New Car Review – Mazda CX-8 Asaki SUV

Mazda CX-8 Asaki – This is just a fantastic car – end of review for the Mazda CX-8 Asaki 7-seat SUV

I’m kidding.

The new model Mazda CX-8 Asaki is a super luxury 7-seater SUV with every extra (save a sunroof) that you could want or need. And if you’re in the market for a luxury SUV, you’ll spend a whole lot less than the equivalent vehicle with Mercedes Benz, BMW, Audi or Lexus.

In my opinion, you don’t need to spend a lot of money to purchase quality and historic Mazda resale value will have you smiling when it’s time to update your vehicle. So much more than the aforementioned Europeans

What Is It? Mazda CX-8 Asaki is the brands luxury 7-seat All Wheel Drive wagon. Not as large as the CX-9, but it does have a diesel engine as standard across the range. 

How Much?  The Mazda CX-8 Asaki prices from $66,490 drive away in Queensland.  The range actually starts at $47.490 for the front-wheel-drive version of the lower-spec sport and rises to $51,490 for a Sport All Wheel Drive

Competitors?  According to my new car comparison price list, it looks like this:

Audi Q7                                 $97.800

BMW X5 AWD                    $99,900

Ford Endura                        $67,990

Hyundai Sante Fe               $60,500

Kia Sorento                          $58,990

Land Rover Discovery       $99,749

Lexus RX350                       $100,771

Mazda CX-8 Asaki         $66,490 – Drive Away

Mercedes GLE Wagon      $99,900

Toyota Kluger Grande      $68,888

Volkswagen Touareg        $89,990

Volvo XC90                         $100,990

* Prices indicated are Manufacturer List Prices without dealer delivery & State Government charges. Prepare to add around $6000 to the above.

So I’m asking myself, why you’d choose any of these over the Mazda CX-8 Asaki other than you’re badge conscious and prefer a badge in your driveway rather than a luxury, value for money vehicle?

At the Front

CX-8 continues on with the traditional Mazda look grille. All models have adopted the world-wide look.

The engine is a  2.2 litre in-line 4 cylinder 16-valve DOHC S-VT intercooled twin-turbo diesel engine with i-stop. It produces 140kW of power ad 450Nm of torque. Typically 7-seat AWD buyers don’t care too much about these numbers but suffice to say the Cx-8 does the job very well.

Down the Side

 Besides providing what the vehicle looks like in its side profile, I use this section of my article to outline the safety features of the subject vehicle in my review.

I don’t tend to include such ‘common’ features such as ABS Brakes, Electronic Stability Control and the like, because they’re standard in every vehicle we have on sale in Australia. If you really want to know EVERYTHING, click on the link following and go to the Mazda Specification Page for this model.

 360  View Monitor paints an outline of your vehicle displaying potential hazards front, side and rear.

Blind Spot Monitoring (BSM) Warns you when there’s traffic in your blind spot, left or right

Driver Attention Alert (DAA) Warns the driver when the sensor perceives drowsiness

Emergency Brake Assist (EBA) Increases brake application in an emergency

Emergency Stop Signal (ESS) The idea behind such emergency-braking indicator systems is to catch the following drivers’ attention with special urgency.

Forward Obstruction Warning (FOW)

Hill Launch Assist (HLA)

Intelligent Speed Assistance or Adaptive Cruise Control 

Lane Departure Warning (LDW) Sounds an audible alarm when you start to leave your designated lane without using the indicator.

Lane-keep Assist System (LAS) Steers your vehicle back to the centre of the lane if you’ve inadvertently strayed

Rear Cross-Traffic Alert (RCTA) Warns the driver of traffic behind the vehicle

Roll Stability Control (RSC) Excessive lateral force, generated by excessive speed in a turn, may result in a rollover. ARP automatically responds whenever it detects a potential rollover. ARP rapidly applies the brakes with a high burst of pressure to the appropriate wheels and sometimes decreases the engine torque to interrupt the rollover before it occurs.

Traffic Sign Recognition (TSR) How clever is this – changes the speed indicator on the Heads Up Display as you move from 1-speed zone to another. It even senses roadworks reduced speed limits and school zone signs. No excuses for speeding.

The technology is being developed by a variety of automotive suppliers. It uses image processing techniques to detect traffic signs. The detection methods can be generally divided into colour based, shape-based and learning-based methods.

Trailer Stability Assist (TSA) s designed to control individual wheel slip to correct potential trailer swing before there is an accident

Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) Indicates whether there is a tyre with the incorrect pressure. Slow leaks because of a nail or screw are identified early before it becomes a handling or steering issue.

