Mazda CX-60 PHEV

FOURTH REPORT Our Mazda's numbers are really starting to add up

- Andy Pringle

MY working life is all words, words, words, yet when it comes to our plug-in hybrid Mazda CX-60, all I think about are numbers, numbers and more numbers.

In particular, I've been focusing on fuel economy, and I've gone so far as to set up the Mazda's infotainment system so that at the end of every journey the central screen displays what economy the car achieved on that trip. And that's on top of often glancing at the screen to see how the economy changes over the course of a journey in the ebb and flow of traffic.

The good news is that I've been setting record after record over the last couple of months. Mind you, I have to confess that's primarily down to the weather.

The simple truth is that a battery works thanks to a chemical reaction, and the reaction works more efficiently in warmer weather, translating to more miles from a charge. And, given that the Mazda is a PHEV, it also means more miles per gallon, because the car can do a larger proportion of any journey on pure-electric power.