I’m with Mazda. We’ve all been conned. Go diesel!

Great to see a 6 cylinder anything these days

For me the late Mazda6 was the best Mazda family car, a joy to drive, roomy, high spec, gorgeous interior much like this and a button to turn off the lane keep assist. I loved mine. Plus 53 mpg from the 2.5 petrol on a motorway run. Superb car, criminally ignored.

Mazda has a really good looking steering wheel and personally I like the styling

Dear Mazda, well done with the engine, their are indeed lots of us out here for whom diesel is the right choice. Now, the actual car..... There are lot's of us out here for whom a traditional estate is the right choice. You know the Mazda 6 estate that you used to make? Something like that please.

I like this car. It's nice and 44mpg from a 3.3 litre in line 6 diesel is music to my ears. Lovely interior as well. Great review as always Jay.

Still liking my diesel as it’s a good engine for long distance motorway driving which is what I use it for. The Mazda looks quite good (like their red) and I hope they sell a lot to thank them for building it

I'm really excited to see Mazda taking a bold step with the 2023 CX-60!

Looks sort of distinguished, I like it.

Great value for money. Amazing fuel economy. Not to mention reliability one can expect from a Mazda.

What I loved about my previous focus is you could essentially turn off lane assist while still having it active. Could stop it moving the wheel and only have the alerts. If the light on the dash annoyed you It also had a very convenient button on the end of the indicator stalk to turn it off. But like you mentioned about this car, the collision assist was incredibly panicky. Thankfully only had the audible warning and not emergency braking kick in

Mazda going for BMW’s jugular. Bravo

I'm not in the market for one of these but I want to buy one simply to support Mazda making a straight 6 with RWD. Well bloody done, I hope more car manufactures follow suit! Go Internal combustion and go RWD!!

It's a fantastic car, well done Mazda! 44mpg from a new engine is very impressive, once properly run in it'll probably do 50mpg

I wish they could slot this engine into a CX 5 that would be a amazing car...

Diesel-electric hybrid? Sure, why not! So what that nobody else does: their loss. Not their finest work aesthetically but Mazda just don't do ugly, mercifully. Always well equipped as well

I've got a Mazda CX-5 2.2 Diesel. That manages a consistent 48.5 MPG. I'd have thought the hybrid would have been better. Anyway, well done to Mazda 👏🏻

Could be an award winner if they fix the ride. Shouldn't be a massive task to fix it

Quite like the exterior and absolutely love the interior - especially the physical controls. Detest the ‘Tesla’ approach

Good review as always James

Thank you for your evaluation, especially the ride characteristics. That fidgety ride is a complete deal breaker for me. It still amazes me how vehicle manufacturers manage to get it so incredibly wrong.

I hope Mazda is listening and improves the suspension next model year onwards.

It's not pretty like the old 6 was, it looks as aggressive as that car felt to drive though. Rear wheel drive as well? They're tilting at BMW hard, but I think it's a fight they can steal a win in easily on appearances alone, let alone the quality. Nice mix of modern accoutrements with some old school features. No eating inside though

So a few thoughts. The fidgety ride is (obviously) worse on the 20" wheels - but you can only have the 18" wheels on the base spec 'Exclusive'. There has been some chat on forums that there was a tweak from Mazda for some changes to suspension to improve that... also some aftermarket shocks (can't remember the brand) that make a big difference but hard to get in the UK right now but Mazda will endorse. I've driven a Homura spec PHEV demo quite a lot (20" wheels) and own an Exclusive spec PHEV (18" wheels) - my own choice as it's the only way to get the smaller wheels. Ride quality is definitely better on the 18" wheels. Handling and turn in on the 20" is (maybe) marginally better but at the end of the day it's a 2 ton high riding vehicle.. so what!. I decided to go Exclusive and add technology packs (but not the stupid pano roof that only opens a tiny amount). It's not been a seamless 'delivery' - as my first Mazda - I like the car but it's been some trouble from new (mostly not mechanical). The one mechanical thing is that the prop shaft needs replacing... weird vibe above 35 or so MPH to 45 - 50 MPH. Known issue apparently... Batch of bad prop shafts I guess.

