Mazda CX-60 2024 review: D50e GT Vision long-term | Part 2

The spider’s gone! When I say gone, I mean to the big web in the sky. If you remember last month’s report on our Mazda CX-60, a huntsman had taken up residence in our long-term test car, which meant having to abandon the vehicle. But the situation has been resolved… with a shoe.

So here we are with part two of our three-month journey with the CX-60 D50e GT – or as we call it in my family, Cecil. 

This month we covered 1335km. That’s almost double what we did in the previous month because, as is tradition, we squashed what felt like everything we owned into the boot and any other available space and headed to the grandparents place 150km away for Christmas.

A week later we then loaded up Cecil to bursting point again and headed north for the school holidays near a beach.

We’d done exactly the same thing the year before only in a Polestar 2 electric car. I remember turning to my wife just before we set off in the Polestar on a 40-degree Christmas Eve and telling her that we had 280km of range and 250km to drive, but if we wanted to have the climate control on low, then our range would be 240km. 

We made it, but we were hot and had to leave the Polestar charging for almost two days through a regular power point to get home again.

This year I was glad we were driving a diesel 'hybrid' instead because the day we arrived at the beach house not only could we have the air-con on ice cold and still have more than three-quarters of a tank of fuel left when we arrived, but we had to make an emergency dash to the hospital that afternoon with one of the kids and being able to jump in the car and not worry if you had enough range to make it there was a stress we didn’t need.

All was ok with the kidlet, and a few days later we headed back home to Sydney - all without having to fuel up again.

Our CX-60 is a diesel 'hybrid'. And while the hybrid system is a very mild one and doesn’t have an electric motor which drives the wheels, the fuel economy is pretty impressive.

This month after 1335km we used 96.64 litres of fuel which comes to 7.3L/100km. That’s excellent fuel economy, but we also have to take into consideration that a litre of diesel will go further than a litre of petrol.

That said, it still feels strange to be driving a new diesel six-cylinder SUV in 2024 and not a one with a four-cylinder petrol engine.

The diesel engine is excellent though for quick acceleration and dynamically the Cx-60 feels stable enough with good handling, although the ride isn’t particularly comfortable and can feel overly firm.

The CX-60 is easy to drive, though, with great steering that feels well-weighted and accurate. I have found that it feels quite large especially in city streets and car parks. Although I was very pleased with myself managing to fit this 4.74m long SUV perfectly into a Small Car Only spot at the shopping centre.

Far from perfect is the transmission - gear changes are rough and there’s a grinding sound and vibration emitted that’s very apparent at low speeds. You may recall that Mazda admitted the eight-speed in the CX-60 has a far from smooth feel and that the issue will be addressed.

Other not-so-great discoveries this month have been the gear shifter itself which to put in Park needs to be pulled over to the right towards the steering wheel. Then shifting into Drive when starting the car requires you to wait almost five seconds before the shifter will allow you. Why Mazda?

And finally the traffic sign recognition system appears to be fine unless you drive through the school zone down the road from our house at 9am when the system will tell you the speed limit is 110km/h.

Oh, and the multimedia system's central display can more or less only be operated using a rotary dial because Mazda dictates that for safety reasons it can only function as a touchscreen when the vehicle is stationary. This is driving us bonkers - especially when it comes to trying to use Apple CarPlay. 

Well that's it for another month. We'll be coming at you with a final instalment soon.

Acquired: November 2023

Distance travelled this month: 1335km

Odometer: 8219km

Average fuel consumption this month: 7.2L/100km (measured at the pump)