Mazda’s quietly radical EV
Mazda’s first foray into EVs will be on sale here very soon. Damien O’Carroll gets an early taste of what is to come.
Mazda’s first production EV is just a few months away from going on sale in New Zealand, but we got to take it for a drive on Kiwi roads, just to see what we are in for when it does.
Make me an instant expert: what do I need to know?
The MX-30 is, as mentioned, Mazda’s first mass production EV.
Although other versions, such as the mild hybrid on sale in Australia and the long-promised rotary engine range extender are likely to be coming here (although the latter hasn’t actually been confirmed for production yet), the pure-electric MX-30 is what we get here in New Zealand first.
So why are we one of the earliest markets to get Mazdas, when we are looking at long waits for other EVs as manufacturers scramble to get as many as possible on sale in Europe before the big fines for missing emission targets kick in?
That’s easy – Mazda is taking a different approach to greener matters by only putting vehicles on sale in markets where they will actually make a difference in.
A market that derives most of its electricity from burning coal, for example, will get more fuelefficient vehicles, like hybrids (because what use is an EV if you are burning coal to power it?), while a market like ours that generates most of its electricity from clean or renewable sources get the EVs sooner.
All of which means that the MX30 is initially only coming to New Zealand as an EV, and also in a single high-spec model, Mazda’s range-topping Takami grade.
This means it gets all the topspec goodies, as well as the CX-30’s planet-conscious take on sustainable luxury, like the seats upholstered with ‘‘vegan leather’’ (an incredibly convincing artificial leather that is produced using a water-based method) and remarkably high-quality fabric made from recycled materials, as well as the MX-30’s stylistic and tactile highlight – recycled cork that provides a wonderfully softtouch surface to the centre console elements.
It all looks and, most importantly, feels superb and impressively high quality, even by the high bar that Mazda already sets with its interiors.
The interior is also nicely spacious up front and, while the rear legroom might be a little tight if the front seat occupants are tall, the ‘‘freestyle’’ door arrangement makes access ridiculously easy, and boot space is 341 litres with the rear seats in place, which is more than decent for a small SUV.
Mazda’s approach to EVs also includes providing a battery that is the ‘‘right size’’ as opposed to ‘‘just as big as possible for maximum range’’.
As such, the MX-30 packs a 35.5kWh battery pack that provides a range of just over 220km. Mazda says this is to ‘‘provide the optimum balance between a driving range which gives customers peace of mind and CO2 emissions from an LCA (Life-CycleAssessment) perspective’’, which basically means the company includes the CO2 emitted by battery production into its calculations, and the bigger the battery, the more CO2.
And because the MX-30 is aimed at mainly urban dwellers, rather than someone who wants to tow their boat from Auckland to Wellington and back in the same day, twice a week (and they definitely exist, according to internet-commenter objections to EVs. . .), 220-odd kilometres is more than enough, particularly if you do the simple and sensible things and plug it in when you are home.
And to drive this point home, Mazda is offering a free Wallbox home charger with the MX-30 for a limited time.
Where did you drive it?
From Mazda New Zealand’s headquarters in Auckland’s Mt Wellington out through the wilds of the Clevedon coast across a number of roads we are very familiar with.
Here the MX-30 proved to impressively live up to Mazda’s ‘‘Jinba Ittai’’ (the bond between a horse and its rider) concept, with a delightfully deft and agile turn of handling that makes the most of the electric motor’s instant torque.
Although that torque isn’t quite as instant as many EVs, as Mazda has tuned the power delivery to be more like a traditional ICE vehicle, meaning that the torque isn’t dropped all in one go at the start, but rather swells pleasantly the further you push the throttle and hangs around a bit longer than a lot of other EVs too.
This makes the MX-30 more traditional to drive quickly down a winding road, but it also makes it feel far more involving and satisfying – it’s not just point-andsquirt out of the corners.
This is also where Mazda’s approach to ‘‘right-sized’’ batteries pays dividends, because the MX-30 feels wonderfully agile, responsive and, well, light.
At 1654kg, it’s not actually all that light, but a bigger battery would rob the MX-30 of its delightful balance and dull its responsiveness which, as far as I am concerned, makes it worth the range trade off.
Others may not feel this way, however, but regardless, the Mazda MX-30 is a delightful thing to drive.
And while Mazda cites an NEDC consumption of 18.5kWh/100km to get its 224km range, in reality this is stupidly easy to better, with most cars on the launch returning around 15kWh/100km.
What stands out the most?
While the deeply impressive interior is a highlight, it has to be the way Mazda has made its first go at a mass-production EV feel like a Mazda.
The same tight responsiveness that features in everything from a Mazda3 to a CX5 is very much present in the MX-30, and the overwhelming air of quality in its materials and the way it feels bolted together make the extra money asked for the EV over an ICE equivalent much easier to swallow.
Why would I buy it?
Because you want an EV that is brilliant to drive, has a fantastic interior and will turn heads without being space-age weird for the sake of it.
Why wouldn’t I buy it?
Because you need a bit more space than a small urban SUV with trick doors and a sloping rear roofline can provide or because want to tow your boat from Auckland to Wellington and back in the same day, twice a week.
You know, because a small SUV won’t suit your lifestyle, regardless of what is powering it.