Not only it is a diesel, but it is an inline-6 diesel! I am still waiting for revival of an inline-8 engine configuration (highly unlikely) but maybe, maybe Mazda will be the one to do that. P.S. I think they choose inline-6 because they can share tooling with inline-4 but Mazda used to make V6, and that makes much more sense, because it's a smaller, more compact engine. Inline-6 is more refined but who cares these days?

JayEm you are by far my favourite automotive journalist as you look at cars in a everyday way and enjoy the finer details of cars . Cheers mate from North Norfolk UK Joel

Great review! Thanks. You've earned yourself a new subscriber :)

Lane keeping assist... In Cyprus... Are they mad 😅😅

Lovely review! Informative. Extremely useful. Thank you.

Really sweet car. My only gripe is that the headlights are too chunky. I love the slender headlights of the CX-5.

I agree with you on safety systems. Not heard one good thing about lane keep assist. Luckily my golf 7.5 only has collision assist and that doesn't pipe up that often but odd weather conditions can fool it and make it beep. Mostly just beeps though rather than forcefully doing anything. The stop start is linked to the radar too so if going slowly in traffic and the car in front is stationary it will kill the engine. But if that traffic then moves off straight away its not quick to restart again. Very quick if you've already stopped and need to set off from some lights, even restarts when car in front moves but there's a delay between immediately switching the engine off and engine back on again. Also kills the engine on busy roundabouts if you have to stop. So great I have an easily accessible button to turn that off. The replacement mark 8 on the other hand goes a few steps further and also gets rid of my lovely well laid out controls. Nice to see that mazda is still using them unlike VW. Mild hybrid should make stop start restarts a lot more seamless.

Spot on styling, looks insanely good!

That interior, seriously impressive.

I've got a CX5 Sportnav 2.2 Diesel for the last 8 years and I love it. I am thinking about an upgrade, But your points about annoying safety features and the harsh ride helped me to cross this one off my list as it doesn't sound much fun to drive. Thanks.

I do find it is exceptionally good looking especially the interior. The back seat room seems small yet that can be small screen

I have a diesel Jaguar XJ and Sadiq Khan will have to prise the keys out of my cold dead hands. I regularly drive it from London to the south of Spain doing the whole of France in one day and the whole of Spain the second day. A big fast comfy diesel is the only way to do it.

Seen one or two of these on the road and they look brilliant in the metal. Drivetrain options are definitely appealing too. *BTW you can spec these with lesser wheels and higher profile tyres.

Pleasant to listen to. I cannot explain but I like the way you speak. That's it. Nothing more to it.

Wonderful review...... Loved it

I don't think I would have a car that decides to brake when I don't need it to, it sounds like there is so much to go wrong, the style is similar to a brick but it is nice to see an interior that isn't dull black.

After watching video after video lauding Mazda's prowess, I showed up at an American dealership to purchase a CX-90. The reviews were so glowing, and the interior photos so beautiful, that I had thought the test drive perfunctory. Instead, I found the ride flinty and disagreeable, as was found the in this CX-60 review. Others may embrace the sporty handling, but I did not. I had expected Mazda's ride to have the excellent marriage of sporty feel with compliant suspension that is found almost routinely in German vehicles. That ride was not found here, and I continue my search for the sophisticated suspension in something other than a German car. I do feel that the Lexus GS 350 has come the closest.

A splendid intro talk, I immediately liked and subscribes! Wish they had brought this model to the US!

Inline sixes are smoother ( perfect balance) and cheaper to make than vee sixes.The latter have two heads,camshafts,exhausts etc. Yes they are longer but that is the only minus against all the plusses.

Seems a shame we don't also get the straight-6 petrol that Mazda are fitting in other markets.

I would so buy a diesel here in America, wife's 1500 is a diesel and EASILY gets 30 mpg + on the highway.

Isn't it possible to program a few hot key presets in the computer for frequently chosen options? In my old e61 I can use the numbered preset buttons on the radio to make shortcuts to e.g. audio settings, night mode, screen off etc.

This would be perfect for towing, interesting car, maybe I’ll take a look next year when funds allow 👍

6cly diesel?! YES PLEASE!! They'll be having the last laugh

Those are three questions! PS: I really like your intro/title song!

