Having already sampled the Mazda CX-80 as a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), now we get a chance to try out this super-sized, luxurious SUV with the silky 3.3-litre straight-six turbodiesel already seen in the more compact CX-60 model. Designed to take on the likes of the Skoda Kodiaq, Hyundai Santa Fe and Peugeot 5008, but perhaps even also capable of pushing up higher and tempting you out of something German or Swedish with a lot of chairs in the passenger compartment, does the diesel make the CX-80 a delight or a dud? We went over to the hilly, convoluted routes of the Yorkshire Dales in England, to try it out for size.
How much is the Mazda CX-80 in Ireland?
Irish pricing for the Mazda CX-80 range begins at €62,380 for an Exclusive-Line with the plug-in hybrid drivetrain. This makes it about €3,700 more, model-for-model, than the five-seat CX-60, so that’s the premium you pay for the extra seats and space. From there, the range climbs through Homura, Homura Plus, Takumi and then Takumi Plus grades, with impressively generous levels of equipment on all of them.
Due to the CO2 disparity, however, the list prices do favour the PHEV, because this e-Skyactiv D 3.3-litre model is another €11,560 at each trim level. It means the minimum price for a diesel CX-80 is the €73,940 of our Exclusive-Line test car. At least for that money, you get items including dual-zone climate control, LED interior lighting, a frameless auto-dimming interior mirror, more auto-dimming for the auto power-folding and heated door mirrors, keyless entry and go, front and rear parking sensors with a reversing camera, a powered tailgate, cruise control, a heated steering wheel, the Mazda Connect infotainment system and digital instrument cluster, and a full colour, windscreen-projected head-up display, among more.
The list of standard advanced driver assist systems (ADAS) is comprehensive, too, including things like rear cross-traffic alert and blind-spot monitoring that are often only fitted to higher-grade models in vehicles from other manufacturers.
Anything different about the exterior styling of the Mazda CX-80 e-Skyactiv D?
The CX-80 with the diesel engine looks almost the same as the CX-80 plug-in hybrid, the only changes being the little side grille on the front wing that wears an ‘Inline6’ legend here instead of ‘PHEV’ on the part-electric car, and then the deletion of one of the two ‘filler caps’ on the rear wings of the SUV - the diesel doesn’t need the charging port on the offside that the PHEV requires.
That aside, the CX-80 is a handsome thing. It is 250mm longer than a Mazda CX-60 and all of that extra metal is squeezed in between the axles, so the space between the front and rear wheels is a huge 3.1 metres and more. The SUV is also just 5mm shy of five metres long from tip to tail, while the rear doors are considerably bigger than those on the CX-60. It makes the CX-80 look a trifle ungainly when viewed from dead side-on, where the passenger compartment is perhaps disproportional to the length of the bonnet, but in general it’s another one of Mazda’s smartly styled, handsome machines. It also doesn’t rely on massive alloys to look good, which bodes well for the ride comfort once you’re driving it.
A look inside the Mazda CX-80 e-Skyactiv D
Another high-quality Mazda interior can be found inside the CX-80, where the ergonomic layout of the dashboard is superb - physical climate controls and the company’s ‘MZD’ rotary controller ensure everything is easy to operate and adjust while the vehicle is on the move. The big story, then, comes further back.
Three rows of seating are available, in three formats: the typical 2-3-2 layout with a central bench for the maximum of seven seats; then a plusher specification that replaces the middle row with two captains’ chairs and a walkway between them; and finally an even grander format which puts a small console in between those central two seats (robbing you of the walkway, of course).
However many seats you specify, there’s a good degree of adjustability in terms of how they slide forwards and backwards, and how the backrests tilt to different angles, so that you can configure the layout to suit your needs. That said, we’d still say those rear two seats are best suited to younger children only. As ever with these things, the floor of the Mazda rises behind row two so the squabs (bases) of those back chairs are very low-set compared to the base of the CX-80’s cabin. This leaves taller people sitting with their legs in a strange ‘up-down’ position, their thighs pointing upwards rather than flat, so they won’t want to sit there with their knees up for very long at all.
Shoulder-room in the rearmost row also isn’t massive, as the seats are mounted inboard compared to the middle row ahead; essentially, as good a piece of packaging as the CX-80 is, it still remains something of a ‘5+2’ rather than a full seven-seater. Oh, but there’s masses and masses of legroom in the middle of the car, as something of a compensation for the lack of space in row three.
The Mazda CX-80 e-Skyactiv D’s on-board technology
Mazda’s digital layout incorporates a 12.3-inch TFT instrument cluster, a 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment screen on the dashboard and then a fabulous big colour head-up display. Now, while the graphics of the mapping on the navigation aren’t exactly the sharpest you’ll ever see, nor is the cluster as configurable as those found in some rivals, this all nevertheless works intuitively in the CX-80 and is clearly legible at all times. And if you don’t like the look of the infotainment, then it can wirelessly support both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto instead.
How big is the Mazda CX-80 e-Skyactiv D?
As touched upon, this is not the ideal SUV for tight urban streets. It measures 4,995mm from front to back, which makes it a mere 60mm shorter than a standard-wheelbase Range Rover, and it’s also tall at 1,710mm. The wheelbase (the distance between the front wheels and the back) is 3,120mm, which helps enormously with the central passenger space onboard, and at 1,890mm across the beam (excluding door mirrors), at least the CX-80 is no broader than the CX-60 it is based upon. Incidentally, the diesel model weighs 2,152kg including a 75kg driver, so it’s a good 157kg lighter than an equivalent PHEV CX-80.
