Styling
Rather like a
Peugeot 5008 is an elongated
3008, very simply the CX-80 is a long-wheelbase CX-60 - styling-wise, if you're standing either dead-on front or rear then you might mistake one for the other (depending on how close you are to the boot badge and whether your eyesight is good enough to discern the difference between a '6' and an '8', of course). It's when you can see the sides of the CX-80 that you can see what's changed. The bigger SUV is 250mm longer and all of that extra metal is grafted into the midriff of the car. It results in a huge 3,120mm wheelbase and a
looooong passenger compartment, characterised by rear doors that are massive. So what you think of the CX-80 depends on how handsome and stylish you find the CX-60 in the first place; we'd say this new Mazda flagship is certainly not ugly, but it can be a tad ungainly when viewed from certain angles.
All variants of the CX-80 come on at least 18-inch alloys, but as soon as you step up from basic Exclusive-Line spec then 20s are equipped on the Homura and they give the shape of the large SUV a touch more balance. The only visual differences from there between the PHEV and the diesel are that the former has a secondary 'filler' flap on the offside rear wing, which is for its electrical charging port, and then you need to pay attention to that side panel of trim on the front wing - the little chrome-strip legend in it reads 'PHEV' if you have, well, the PHEV, or 'Inline6' if you've gone for the diesel.
Interior
The same ergonomically sound and reasonably high-tech interior - the CX-80 has two 12.3-inch screens for the instrument cluster and the infotainment system, as well as a big, full-colour head-up display beamed onto its windscreen for the driver - can be found in this Mazda SUV as in many others. Material quality is largely excellent, the intuitive layout of buttons (including proper physical climate controls and the Mazda MZD rotary dial for the infotainment) makes the car's functions a doddle to use on the move, and while the graphics in the digital displays aren't the sharpest in the industry, they're perfectly fine and can be replaced with the wireless connection of either Apple CarPlay or Android Auto anyway. Therefore, on first appraisal the CX-80's passenger compartment is a big hit, especially in the grander formats like Takumi, where glitzy white leather, blond wood and chrome come together for a suitably eye-catching ambience.
Practicality
The obvious thing to talk about in here is the seating. There are three main configurations, available on both the diesel and this PHEV drivetrain - that's right, there's no sacrifice of the third row in the Mazda if you go for the part-electric drivetrain. It's the seven seats you get as standard on all models, in the typical 2-3-2 formation you'd find in most comparable SUVs. Opt for a Homura Plus (the third of five specifications available on the CX-80) and you get six seats, with two 'captains' chairs' appearing in the middle of the cabin in place of the three-seater bench. These have armrests and a (very narrow) walkway between them, but on the top-spec Takumi Plus a small central console is built in between them.
Any which way you configure it, the legroom in the second row is enormous, thanks to the CX-80's vast wheelbase. But despite all these efforts, and irrespective of the sheer physical size of the Mazda's exterior bodywork (it's 5mm shy of five metres long from tip to tail, and it's just 6cm shorter than a standard-wheelbase Range Rover), the rear seats still feel a bit '+2', rather than a full-sized set of pews. They're mounted inboard of the row in front of them, even in the six-seater versions, and they have that typical row three issue in that the seat squabs are very low to the floor, meaning anyone tall sitting back there will have their knees raised up in the air, rather than pointing straight out in front of them. It's why, even if you shuffle the chairs inside around to try and generate more legroom in the very back of the CX-80, it's really only going to be children happy sitting in the rear-most two seats.
At least the boot is a good size, with 258 litres available with all three rows of seats in use - that's more than Mazda's own supermini, the
non-hybrid 2, can muster up. The cargo area expands to 687 and then 1,971 litres as you fold down rows three and two of the seating respectively, which makes more sense of the size of the CX-80's body.
Performance
With a 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine augmented by a 129kW (175hp) electric motor, the combined outputs of the CX-80 PHEV are the same as they are in the smaller, slightly lighter CX-60. This means you have 327hp and 500Nm to play with, good enough to punt the 2.3-tonne CX-80 from 0-62mph in 6.8 seconds. That makes it quicker than the alternative engine offered in the range, the 3.3-litre inline-six diesel (254hp, 550Nm, 0-62mph in 8.4 seconds), but it also promises to deliver greater economy than the derv as well.
Although, even on paper, the CX-80 PHEV's figures aren't massively impressive for a plug-in hybrid these days. An all-electric range of less than 40 miles might have been OK five or six years ago, but nowadays many similar competitors are offering upwards of 50 or even 60 miles, while the PHEV version of the
Skoda Kodiaq rival will go up to 75 miles to a charge.
