By Otsile Kadiege

Mazda South Africa is expanding their SUV range with the addition of the all-new CX-60 five-seater. The newcomer sports familiar design and styling cues, a premium cabin, a bunch of new technologies and a naturally-aspirated engine to name a few.

Newage Soul of Motion

The new CX-60 is unmistakably Mazda thanks to the brand’s evolved Kodo-Soul of Motion design philosophy. Up front the CX-60 boasts a prominent bar-type grille with vertical slats and thick chrome surrounds. It’s flanked by newly designed LED headlights (Adaptive LED Headlamps are optional) with L-shaped lighting signature.

In profile, the CX-60 is clean and uncluttered, and is shod with 20-inch (235/50 R20) wheels as standard. The rear LED lighting signature also adopts an L-shaped design to match that of the front lamp clusters. In terms of exterior dimensions, the new CX-60 is 4,745 mm long, 1,890 mm wide, 1,680 mm high and has a 2,870 mm wheelbase.

It’s available in a choice of eight body colours, namely Jet Black, Soul Red Crystal, Arctic White, Deep Crystal Blue, Machine Grey, Sonic Silver, Platinum Quartz and Rhodium White.

Premium, minimalist and spacious interior

Inside, the new CX-60 feels upmarket thanks to many premium amenities and a modern, minimalist design. It’s also spacious and has a number of new smart technologies. The driver’s cockpit area features three main instrument displays: a full TFT-LCD instrument cluster, a large Head-up Display and a 12.3-inch touchscreen displaying the Mazda Connect infotainment that’s compatible with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. As standard, the CX-60 is fitted with an 8-speaker sound system. Customers who opt for the Individual grade get a premium 12-speaker Bose sound system.

A nifty new feature is the Driver Personalisation System which recognises the driver and automatically adjusts seat position, steering wheel, mirrors, HUD, even the sound and climate control settings.

The CX-60 offers 1,504 mm of ample shoulder room up front and 1,441 mm in the rear. A large panoramic sunroof, fitted as standard, makes the cabin feel roomier. Luggage capacity is 570 litres and can be increased to 1,148 litres by folding the 40:20:40 split rear seats.

Safety and assistance systems

On the safety and driver assistance side of things, the CX-60 has a total of 7 airbags (Driver, Passenger, Side, Curtain & Knee), Passenger Airbag cut-off system, Anti-locking Braking System (ABS), Electronic Brake-Force Distribution (EBD), Emergency Brake Assist (EBA), Dynamic Stability Control (DSC), Trailer Stability Assist (TSA), Auto hold Hill Hold Assist (HHA), Hill Decent Control (HDC), Burglar Alarm System, Blind Spot Monitoring (BSM), Rear Cross Traffic Alert (RCTA), Forward Sensing Camera (FSC), Driver Attention Alert (DAA), Lane Departure Warning System (LDWS), Lane-keep Assist System (LAS), Advanced Smart City Brake Assist (SCBS) and Traffic Sign Recognition to name a few.

Naturally-aspirated in a turbocharged world

At the heart of the new CX-60 is a 2.5-litre naturally-aspirated four-cylinder engine developing 141kW and 261Nm. The engine is paired to an 8-speed auto transmission. The CX-60 sends its power to the rear wheels when you opt for the Dynamic derivative and through all wheels when choosing the Individual grade. Fuel consumption for the former and latter are at a claimed 7.3l/100km and 7.7l/100km respectively.

Pricing

The Mazda CX-60 will be available in two automatic variants:

CX-60 2.5L Dynamic – R739,800

CX-60 2.5L AWD Individual – R844,500