Fleet World Fleet: Mazda CX-60 Homura PHEV

The latest report from our Mazda PHEV longtermer from Nat Barnes. List price (BiK): GBP40,115 (8%) CO2: 33g/km MPG/ EV range: 188.3mpg / 39 miles Test efficiency: 95.2mpg

Report 7:

Last time I went into detail about the costs of running the Mazda CX-60 PHEV, especially when it came to the costs of charging the 17.8kWh battery. As the end of our time with the Mazda starts to near, I wanted to touch on journeys and, more precisely, the types of journey that I've been taking.

This came to mind especially over Easter, where a short family break meant four days, around 200 miles and no chance of charging after I left home - thanks in large part to some defunct chargers at the hotel where we were staying. For the Mazda with its rough 30-mile EV range, this was obviously far from ideal - and saw our average mpg over the 4,100 miles that we've driven the CX-60 drop considerably to around 86mpg. No real surprise in that of course, but what I was surprised about, was just how fast the average then started to recover when I had a chance to charge the battery again and return to my normal journey habits.

And then the thought occurred to me. My usual station commute, three times a week, is a 20-mile round trip and can be easily done in EV mode - even in the winter. However, while those occasional longer journeys - including my Offa's Dyke trips which are about to resume - do hurt my average fuel economy, the regularity of my usual sole-EV routine is easily enough to dilute those irregular longer journeys.

Hence the fact that my average has now bumped back up to 95.2mpg and is a perfect example of why regular charging always pays off for an EV. On a recent Mazda event, my fuel economy raised a few eyebrows when questioned, but the trip computer, the odometer and my wallet all prove that PHEVs [start itals] can [end itals] work and [start itals] can [end itals] be economical if used in the right way. Are they great on those longer journeys?

Generally speaking, no. But if you're also doing lots of shorter journeys in-between, the dilution effect could be greater than you might at first imagine.

Report 6:

This slideshow requires JavaScript. In my last report I promised that I'd talk about costs, but first the Mazda CX-60 PHEV has been back to my local dealer for some recall work.

The first recall that it was actually booked in for was for work on the steering rack to reapply grease to the steering rack gear teeth and replace the worm gear spring, but on booking it in, I was told that two other programme updates were required. The three together meant it would be with the garage for a full day. Although a courtesy car wasn't available, thankfully they would collect and return the CX-60 free of charge.

Even better, they cleaned it inside and out, which was welcome recompense for the inconvenience. And no, before you ask, they didn't know it was a press car, but it was a good example of how a small negative can be turned into a positive. So, let's tackle those costs.

Although I've been doing a lot of shorter journeys and not many longer ones, the fact remains that my average fuel economy is still at 96.8mpg over the 3,300 miles that I've driven the car so far. Would that be as high if there were more longer journeys and less shorter ones? Probably not, but again that comes down to the type of driving you do and how you use your car and I'd like to think that my journey habits aren't than uncommon.

With the warmer weather of spring, my fully charged mileage of the 17.8kWh battery has begun to rise as well, reaching around 31-33 miles. Those early winter mornings seeing 22-25 miles are thankfully long gone. Being conservative, let's estimate that I might get 30 miles as an average from a full charge.

On the new 24.5p/kWh standard variable tariff energy price cap for electricity arriving on 1 April that equates to GBP4.36 for a charge from 0 to 100%. At the time of writing that's the equivalent of roughly two-thirds the cost of a gallon of unleaded, so you would have to be doing 45mpg on the petrol engine - at least - to have parity. For a car the size and weight of the Mazda, frankly that's never going to happen.

Where things get interesting however, is if you're on one of the off-peak electricity tariffs available on the market. For running a PHEV you'd need to do your maths to work out if it was worth it, but on Octopus Go at 9p/kWh that same full charge for the CX-60 will cost you just GBP1.60. Going back to our previous calculation, that amount would buy you just a quarter of a gallon.

That means the petrol engine would need to be doing 120mpg to get parity. So while how you drive your PHEV is important, one thing is for sure, even on the standard electricity tariff, those electric miles will always be cheaper than running on petrol.

Report 5:

This slideshow requires JavaScript. February was a bit of a mixed bag for my time with the Mazda CX-60.

A half-term trip to set fire to my credit cards - or as it's more commonly known, four days at Centre Parcs - meant a 180-mile round-trip hardly suited to the PHEV powertrain. However, it proved a good lesson in how regular charging can resolve long journeys with a PHEV. With the rising ambient temperature of spring having a positive effect on the Mazda's range, I left with a full charge.

