Mazda 6e review

It’s a Mazda, just not quite as we know it. The Japanese firm has always been a satisfyingly leftfield choice in Britain, with a real enthusiast heart typically beating strongly within its mainstream cars. To claim they all drive like MX-5s would be OTT, but a Mazda 3 hatch or Mazda 6 saloon have generally registered among the smartest-designed, neatest-handling cars in their class.

But it’s also fair to say that Mazda’s been caught on the hop a little by electrification, generally resembling a bemused bystander rather than an EV or hybrid pioneer. See the Mazda 2, a barely rebadged Toyota Yaris, or the extremely niche Mazda MX-30 for evidence.

Perhaps – with the fullness of another few decades of car industry development – its reticence might emerge as a sage move. For now, though, Mazda needs a quick route to getting some fully plug-in cars to market to comply with ever-stringent targets.

Long story. What’s your point?

That this is, in its baldest terms, a restyled 'n' rebadged Changan Deepal SL03 saloon, aka a Chinese EV with a new face. Coulda fooled us. How much it resembles the next evolution of the handsome Mazda 6 is to be commended, though the Changan itself looks good in a slightly generic way and clearly wasn’t a terrible place to start. Specify Mazda’s signature deep red paint with some tan leather and the makeover is almost wholly convincing.

And it’s less of a phoned-in job than you might initially fear. Changan and Mazda have worked together since the early Noughties and the 6e is already sold in China as the Mazda EZ-6 as a pure EV or range-extender hybrid.

So what are my options?

Option. Singular. After toying with the idea of standard- and long-range versions, Mazda UK has settled on a 78kWh battery that's good for 348 miles of range WLTP, and will DC rapid charge at a peak of 200kW – 10 to 80 per cent full in 24 minutes is the claim. Power is pegged at 254bhp and 0-62mph takes 7.6 seconds.

Any good, then?

The quick answer is that it drives smoothly and satisfyingly enough to compete in its relatively small class. A Tesla Model 3, BYD Seal, Hyundai Ioniq 6 and Volkswagen ID.7 aren’t known for their earth-shattering handling and so the subtly measured approach here – not a distant cry from the old Mazda 6 – will suit buyers who presumably fit the same mould. It feels more RWD than its key rivals too, which is nice.

More controversial are the touchscreen-heavy ergonomics. We’re used to large, un-integrated displays hoovering up functionality in natively Chinese cars, but the 6e takes the biscuit with the wipers and lights ending up in there too. You can plonk them back on customisable shortcut buttons on the steering wheel, but overall the OS is alarmingly distracting and a backwards step for Mazda, which until recently built some of the easiest to use cars money could buy. On this evidence, not any more.

Mazdas typically have unique cabins, ones which keen drivers appreciate the control weights and driving positions of, regardless of the class of car. This is a Changan interior with new badges and though the materials are nice (and the ambience beneath the tinted panoramic roof actually rather pleasing) there’s a shift in mentality that betrays the 6e’s roots.

There are two grades of 6e to choose from: Takumi for £38,995 and Takumi Plus for a grand more. We'll save the detail for the Buying section of this review, but the headline is that the Mazda undercuts the ID.7, Ioniq 6, Seal, Mercedes CLA and Kia EV4 Fastback, while only the (slightly shorter) base Model 3 beats it on price. So in that sense the 6e has solid appeal. As well as being a handsome so-and-so.

The Mazda 6e is an odd one. It looks good, is capable of 300 miles on a charge, and packs all the screens and tech many electric car buyers want. But there's no ignoring that the Japanese firm is short-cutting its way into this class, and tidy drive and laid back manners aside, not wholly successfully.

Character and charm feel as pared back as the physical switchgear on the inside, where its impression of anything other than a restyled (though nicely trimmed) Chinese saloon falls flat. A Mazda should be the most intuitive thing you ever drive and the 6e falls well short of that benchmark.

Adjust to its ergonomic quirks and make your peace with its obvious limitations, and it might just feel like a more stylish take on an EV saloon than its slim selection of rivals. But make no mistake, this is Mazda on the back foot. Pity.