Why we’re running it: Mazda’s largest and priciest car is also its first PHEV. Does it make any sense?
Month 1 - Specs
Life with a Mazda CX-60: Month 1
A high-pressure booze cruise proves revealing in this wedding-friendly SUV - 30 November
Funnily enough, this was always going to be the report that dealt with the CX-60’s ride quality: it’s just a happy coincidence that it’s been such a, particularly defining influence over my relationship with the car during these past few weeks.
We’ll pretend my partner’s sister was happy to see me when I arrived at her house the day before her wedding, rather than the massive (and conveniently white) SUV I’d just climbed out of. “Oh, brilliant! I was worried you’d bring a Mini or something,” she exclaimed with glee, revealing that I had the privilege of taking all the alcohol (for more than 200 guests) and favours (pick and mix boxes for everyone) to the venue, 20 miles away.
The plan was to take two cars, but to the delight of everyone except me, all the booze and sweets fitted into the Mazda’s cavernous rear with the seats down, after some real-world Tetris, and I was waved off with the strict instruction to be at the venue inside an hour lest another wedding get underway and I had to return with my wares.
I’ve thought the CX-60 rode firmly since taking delivery, albeit not unbearably so, but there’s surely no better test of rolling refinement than loading a car up with more than 100 loosely secured glass bottles in slidey-bottomed cardboard boxes with a time limit to adhere to.
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This issue with using a PHEV to jump start another car with a flat battery is that there is no suitable battery in the PHEV with which to do it.
The main battery is around 300 volts, so you would not want to connect some jump leads to it and use that, unless you have a death wish!
The 12 volt battery in a PHEV is normally tiny, and it won't have the required cranking amps to start the car with the dead battery, because it isn't designed to do that.
It sounds like a nightmare to drive, isn't very efficient, and, to my eyes, doesnt look particularly attractive. I don't expect a Mazda to weigh this much, either.
The figurers you need to worry about are £50k and an18kwkh battery that only does 25 miles per charge in ideal conditions, in the winter that'll be down to 1kwh per mile which is like an ID4 GTX doing 77 miles per charge.
Wth the domestic Kwh rate at around 45p, I work that out at around 18mpg so in the winter it's cheaper to run on petrol than electriity, probably summer too. Go figure Greta.
So to sum up 188mpg is laughable like every plug-in hybrid, looking forward to mpg figurers and company car tax changes when these tax dodgers are found out.