WELCOME BACKFLIP ON DIESEL-ONLY STRATEGY

MAZDA is doing a lot of self-assessment of late. Plugging gaps in its range has almost become a sport for the venerable Japanese marque. The genre-bending CX-30 is one of the latest niche fillers, but the CX-8 really kicked it off in 2018. It’s bigger than a CX-5, but smaller than the COTY-winning CX-9.

However, the caveat was a single, diesel-only engine choice. Now Mazda has transplanted its 2.5-litre naturally aspirated four-cylinder engine into the CX-8,