Just FYI since i had the same gripe on the auto brake system, all Mazda cars 2016+ i think have it, they learn your drive style what the dealer said anyway(does take a few days of driving), and there are options that you can set, as in regard to sensitivity of the system, its under settings then safety... etc...

It's a brand new platform and what I am hearing is this is very much a version one car. If you have an interest in the CX-60 it might well be worth waiting until Mazda have revised and refined the driveline (which they will) or even wait until the second generation of this platform before buying.

It’s not the Purosangue, it’s the Purosangue’s japanense cousin!

Mazda started low compression in 2012 when they developed their first post Ford, Skyactiv-D. It was based on decades of British and Indian university papers which showed low compression to have significantly lower emissions, but Mazda has been the only car maker to adopt the research due to low compression being harder to start in cold conditions. Mazda fixed that by performing cylinder warming by exhaust recirculating on startup. But the main benefit aside from emissions is a higher rpm that happens to also divorce it from the agricultural noise present in 16:1 and more so 18:1 engines.

i remember reading a press release from Mazda a few years back and they announced they will focus more on SUV's and maximum profitability, canceling any sporty models. While they are appreciated, not many are sold and the company struggled financially. Considering the circumstances, I think they made the right decision for now.

James, it would be good to know the towing capacity of these SUVs when you test them. Some of us have boats and other interesting stuff to tow and I sometimes wonder if the weight of these hybrid powertrains compromise their towing capability?

That “stuff” you refer to in the dashboard is the fabric used for kimono suits. It is very beautiful and nice to touch but I have no idea how it will age. I am waiting the delivery of our CX-60, and I was thinking of writing about it.

The safety systems in my Mazda 3 don't bother me personally and are probably quite similar, although the car is quite a bit smaller than the cx-60. The ride quality isn't the softest in that car but I like it personally, however I get that you'd want more compliance from an SUV

Fully agree with the point about turning off safety features, my car has been in for repair for the last week or so and i've had a nissan Quashqai hire car. It had a fit every 5 minutes for no good reason and the collision pre-warning drove me insane, it was honestly distracting because it made a loud beeping noise and flashed a warning on the screen in the instrument cluster which drew the eye away from the road which to me is downright stupid. I was very happy to have my 2016 Octavia VRS back. Turn off lane assist and so on, and they stay off, plus it doesn't flash distracting warning messages all over the place

Fantastic cars these. The diesel engine feels like the engine this car should've always had. See if you can have a go in the PHEV as well

One reason for this approach may be that Mazda is very big in many emerging countries. I live in Colombia and have a CX-9 which unless you really love big Toyotas or are willing to stomach Audi’s insane parts costs is really about the best luxury choice you can make. Infrastructure for electric cars has started but is well behind the developed countries. So petrol and diesel cars will still be the majority of the market here for a long time. Not that I am anti electric cars, and Colombia produces most of its electricity from hydro so when it does come online here it will be a good choice. But in the interim Mazda and some other companies will take even more of the market share here as other manufacturers drop petrol and diesel cars. And of course if they can sell the product elsewhere as well, all the merrier for their shareholders.

Like the styling a lot. Interior too.

Mazda has been pretty obvious in its attempts to copy the BMW in many aspects - one of my babies is a 530d F11 - and there are SO MANY details on the Mazda that just remind instantly of anything made by BMW - design of the plastic engine cover, design of lane/change or brake assistant buttons and their placement (along with the freaking storage cubby underneath!), design of Mazda's iDrive controller (esp. in previous gen Mazdas which was IDENTICAL to BMW's), and of course - the I6 (is it true? Mazda and BMW are currently the only ones globally manufacturing I6 diesels?). Which overall isn't a bad thing. BMW has figured out very many of its features - which Mazda "gets inspired from" - besides, Mazda will probably be much more reliable than its German "inspiration" - and most importantly, Mazda is not mimicing - or even trying to - BMW in one very important aspect - exterior design. Where BMW has been horrendous in all its models during the last 5 years - up to the point where Zipse (BMW's current CEO) has gone on record saying "modern cars need to be UGLY" - by the way - NO - THEY DON"T - Mazda on the other hand - has been designing beautiful, cohesive, flowing cars imbued (what a word) with GOOD DESIGN (as opposed to BMW's BAD design). Especially the current Mazda6 are just.. marvellous to look at, both in sedan and Touring... sorry, wagon form. I almost can't help myself but stop and take a picture every time I see one (the same goes for E34 Touring BMWs and many other BMWs - except any from the last 5 years). Mazda's have never been particularly ugly - or at least no one will remember any period of Mazda car manufacturing as "being ugly" - unlike with current BMWs - but I guess it all started with the current Mazda3 - which is more beautiful than a Golf, a Corolla, an Elantra, probably on par/similar with current Civic - and they've been making just overall very visually pleasing machinery. Also introduction of a new, large diesel engine currently is applaudable and flies on the face of all those idiots who - without understanding or reason - claim they're saving pandas, polar bears and ... what else... whales, yeah, definitely whales. So Mazda being one of the smallest Japanese car manufacturers - keep doing what you're doing - and good luck - from Latvia.

