I don’t often start my car reviews by mentioning a famous poet. Truth be told I had never heard of English-born poet William Cowper, who died in 1800, until Mr Google enlightened me last week that it was William who came up with the phrase ‘variety is the spice of life.’ A few years before his death when writing a volume of poems called ‘The Task’ William used the phrase “Variety is the very spice of life, that gives it all its flavour.”
That famous idiom came to mind last week when my test car was the diesel version of the Mazda CX-60, which is a massive SUV. Nowadays, many of the new cars we get to test are fully electric or hybrid, so it was a pleasant change to get a diesel car.
Despite claims in some quarters, diesel is not dead and this massive Mazda proves the point. The CX-60 is a mid-size turbodiesel mild-hybrid crossover SUV produced by the Japanese company since 2022. It is the first vehicle to use Mazda’s rear-and all-wheel drive platform. It is also the first Mazda vehicle to feature a plug-in hybrid option.
Over the years I haven’t driven many Mazda cars, but I do have fond memories of owning a Mazda 323, which was a popular car back in the eighties. But last week I was impressed when I climbed on board the CX-60 where the range with a full tank of diesel showed 830km.
The 3.3 litre diesel engine gives you 254 brake horse power. And if it’s speed you are after you should be able to go from zero to 100km/h in 7.4 seconds. And it’s frugal; the official range is just under 55mpg, but maybe stay away from Sport mode. There are three different driving modes: Sport, Normal and Off-Road.
At the front you get a massive grille topped off with the Mazda logo. When you sit in, the car looks like a massive ‘beast’ to handle, but it’s so easy to drive on the road. I didn’t have any reason to go off-road last week.
The interior is very bright thanks to the use of some bright coloured material on the dash and on the doors. And if that’s not enough you also get a full length sun-roof. The grey material used on the dash is really classy.
And I loved the radio controls, which are controlled by a large button located where you would normally find the gear lever in a manual car.
In the back there is plenty of room for three well-built adults. And if you only have two back-seat passengers they can leave down the drinks holder. The boot is a decent size, but due to the hybrid technology in the boot, there is no room for a proper spare wheel.
All that luxury means that the CX-60 is not cheap with prices starting at €55,280 for the 3.3-litre mild-hybrid version I drove. However, I have driven very average electric cars which are in the same price range. No doubt which energy I would opt for; I would prefer to be ‘sucking diesel’ any day instead of waiting around for an electric battery to charge.
There were no new incentives offered in the recent budget to encourage Irish motorists to switch to electric. Who knows what will happen between now and January 1st, 2035 when we are told that we will all be driving electric cars.
It will be interesting to see what new US President Donald Trump does. He is friendly with Tesla owner Elon Musk, but we are not sure what’s Donald’s view on all electric cars are. Meanwhile the Mazda CX-60 adds to the spice of life.
