Mazda CX-6e review

The 6e saloon has already shaken our long-established beliefs about Mazda. Now comes the CX-6e SUV, swinging harder yet with an even larger interior touchscreen, the absence of a traditional speedometer and optional cameras in the place of side mirrors.

It’s a big car, measuring 4.8m in length and 1.9m in width to equal an Audi Q6 e-tron, yet it’s a taut and compact thing to behold. Its bold surfacing also hides some neat aero tricks – air flows through a duct ahead of the front bonnet, like a wannabe Ferrari 488 Pista, and tapers past the rear passenger windows and through a slim opening in the rearmost pillars. It’s a fun design to pore over. But perhaps not everyone’s cup of tea.

Add to that the bold colours offered on the Mazda configurator, with classic Soul Red and a deep new purple amid the standard whites and greys, and you have a car that makes a striking first impression.

Useful against a seemingly countless array of rivals; the Polestar 2, Kia EV6, Skoda Enyaq and the more expensive, yet multi-award-winning BMW iX3 are but a tiny selection of the alternatives on offer.

What’s beneath it all?

The same platform as the Mazda 6e, which means it’s shared with (and manufactured in China by) Changan. It has the same, sole powertrain option as its saloon sibling, pairing a 255bhp permanent magnet synchronous motor with a 78kWh battery for 300 miles of WLTP combined range and 0-62mph in around eight seconds. So it’s class leading in neither its range nor acceleration. Its peak DC charging is a useful, if again not class leading 200kW.

Chinese at heart. Big touchscreen?

One of the biggest. The 6e’s effort looks paltry beside its chunkier sibling’s massive, 26in landscape screen, one whose most distant section is reserved for passenger operation. Even the Changan Deepal S07 with which the CX-6e shares its undergubbins doesn’t have a display this large. Yet there’s no screen – indeed no dials at all – in front of the driver. They instead rely upon an admittedly very sharp and legible head-up display.

Inevitably quite a lot of functionality lives within those pixels. The climate controls, all the drive mode selections and the numerous levels of regen, not to mention all the menus through which its ADAS safety functions can be disabled. Something you might quickly feel compelled to do: while Mazda Europe has spent a lot of time retuning the Chinese-market Mazda EZ-60 for its European, CX-6e makeover, it’s not loosened the grasp of active safety as much as we’d like. Eek.

Does it compensate elsewhere?

This isn’t a firecracker to drive like some older Mazdas could be (or like the little Mazda 3 hatch probably still is). Its rear-drive layout and near 50:50 weight distribution (Mazda claims 47:53) lend it a neat and friendly balance, though, and the retuned steering rack feels like the most impressive of the engineering team’s efforts. It’s an effortless car to punt along an interesting road or to thread through traffic, though watch those expensive cameras poking out the side…

Yep, a top-spec CX-6e Takumi Plus deploys cameras in lieu of side mirrors, and they’re as annoying here as they are on just about any other car we’ve tried ‘em bar a Volkswagen XL1 (why has no one got them right since?) All the excuse you need to save some cash and go for a lower-rung Takumi, though we suspect those lenses can take at least some of the credit for how quietly and comfortably this car makes motorway progress. This isn’t an EV that suddenly throws a ton of tyre and wind noise at you because its power source is silent.

Efficient too, I’m guessing?

Its 300-mile range claim is yielded by a 3.2-3.3 mile-per-kWh efficiency claim, though we managed to score 3.7 despite repeated Autobahn runs to accredit its 115mph top speed claim. Ahem. At which point it’s still impressively hushed on board. Roomy, too. Its large dimensions (within which lie within the same 2.9m wheelbase as a 6e saloon) chisel out a generously sized rear row that’ll easily house tall adults. Top spec gifts them seat heating, too.

How much is it?

Prices start at a whisker under £43,000 for the base Takumi, which doesn’t feel very base at all. You get 19in wheels, a massive panoramic glass roof, the smart HUD and a camera sunk into almost every surface to make parking less stressful. Larger 21in wheels – to better tap into the bold design – are a £1,000 option.

A Takumi Plus is a mite over £45,000 and gives you 21s as standard, a punchy two-tone purple and white interior (which we love) and swaps both the side and rear-view mirrors for camera feeds (which we don’t). That places it very competitively amongst its direct rivals and makes a good case for the CX-6e as a cut-price Audi or BMW alternative.

The Mazda 6e saloon left us a little miffed. It looked great but didn’t drive with the verve of its smart, Mazda 6 predecessor. Maybe it’s the SUV posture but this feels a smidge less disappointing, albeit still not a car you’ll drive for the sheer heck of it like an MX-5.

Better to think of the CX-6e as a good-looking, well-priced alternative to the established electric crossover normcore. One that punches above its own efficiency claims thanks to the aerodynamic flourishes of its pleasingly bold design and which feels nicely cossetting over long distances once its ADAS is quietened. Just make sure you’re touchscreen savvy…