket,
12:39 150 watt is available out of that.
12:42 Two map pockets.
12:43 You then have a center armrest here with two cup holders.
12:47 They also have rubber teeth on them
12:49 to make sure your cup doesn't disappear anywhere.
12:51 You also have bottle storage inside the doors as well.
12:54 ISOFIX points on the two outboard seats.
12:56 It is a pretty comfy place to be seated.
12:58 And I think having the versatility
12:59 of a 40/20/40 split folding seat
13:02 will mean that you really can maximize
13:04 the use of the space back here.
13:06 And it does feel quite airy.
13:07 It doesn't feel as claustrophobic as the CX-5.
13:10 So there are quite a few advantages here
13:12 over and above the CX-5 in terms of size.
13:14 And I guess the feel of sitting inside the cabin here
13:17 does feel quite premium, even in the second row.
13:19 Now, what about your cargo space?
13:21 So good news, it is a pretty decent size boot.
13:25 So when you have the second row in place,
13:27 you have just under 600 litres of cargo capacity.
13:30 In terms of the versatility though,
13:32 Mazda has increased the load width compared to CX-5.
13:35 So it means getting things in and out
13:36 is going to be much easier.
13:38 You can see here, this is a whopper Pelican case,
13:40 and that fits in all the way up the back there
13:43 without any dramas at all.
13:44 With the P-HEV as well,
13:45 you'll be able to get an auxiliary power supply.
13:48 So 1500 watt, 1.5 kilowatts, along with a 12 volt outlet.
13:52 Beneath the cargo floor, you have a subwoofer
13:54 and a little bit of extra storage.
13:56 If you do drop the second row,
13:58 it's a 40/20/40 split folding seat.
14:00 That increases space to a little over 1700 litres
14:03 of cargo space.
14:04 So this is a certified big SUV.
14:07 It is a pretty impressive setup.
14:09 Now, I don't know about this side.
14:10 I'm a little concerned that I'm having to duck under here.
14:13 I don't know if it's just 'cause we're on a different angle
14:14 to the car, but hopefully when we test this in Australia,
14:18 it's not going to have my head hitting on it
14:20 when I try and open the boot.
14:22 Now, before we go for a drive,
14:23 let me run you through charging.
14:24 This is the side that you charge the vehicle.
14:26 The other side is where the petrol,
14:29 internal combustion engine is filled with fuel.
14:31 Now this comes with only AC charging
14:33 and you can do up to around seven kilowatts worth of
14:36 charging.
14:37 It is a 17 plus a little bit kilowatt hour battery.
14:40 And that means if you are charging at its maximum capacity,
14:43 it'll take around two and a half hours to completely charge
14:46 the vehicle.
14:47 It's a pretty straightforward setup with P-HEVs.
14:50 There really isn't too much complexity here
14:51 because you don't have DC charging.
14:53 This doesn't have any vehicle to load
14:55 or vehicle to grid ability.
14:56 So it is just one way in terms of its electricity use.
14:59 So I've just hit the road in the CX-60.
15:03 Now, just a reminder, this is the plug-in hybrid.
15:06 We will be getting other variants of this vehicle
15:08 in Australia as well.
15:09 There's a diesel, there's another petrol,
15:11 both in line sixes and then a four cylinder as well.
15:14 That's coming to the Australian market.
15:15 But today we're just going to focus on the plug-in hybrid.
15:18 And I will also mention one more time that this is
15:21 a pre-production car as well.
15:23 Now, this uses a combination of an internal combustion
15:25 engine and electric components to form the plug-in
15:28 hybrid drivetrain.
15:30 It uses a naturally aspirated two and a half litre
15:32 four cylinder petrol engine that makes 141 kilowatts
15:35 of power and 261 newton metres of torque just on its own.
15:39 It's then mated to an electric motor that makes
15:40 a hundred kilowatts of power and 250 newton metres of torque.
15:44 When they combine a little over 240 kilowatts of power
15:48 and 500 newton metres of torque,
15:50 Mazda says this is the most powerful car
15:52 that they've ever produced.
15:54 So it gives you a bit of an idea of how much oomph
15:56 they've tried to cram into this SUV package.
15:58 One thing I will mention with the gearbox as well,
16:00 it's not a torque converter,
16:02 but it's also not a dual clutch.
16:04 So it's a multi-plate clutch system, but not a dual clutch.
16:07 So you get the effects of a manual transmission,
16:10 which means it hooks up much quicker and there's no real
16:13 delay or any of that slip that you get with
16:15 the torque converter.
16:16 While that does feel a little more natural,
16:18 the downside to the slip you get with a torque converter
16:20 is fuel economy.