At The Back

A remote-controlled rear door allows for easy access to the luggage area. 3rd-row seating access is via the rear doors moving the second-row seats forward. Don’t expect to seat any sizable adults in the third row, but smaller children will find it easy to climb in. Actual luggage capacity is well reduced when all three rows are full of passengers, but with only 2 rows in use, the rear load area is more than adequate.

Towing CapacityTow-ball download maximum – 150kg

Towing Capacity (braked) – 2,000kg

Towing Capacity (unbraked) – 750kg

Driver’s Seat

Besides being super comfortable, Mazda CX-8 Asaki has an instrumentation package that an FA18 pilot would lover.

Active Driving Display  Mazda terms it an Active Driving Display, but I like to call it a HUD (Heads UP Display) The HUD displays information such as speed of the vehicle, Cruise control information, lane departure and the speed zone you’re in. The speed zone changes quickly as you go from the one-speed zone (say 40kph) to another (60kph)

Another aspect of your driving with the HUD is the turn by turn navigation display. Instead of taking your eyes off the road to see the interior navigation screen, it’s displayed on the HUD.

Here are a few other driver controls in the CX-8 Asaki I think you’ll appreciate.

Cruise Control – Mazda Radar Cruise Control (MRCC) with Stop & Go function

Multi-information display – 7” TFT LCD colour

Steering wheel – Leather, heated, tilt and telescopically adjustable

Air-conditioning – Three-zone climate control with rear control & vents (2^nd row)

Finance  – Mazda CX-8 Asaki*

I’m starting to provide some finance quotations. I obtain these figures from a local finance broker and there are rules that I need to use. This quotation is for business purposes.

Cash Price                                        $64,990

Term                                                 60 months

Monthly Payments                        $1019.89

Balloon                                             $20,000

Rate Quoted                                    6.55%

Please refer to the disclaimer at the end of the article.

ANCAP – Mazda CX-8

The Australian New Car Assessment Program is a federally funded body whose sole role is to test and advice on the safety provisions of cars that are sold in Australia.

Cars are typically submitted by manufacturers to obtain an unbiased and independent report.

As I’ve outlined previously, manufacturers don’t HAVE to submit their cars for testing. But it sure helps when you have a good rating.  Car buyers are prone to buy vehicles with higher safety ratings than lower. Of course, there are exceptions. Ford Mustang continues to sell well even though the car only achieved a 3-star rating. And upper luxury and performance vehicles aren’t tested at all.

Do you really think that Ferrari would allow a $500k car to be driven into a wall?

ANCAP also uses the NCAP ratings. These are the results obtained from testing in Europe. The testing procedure aligns with our own. A 5-star ANCAP rating can also be a 5-Star NCAP rating and so on.

Another interesting example of testing regimes that should be considered is the US program – National Highway Traffic Safety Administration – NHTSA

There’s no compulsion to test in the US – and manufacturers don’t rely on a star rating system as we have here.

Example: In 2018, new JK Jeep Wrangler was tested in Europe and returned a 1-star rating. NCAP was scathing on the lack of safety and potential for serious injury. Wrangler is one of the best-selling 4WD’s on the American market yet it’s still not been crash-tested in the US

Example: Volkswagen introduced Amarok to the Australian market in 2011. ANCAP tested it and in 2011 Amarok was given a 5-star rating based on the test criteria in 2011.

Eight years on, Volkswagen hasn’t offered another vehicle for testing and arguably the product that they sell in 2019 doesn’t meet current crash test criteria. In my opinion, if Amarok was tested today, it would only receive 3 stars.

Is that good enough for our community?

However, there’s good news for the Mazda CX-8 Asaki. Not only did it achieve 5 stars in 2018, but it would still achieve 5-stars based on the technology required for that level in 2019 and 2020.

 Green Vehicle Guide

The Australian market hasn’t moved to the Worldwide Harmonized Test procedure for fuel economy. We’re dragging our heels in Australia, with indications that we may see it in 2020 or 2021.

In the meantime, we need to rely on the laboratory results and with this, Mazda CX-8 Asaki still shines

With a highway return of 5.5 litres per 100klm, city driving at 6.9 litres per 100klm and a combined result of 6 litres per 100klm, this large SUV sips its diesel fuel rather than drinking it.

Fuel tank capacity is 74 litres and even with driving the suburbs, there’s no range anxiety. Expect to travel around 800 to 1000 kilometres to the tankful if you’re driving economically.

Insurance – Mazda CX-8 Asaki

I use RACQ Insurance to give you a guide as to what you’ll pay for your annual comprehensive car insurance. Conditions for this cover are:

• A male driver over 60 years of age, having held a license for over 10 years
• Bronze member of RACQ with 1 other insurance policies
• Has paid cash for the car. The car is parked in a driveway overnight.
• The driver resides in postcode 4017
• The car is fitted with an engine immobilizer
• No at-fault claim in the last 3 years, with no license suspensions
• Rating 1 currently, having held that rating 1 for 10 years or more
• No driver under 25 will use the vehicle.

