Mazda CX-60 review: Advancing from the rear

LOTS of people see their cars as their pride and joy. I’d call that a simple pleasure, because whatever you drive, at least it’s never going to come home with a report card full of red ink.

For decades now, Mazda has focused much more on the “joy” rather than “pride” side of things by creating cars to please the keen driver, spurred on internally by arcane slogans like “jinba-ittai” (Japanese for “rider and horse as one”).

So it is with the CX-60, a new sport utility vehicle (SUV) that quietly represents a reboot for Mazda. On the surface it’s just another family car – albeit a handsomely sculptural one, with polished lines and clean-cut looks – with five seats and a usefully large boot.

Within its clan, the CX-60 is a size up from the CX-5, the car that revived Mazda’s fortunes a decade ago by ushering in an era of lovely design and sweet handling for the brand.

But underneath the new SUV’s smooth skin is a new way of doing things, at least for Mazda. Like the bigger models from BMW and Mercedes-Benz, the CX-60 is rear wheel-drive – meaning the front wheels steer the car and the rear ones propel it, much like with a bicycle. The vast majority of cars are front wheel-drive, meaning their front axle both does the steering and hauling, much like a toddler’s tricycle.

The switch to rear wheel-drive is meant to titillate car nuts – and Mazda’s engineering department apparently has no shortage of them – because it should make the CX-60 more balanced than the average SUV, while giving it more traction out of corners and steering that’s uncorrupted by torque.

In short, the CX-60 looks like Mazda’s answer to the BMW X3 or Mercedes GLC, only for way less money.

Sure enough, it’s perfectly likeable from behind the wheel. The steering isn’t quick, but it’s weighty and faithfully linear in its response, so you always feel in touch with what the Mazda is up to. The steering wheel’s slender rim makes you want to wield it as gracefully as you can, too.

The ride is on the firm side, like a BMW with the sport suspension option, but as a result the CX-60 breezes around bends without a care. It may not be sharp, but it’s surefooted.

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The transmission, an eight-speed unit new to Mazda, also feels like something aimed at the sporty-minded driver. It has a clutch instead of a torque convertor, so it trades smoothness for speedy gearshifts. Meanwhile, the brakes actually do feel a bit like a sports car’s, in that the pedal requires a firm and deliberate shove.

For all that, driving a CX-60 is never going to make a BMW X3 driver sweat if the two are lined up for a traffic light grand prix. It has a non-turbo 2.5-litre engine with 191 horsepower, which is smooth and emits a pleasing metallic purr, but has its work cut out for it moving nearly 1.8 tonnes of Mazda around. I wouldn’t call the CX-60 slow, but let’s just say that no one would ever accuse it of being fast.

You would be better off enjoying the Mazda for its softer qualities, starting with how lovely the cabin is. In terms of how posh it feels inside, the CX-60 is certainly up to Lexus levels. The dashboard is supremely understated, in that zen sort of way that makes you wish your house were as neat. Prod at various surfaces and most of the materials feel good and expensive. Overall, it’s very calming inside the Mazda.

Both the sound system and driver instruments have 12.3-inch screens with crisp, muted graphics. In comparison, the screens in other cars are an assault on your eyes’ colour receptors.

Oddly enough, the infotainment system doesn’t have a touchscreen, which obliges you to use a clickety rotary controller instead. That must be Mazda’s way of nudging you to keep your focus on the road, although the CX-60 does come with all the safety systems that today’s distracted driver seems to rely on, from lane keep assistance to blind spot monitors and a pre-collision alert system.

In execution, the CX-60 isn’t the BMW-killer it looks like on paper. But it does hit something of a sweet spot in terms of cabin quality, practicality, refinement and driving pleasure, with Japanese reliability thrown into the bargain.

At S$278,888 including certificate of entitlement, it’s hard to argue that the CX-60 isn’t expensive for its badge – but Mazda is obviously hoping to take itself upmarket and distance its brand from the Nissans and Hondas of the world. One imagines it’s a matter of pride.

Mazda CX-60 Skyactiv-G 2.5

Engine 2,488 cc, in-line 4 Power 191 hp at 6,000 rpm Torque 261 Nm at 3,000 rpm Gearbox 8-speed automatic Top speed 203 kmh 0-100kmh 9.3 seconds Fuel efficiency 7.5 L/100 km Price S$278,888 with Certificate Of Entitlement Agent Trans Eurokars Available Now