Mazda 6e E35 Atenza sedan

From Mazda the first step into electrification with the 6e sedan – the spiritual successor to the long-standing petrol Mazda 6 and a car that was developed in China for the Japanese car maker.

An impressive first effort with sharp styling and dynamics, strong performance, high equipment levels, great range and charging efficiency and sharp pricing but let down with small glitches that take away some of its appeal.

The Mazda 6e is the product of a joint venture with Changan Mazda in China and its shares much of its architecture with the Changan Nevo and Deepal SLO3  sedans. For Australia it’s been well positioned against established models like the Tesla 3 and the two model grades are highly specified and very competitively priced. The base Mazda 6e GT at $49,990 and the model I’m testing the 6e Atenza at $52,990 – both prices plus on-road costs.

Sitting on 19-inch alloy wheels this is a very stylish sedan with a tailgate spoiler that looks distinctly sporty and is very nicely built. And as I often comment, the paint finish on Chinese built vehicles is to a high standard and in many cases superior to more expensive long-standing European brands. And it’s important to mention that the Mazda 6e earlier this year took out the World Car Design of the Year award.

Power source is a single permanent-magnet synchronous electric motor mounted at the rear axle and driving the rear wheels, producing 190kW of power and 290Nm of torque, powered by a 78kWhour Lithium Iron Phosphate high voltage battery. The maker claims an electric driving range of 560kms under the WLTP formula.

Rather than accept the Chinese ride and handling setup Mazda sent the 6e to its European affiliate for tuning and it’s impressive with qualities that earmark it as a prestige car – firm yes but more than compliant and a nice driver’s car on a winding road. Helped by rack and pinion steering with 2.5 turns lock to lock that’s quick acting but is a little over-assisted and lacks some feel just off the straight-ahead position. However, a nicely balanced sedan, sitting on a 2,895mm wheelbase with a low centre of gravity due to battery weight, and aided by rear wheel drive and multi-link rear suspension. And importantly, its shod with quality Michelin 245/45 series e-Primacy tyres.

This is a very stylish five-door sedan with a coupe-like silhouette and great eye appeal that translates inside to a very roomy cabin in both seat rows. Frameless windows give it a degree of class while fit and finish is hard to fault. Boot space despite the liftback rear door arrangement is not great however at 337L. The Atenza model is nicely specified with tan leather seat edges and quilted synthetic suede centres and suede door inserts and dashboard covering. Features include 14-speaker Sony sound, a dual-pane glass roof, with electric blinds, power front seats with ventilation, wireless phone charging and no less than nine airbags with a centre front airbag plus the benefit of a five-star ANCAP safety rating.

It also has six available drive models plus a full gambit of active safety elements and a 360-degree camera.

One could argue that the Chinese build has brought Mazda up to speed more quickly in the electrification stakes as it’s taken a while to produce its first BEV vehicle however the association has brought some of the poor features that afflict many Chinese vehicles from a user standpoint.

And here the 14.5-inch touch screen is the case in point. An ergonomic disaster that requires the adjustment of the rear-view mirrors to be accessed via three separate touch  movements on the screen, Even, the adjustment of windscreen wipers are buried in the screen while to heat the steering wheel on a cold morning you also need three separate screen movements. How Mazda allowed this to happen staggers me for their range of SUVs all feature an easy-to-use central dial controller for a number of functions with mirror adjustment on the door that are so easy to access and use whilst on the run. The lack of any physical buttons for volume or air con is a major ergonomic failure in what otherwise is an impressive electric sedan.

On top of that the safety alerts whilst not that overbearing in terms of sound can be become annoying given their frequency.

It’s a shame for this is otherwise an impressive effort from Mazda. I understand that Mazda’s chief program manager, Hiroshi Ozawa, has suggested that Mazda will listen to criticism of its move to touchscreens and will respond with improvements. Also, with the gear selection via a right mounted lever the indicator stalk is frustratingly on the left.

As to range I found the usual short fall of distance over the laboratory derived WLTP result and I managed a distance of 480kms with energy consumption running around 16kWh/100km and with little regard to conserving battery. After all, this is an impressive driver’s car, and it likes to be given its head on the open road where the usage rate obviously goes up.

In terms of charging Mazda claim a DC fast charge rate from 30-80% takes just 15 minutes while on my 22kW three phase home charger it took six hours from 20-90 percent.

There’s so much to like with this Mazda 6e but also much to become frustrated with. It is exceptional value for what it offers but given our penchant for SUVs over sedans these days I wouldn’t expect it to be a big seller. This is somewhat of a quandary for Mazda who needs good sales from its growing range of battery electric vehicles to offset the CO2 emissions of its diesel BT-50 ute and internal combustion and hybrid SUV range. Mazda paid the biggest penalty in the first year of the governments New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) and with those CO2 targets to progressively become stronger Mazda needs to grow BEV’s to around one third of its total sales to lower the penalty.

Warranty: 5 years/unlimited kilometre with roadside assistance included.

Battery warranty: 8 years or 160,000km.

Service intervals: 12 months or 20,000km (whichever comes first)

Annual capped price service cost for the first five years: $360

Total capped-price service cost for the first five years: $1,800