16:21 You tend to waste a lot of energy as heat
16:23 and you never get that back.
16:24 With this particular gearbox,
16:26 it's about 22% more efficient
16:28 because you're not having to slip
16:29 and you also don't get those jerky adverse effects
16:33 of having a dual clutch transmission.
16:34 Now, how much acceleration can you do
16:37 just while you're sort of putting along here
16:39 before the internal combustion engine kicks on?
16:42 I'm leaning onto the throttle here, three quarters throttle.
16:45 So it's basically beyond three quarters throttle
16:47 that it brings the internal combustion engine to life.
16:50 And then if you also do kick down all the way,
16:53 like flat to the board with the throttle,
16:55 it will also then fire the internal combustion engine
16:57 to life to give you that extra acceleration.
17:00 But behind the wheel, it's incredibly responsive.
17:02 And whenever you jab the throttle, it's ready to go,
17:04 which is pretty cool.
17:05 What's it like in terms of noise?
17:07 Well, it's kind of weird at really low speeds,
17:09 you hear like a little whining noise
17:11 as it starts moving along.
17:13 And then when you get on the throttle a little bit more,
17:16 you hear another electrical sound there
17:18 as it's doing its thing.
17:19 The internal combustion engine is actually pretty quiet.
17:21 So when you do stand on the throttle
17:23 and it sort of picks up and goes,
17:25 like it does make a little bit of noise,
17:30 but it really isn't the end of the world.
17:31 It's not sort of too over the top
17:33 and it's pretty responsive when you do finally kick it down.
17:36 I mentioned earlier as well,
17:37 the battery is a 17.8 kilowatt hour battery.
17:40 So it's about normal for this size of vehicle.
17:42 And that gives you a driving range of around 60 kilometres
17:45 with a full battery charge.
17:46 Today we did a drive loop that was about sort of 50,
17:50 55 kilometres.
17:51 And we got back with a little bit of battery life remaining.
17:54 And that's pretty impressive
17:55 when you consider the terrain we were doing,
17:56 going uphills, downhills.
17:58 And then we consumed an average
17:59 of around two litres per 100 Ks.
18:02 The official is around that one and a half litre mark.
18:04 So if you are actually driving it with a charged battery,
18:07 you're gonna see it returning
18:08 some pretty impressive fuel economy figures.
18:10 Obviously, once the battery depletes,
18:12 you then are driving around a vehicle
18:14 with a 200 kilogram battery pack.
18:16 So obviously it's gonna use a little bit more fuel,
18:18 but for the most part, it actually feels impressive.
18:21 And the fuel economy is pretty good
18:22 when you actually use a mix of the electric battery
18:25 and also the internal combustion engine.
18:27 Just on that fuel economy as well,
18:28 there's only a 50 litre fuel tank.
18:30 So it's okay in this variant here,
18:32 if you do have a charged battery and that kind of thing.
18:34 But I do wonder with the petrol and the diesel
18:36 that they're bringing,
18:37 if it also has a 50 litre fuel tank.
18:39 I don't know what kind of driving range
18:41 that's gonna give you,
18:42 given that it's probably gonna chew through
18:44 a little bit more fuel.
18:45 Now in terms of the drive modes,
18:46 I'll run you through the sport mode
18:47 and some of the fun stuff in just a second.
18:49 But what we have here is the ability to charge the battery
18:52 with the internal combustion engine.
18:54 So one push of that starts charging everything
18:56 and brings the battery up to a predetermined level.
18:58 So you can run it all the way through to 100% if you want,
19:01 and that will give you that extra charge in the battery
19:03 without having to plug it up manually.
19:06 In addition to that, with the MI drive system,
19:09 you can flick between sport, normal, EV and off-road.
19:14 The curious thing here is that this actually
19:16 has a towing capacity.
19:18 So you can do two and a half tonne brake towing capacity
19:20 with this plug-in hybrid drivetrain,
19:23 which is pretty impressive
19:25 because typically with plug-in hybrids,
19:26 you can't really tow all that much.
19:28 And certainly with EVs,
19:29 you drain the battery much quicker,
19:30 but it's good to see that they have actually catered
19:32 for a family that potentially will tow a pop-top caravan
19:36 or a camper trailer or something like that with them,
19:39 or a jet ski.
19:40 Now Mazda claims a zero to 100 time of 5.8 seconds,
19:43 which isn't too bad.
19:44 We put it up against our stopwatch and this is how it went.
19:47 (car engine roaring)
19:50 Let's talk about the ride.
19:57 So fortunately, or I guess unfortunately,
19:59 Portuguese roads are pretty fantastic.