That gave me between 25-30 miles of electric range on the motorway and the remainder on the petrol engine. Plus, with Centre Parcs having expanded its chargers at my location, it meant that at the end of our wallet-rinsing break, we also left for the return journey with a full charge. Better yet, a brief stop on our return had free charging (albeit very slow), so another top-up added to our on-board volts.

The end result was that, yes, my average has dropped to 93.6mpg (still highly impressive), though nowhere near as much as it might have done without that charging. I'll go more into the costs of charging in my next report, but it's a good lesson in how running a plug-in hybrid almost needs more forethought than a full EV or ICE car simply due to its unique set-up. For all of the criticism aimed at PHEVs though, my time with the CX-60 is proof that you can make it work if you want it to.

In the meantime, the Mazda has to go back to my local dealer for some recall work to do with the steering. While there, it also needs two programme updates as well, which I'm hoping might resolve the slight driveline shunt that sometimes occurs on very light to no throttle input. It's almost as if the battery inverter is getting confused between whether to switch to regenerative braking or not, but frustratingly it isn't always consistent.

What is consistent, mind you, is the utter filth that the CX-60 is currently caked in. The bad weather means the Rhodium White paint is now a shade of road-dirt grey, but I've been reluctant to wash it in the knowledge that it will simply get disgusting again within a day. As soon as the weather improves, the bucket and sponge will see the light of day once more.

I promise.

Report 4:

This slideshow requires JavaScript. Now is the discount of our winter tents. As the famous camping shop sign goes...

Well, if I thought that the cold snap of my previous report was bad, that was nothing compared to recent weeks. With the thermometer barely able to manage positive figures even during daylight, there have been some chilly commutes at either end of the day in the Mazda. The CX-60's onboard gauge has regularly been showing minus six in the mornings.

It hasn't just been my fingertips complaining either; so has the Mazda. A full charge has been showing as low a 21-mile range at times, which is pretty poor from a 17.8kWh battery. Even worse, at one point the battery still had a 32% state of charge with a three-mile range showing.

Clearly, it doesn't like the cold. Sometimes it even self-cancels the EV mode to fire up the engine when there is still half a charge left in the battery. To be fair, it's not alone as a PHEV in this regard.

We do have some good news to report though. Mazda got in touch after my last report and it seems that I need new glasses for the new year. The CX-60 does have a rear washer for the back windscreen, it's just hidden entirely out of sight behind the rear spoiler.

The nozzle was clearly blocked, so a lengthy spray with some WD40 and it is, hurrah, now working. Given that the rear windscreen was inevitably getting filthy given all our recent rain, it is, I admit, frankly pathetic how pleased I am to have a functioning rear washer. What's that saying about tiny things pleasing tiny minds?

A line which I'm sure Mrs Editor Challen utters on a regular basis... Still, the heating steering wheel and three-stage heated seats are working overtime on virtually every journey at the moment and are little short of brilliant and, despite that foreshortened electric range, my January mileage hasn't seen me venture on any trips long enough to dent my 100mpg average. There are some longer drives to come though, so I'm expecting that to drop - just like the prices at the camping shop.

Report 3:

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There is a famous quote which says that no winter lasts forever. I'm certainly hoping that's the case for my Mazda CX-60 plug-in hybrid. After the initial cold snap of late November when the EV-only range dropped as low as 26 miles, the milder, if wetter, weather has now seen that rise slightly to 29-30 miles.

My occasional commute to the station on chilly mornings, when I'm pounding the heater and heated seats and steering wheel, has meant an essential charge on my return in the evening. The good news is that that regular charging and lack of any long journeys has seen my average fuel economy rise to 100mpg. The bad news is that the winter weather is making itself felt in other ways.

First, there's the colour. As I mentioned in my first report, the optional Rhodium White may not have been my first choice, but I thought it worked with the black alloy wheels. Unsurprisingly with all the rain, it hasn't taken long before the CX-60 has started to look grubbier than Editor Challen's joke book, but interestingly the dirt seems to have plateaued somewhat.

It feels like it's not getting any grimier, which sounds an odd thing to say, but it seems to be true - or maybe I'm just becoming more accepting of the filth. And talking of odd things to say, I also need to properly investigate the CX-60's rear windscreen. When I noticed the rear windscreen washer wasn't working, further investigation showed a lack of a washer bottle to top up and then, actually, a lack of any washer pipework either.

So there's a rear wiper but, very oddly, no rear wash (or 'bidet' as it used to be called in the trade). So either there isn't one, which again is annoying in the winter, or I'm being fantastically stupid and need a visit to the opticians... I'll keep you posted.

