Mazda 6e review: Is there enough of Japan in this Chinese-built electric sedan?

Mazda’s strategy to electrification has been a cautious one. While most of its rivals pushed full-electron ahead with EVs, Mazda dipped its toes in the water with just a single model, the ill-fated MX-30. In production from just 2020 to 2023, the MX-30’s fatal flaw was its absurdly meagre driving range of 224km (WLTP tested) that translated to less than 200km in the real world. Buyers stayed away.

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Now, the Japanese manufacturer has a chance at EV redemption with its all-new Mazda 6e electric sedan, a spiritual, if not actual, successor to the popular Mazda 6 range. But Mazda hasn’t done it alone, enlisting the help of its long-standing Chinese partner, Changan Automobile. The relationship stretches back 21 years, focussing largely on building combustion engines and cars for the Chinese domestic market. Now though, Mazda is tapping into the Chinese conglomerate’s electric vehicle nous. Changan is best known in Australia for its Deepal brand which has been slowly making inroads into our domestic EV market with its S07 SUV and E07 slightly odd ‘Multitruck’, a vehicle the brand describes as having “SUV comfort and ute features”.

But it’s another Deepal that underpins the new Mazda 6e, the L07 electric liftback sedan, currently only available in China and Thailand. But rather than just slapping a Mazda badge on the nose and calling it a day, the Japanese brand has gone to great lengths to ensure the 6e looks and feels like, well, a Mazda.

Built on Changan’s modular EPA1 electric vehicle platform, the Mazda 6e shares much of its underpinnings and technology with its L07 stablemate. And that means a 78kWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery array and a 190kW/290kW electric motor powering the rear wheels. Yes, the Mazda 6e is rear-wheel drive, the first RWD from the brand since 2000’s 929 luxury sedan.

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Utilising Changan’s new energy vehicle technology has helped Mazda keep production costs down, ensuring the 6e is competitively priced against what few rivals it has.

Starting from $49,990 before on-road costs, the entry-level 6e GT is almost five grand cheaper than the base model Tesla Model 3 ($54,900) and exactly $3000 more affordable than the BYD Seal Premium ($52,990) which serves as the new entry-point into the Seal range after Chinese brand’s recent decision to axe the Dynamic from its line-up.

The Mazda trumps the Model 3 in terms of range with its 78kWh battery offering a WLTP-tested 560km. The Model 3 musters 520km (WLTP) although the Seal Premium edges the Mazda – just, and courtesy of its slightly larger 83kWh battery – with its WLTP claim of 570km.

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Where Mazda has made its presence felt is in the design of the 6e. As the 6e’s chief designer, Mazda’s Yoshito Iwauchi, revealed at the Australian launch, only the side windows and some internal switchgear have been carried over from the Deepal L07. Everything else is bespoke to the 6e, although the cabin is a smidge redolent of the Deepal’s, even if Mazda has gone to great lengths to make it its own.

Still, it’s all to good effect, the 6e a handsome liftback sedan from any angle. Yes, the solid grille has been blanked off to improve efficiency, but it’s been thoughtfully designed to look like the grille of a combustion-engined car. It’s a big car too, significantly larger by every measure than its two main rivals from Tesla and BYD. That pays dividends in the cabin where passenger comfort good (but not great) while the overall design and finish exudes Mazda’s typical excellent quality.

That’s true of the $52,990 Mazda 6e Atenza range-topper but also remains true of the GT entry point into the two-model range which wants for little in terms of equipment. Both variants come with healthy standard inclusions, headlined by big tech, quality materials throughout and enough creature comforts to give the feeling of money well spent.

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Slide inside the driver’s seat and the first thing that strikes you is the high seating position, the result of  the 6e’s battery pack living under the floor.

The seats themselves, trimmed in faux leather in GT grades and genuine leather and synthetic suede in Atenza, are comfortable enough but do give the impression you’re sitting on, rather than in, them.

The big 14.6-inch touchscreen is a departure for Mazda which has in the past defied the prevailing trend of large screens. And a total absence of physical dials, buttons and switches is another massive departure for the brand which has now adopted the touchscreen interface for every one of the car’s functions. Windscreen wipers, headlights, mirror adjustment, you name it, it’s buried inside the touchscreen. Ergonomically, that’s a disappointing miss, more so in an era where other manufacturers are starting to bring back physical controls in the face of customer demand.

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Second row comfort is good with plenty of space for long-limbed legs and knees but foot space is impacted by the position of the buckets up front while the standard fit panoramic roof does encroach on head room a little. As glitzy and premium as the 6e’s cabin looks at first glance, it’s let down by its ergonomics.

Boot space isn’t overly competitive for the segment either, Mazda quoting 337 litres with the second row in use and 678 litres to the top of the parcel shelf with the seats folded away. A 72-litre ‘frunk’ under the bonnet brings some compensation.

Mazda has made much of its ambition to ensure the 6e drives like a Mazda with driver engagement and sportiness front and centre.

And certainly, the 6e is no slowpoke, with its 190kW and 290Nm electric motor providing decent acceleration. It moves away briskly from takeoff and there’s enough left in the tank to ensure rolling acceleration feels urgent enough. Sure, there are faster accelerating EVs that shove you deep into the seatback under full throttle. But they’re also a bit unnecessary. The 6e‘s strength lies in its ability to feel much like a regular car to drive.

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Road manners are decent with good bump absorption and body control. The weight of the battery no doubt helps in keeping the sedan tied down to the road, and to good effect.

Some more spirited driving does offer a hint of Mazda‘s driving ambition, the 6e remaining true to its line with body roll kept largely in check. The steering, a touch vague and light on centre, remains precise and accurate when pushing on for some spirited cornering, although could offer a little more feedback. It can feel a little disconnected.

The brakes, too, are let down by vague pedal feel, especially under light pressure where it’s the regenerative system doing the hard yakka. The initial bite point is too light and lacks the ability for the driver modulate pressure. It’s either on or off, and only a firmer press of the pedal brings some tactility once the friction brakes take over the responsibility of hauling the 2015kg (kerb) sedan to a standstill. There are several levels of regeneration – which feeds electrons back into the battery – but no single-pedal driving mode.

Another letdown is the intrusiveness of the Mazda’s many and varied safety and advanced driver assist technologies. And it’s here where the 6e feels and behaves like a car wearing the Made in China sticker. Poorly calibrated, overly sensitive and all too willing to chime and sound warnings, the Mazda’s systems prove more of a hindrance than being helpful. And switching them off – via many prods and swipes on the touchscreen, of course – exacerbates the frustration.

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On the good news side of the ledger, the Mazda 6e proves quite frugal in its energy consumption. Mazda claims the 6e will chew through electrons at the rate of 15.9kWh/100km and while my time behind the wheel at launch couldn’t quite match that figure, an indicated return of 16.3kWh came tantalisingly close, giving a theoretical driving range in real world testing of around 478km, well short of the WLTP’s laboratory-tested 560km.

With DC charging capped at 194kW, the 6e’s battery can be replenished from 10-80 per cent in 24 minutes, while AC charging at 11kW takes around eight hours.

Mazda has made a valiant attempt at imbuing the Deepal L07 with the qualities we’ve come to expect from the storied Japanese brand. However, a handsome exterior and quality interior can’t paper over the shortcomings that seem endemic to a swag of challenger brands from China, the biggest brickbats aimed squarely at poorly executed driving assist systems.

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Which is a bit of a shame because in almost every other respect, the Mazda 6e offers a pleasant, if not thrilling, driving experience. It’s comfortable on the road, and while not the quickest electric sedan in the market, the 6e offers enough to not leave you feeling wanting in the cut-and-thrust of modern traffic. It’s competitively priced too against its main competition and that just might be enough to get EV-curious buyers over the line.

Mazda 6e specs