How many child seats can I fit in the Mazda CX-80 e-Skyactiv D?
There are only two full ISOFIX points in the CX-80, on the outer two positions of the middle bench (in the full seven-seater). This is not unusual, though, especially when the seats in row three are smaller and occasional use items as they appear to be in the Mazda. You can, of course, fit child seats to any of the passenger positions in the SUV using the three-point belts, and as an aide to loading in both the bulky child seats themselves and the children who will sit in them, the huge rear doors on the CX-80 open to almost 90 degrees, further facilitating access to the passenger compartment. Just remember to leave plenty of room for swinging them outwards if you’re parallel to other vehicles in a supermarket car park or the like.
How safe is the Mazda CX-80 e-Skyactiv D?
The CX-80 has picked up the full five-star overall rating in the Euro NCAP tests, recording high scores in all four disciplines of adult occupant (92 per cent), child occupant (88 per cent), vulnerable road users (84 per cent) and safety assist (79 per cent). That last score will be a direct corollary of, as we pointed out in the pricing section above, the bountiful standard level of ADAS equipment fitted to the CX-80 as standard.
What’s the boot space like in the Mazda CX-80 e-Skyactiv D?
Surprisingly good for a multi-seated SUV like this. As a minimum, there’s 258 litres of space behind all the seats (whether six or seven are specified), which is about what a supermini on the smaller side of things would offer. Fold the rear-most two seats down in the CX-80 and the boot rises to a large 687 litres, while the two-seat cargo space loaded up to the roof of the Mazda is a giant 1,971 litres - anything which gets close to 2,000 litres is almost van-rivalling, so that’s a bonus for the CX-80 buyer.
Driving the Mazda CX-80 e-Skyactiv D
We found the same thing when driving the CX-60 PHEV versus the CX-60 diesel, but this 3.3-litre turbodiesel is an absolute jewel and a perfect foil for the refined nature of the larger CX-80. As we managed to drive Mazda’s largest SUV with both available drivetrains back-to-back, we’re happy to go on record as saying the diesel again wins the day in the CX-80.
It’s not the most powerful unit at 254hp, considering its swept capacity of 3.3 litres, but it still has enough about it that it can punt this 2.15-tonne SUV from 0-100km/h in a brisk 8.4 seconds. Overall, it’s not as directly quick in a straight line as the hybrid CX-80 - it gives away 73 horsepower, after all, although it does have 50Nm more torque with a 550Nm peak - but the cultured, effortless way it delivers what resources it possesses makes it a real winner. There’s a lovely, guttural growl to the six-cylinder unit as it gets into its stride at about 2,500rpm, and it never once sounds coarse nor introduces any vibrations into the passenger compartment. Teamed up to the slick eight-speed automatic and controlled by a nicely judged throttle, it’s a delight to sample a big-hearted turbodiesel like this with its trademark line of muscular discretion.
The diesel CX-80 is also reasonably efficient. We managed 8.2 litres/100km (34.5mpg) from it, but while that figure might not seem mind-blowing for a diesel, it should be couched in the terms that the route we were on was a) almost entirely on country roads, with not much in the way of efficiency-boosting dual-carriageway or motorway cruising, and plenty of start-stop cycles for multiple junctions and tight bends, b) driven relatively briskly on the open sections and c) subject to a long period of the car idling while it was manoeuvring for pictures. We have no doubt you’d get a lot closer to, or even surpass, the official 5.7 litres/100km (49.6mpg) figure in more representative real-world driving.
Then, despite its sheer size and not-insignificant mass, the CX-80 diesel is one of the best seven-seat SUVs to be at the wheel of if you’re a keen driver. Excellent body and wheel control, and some lovely steering with a delicious amount of feel and weighting allows you to hustle the CX-80 along confidently, even on challenging routes. For general usage, the Mazda’s roadholding is well above average for this type of vehicle.
If we have any criticism of the dynamics, it’s that the CX-80’s ride isn’t always as supple as it could be when the road surface is broken up. The longer wheelbase and increased weight should make the big SUV cover ground with greater aplomb than the CX-60, and for the majority of the time it does manage such a thing. At lower speeds, the mass of the car hammers out even lumpen city tarmac into something acceptable for the passengers to travel over, and at higher speeds and/or on really good asphalt, the epic rolling refinement - there’s very little wind or tyre noise to report in the CX-80 - couples to a beautifully controlled ride to provide a serene level of composure in the Mazda.
The reasons you’d buy a Mazda CX-80 e-Skyactiv D
This is the finest combination of drivetrain and Mazda SUV body this Japanese company offers right now. The CX-80 is a promising machine as a plug-in hybrid, if a little flawed in a few places, but with the inline-six diesel engine fitted, it’s the motor the CX-80 was born for - it is a cohesive and deeply satisfying vehicle. It’s still not perfect, as the ride could do with greater sophistication in certain circumstances and, due to our tax laws, the diesel is a whopping twelve grand dearer than its equivalent PHEV, but we’d say the excellent 3.3-litre CX-80 is talented enough to merit serious consideration in the upper-end, seven-seat SUV class.
Ask us anything about the Mazda CX-80 e-Skyactiv D
If there’s anything about the Mazda CX-80 e-Skyactiv D we’ve not covered, or you’d like advice in choosing between it and other cars, you can avail of our (completely free) expert advice service via the Ask Us Anything page.
