MAZDA CX-80

Seven-seat PHEV had plenty to prove while it was here. Did it succeed?

- KRIS CULMER

Let's start this final report with some unfinished business. A few weeks ago, while describing the troubles I was having running our plugin hybrid CX-80 without a home charger (no DC rapid-charging capability, glacial public AC chargers), I promised to go into detail about the pleasure of running it in emissions-free near-silence.

Certainly doing so makes me feel less guilty about clogging up urban streets and air with an enormous gas-guzzler, and it also makes for a smoother, more relaxing driving experience - if also one that's notably compromised when compared with a legit EV. A total of 173bhp makes the electric motor sound pretty strong, but it has more than two tonnes of SUV to haul around, so about 40mph is the limit - so long as no steep inclines are involved. And with the battery capacity being a modest 17.8kWh, electric-only range is just 38 miles. That's fine for urban duties, of course, but alternative plugin hybrid SUVs can easily do a short motorway commute on electricity alone, leaving the CX-80 feeling conspicuously outdated.