20:01 Like they're very smooth.
20:02 So they've picked a very clever drive route in that regard.
20:06 But when we have hit a few potholes and a few cobblestones
20:10 and some of the rougher sections of road,
20:12 the ride is on the firmer side of comfortable.
20:14 So it's not sporty,
20:15 but it is slightly firmer than the soft type of ride
20:19 you expect from, you know, a big old SUV like this.
20:21 That's not necessarily a bad thing.
20:23 It just means that you will notice some of that stuff
20:25 as you're driving along.
20:26 Same story with the steering feel.
20:27 It's quite heavy and I don't know why they've dialed
20:30 so much weight into it.
20:31 Even when I'm not in the sport mode,
20:33 I can feel that there is a fair bit of weight
20:35 to the steering there,
20:36 but look, it's not the end of the world.
20:37 It's still very easy to park and maneuver at low speeds.
20:39 It's just something you've got to take notice of
20:41 and just be wary of when you are driving.
20:43 What's the visibility like?
20:44 So this is bigger than a CX-5,
20:47 but to be honest,
20:47 it doesn't feel all that bigger behind the wheels.
20:50 So visibility down the front there is great.
20:52 Visibility out the back is really good as well.
20:54 It's a big envelope and the wing mirrors are massive
20:56 with blind spot monitors built into them too.
20:59 In terms of that low speed maneuvering,
21:00 you also have that 360 camera I mentioned earlier
21:03 that makes it easy to sort of get in and around tight spaces.
21:05 You've got front rear parking sensors.
21:07 So it is pretty straightforward in that regard.
21:09 Now what's road noise like?
21:10 We've left the coastal road.
21:11 This one's a little rougher.
21:13 Road noise is good.
21:15 As these motorbikes fly past me on this mountain road.
21:19 Yeah, the road noise is good.
21:21 It is a little bit noisy on this coarse chip surface,
21:24 but for the most part, it's pretty quiet.
21:26 Mazda's gone to a lot of effort recently to, I guess,
21:29 make the interior of their cars as quiet as they can.
21:32 And with the premium sort of bent they're looking for
21:34 with this particular vehicle,
21:36 I think that they're aiming to kind of give it
21:38 that BMW, Mercedes-Benz feeling.
21:39 To do that, it does need to be quiet
21:41 and pristine inside the cabin.
21:42 And I think they've achieved most of that with this.
21:44 There isn't a great deal of tire noise
21:46 that's coming into the cabin.
21:47 Although I will reserve judgment
21:49 for when we get back into Australia,
21:51 when we have some of our dodgier country roads
21:53 to see exactly how it performs.
21:54 Righto, we've got a couple of corners coming up.
21:56 Let's pop this into sport mode.
21:58 We'll give it a punch.
22:00 Gee, pins you back in the seat.
22:01 That's not too bad.
22:02 All right, I'll punch it through this corner.
22:05 Far out.
22:08 (laughs)
22:09 Actually really impressive.
22:10 And the sport mode is blipping gears
22:12 on the way through as well.
22:14 Just in gear, it's actually quite responsive.
22:16 When you nail the throttle,
22:18 pins you right back in the seat.
22:20 It actually feels like it is turbocharged,
22:23 even though it isn't.
22:23 So it's using a lot of that power from the battery
22:26 to give you that instant propulsion
22:28 while the internal combustion engine kicks on.
22:31 And then through corners,
22:32 it's actually pretty flat as well.
22:34 Like it's not a sports car, but it's not a boat either.
22:37 It's kind of sitting nice and flat
22:38 as we get through some of these higher speed corners.
22:40 So I'm actually pretty impressed there
22:42 from a handling point of view.
22:44 It is worth calling out, Mazda has,
22:45 I'm gonna read this from this piece of paper here,
22:48 kinematic posture control.
22:50 The way that works is when you are tucking it into a corner
22:53 and you've got some load on the car,
22:54 typically what'll happen is you'll unload the inside wheel.
22:57 And as a result of that, you lose traction
22:59 and the ability to get that power down to the ground.
23:02 This on the other hand,
23:03 will break that wheel ever so slightly.
23:05 That creates a moment about that suspension arm
23:08 and then it causes it to tuck back down.
23:10 And then the theory of that is that you get a flatter
23:14 sort of preservation of speed and traction through a corner.
23:17 So it is hard to tell whether it works or not
23:19 'cause you can't test it back to back.
23:20 But when you do tip it in through some of these corners
23:23 and sort of lean it in,
23:24 you do feel like it is doing something at the back
23:27 to counter that sort of body roll.
