What are your general thoughts on the CX-60 PHEV?

Hello, new to this site and my first post is a bit long winded. I am based in Australia and the CX-60 is not yet released down under, it gets released in July. I was originally interested in this vehicle due to the rear wheel bias and was originally planning to get the 3.3 liter turbo petrol Azami version. Not sure how the vehicles are graded in the EU or UK but in AU the Azami is fully loaded with all the bells and whistles, sunroof etc. and the only packs available change the interior colour to that brown colour that is in a lot of the recent CX-90 YouTube reviews or the off white interior that is in most CX-60 YouTube reviews.

I have been looking at various forums to try and gauge what owners in the UK and EU actually think of the PHEV. Most comments suggest that the vehicle is generally good and most complaints seem to be around the battery range. I understand that batteries may not perform as well in colder environments and most reviews relating to this seem to have been written during the UK/EU winter. There also seems to be other comments that seem to be new model teething issues which is to be expected.

This car is a new model with associated issues my question is - is the CX-60 PHEV a good vehicle and would you buy one again (new vehicle type/issues aside)
 
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Personally I like the car the ev covers my daily trip to work 16miles with a lot of road works stop start with some to spare and still relatively cold night + 3 to 4 centigrade have not put petrol in for a month. Try not filling as you just drag around a full tank of fuel.
2.5 ltr petrol
 
EU (Poland) here. I've had mine for only a few weeks now, but so far 100% happy with my CX-60 Homura PHEV. OK, 98%. The seats could be a tad longer and wider (common problem with Japanese cars, when Iived in Japan, I was always sticking out of the sea of heads on a subway car, and I'm only 179cm tall). And I rather preferred the gearbox of my 2013 Mazda 6 GJ, same 2.5 l. engine, but with a torque converter. But other than that it's a great car, I have none of the issues discussed on this and other inernet fora. It's a 2023 model, produced mid-January, and I think they addressed most of the teething problems. Can't comment on the battery range yet, because I'm not very interested in it and I don't plan on charging the battery anytime soon. Running purely on petrol, the fuel consumption is a bit lower than my Mazda 6 with the same petrol engine, which is an amazing feat, considering that this beast weighs 2 tonnes, has a large front area and 327hp of power.
 
@markb and @Gajdzin thanks for your response I have taken the plunge and ordered the AU top spec PHEV in AU this is called the Azami. Also when doing some research I found it interesting that in the UK/EU to AU the vehicles are basically the same with different names and slightly different specifications, e.g.
  • Exclusive Line = Evolve
  • Homura = GT
  • Takumi = Azami
In AU the Takumi package (white interior) is an AUD 2K extra where as in the UK/EU edition this seems to be standard. For AU models the GT and Azami come standard with a sunroof whereas I noticed these were options in the UK/EU edition. There seems to be a number of other other minor differences between variants and add on packs but this can be expected. My order is for the PHEV in rhodium white with a black interior and as the AU govt is giving major concessions for EVs and PHEVs we currently have 60K cars sitting of the coast waiting to land I have no idea when it will actually arrive.
 
Little update - charged the battery from a wall socket for the first time and discovered that city driving in EV mode is actually fun. I used to avoid short distance driving in my Mazda 6, because gas engines don't like it. Now I don't hesitate to make a run to a store 1 km away over lunch break, because electric motors don't mind, of course. Same with slow moving traffic, super inefficient for gas engines, here - nothing of the sort. Plus the acceleration is perfectly adequate in the city, I never felt the need for the gas engine to be also running. Overall a great car. Here it is on the first really warm weekend of the year:

InkedIMG_5042.jpg
 
Another question does the battery recharge when in normal mode, does the electric battery eventually run out of power and does that impact the performance of the vehicle. My wife has a Mazda 3 (sedan) with the 2.5 petrol engine which seems to be quite responsive, from what have read and understand this is the same motor that is used in the PHEV. For an experiment I reset the trip computer in my current vehicle which is a 4 banger 3 liter turbo diesel 4x4 dual cab ute and over a week clocked up around 100 km (62 miles). This is normal to high mileage for my vehicle usage which is normally around 50 km (30 miles) per week. Based on what I have read on forums and the general internet I may only have to charge the battery once a week for general driving.

