Mazda MX-30

REPORT 5

£30,345 OTR/£32,045 as tested/£400pcm

WHY IT’S HERE

Does Mazda’s first EV have substance beyond gimmicky (but cool) doors?

DRIVER

Tom Harrison

THIS JOB IS MAINLY ABOUT FINDING CREATIVE EXCUSES TO DRIVE cars you’ve always wanted to have a go in. Cars like the Mazda RX-8. Which, as you may have noticed, has the same kind of doors as “our” MX-30. Tenuous enough of a link for you?

When the RX-8 was new my dad borrowed a grey one for a weekend and I distinctly remember being captivated by those doors and the noise. The doors because, well, children are easily amused (and they are cool, aren’t they?) and the noise because the RX-8’s rotary engine spins all the way up to a 9,000rpm redline. And you have to take it there. Constantly.

In the RX-8 peak power and torque don’t arrive until 8,200 and 5,500rpm respectively. And as you’ll have read on p120, the MX-30 is undoubtedly the faster car. Though it’s down on power, weighs vastly more than the RX-8 and would comfortably lose a drag race, the MX-30’s instantly accessible, point-and-squirt torque means most of the time it destroys the RX-8 in real-world conditions. Especially around town, where using 9,000rpm is plain antisocial. Even where I live in Essex.

Soon, you may be able to get an MX-30 with a little rotary engine under the bonnet to extend its meagre 124-mile claimed range. Pop the bonnet and you’ll see there’s certainly space for one alongside the tiny e-motor. Mazda has rubbished reports it cancelled the project.

No other manufacturer currently sells a range extender hybrid in the UK. BMW was last to do so with the i3 REX, but took it off sale when battery tech got to a point the i3 could travel far enough unassisted. We applaud Mazda for doing things its own way, as indeed it always has, but remain of the opinion the MX-30 ought to just have a bigger battery.