Long-term report: The Mazda CX-60 departs having made a lasting impression

It’s always sad when we have to say goodbye to a car, but the CX-60 is perhaps one I’m going to mourn most of all. After a year with Mazda’s posh mid-sized SUV, I’ve well and truly fallen for it – even if it’s not exactly perfect.

We’ve well and truly put the ’60 through its paces for the last 12 months, but with time slipping away, I decided to squeeze in one more long distance trip behind the wheel. So it was off to the stunning Lake District for our Mazda, doing the sort of outdoor activities I assumed only people in car brochures did.

I must admit, I did have some slightly grandiose ideas of what lay ahead. Taking a proper four-wheel-drive car in the rugged landscape of Cumbria – I mean phwoar, think of all the unspoilt, picturesque places we could reach that other tourists in their hired Vauxhall Corsas couldn’t.

That turned out to not quite be the case, because of course the Lake District tourist board wouldn’t get much trade if everyone ended up stuck in a muddy field. Even our campsite was disappointingly well paved. How’s a 4×4 driver supposed to feel superior, eh?

Anyway, while I might not have been able to flex the CX-60’s off-road prowess, its spacious interior proved invaluable. We managed to squeeze the luggage of two people, a load of camping gear, along with an inflatable kayak and its multitude of accessories into the Mazda. Some of that did spill over into the back seats – although I am the sort of person who brings the kitchen sink along for the ride. If you pack carefully, I don’t see why a family of four wouldn’t be able to fit everything in for a few days away.

Pleasingly, the narrow lanes of the Lakes didn’t prove too much of a challenge for the sizeable CX-60, though its real forte remains the lengthy motorway journey to get there in the first place. I’ve said it before, but this is a car that makes long trips an absolute breeze: its seats are supportive and comfortable, and there’s something inherently relaxing about driving something as effortlessly torquey as our 3.3-litre diesel.

So, how should we sum up a year behind the wheel of the CX-60? It’s been a mixed bag, to be honest. I still adore the sound and pulling power of its straight-six diesel – and that’s not something we’ll be able to say about new cars for very long. A year driving a diesel again has taught me that yes, this much maligned fuel type is still the right choice for a lot of people.

Anecdotally though, I’ve spotted a lot of other CX-60s in the last 12 months, and not a single other one has been a diesel. Everyone else, it seems, has chosen the petrol plug-in hybrid version. That’s a bitter shame, because I think the engine we have is a real selling point in itself.

Whatever the engine though, there’s lots else to like about the car: the classy, well-built interior for starters. It’s also done very little to irritate me for the last year, which is something of an achievement. My only proper niggle is the optional front cross traffic alert system, which shouts frequently and indiscriminately at you about other cars that dare to be on the road at the same time.

There are some less than brilliant bits, however. The bouncy-yet-hard suspension is one of them: it’s just plain unpleasant, and not really acceptable at this price. Also disappointing are the amount of strange noises our CX-60 makes. The way the gearbox groans and grumbles at low speeds is just bizarre – leading one of my frequent passengers to bluntly ask, ‘Is your car broken?’. Based on having driven a different – but similarly noisy – CX-60, evidently it is not.

Foibles aside though, it all boils down to this question: Would I buy a CX-60 if it was my own money? Yes, I think I would – particularly with the 3.3-litre diesel under the bonnet. Some (what I hope are) early production issues aside, the CX-60 makes a very convincing case for itself as a posh-ish mid-sized SUV. My advice would be to grab a diesel one while you still can.