23:28 So it's a nice setup
23:30 and it certainly helps with the suspension
23:31 because this doesn't have adaptive damping.
23:33 It's got a passive damp setup.
23:35 And that means that you don't have the complications
23:37 of having to deal with a computer system
23:39 to decide whether this is firm, too firm, not firm enough.
23:43 You've just got one suspension setup
23:45 that does the job regardless of what you're doing.
23:46 And they seem to have tuned it pretty well here.
23:49 With the all wheel drive system,
23:50 it is a full time four wheel drive.
23:53 And the way that works is very interesting.
23:55 It's not like one of those on demand systems
23:57 that waits until you lose traction
23:59 on the front axle before it activates.
24:01 The way this works is it's always sending torque
24:03 to the rear as a predominantly rear wheel drive vehicle.
24:06 Then also has an extra drive shaft
24:07 that runs through to the front axle.
24:09 That drive shaft can then be pulsed at any time.
24:11 And it can in theory,
24:12 send 100% of torque to the rear if it needs to,
24:14 but it is always sending some torque to the front axle
24:17 to make sure that you have that added layer of traction
24:19 when you are going for a faster drive.
24:21 All right, let's flick this back into normal mode
24:24 and I'll run you through the brake pedal feel.
24:27 Yeah, with the brake pedal,
24:28 it's actually, they've done a good job here.
24:30 So when I'm coming to a stop,
24:32 I can lean on the brake pedal.
24:33 I can see it going into its charge mode.
24:35 And as I roll out of the brake pedal,
24:36 everything is really nice and communicative.
24:39 When I come to a complete stop,
24:41 it remains pretty progressive.
24:42 The only time I found it a tiny bit jerky
24:44 was when the vehicle was in the charge mode for the battery.
24:47 That would then force the internal combustion engine to run
24:49 and it would just get a little bit jerky
24:51 when I then got onto the brake pedal.
24:52 But for the most part,
24:53 they've done a good job making sure
24:55 that when you do go on the brake pedal, it's very linear.
24:57 And part of the reason that is the case
24:59 is because they're using a brake by wire system.
25:02 So it's a little more complex and advanced
25:05 than a typical sort of mechanical brake,
25:07 but it is far easier for them to program that feel into it.
25:10 To be honest, I think that the way this drives
25:12 and how sporty, I guess it feels out of the box,
25:15 I really am excited to see what the petrol version of this,
25:18 and maybe even the diesel as well, feels like,
25:20 because they are just gonna have some serious punch.
25:24 And given that they are looking
25:25 for that predominantly rear-wheel drive feel to it,
25:27 I think we're gonna have a contender for a fun SUV.
25:31 I think we've lost the funness out of SUVs recently.
25:34 I think that throwing a petrol rear-wheel drive setup
25:37 or even a diesel rear-wheel drive setup
25:40 will make this quite a sort of playful car to drive.
25:43 So the Mazda CX-60.
25:45 Tell you what, I was a little bit surprised by this
25:47 because I don't normally gel with P-HEVs.
25:50 They just don't really sort of do it for me.
25:51 But the way that Mazda has set this one up
25:53 really sort of strikes a middle ground
25:55 between sportiness and also efficiency.
25:58 I love the fact that when you punch it,
25:59 it seriously just whacks you back in the seat
26:02 and you are just sort of ready to move.
26:04 So it does feel sporty in that sense.
26:06 And then it's efficient as well
26:07 when it is just driving in the EV mode.
26:08 It does exactly what it says on the box.
26:10 But to be honest, I am more excited
26:12 for the petrol six and the diesel six as well.
26:15 I think that when they are paired to this all-wheel drive
26:17 or even just in a straight rear-wheel drive configuration,
26:20 this is going to be one engaging
26:22 and really enjoyable car to drive,
26:24 which is something that you can't say
26:26 about some of the Europeans in this segment at the moment.
26:28 They've all gone to that soft side,
26:29 whereas Mazda is sticking with that slight sporty edge.
26:32 So pretty impressed with that.
26:34 Now, let me know what you think
26:35 in the comments section below.
26:37 Do you reckon that Mazda has nailed it in terms of design
26:39 and also the powertrains that are coming with this?
26:42 Is there anything in particular you would like to see?
26:44 We are looking forward to testing this properly
26:46 when it does arrive in Australia,
26:47 when it's not just a pre-production vehicle like this one.
26:50 So let me know what your thoughts are
26:51 in the comments section below.
26:52 If you did enjoy this video,
26:53 please make sure you like it,
26:55 you share it with your mates.
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26:59 'cause that's gonna tell you every single time
27:01 we do fun stuff like this.
27:02 But until next time, take it easy.

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