AU is not small and once you get out of the major cities recharging options can be limited. What is the fuel consumption and performance like in the CX60 when just using fuel. A non turbo 2.5 liter engine seems a little light for a vehicle that weighs around 2.1 tonnes.
 
Another question does the battery recharge when in normal mode, does the electric battery eventually run out of power and does that impact the performance of the vehicle. My wife has a Mazda 3 (sedan) with the 2.5 petrol engine which seems to be quite responsive, from what have read and understand this is the same motor that is used in the PHEV. For an experiment I reset the trip computer in my current vehicle which is a 4 banger 3 liter turbo diesel 4x4 dual cab ute and over a week clocked up around 100 km (62 miles). This is normal to high mileage for my vehicle usage which is normally around 50 km (30 miles) per week. Based on what I have read on forums and the general internet I may only have to charge the battery once a week for general driving.

AU is not small and once you get out of the major cities recharging options can be limited. What is the fuel consumption and performance like in the CX60 when just using fuel. A non turbo 2.5 liter engine seems a little light for a vehicle that weighs around 2.1 tonnes.
No, this car's battery never runs out of power, it is impossible to get it below some 8% of charge. When it's approaching that level it simply uses the gasoline engine to top up the battery to 10% or so.

A naturally aspirated 2.5l engine would indeed not be enough for a vehicle slightly below 2 tonnes (1981 kg) but this car is never powered only by the gasoline engine - the electric motor is always connected and whenever you need more power it adds to the output of the gasoline engine.

That's the whole idea behind hybrids, after all, from the original Prius to modern PHEVs - 90% of the time you don't need even half of the power of a large engine, it's only needed occasionally, such as when accelerating. So why lug around a huge, fuel-hungry engine, if it's needed only 10% of the time? Replace it with a smaller engine and add something that will help it when needed - could be a turbine, could be an electric motor. The difference between the 2 being that turbo engines are inherently inefficient when the turbine is not running, due to their lower compression ratio, plus no turbine spins up instantaneously, while an electric motor doesn't affect the compression ratio of the main engine and if needed it does deliver the torque pretty much immediately.
 
I looked for a larger engine size because I tow a touring caravan so need this size of an engine. A smaller engine would not cut it.
But I do keep the tank low when possible to save weight.
 
I looked for a larger engine size because I tow a touring caravan so need this size of an engine. A smaller engine would not cut it.
But I do keep the tank low when possible to save weight.
IMHO for towing you need plenty of torque plus engine's construction to take long-term, heavy loads. Not a large size engine per se. Both PHEV and diesel are perfect in this application - check the torque figures, for just a gasoline engine you would need a huge V8 to provide something similar (and imagine its fuel consumption then).
 
Thank you for the information on the battery not being able to run flat. I have never owned a PHEV or EV so just don't know how they work. I have looked on the web but have not found any information on Mazda's battery management system. Originally I was planning to go with the petrol version however the AU Govt introduced short term incentives for PHEVs and EVs which resulted in me pre ordering a PHEV.
 
I don't know why Mazda is so late entering AU market with this model, but the benefit to you and your compatriotes is that at least it will have the major kinks ironed out, the issues that plagued especially the first production year cars (2022). BTW, if you are taller than me (178 cm) you may want to take a demo car for a longer drive before you decide. The Japanese are not exactly the tallest nation on the planet and this car reflects it (not in room over the head, that's perfectly fine, rather seat width and length).
 
This thread is getting a little off topic here and has been cleaned up a bit…Please post thoughts about the CX-60 PHEV directly in this thread as per the topic, thanks!
 
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