Mazda 6e review: A lot of car, but is it missing a little Mazda magic?

Mazda 6e

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Year: 2026

Fuel: Electric

Verdict: Stylish on the outside, premium on the inside, but misses some of Mazda’s driving DNA

If you are a paranoid European car executive, the Mazda 6e may embody your fever dream.

Mazda is a highly regarded Japanese brand with an enviable engineering pedigree. And here is a model carrying its badge, with the beautiful styling we’ve come to associate with the brand. Yet under the bodywork lies a Chinese platform and parts.

It’s worth remembering that this is a brand that has regularly veered off the main road to pioneer its own way. Driven by engineers, it licensed the Wankel rotary engine in the 1960s and spent years improving and solving its reliability issues. It was also one of the earliest carmakers to seriously pursue hydrogen-powered internal combustion engines.

Perhaps that’s the reason we find ourselves here. While the 2010s saw other car firms pursue an electric future, Mazda spent much of that decade making petrol engines more efficient through its Skyactiv programme.

We sat through long, detailed engineering presentations on how multiple small improvements were adding to a big leap for combustion engines. But as the adage goes, if you’re explaining you’re losing, and every presentation ended with the same question: where is Mazda’s all-electric model?

It’s not that these truly impressive engineers were anti-EV. They just weren’t convinced it was the only answer to the carbon debate. Mazda has always been willing to be out of step with industry trends, which is what car fans love about this company. It’s led by engineers with slide rules, not suited corporate types with spreadsheets. That’s why you get cars like the MX-5.

But it did mean its all-electric MX-30 didn’t arrive until the 2020s and was a small car with a small battery delivering limited range at a relatively high price. It was struggling to compete before it even made it to the showroom.

So that’s why Mazda seemed to bow to the market demands and turn to Chinese car giant Changan for batteries and a platform.

As a Mazda fan, the situation with the Mazda 6e seems a misstep, and one the company has made before. During an earlier alliance with Ford, Mazda used the US firm’s parts and engines in many cars. It gave Americans access to some excellent small-car engineering and kept the Asian brand afloat. But it diluted Mazda’s identity.

It’s like finding your favourite Japanese sushi restaurant uses Uncle Ben’s rice and John West tuna.

Mazda is fitting the 6e with the Chinese-made 78kWh LFP battery pack that powers a rear-mounted 258hp electric motor. On paper, it’s a solid foundation upon which to let Mazda engineers hone the EV they want to build and work on the steering and suspension set-up.

Parking the heritage debate for now, it’s time to consider the car itself. A proper family five-door fastback with saloon proportions in this age of crossover SUVs deserves to be lauded from the rooftops. And it showcases why this format deserves to be far more prominent on buyers’ shortlists. The styling of this car is gorgeous, and even the subtle light show that sweeps across the grille when you open or lock the car is a template others should follow (we’re looking at you, Mercedes-Benz).

Inside it’s plush. Indeed, considering the direction Mercedes has travelled in recent years, they’d do well to stall their headlong pursuit of bling and consider the Mazda 6e cabin. Sure, there are plastics here that could be improved, but overall, it’s worthy of a premium brand.

Our Takumi Plus test car came with tan-coloured leather and fabric trim that did resemble a settee from the 1980s, yet the overall effect works well and creates a sense of plush calm, greatly assisted by seats that are incredibly comfortable and give Volvo a run for its money.

Space in the back seats is also very good, while the boot has 466 litres, plus there’s a 72-litre “frunk” under the bonnet. In fact, all we ever heard from passengers were compliments on this car.

The main gripe about the interior comes when you turn to the touchscreen. Mazda has followed the mass-market brands and abandoned proper buttons in favour of touchscreen fundamentalism. So, instead of switches, you can get lost in a maze of menus.

Admittedly the permanent toolbar at the bottom along with the array of controls you get by swiping left on screen are customisable. That’s a nice touch, and it means you can change the menu as the seasons change, opting for heated seat controls on the lower control bar when the winter sets in, for example.

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But it does mean that every journey starts with swiping and tapping as you work your way through the various driver assist options and turn them off. It’s becoming like a pilot’s preflight checklist routine just for a spin to the shops. Modern cars are replacing actual driving with tech administration.

And there’s a reason why you need to spend time swiping tabs if you want to drive the Mazda 6e. You need to disengage those overly intrusive systems to get some real engagement with this car. On all but motorway drives, the systems fidget with the steering or beep and bong throughout your trip. They don’t seem tuned to the reality of driving on narrow local Irish roads.

You simply can’t judge the way the car balances the battery weight or experience the steering feel through corners with the systems engaged. Turn them off, and suddenly the 6e becomes a far better-balanced car that flows through the bends rather than beeps and judders through them. It feels slightly like Mazda of old. But it’s never quite on message for the brand that created the magical MX-5.

Braking suffers the same grabby feeling as many regenerative systems in that the first touch of the pedal feels a little too light, but then it bites a bit sharply. There is a comfort setting, but even then, it feels more like an on/off switch than a nice progressive response.

The steering is certainly lighter than you’d expect, which is comfortable for longer trips, but it could do with a little more weight and engagement. Engaging Sport mode doesn’t really add enough feel to make a consequential difference.

And the suspension isn’t quite up to Mazda’s usual standards either. In many instances, it tends to bottom out on deeper ruts and potholes, suggesting the dampers need to be better tuned for our roads.

The frustrating thing is that the Mazda 6e does settle into a nice smooth flow, but it’s at 90km/h. At this speed the suspension and steering start to hit the same notes, while the damping seems to settle into a rhythm to cope with the road imperfections. If you spend your life on national roads and motorways, then everything should be fine.

So, the Mazda 6e can be a nice car to drive if you are doing 90km/h and have the intrusive alerts switched off. It’s also quite pacy, with a 0-100km/h time of 7.9 seconds.

And it has the range to deliver for family needs, promising 560km on a full charge. We saw an average of 16.3 kWh/100km during our time in the car, suggesting close to 480km is realistic, while we recorded peak DC charging rates of 177kW on a superfast Ionity charger.

The biggest lure will undoubtedly be the price. Starting at €37,935 after grant and rebates for the well-equipped Takumi version, Mazda has created a really competitive offering. The Takumi Plus version pushed the price of our test car up to €39,765 with grants and rebates. For that you get an electric roof sunshade, the tan interior seats and some extra trim, but nothing substantially different, which underlines how well equipped the entry-level version is. When you consider how new car prices have soared in the last five years, this is an awful lot of car for that money.

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Consider that the impressive BYD Seal starts at €46,885 after grants and the VW ID.7 at €54,990. The 6e’s nearest rival on price is the Tesla Model 3 starting at €36,484, but the car it needs to beat is the Hyundai Ioniq 6, which starts at €42,085.

European car bosses should be worried about how much car Mazda has delivered for the money. This is a beautifully styled, impressively equipped electric car that makes rivals look expensive. My frustration is that it doesn’t deliver the driving character we’ve come to expect. Perhaps that matters more to Mazda enthusiasts than the regular family car buyer. But Mazda built its reputation on that distinction, and it would be a shame to lose it.

Lowdown: Mazda 6e Takumi Plus

Power: 190kW e-motor developing 258hp and 290Nm of torque powered by a 78kWh LFP battery pack.

Electric consumption: 16.1 kWh/100km (WLTP). (16.3kWh during testing)

Electric range: 560km (WLTP).

0-100km/h: 7.9 sec.

Price: €39,765 as tested after grants and VRT rebate. Starts from €37,935 for Takumi.