The Mazda 6e hides a bad Chinese electric car

In appearance, the Mazda 6e is very massive, at 4.92 m long and 2.1 m wide (with mirrors), rather tailored for the Chinese and American market. But with such dimensions, we say to ourselves that the manufacturer can offer a model with a large battery and cutting-edge technologies… but no!

A Mazda… Chinese!

Already, this Mazda does not have much Japanese, it is simply the technical cousin of the Deepal SL03 from Changan, Mazda’s Chinese partner to establish itself in the country.

The Chinese do have good electric platforms, but this is not the case with this Mazda 6ewhose multi-energy architecture imposes some structural compromises. Indeed, it exists in China in a hybrid version, even if Mazda does not (a priori) plan to market it here.

The look is quite massive, far from the usual Mazda codes, even if we find a little of the round light signature at the rear and the famous grille of the brand. The coating is quite rough, especially since the car is actually quite high for a sedan (1.49 m), which is not ideal for aerodynamics.

From charging to… 95kW!

Two models are offered, with a standard version with a small battery, which seems quite unsuitable for a large road car, the range being less than 500Km:

The Long Range version is even more disappointingjudge instead:

Yes, you read correctly, to save only 73Km WLTP (50 in real life), charging times are doubled! Evil tongues will retort that it is in line with the MX-30, which required around 40-45 minutes to regain 80% battery, and whose power collapsed in winter.

Moreover, the Long Autonomy version has a motor… less powerful, which is a shame! This propulsion even pales in comparison to the competition, which generally offers much better torque and at least 300hp to overcome the 2 tons of this big baby. A 4×4 model could follow, but it’s hard to expect a miracle as it stands.

A techno interior but mediocre trunk

Inside, we feel that we are not really at Mazda, but rather at Tesla or BYD!

Everything actually happens on the large central screen (14.6″), while our MX-30 didn’t even have a touch screen. Here, no more physical buttons, which could displease historical customers – but so be it – especially since certain functions will require hand gestures. A second 10.2″ screen is used for the digital instrumentation, which complements the augmented reality head-up display.

Advantage of Chinese manufacturers, the interior is rather spacious, comfortable and well finished. The giant wheelbase allows for space whatever the space and there is plenty of storage space.. A dual Tesla-style wireless charger is positioned at the top of the center console, which even offers space for a bag below.

On the other hand, when it comes to storing luggage, it’s a cold shower: only 330 liters of trunk space (!!) and it’s not the frunk of 70 liters that will really compensate for this absence. storage space for suitcases. The competition oscillates between 500 and 600L, even a simple Tesla Model 3, much shorter, already offers 594 l and a frunk of 88 l! We imagine that the batteries have been integrated into the plow and the motors are not as compact as in a Tesla or a Lucid Air, which further reduces the space under the trunk.

Mac4Ever’s review

With prices between €45,000 and €50,000 (estimate), this Mazda 6e will have to fight hard in Europe to find a place in front of Tesla Model 3, Volkswagen ID7 and other Ioniq 6, better in every way.

We could retort that Mazda customers are often loyal to the brandbut here, we are still looking for the elements that actually came out of Japanese factories, apart from a few design segments and the software overlay of the screen.

Arriving late on the electric market, Mazda is not likely to convince many people with this proposal, abandoned from every point of view.