The performance of a sports car but consumption of only 1.5 liters of gasoline. We drove a new Mazda CX-60

There’s a high-rise behind the wheel with a good overview of the surrounding traffic, just as people who buy big SUVs want it to be. Anyone who has ever driven a Mazda will instantly feel at home. In the heavy traffic of the coastal city of Cascais, we were able to leave the drive mode selector in EV mode, that is, fully electric. But it will also fall there in hybrid mode. The good thing is that not only can you set how much energy should remain in the battery in the menu (so that the driver does not lose part of the energy with the fact that the electric motor will not get “energy”), but you can also set how much energy is needed to recover the batteries when the motor is running internal combustion. This happens during braking, for example, when driving fast on the highway. Thus the electricity range can be expanded decently through intelligent management. We only have one basic reservation about Mazda in city traffic. The booster setup is relatively solid and you have to work hard to turn. The women behind the wheel wouldn’t like it. And also not for those who are used to maneuvering in the parking lot by washing dishes, in common parlance. The control of the slot machine is also quite strict, and it has a rather illogical background for beginners, in which you have to move up, down and to the side.

However, in the zigzag provinces leading to the western tip of Europe, Cabo da Roca, we are already hitting a sporty order. The Mazda CX-60 speeds up throttle response and a stiffer booster is helpful. Of course, this isn’t a sports machine, so you can’t expect more communication between the front wheels and driver comfort. The steering is a little further, but it’s subtle and there’s no problem with putting the car into a corner as desired. We certainly didn’t feel the embarrassment we’d expect from a big SUV. The classic “trampling” from side to side also did not appear, which suffers from the largest models in this class with a loose body.

Acceleration is an experience in itself. You hit the throttle and you can guess which tune the melange will play for you. Something gurgles from the inside, whistles, and then the sound melts into an engine tune, which, by the way, this power unit is really cool. The transition between electric driving and combustion is sometimes imperceptible, and sometimes the car is shaking. However, this can be attributed to the fact that this is already a pre-series model, which will need a little fine-tuning before production begins. In any case, acceleration is a very pleasant experience that we enjoyed not only from the entire 20 kilometers from the driver’s seat, but also from the passenger seat. By the way, the automatic transmission, which has not a conventional converter, but a multi-plate clutch, deserves great praise. This reverses the steps faster and still runs smoothly. We can imagine that with an automatic machine with two clutches, for example, the trip will be sweeter.

Then there is the structure. Mazda is known for building cars with a well-thought-out chassis that strikes the perfect balance between sportiness and comfort. It appeals to almost every driver. The same can be said for the CX-60, no matter how large the SUV’s size and heaviness. The Mazdi chassis works great here. And the engineers, who decided that the CX-60 would not even offer adaptive shock absorbers, honestly believe this, which certainly does not matter. The car, of course, is big and heavy, so a little patience is required in corners, but even in the steepest corner, the CX-60 doesn’t lean much. This is also due to the electronic system that reaches the wheels and, if necessary, slows some of them into a corner to level the car. However, its impact is almost imperceptible, so the driver almost feels as if this large SUV is going “as if on tracks”. If you are bothered by the loss of shock absorbers, we recommend that you ride first and then make a decision.

You can see the Mazda CX-60, which we drove around Lisbon, in the following photo gallery: