Mazda CX-6e review

Much of the calm is catalysed by the colours and materials chosen inside. Yes, you can see quite a lot of its core Changan architecture if you look really hard. But there’s extra glam here. You slink in through frameless doors and into a finely sculptured seat that’s perched beneath an enormous glass roof. The ambience is good, and in a top-spec Takumi Plus trim with the purple leather, rather charming too.

Adults will be delighted in the back. While the CX-6e’s smart design hides its dimensions well, this is a big car, with loads of space in the back and plenty of room to tuck feet under the front seats. Rarely a given in a burly electric crossover.

And luggage space is decent: between 468 and 1,434 litres depending on your use of the back row and complemented by an 80-litre frunk. Customers demand those, even if there’s not an overwhelming stack of evidence they’re being used.

I’m sensing the ‘but’.

The screen takes a lot of getting used to. It’s even bigger than those dominating the interior of the Mazda 6e and its Changan Deepal S07 cousin, this time creeping all the way across the dash. Perhaps that’s useful; TG drove alone on the launch and couldn’t verify how fun it is to use as a passenger. Likewise our voice command system wasn’t activated and we couldn’t explore a feature that could reduce much of the distraction the CX-6e’s on-the-fly operation serves to create.

Still, there’s stuff to laud. The head-up display is pleasingly simple in its layout yet crystal-clear in its execution. Good job, given there are no traditional dials and you’d have no quick way of seeing the speedo without it.

How are those side cameras?

Mazda says they’re not only more aerodynamic than mirrors (benefiting range and refinement) but they also increase your field of view by 30 per cent and improve your view of the road behind in low light. None of which we’re arguing with. It’s the reality of using them in narrow streets or aggressively kerbed car parks that frays your nerves, the usual safety checks with a quick nudge of your head no longer possible. Your first few hours of motorway lane changes feel like a leap of faith, too.