2025 Mazda CX-60 review
This successor to Aussie icon the Holden Commodore could have been lost in time forever but after a massive setback, it’s been revived by this car giant.
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Remember the pandemic?
While some of us were baking sourdough or binge-watching Tiger King, car makers were crafting next-generation vehicles.
In Mazda’s case, that meant the bold effort to make its largest and most expensive cars yet, a family of sophisticated SUVs with six-cylinder engines and near-enough to six-figure price tags representing its most ambitious project in years.
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The Mazda CX-60, CX-70, CX-80 and CX-90 quartet promised to take on the likes of Benz and BMW, but missed the mark.
Our team found more than a few flaws.
‘AGRICULTURAL’ FLAWS
For one, the cars were quite expensive.
Iain Curry said the ride was “too firm”, and the gearbox “too clunky”, Dom Tripolone noted the eight-speed transmission “can jerk and shudder”, Grant Edwards described the diesel engine as “agricultural” and Richard Blackburn recorded “noticeable vibration and an occasional shudder” under the bonnet.
They weren’t alone.
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The Mazda CX-60 was a flawed effort from a brand famous for delivering polished gems.
It felt rushed to market without the brand’s usual level of care and precision.
Mazda engineer Toshiaki Aoki says there were two fundamental issues with the car.
The first is that Mazda misread customer expectations and delivered an SUV with a sporty edge misunderstood by critics and potential owners.
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The second factor surrounds coronavirus restrictions.
BLAME IT ON THE VIRUS
Aoki-San worked on the CX-60 program in 2020.
Speaking through a translator, he said “it is actually the fact that we got influenced and impacted by Covid”.
“Maybe some of the development, the timing was not enough. We didn’t spend enough time on that.
“There were restrictions that made it very difficult … situations where we wanted to test a vehicle, in regions or markets that we’ve not been able to travel to.”
It makes sense, then, that the car’s engine and transmission felt like a less than perfect match. And that rear suspension behaved differently to the front.
“We were not allowed to come into the office,” he said.
“We had some limitations in terms of having team discussions together, or testing the vehicle and having discussions afterwards.”
So Mazda has updated the car for 2025, two years after its initial release.
There are software changes in the driveline, and tweaks to the way the steering feels.
The front suspension has been revised.
And the rear suspension has been comprehensively overhauled, to the point where Mazda engineers went beyond tweaks to spring and shock absorber settings, deciding to remove the rear anti-roll bar altogether.
The result is a more compliant machine that doesn’t jar over bumps.
The front and rear axles feel more closely linked, though there is still an interesting tendency for sharper imperfections to make your head nod forward when they reach the rear axle.
Having spent more than 1000 kilometres behind the wheel of the original CX-60 recently, the most egregious issue was a jerkiness to its transmission in stop-start traffic.
Its eight-speed auto gearbox has multiple clutch packs instead of a torque converter, a sporty approach more commonly found in V8-powered Mercedes-AMG muscle cars than luxury SUVs.
It really didn’t work well in town.
And we can’t say if it’s much better now.
Our test drive of the updated car took place at Holden’s old Lang Lang proving ground, with minimal stop-start running. We need to revisit the car in the real world.
The question of value is much easier to answer.
Mazda has slashed thousands from a price that starts from $53,990 drive-away.
That’s not bad considering you get a punchy 3.3-litre turbocharged six-cylinder engine that uses 7.4L/100km of petrol to make 209kW and 450Nm.
SUCCESSOR TO THE COMMODORE
It steers sweetly, with rear-biased handling that makes it feel like the sort of car Aussie engineers could have put forward as a successor to the Commodore or Falcon.
And a cheaper four-cylinder version is around the corner, with rear-only traction and a sub-$50,000 price tag.
The updated CX-60 is an impressive car.
But more than that, it reflects an attitude from a brand prepared to admit it can do better, and that customers deserve its best.
MAZDA CX-60
PRICE: From $53,990 drive-away
ENGINE: 3.3-litre 6-cyl turbo, 209kW and 450Nm
WARRANTY/SERVICE: 5-year/unlimited km, about $3400 for 5 years
SAFETY: Eight airbags, auto emergency braking, lane-keep assist, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert with auto braking, radar cruise control and driver monitoring
THIRST: 7.4L/100km
CARGO: 477 litres
SPARE: Space saver
Originally published as 2025 Mazda CX-60 review
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