Mazda CX-60 2023 review: Diesel

When it comes to pricing, the CX-60 is setting new dizzy heights in what Mazda thinks it can get away with charging for one of its vehicles.

The PHEV version - which I was lucky enough to drive at the car’s global launch in Portugal last year - will set you back more than $87,000, if you go for the one with all the fruit, and that is a lot, particularly for a Mazda. Throw in some options and some taxes and you’re looking at north of $95,000, before on-road costs.

The CX-60 Diesel has a starting price of $61,800.

The CX-60 range does start somewhat lower, however, at $59,800 for the entry-level six-cylinder petrol. 

The version we drove in Japan was the diesel, which has a starting price just $2000 above the entry petrol, but rises to $75,000 if you opt for the top-spec Azami model.

The CX-60 is a properly big old bus, so big that there’s no way it would fit into a Japanese garage, it barely fits on Japanese streets, so it’s not surprising to hear hopes are not high for huge local sales.

The driver gets plenty of head and shoulder room, it’s a long way to reach over to the passenger door, and it’s genuinely quite comfortable in the rear as well, with significantly more legroom than a CX-5. 

The CX-60 is 4745mm long, 1890mm wide, 1680mm high, and has a 2870mm wheelbase. 

The boot also feels large, with a 570-litre capacity, increasing to 1148 litres with the rear seats folded flat.

One cool selling point is the new 'Driver Personalisation System', which is a mighty fine idea, because far too many people don’t seem to know how to set up a proper driving position. This Mazda does it for you.

The very first time you drive your CX60 it measures your eyeline with a camera (and asks you to input your height so it knows how long your legs are) and then adjusts the seat height, how far you are from the wheel, the mirrors, the steering wheel position and the height of the head-up display, all at once.

The CX-60 is 4745mm long and 1680mm high.

This information is then stored and every time you get in the car it will use face-recognition tech, just like your iPhone, to work out who’s driving and restore your settings. 

It also stores 250 'personalisation values', everything from your preferred air con temperature to your favourite radio station.

I tried it, it works, and I was quite impressed.

The CX-60 has a boot capacity of 570-litre.

The advantage of the diesel - a 3.3-litre in-line six-cylinder diesel engine, with a 48-volt mild hybrid system - is that it delivers plenty of torque, useful for overtaking and towing things, but low-ish fuel economy.

If is sounds like a large engine, it is, but Mazda, counterintuitively, claims that making it so big allows it to produce more torque - it makes 550 Newtons, alongside 187 kW - and that means it’s more economical, and more environmentally friendly, than smaller diesel engines.

The diesel CX-60 delivers plenty of torque despite weighing almost two tonnes.

But aren’t all diesel engines an environmental black smoke spot, you ask? Well, they are about to be banned in some big cities by 2025, and across all of Europe by 2035, but Mazda remains unconcerned, pointing out that people in Japan still love diesel, and that some Australians might, hopefully, still love them too.

The diesel CX-60 certainly delivers plenty of torque, making overtaking a thrusty, grunting breeze, despite the car weighing almost two tonnes.

At cruising speeds, it’s also pleasantly quiet, smooth and refined, but at low throttle openings, or when the start/stop system kicks in at traffic lights, there’s no disguising the fact that you’re driving a diesel. The old familiar rattle is there but it's well hidden, most of the time.

The CX-60 has a claimed fuel economy of 4.9L/100km on the combined cycle, and CO2 emissions of 128g/km.

A 58-litre fuel tank means a theoretical driving range of close to 1200km.

The CX-60 Diesel produces 128g/km of CO2 emissions.

The CX-60 received the maximum five stars in Euro NCAP crash testing, but is yet to be assessed by ANCAP.

It gets a suite of 'i-Activsense' driver-supporting safety technologies including 'Turn Across Traffic Assist', 'SBS-R' pedestrian detection, 'Emergency Lane Keeping', 'i-Adaptive Cruise Control' (i-ACC), and 'BSM Vehicle Exit Warning'.

The CX-60 received the maximum five stars in Euro NCAP crash testing.