Mazda CX-80 review

There are five trims available on the CX-80: entry-level Exclusive-Line starts proceedings at £49,670 for the PHEV (the diesel costs around £2,500 extra across the board), then Homura at £52,820, Homura Plus at £55,470, Takumi at £53,770 and finally the top-spec Takumi Plus is £56,420.

What do you get with the different trims?

The entry Exclusive-Line is well equipped: it comes on 18in wheels and has auto lights and wipers, a reversing camera, 12.3in infotainment screen with wireless phone connectivity, heated front seats and steering wheel, three-zone climate control and head-up display.

The ‘sportier’ Homura trim brings 20in black alloy wheels, some styling upgrades, ambient lighting and a 12-speaker Bose sound system, as well as electrically adjustable heated/ventilated front seats.

Homura Plus throws in LED headlights, panoramic sunroof, 360-degree parking cameras, radar cruise control and wireless phone charging.

The Takumi spec is plush rather than sporty, and comes with 20in grey alloys, the electric front seats, ambient lighting, Bose setup and heated rear seats as well as the white leather interior trim. Takumi Plus adds in the same stuff as the Homura Plus model.

Which one should I go for?

With such a decent base level of specification we’d say go for the entry-level car, unless you really want some of the bells and whistles of the upper trims.

There’s a £1,400 Comfort pack you can option on the Exclusive-Line car that throws in 20in alloys and electric heated/ventilated front seats and heated rear seats, but we’d stick with the smaller wheels if we could.

Maybe instead add to the base model the Convenience and Driver Assist pack, which adds most of the stuff in the Plus trims. That is, surround camera, adaptive headlights and adaptive cruise with lane centring. It also brings a wireless phone charger, darkened rear glass, and a 150W three-pin mains outlet.

The PHEV powertrain is a no-brainer for company-car drivers despite the diesel being the better engine. Its official consumption is 49.6mpg, and CO2 148g/km, so it avoids the worst tax disc and resident's parking rates.