MAZDA CX-80

Stretched, seven-seat version of CX-60 arrives in punchy PHEV form

- KRIS CULMER

WHY WE'RE RUNNING IT To see if Mazda has improved on the disappointing CX-60 and to find its ranking in the large SUV market

The kids have a new slang term, and it’s a rare one I approve of, because the dictionary defines it as an “adjective used approvingly to describe someone who projects a lack of concern about how others feel about their actions or opinions; or to describe a thing perceived as both bold and commendable, especially if it challenges or flouts convention in some way” - and I'm very fond of such people and things.

And if anyone or anything in the car industry is ‘based’, it’s Mazda. Who else but the Hiroshima firm would persevere with affordable sports cars; resist turbocharging its smaller petrol engines in the name of driver involvement; invent spark-compression ignition as an alternative; enter the EV era with a cork-lined, rear-hinged-doored, short-range hatchback; respond to slow sales of said EV by reviving the rotary engine to serve as a range-extending generator; or design an all-new diesel straight six a decade after Dieselgate? Mazda's people are mad lads, and I love them for it.