Yesterday, I had 45 minutes to spare and squeezed in a test drive in a reviewer's darling, the Mazda 6e. Based on the Changan Deepal SL03, Mazda has now outsourced its big sedan number to the Chinese. The 6e is a good deal, at less than 40k USD for either a 68.8 kWh LFP battery with 479 km WLTP range or an 80 kWh NMC battery with 552 km range. The former car has 190 hp and can charge at 160 kw, the latter has a 180 hp motor and charges at a measly 80 kW. The smaller battery seems to be the obvious choice here, unless you don't really QC, it's also about 1k USD cheaper.
I'll try to make this quick. The car is obviously sexy – especially in "melting copper", an orange-ish pink – and the brown interior is nothing short of spectacular. Even for me at 192 cm/6.3 feet, there was more room left to move the seat back, and I found a good enough sitting position. The screen is a fixed 26 inch unit that is not angled towards the driver, but straight towards the cabin. That takes a bit of getting used to, as I intuitively want to yank it towards me. The GUI is okay, but just turning off all the EU mandated beepers requires a minute's worth of menu-clicking even if you already know where everything is. *sigh* I'd love a button or quick resolve for that.
The steering wheel has two starred buttons which in this car were already set to seat heaters and wipers. Yes, wipers, because the Tesla sickness of not having a wiper stalk has infected this one, too. Sucks, and is inconvenient – either press the sprayer button, which is not always advisable at -21°C, or dedicate 1 of 2 favorite buttons to it. Meh. Proper buttonry is the new luxury, and this is not a luxury car. Your Kia might be, though.
Anyway, the 6e drives very confidently – despite the drive train emitting a deep rumbly sound under full throttle, something I've only heard that BYD cars tend to do and which makes me curious as to where it's coming from. Pedal response is quick and immediate in sport mode, so much so that just the slightest foot movement on poor roads flashes a *car is ready for overtaking* message. In general, one could do without the display, the cartoon cars flashing all over the place add nothing, just as they don't in Teslas. I was impressed by the ESP and other gizmos making the car feel solidly planted even on ice and snow, though. The 6e drives really well – that and the very pleasant interior made me love the car.
Quality feel is overall good, everything fits quietly, apart from one speaker top right in my view that annoyed me greatly, see photo. When you get bored, you can play with the useless spoiler and flip it up and down. For some strange reason, the car fogged up with just me inside, even more after I set the HVAC to AUTO from whatever it was set to inside the Mazda dealer. Also, on the topic of beepers, I had to stop at a red light and the car just kept beeping that I was too close to the snow and railing next to me, see clip above. That was intense – and entirely unnecessary. I can't help but feel that all of these assistant gadgets remain annoyances. Cameras are crystal clear, though.
Finally, the Achilles heel: The roof is obviously low in the backseat, but Mazda blundered here: Extending the panoramic roof 15-20 cm would have fixed that. Alternatively, you can get the car with a pano roof but without the interior covers, which raises the roof line a bit, but that's not possible if you want the brown interior. Only depressing black for tall people. WHY? So that disqualifies this one, because my kids are about as tall as me and they're still growing. I fit my legs and feet behind me well, but the head must stay on, can't compromise on that.
I still really liked the car, not least because also the sales person was just unusually pleasant and attentive, lifting the whole experience. But Changan is competing with Changan here. The Changan Deepal S05 is Norway's 5th most sold car so far this year and potentially a better deal if you're looking at the amount of car and features you're getting – but it doesn't carry a Japanese badge. It's priced just a smidgen above the 6e. For me, I don't want an SUV and if the 6e came as a wagon with more space, more headroom, the same 1500 kg tow rating and the same lovely interior and driving experience…it might have been the one.
by SjalabaisWoWS