The premium quoted online by RACQ Insurance for Private Use – $535.67 with a $750 excess. Variations from the information above may result in different outcomes. Check online with RACQ Insurance for your own particular quote. (Effective October 12th 2019)

Mazda CX-8 Asaki Service Costs and Warranty

All Mazda vehicles come with a 5-year unlimited-kilometre warranty. Base scheduled maintenance is due every 10,000 km but no longer than 12 months. For the first 5 services or 50,000 kilometres, you should expect to pay $1769 or an average of $353.80 per service. My strongest advice is to use a Mazda dealer for routine service, at least until your car is 6 years old. Only Mazda dealers can continuously update any software that needs to be completed.  There are some other items that need to be serviced or replaced in this time and they are:

• Replace brake fluid (every 40k or 2 years)

  The Brake Fluid provides hydraulic pressure for the vehicles braking system. Periodic replacement of the vehicle’s Brake Fluid is required as contaminants such as moisture can reduce the overall efficiency of the braking system. This helps to maintain the efficiency of the vehicles braking system, ensuring the safe and reliable operation of your vehicle. – $71
• Replace cabin air filter (every 40k)

  The Cabin Air Filter ensures only clean air is drawn into the Cabin of the vehicle. Periodic replacement of the passenger Cabin Air Filter is required due to the build-up of dust and dirt within the filter element. This ensures the comfort of passengers with only clean fresh/filtered air entering the cabin. – $97

Be careful when you take your vehicle in for service. Some new car dealers will try to upsell items such as Power Steering, Air Conditioning and Fuel Injector service. To avoid unnecessary spend, simply ask the dealer to advise whether this is a Mazda recommended service as are the brake fluid and cabin air filter. If not, then just say no!

As far as roadside assistance is concerned, Mazda provide Premium Roadside Assistance on all new Mazda vehicles.  If you’d like to know ALL the aspects of Mazda’s roadside support – click this link to go to the Mazda Website 

My Opinion 

Suzi and I don’t have any real need for a large 7-seat SUV. If we did, you get rest assured we’d have a Mazda SUV in our garage. Luxurious, spacious, reliable – there’s not much more to be said about this Mazda CX-8 Asaki

Where to Buy – Dealers

My test vehicle was supplied by Mazda Australia. No financial incentives were paid to me by Mazda for this review. If you’re in the market to buy a new Mazda, pick your dealer carefully. When I want to check out the ‘worthiness’ of a dealer, I Google ‘Mazda Dealers Brisbane where the city is the one that you live in or around and the brand is that particular one you’re interested in. I only list dealers who have achieved a minimum of 15 reviews with Google and then only those with 4 stars or higher.

Of all the manufacturer reviews that I’ve done over the last few years, Mazda and it’s dealers have the highest Google rankings I’ve encountered. They must be doing something right!

From a South East Queensland perspective here are the dealers I’d visit:

Northside                Grand Prix Aspley                             4.4 Stars from 448 Reviews

Southside                Mt Gravatt Mazda                             4.7 Stars from 1173 Reviews

Eastside                  Redlands Mazda                               4.5 Stars from 178 Reviews

Westside                 Westpoint Isuzu Ute                        4.3 Stars from 128 Reviews

Gold Coast              Robina Mazda                                  4.1 Stars from 168 Reviews

Sunshine Coast       Sunshine Coast Mazda                  4.2 Stars from 140 Reviews

(Google Stars and review numbers effective 12th October 2019)

Strengths

• Smooth power delivery and economical
• Lots of interior space

Weaknesses

• None that I could find.

So, in conclusion – Mazda CX-8 Asaki is one of the best SUV’s I’ve had the pleasure of driving. If you’re in the market to buy a luxury SUV, give me a call on 0418 748 498 to discuss. My affiliated company, Car Business can assist you to save your hard-earned money, and it’s a simple process. Call now 0418 748 498

Uber + ANCAP = More Questions About Safety

• Finance Note:

The provided quote should be used as an indication only and does not represent either approval or pre-qualifications for a loan.

The quoted payments apply for the example given and in this instance do not include fees and charges, as different terms, fees or other loan amounts may result in different outcomes between financiers.

The specific details of your loan will be provided to you in your loan contract.

It is advised that you consult your financial adviser before taking out a loan

Buying a New Car?

Get in Touch with Car Business – Skip the Dealerships

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It’s easy to get in touch.

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