I got into the Mazda CX-80 and immediately thought, “I’ve been here before.” The Japanese brand’s flagship is a car from the past, writes Brian Byrne. And all the good for that. No starship, massive screens, or virtual buttons. Driver instruments that are beautifully analogue in style. Black leather-clad interior. Then I remembered where I had seen it before: my son in America’s former car, a CX-9. (He currently drives a Kia EV9.)
He confirmed my thoughts when I picked him up at the airport in the CX-80. As it happened, over a family event weekend, we spent a lot of time in it, mostly in very slow traffic, often seemingly gridlocked. It was a good car for that, with room for all aboard to stretch.
The CX-80 is a big car. Longer than, for instance, the Volvo XC90 and not a lot shorter than Audi's Q7. Sales this year are about 11 per cent of the brand's total of 1,038 cars rolled through dealerships, and a significant chunk of sales for a big car. The style doesn't try to be flamboyant and makes the most of its bulk. The front-end treatment is heavy with the large grille, especially in the white of my review car. A small amount of chrome detailing leavens what might otherwise be something bland. Although the model doesn't sell in the US, you get the clear sense that the design is tilted towards US motorist tastes.
I've already given some details of the interior. The straight lines of the dashboard design enhance the impression of width. There's a landscape central screen that doesn't dominate like some, and a broad centre console houses the transmission selector and the rotating knob that Mazda has long used to navigate the screen (it IS a touch-screen in some features, but designed for using the much more intuitive manual control). A head-up display is standard. The review car's configuration was six seats, with the rearmost two providing a capacious, absolutely flat cargo space when not in use. The plush black leather-style seat and door trim feature beige stripes and stitching to set them off. It all has a feel of unassuming luxury, if that's not an oxymoronic thought. The other sense is that the car is very solidly built.
When I first switched it on, there was an unfamiliar sound, another blast from the past. A diesel engine, few of which I get behind these days. Maybe it was because most of what I’m driving is either electric or hybrid, but the Mazda’s startup seemed unusually noisy. But we got used to that before, when diesel was the new black, and I did the same this time, too. It's a big engine — 3.3L and six cylinders — and smoothly runs 254hp through the 8-speed automatic. Mazda has invested significant effort in making its internal combustion engines thrifty and emissions-efficient, and the 5.8L/100km claimed, and achieved, with this one is a testament to its engineers' success. The consumption figure was achieved with the help of the mild-hybrid technology Mazda has developed. The claimed 8.4-second sprint to 100km/h may be possible, but in a car this size, you tend to drive in a more leisurely way. The drive is AWD, designed for maintaining stability in poor driving conditions.
Whether inching along on the grid-locked M50 in Dublin or loping along the motorways of the counties around my home, the CX-80 proved one thing certainly: that it's hard to beat the comfort of a large car when ferrying family about. I left it back having appreciated both its somewhat retro interior and its ability to stay relevant in rapidly changing automotive times. And knowing that it is likely to be the last Mazda to make me think I've been here before — the new generation CX-5, which we will see next year, is going big-screen and Google and a total change in graphics.
PRICE: From €66,080; review car €77,640. WHAT I LIKED: A last look at the old.
