The Mazda CX-80 Has Straight-Six Diesel Power And 7 Seats

Mazda is readily associated with fairly lightweight, small-ish cars, but it has to move with the times and offer the sort of big, beefy SUV that a huge amount of buyers favour today. The CX-80, then, is something of an inevitability: the brand’s first seven-seater SUV for Europe.

Essentially a stretched CX-60, it’s the biggest car Mazda sells here, although size-wise it slots in between the CX-70 and truly gargantuan CX-90, neither of which are offered in Europe. It borrows its two powertrain options from its smaller sibling: a plug-in hybrid setup with a 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol making a total of 323bhp, or a 3.3-litre turbodiesel straight-six knocking out 251bhp. Both get an eight-speed automatic and, unlike the smaller CX-60, there’s no rear-drive option here – it’s four-wheel drive only.

Inside, there’s a choice between three seating arrangements. Mazda expects the most popular to be the traditional, big family-friendly seven-seat layout with a three-abreast middle bench. Those who favour space over capacity can instead spec a six-seat arrangement with two individual captain’s chairs in the middle, with either walk-through space or a centre console between them.

It also features Amazon Alexa integration, which can be used to control things like heating, air-con and music. Besides that, though, it looks nigh-on identical to the CX-60 inside.

Two new colours have been introduced with the CX-80 – the deep, wine-like Artisan Red, and a goldy-bronze colour called Melting Copper.

Mazda is openly pitching the CX-80 as an alternative to the three-row SUVs from the likes of BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz. Its UK managing director, Jeremy Townsend, calls it “a car that will allow us to challenge the established premium brands in the UK market.”

Full UK pricing is yet to be revealed, but Mazda has confirmed it’ll be offered in five trims and start at £48,920. UK deliveries will start later in 2024.