i had to rent a car recently and got a CHR - the thing had lane assist that tried to send me into a ditch at least three times in the one day that i drove it..

Pretty sure they a hybrid mixed with the 2.3 petrol and isn’t just brilliant it’s brutal! I love the car my mate has one as a company car on order i am very jealous! I would say one thing I noticed while driving it is was that considering it’s size! It felt like I had so much sensitivity in the steering it was almost frightening a little too twitchy! But boy o boy does it grip!! It shouldn’t be able to do the things it does while weighing that much!

I have a mk1 Mazda 3 and a Jaguar Sovereign XJ40. When I switch back to the Mazda, it's not even fun how potholes seems to be everywhere, whereas in the Jag, they disappear completely. But, the Mazda is fuel efficient and very reliable.

Google - “mazda diesel oil dilution” in the cx5 - I am concerned that Mazda HQ in Japan forgot about the oil problem when creating another diesel.

I just acquired an suv for my wife, it was between the Macan and BMW X3, I opted for the latter as two Porsche on our drive was not the impression I wanted. The X3 so far is excellent for the daily grind with a balance of economy, drivability and performance if I can used that word.

Mazda has been working on low compression diesel tech for years. I wonder if it has anything in common with the new high mileage gas engine tech with the pre-chamber, that us Yanks don't get. Wasn't Honda doing pre-chamber combustion in the 70's, with a carburetor? Given the disaster electric charging will become in the near term, high mileage engines and green fuels will continue to be interesting for some time to come.

Looks like a wardrobe , with wheels on the corners', but most of that class do, so no biggie.

I love my older 2.2 Diesel CX5 auto and won’t be trading up anytime soon - 42-44 mpg average , roomy ,comfortable and mainly reliable - yes the ride is a little hard standard - I changed to gas shocks and struts - night and day and the tyres are a little noisy but still a great car for the money and cheap to service…. Hybrids ( battery issues) and EV,s - shove them where sun don’t shine - I,ll be running my dirty diesel till the doors drop off👍

Good job mazda. After watching cx60 reviews and hearing the inline 6 diesel 250+hp this is going to be my first choice compared to ford everest 4x4 and fortuner grs. My only concern is the ground clearance?

I’m a simple man who grew up in the 80/90’s very much enjoying my regular diet of Gerry Anderson, so a video that references Thunderbird 6, which is an excellent film, I immediately give a ‘Like’.

£50000! In my world that is still a lot of money and I’d be expecting a lot more for it. Certainly something that at least looks like it’s worth that.

I bought a Mazda CX-5 a few months ago and it’s a brilliant car. It’s nice to see Mazda get some recognition at last for doing things a little bit differently.

I like the styling tbh :)

Jay, what was the gas mileage in the city/highway/combined?

I saw the new Mazda EV at Le Mans with the rotary engine range extender, which I think was hydrogen fuelled. There were quite a few people (myself included) who went and had a look at it, although probably not for the EV part though. Few other interesting cars on display in the display areas including a Toyota GR tuned new Prius and quite a lot of hydrogen fuelled cars including a load of Toyota Mirai's, Toyota's hydrogen combustion Corolla they used at the 25 hr race event in Japan and other hydrogen powered vehicles including a bus.