A smaller battery in the Mazda is the reason for its relative range issues and, as a result, it also has eco-stats which aren't outstanding. That said, in real-world driving you can never get near ridiculous claims of 600- or 700mpg from a PHEV anyway, or even the 176.6mpg official number of the CX-80, so we know these official plug-in numbers need to be taken not so much with a pinch of salt, but a whole Dead Sea of the stuff. For example, we drove our test vehicle for almost 100 miles on a looping route around the edge of the Yorkshire Dales, and it was doing an impressive indicated 85mpg or so after the first third of it. But by that point, the battery power had almost all gone and we ended up on a far less astounding 31.5mpg by the conclusion of the trip. The diesel will easily do better than that over longer-mileage journeys, for sure.
There is some good news, because it feels like Mazda has worked on the refinement of this drivetrain since we first tried it in the CX-60. The integration of the electric and petrol motors feels neater and less clunky, and there's even a sort of sporty-sounding snarl to the 2.5 when you're asking it for some serious acceleration. That said, it's still not the paragon of plug-in-powertrain smoothness, with a few too many occasions where you can seem to catch the Mazda's system out by asking it for more or less power as it's going through a transitional phase - so, for example, if the eight-speed 'box is about to shift gear, or the petrol engine is about to take over from the electric motor, and then you either dump in some extra throttle or alternatively lift off, there can be a degree of drivetrain clunkiness as the PHEV readjusts. It's not something you'd encounter in the best plug-in hybrids of this type, so it's a shame such behaviour is still present in the CX-80, even if it's only infrequent.
Ride & Handling
The CX-60 hasn't won too many fans for the way it rides and isolates its occupants from what its suspension is doing, so for the bigger CX-80 - which perhaps doesn't need to handle with quite as much vim as the 60, given its seven-seat aspirations and sheer size - Mazda has decided to delete the rear anti-roll bar, give the vehicle longer-travel and softer springs, as well as changed the subframe bushings. To a degree, these tweaks have worked and improved the CX-80's overall comportment, but it's still a big family-mover that doesn't always ride with the ethereal grace that it perhaps should.
At 2.3 tonnes in this trim and with that goliath space between its axles, you might expect the CX-80 to be supremely comfortable and cushioned at all road speeds. And there are undoubtedly times where it puts on that pretence, most notably when you're doing motorway speeds on a good section of asphalt and it's gliding along serenely. It's also not bad in town and at lower pace, but once you're out on lumpier country roads then there's simply too much of a sharp-edged and noisy gait to the way the Mazda covers ground. Compressions like manhole covers, grates and potholes send a resonant if muffled thud through the SUV's superstructure and you're always aware, on the mid-spec Homura Plus, that you've got large 20-inch alloys hanging unsprung at all corners. The outright composure isn't quite there, in all honesty.
It's a pity the CX-80 isn't just a little more compliant in these circumstances, because otherwise there's a lot to like about the way it drives. Other forms of mechanical refinement are excellent, with little to report in the way of either wind or tyre noise, and on the flipside of the ride comfort coin, there are few seven-seat SUVs that drive as sharply as the Mazda. It has unusually lovely steering for a vehicle of this class, lightly weighted but blessed with more feel than is strictly necessary for a chariot designed to primarily to shift giant broods about the place. This couples with impressive levels of body and wheel control - there's a degree of squidge about the CX-80, and if you really push it then the body can wobble about on top of the chassis and the front wheels wash into squirrelly understeer, but you have to thoroughly provoke the Mazda to get it to behave badly in the corners. For most of the time, it's surprisingly and pleasingly assured on twisting roads, belying the massive bulk that this five-metre-long SUV is attempting to corral.
Value
Even at its cheapest, the Mazda CX-80 retails at just £330 shy of 50 grand, with most models being in the £50,000-£60,000 ballpark. That's quite a lot more than either a Kodiaq or 5008 would set you back, but then neither of those (currently) get close to the 327hp output of this PHEV, nor do they offer silky six-cylinder engines like the turbodiesel provided in the Mazda's range. There's also an extensive equipment list on even a 'base'-spec Exclusive-Line CX-80, with the Homura, Homura Plus, Takumi and Takumi Plus cars loading in the luxuries from there. Thus, you could either view the Mazda as being overpriced compared to competitors from more mainstream manufacturers, or you could alternatively say it is a more affordable way of getting into a properly premium seven-seat SUV than going for something German or Swedish instead.
Verdict
The Mazda CX-80 drives in an improved fashion from the CX-60s we've tried so far, but it's not flawless, especially as this PHEV. There's still a little too much confusion emanating from the drivetrain at times, while the ride quality needs to be suppler than it is. There's then a question mark over whether you think the CX-80's stretched form is handsome or not, and whether it can actually seat seven people onboard. However, there's a really easy way to make Mazda's flagship markedly more appealing in one fell swoop, and that's to fit it with the glorious
straight-six 3.3-litre diesel. Equipped with that jewel of a powerplant under its bonnet, the CX-80 becomes one of our favourite seven-seat SUVs of them all.