However, my eyesight wasn't so bad that it didn't notice the chiming tyre pressure warning light which also coincided with the colder weather. No single tyre was showing as particularly low, but a quick top-up of all four saw it reset, so that was a thankful easy win. I was also very grateful for the CX-60's size with the usual Christmas tree shopping before the festive period, where just quickly lowering the seats left me with plenty of room.

Not so grateful though for the car park in Windsor that we visited for a pantomime where the spaces were ridiculously tight - even for the Mazda.

Report 2:

This slideshow requires JavaScript. The poor Mazda CX-60 hasn't exactly had a warm welcome. No sooner had it arrived than I'd taken it to North Wales and back, twice, on my continuing stages of Offa's Dyke (eight down, four to go), meaning more than 300 miles each day and now the winter has well and truly kicked in.

If there's one thing that a large SUV plug-in hybrid like this doesn't like, it's undoubtedly long motorway journeys. To then couple that with sub-zero temperatures is pretty unfair on the CX-60 and the big Mazda's average fuel economy took a pounding on those long journeys. While, officially, the electric range is 39 miles, the best we've seen is 36 miles and on chillier mornings that has dipped as low as 26 miles.

And once that battery power is gone, we're running a two-tonne SUV with a 2.5-litre petrol engine. With a 50-litre petrol tank, those 300-mile-plus days while heading long distance for walking trips can necessitate a top-up when it's an unwelcome novelty. The Mazda too sometimes needs a reminder that it's a plug-in hybrid too.

Frustratingly, the only way to adjust the level of regenerative braking is via the onboard menu - rather than using a simple and quick button - and even the maximum setting could still be stronger. Even when in EV mode, there can sometimes be a slight shunt while driving as the power is delivered, especially on very light throttle, so I'll keep an eye on that. Still, our more regular journeys have seen the Mazda trip meter add over 1,000 miles in our ownership and we're getting used to the CX-60's foibles.

The heated seats and heated steering wheel are a boon in the cold, although we're missing a heated front windscreen and the steering wheel is only heated in the 'horns' at the side, so between 10 and 2 and then between 8 and 4 remains cold, which feels odd. That said, having stepped out of a Vauxhall Astra, I'm already loving the CX-60's size and have already used it to transport some longer roof panelling for the roof of our garden office, which simply wouldn't have been possible in anything smaller. Alongside that, the requisite tools required were easily swallowed into the Mazda's boot without a problem.

Report 1:

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It probably isn't unfair to say that, as car companies and new models go, Mazda hasn't exactly been at the forefront of electrification. The MX-30 isn't without appeal, but even the most hardened EV fan would admit it has a limited audience - even with the latest rotary-engined, range-extender version[1]. And then there's this new CX-60.

It takes a brave company to launch a new diesel into the market at the moment, but alongside this plug-in hybrid version, there's no question that the CX-60 has some appeal. That's particularly the case with this PHEV's 2.5-tonne towing capacity. So can this CX-60 PHEV perform as a late arrival to a fleet market that's being dominated by full-blown EVs?

That's certainly what I'm hoping to find out. With a 2.5-litre petrol engine allied to a 17.8kWh battery, the Mazda boasts 33g/km emissions and a 39.15-mile EV range - originally giving it a 12% BiK rating, but officially dropped to 8% earlier this year due to rounding, as officially verified by HMRC. Combined, that gives it an output of 327hp which is enough to drive it from 0 to 60mph in a very swift 5.8 seconds.

That's hardly slothful for what is a 2.1-tonne SUV and certainly it's not a light car - or a small one. I have, admittedly, just stepped out of six months in a Vauxhall Astra, so I'm having to adjust my mental parameters to that of an SUV as opposed to a hatchback. Size issues aside, I'm in the mid-range Homura trim CX-60.

In Rhodium White (a GBP750 option) with 20-inch black metallic alloy wheels. I'll be honest, I'm not usually a big fan of white cars but, like Editor Challen and his fashion 'sense', I'm all for challenging conventions. Despite that however, I have to say that I don't not like the combination with the black alloy wheels.

With autumn here and winter approaching though, I do reserve the right to have this statement thrown back in my face at a later date. I could come to regret this choice. This particular, pre-specced car, has the Convenience Pack, Driver Assistance Pack and the Panoramic Sunroof, which bump this test car's price up to GBP52,020, which is no small change, despite the fact that it's a big car.

I'll go into more details on those packs in due course, but the CX-60 has already had a baptism of fire to Wales and back in a day, which saw the average economy nose-dive and is just recovering with some more local journeys.

Watch this space...

References

1. ^ the latest rotary-engined, range-extender version (fleetworld.co.uk)