Shame we aren't getting the cx-90, now that's a lot of car for the money!

Great review, most enjoyable. Agree about the safety features - manufacturers and legislation have gone too far in the wrong direction. Too much tech that doesn’t function properly or is expensive to repair when it inevitably goes wrong. Whose fault is that? I applaud the efforts to make our trips safer but what gives? Love my Mazda 6 to bits but it has a TPS warning symbol that cannot be reset as it is incorrectly diagnosing a fault that doesn’t exist. Mazda have failed to fix it on 2 visits but I have got over the irritation long time ago. Fond of Mazdas, not so much of the dealers.

7:03 when you say stuff like that in your reviews you need to make it clear that it's only on that SPECIFIC TRIM LEVEL, any regular person who sees this will immediately dismiss the whole model bc they don't understand that other trims do NOT have this issue.

It must be Mazda's AI that disrupts Shania Twain and Nickelback during playback. Kudos for that!😂

A senior BMW person went to Mazda some time back IIRC.

I hate the nanny state "protections". The difficulty of turning them off in this car would be a deal breaker for me.

I am always stunned by the MPG numbers on UK cars.. then remember.. oh yeah, your Imperial Gallon is like 20% bigger than our US Gallon. Still- 35 mpg (US) would be good for such a vehicle. And that's not highway, that's real world. We got the gas version of this inline 6 here in the CX-90. Too bad VW's diesel-gate basically killed diesel options in cars in the US.

I've owned a F15 X5 40d for the past 8 years! To be entirely honest I'm yet to drive a car with that much breadth of ability. 45mpg schlep across Europe - check. 30+mpg round town - check. Hot hatch performance, comfort and practicality all rolled into one package. Comparing the mMazda to its nearest competitor, the Toyota Highlander, I think that the Mazda would (in Europe where the highlander is only available as a 4 pot hybrid) make for a more complete ownership experience barring the need for a 7 seater.

I really hope they make a sedan or estate with this setup. Something to rival the 3 series.

"It's a Mazda, that will be 30 grand then"! Glad I only paid 15 for my Mazda 2 skyactiv D! Diesel rules.

I think it's a really interesting car value for money quality car and they've actually thought but not everyone's going to be able to have an electric vehicle. There's not the infrastructure. We have a CX-5 on the firmer ride on the big tires means you actually handles lovely compared to all the Hyundai's and Kia's that I chose to test drive. The masda was by far much better quality all round I didn't have frustration of the touch buttons and you know it will last

Hi Jay, it's new Co car list time. Shortlist is Mx60 base model phev or Kia Sportage gtline phev.- thoughts please

That is a lovely looking car. Interior a bit like the Genesis X with a BMW

I like this and yes lower cylinder pressure and temp reduces nox. The styling is very Volvo and I think that’s a great move

Not a pretty car, but looks stately. I feel your frustration with the safety systems. Several times my Qashai has slammed on the brakes for no reason. Fortunately, I wasn’t going very fast at the time and even more fortunately, there was nothing behind me. It is very disconcerting though.

I had a fully loaded CX60 as a rental. I have to say I was impressed, very premium. But, the gearbox is a bit of letdown. Very often searches for gears.

There may be some who need to tow a horse box or big caravan and the 3.3 6 cyl will be ideal but be aware road tax for this dinosaur is £570/year. For me though having to go into 2menus every time I get into the car to turn Lane assist off would be a complete deal breaker, 2 through the foot here Mazda. I sometimes drive for 7 days without going on more than a Mile or two of road where Lane assist would work consistently.

Driven both the PHEV and RWD diesel, I would go for a diesel 100% Overall more refined experience and fuel economy are consistently low. On the PHEV you must plug it in to get advertised economy figures.

I still lament that the right hand markets are not getting the cx 50. I love how rugged looking that car is.

This is Mazda's best product by far! I honestly don't understand why this isn't being offered in North America. It would sell like hot cakes!!!

clean and efficient ? does it clogg up the engine with carbon like the diesel engine before they are plagued with issues

Great choice of musicians! 👍

Imagine buying a Ferrai puresangue and someone asks you why you bought a mazda. Imagine buying a mazda and someone asks how managaed to buy a new Ferrari...