Mazda MX-30 Electric detailed review 2021: Best EV in the segment?

CarExpert

There's a brand new electric vehicle in the small SUV segment. The Mazda MX-30 builds on the mild hybrid currently on offer to bring a full electric electric vehicle with a range of around 200km (WLTP). It uses a 35.5kWh battery, offers AC charging and also offers fast DC charging at a rate of 50kW.  Paul Maric tests out the 2021 Mazda MX-30 Electric Astina to see if it's any good and whether it offers a compelling option against the other vehicles in this segment.  Hardness tester results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE  More Mazda content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/mazda More Mazda MX-30 content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/mazda/mx-30  Skip Ahead: Intro: 00:00 Exterior 01:03 Interior 04:25 Infotainment 06:23 Safety Tech 09:07 Practicality 10:34 Charging 15:39 On-road 16:16 Verdict 23:55  We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.  Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.  Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1  You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.  Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you!  Follow us on social media to see what we're up to and to ask any questions!  CarExpert: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarExpertAus Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CarExpertAus Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carexpert.com.au  Paul Maric: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulMaric Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric  #mazda #review #mx30

Transcript

00:00 G'day, I'm Paul.

00:01 So if you're a regular viewer of our channel,

00:03 you'll know that we've just reviewed the MX-30 Hybrid,

00:05 but today it's all about the MX-30 Electric.

00:08 I think this is the one that I've been most excited for

00:10 because the Hybrid didn't really set my world on fire,

00:12 but I think the Electric one has a whole lot more potential.

00:15 So MX-30, it is, I guess, a coupe,

00:19 because MX, MX-5, coupe,

00:22 you can see where they've kind of drawn that similarity.

00:24 And I'll show you later on what they mean by coupe

00:26 because there are actually two additional doors there.

00:29 This competes with things like the Hyundai Kona EV,

00:32 the Kia Niro, and also the Mini Electric.

00:36 It's only available in one specification in Australia.

00:38 It's the top spec.

00:39 It's called the MX-30 Electric Astina,

00:41 and it's priced at just over $65,000.

00:45 Yes, I know, it's a lot of money.

00:46 Today, we're going to do a detailed review of this car.

00:48 If you do want to skip ahead to other parts of the review,

00:50 you can use the time codes up on the screen,

00:52 or if you're on YouTube,

00:53 just scroll down and use the chapters below.

00:55 And if you haven't done so already,

00:56 I'd love it if you could subscribe to our channel

00:57 and press the bell icon.

00:58 That's going to tell you every single time

01:00 we drive a brand new car.

01:02 Let's start with exterior design.

01:05 So Mazda, I guess they're kind of a design company.

01:07 A lot of their products really have

01:09 a lot of design initiative.

01:10 And I think that's where they win

01:12 a lot of their customers over

01:13 because their cars look so good.

01:14 Now, in terms of colors, you have eight colors available.

01:17 It's not eight body colors, but eight sets of colors.

01:19 And that includes things like your tri-tone colors,

01:22 all but white and black cost you extra,

01:23 all the way up to around 1500 bucks

01:25 for the most expensive tri-tone color.

01:28 Now, when I talk about design,

01:29 you gotta see what I mean here.

01:30 There's not many manufacturers out there

01:32 that do things like this.

01:34 You've got these cutouts here

01:35 that really run along the front of the grill there.

01:37 You've got that big Mazda logo.

01:39 There's a lot of emphasis on design

01:40 and it carries through inside the cabin as well.

01:42 I'll show you some of those unique features later on.

01:44 And that's why Mazda tries to get away

01:46 with charging a price premium for their cars,

01:48 because they are really design statements.

01:50 And the way I look at it is,

01:52 you know, why would you buy a handbag with a brand name

01:55 when it has the same function as a handbag

01:57 from Target or Tasha?

01:59 So I think that people are willing to pay extra

02:01 for a nicely designed car,

02:02 and that's where Mazda is kind of going with this.

02:04 Now, in terms of headlight technology,

02:06 you have full LED headlights.

02:08 You have this chrome strip up the top here

02:10 that kind of separates the body colors.

02:12 And there's also a daytime running light down the bottom

02:14 that doubles as an indicator as well.

02:16 And if we whip around to the side,

02:18 got a set of 18-inch alloy wheels.

02:20 I quite like the design.

02:21 So it is a single color,

02:23 but it's kind of like that sort of flat brushed chrome look

02:26 with a bit of gloss to it as well.

02:28 You've got a fairly low profile tire there.

02:31 It's not super low profile,

02:32 but it is lower profile than some of the chubbier tires

02:34 we see on these SUVs.

02:37 Bit of wheel arch protection there as well.

02:38 Again, not as crazy as the CX-30,

02:40 which this car shares a platform

02:42 and virtually all of its dimensions with,

02:44 but you still see that they do emphasize that a little bit,

02:47 even though the entire MX-30 range is just front wheel drive.

02:51 Up the top here, you have piano black

02:53 around that wing mirror,

02:54 and then an indicator built in as well.

02:56 This is where you can see

02:57 some of that color differentiation.

02:58 So we've got a black roof, that sole red body color,

03:02 and then this stripe along the side there.

03:04 And this carries all the way through

03:05 to the back of the car.

03:06 So you can see how people are spending extra money

03:08 to personalize their cars

03:10 and just give them that little bit of extra appearance.

03:12 I'll run you through that extra door later on.

03:15 Now, along the back here,

03:15 you've got Mazda emblazoned on the side there.

03:18 This is on kind of like a brushed aluminum strip,

03:20 and then you have electric along the side there,

03:22 just in case you forget you are, in fact,

03:23 driving an electric car.

03:25 Now, you will also know that it's electric

03:26 because this is traditionally

03:27 where you would put fuel in the car,

03:29 but this is where you charge it.

03:30 Now, it's a little bit comical

03:31 'cause that door is enormous.

03:33 And yes, it does look a bit silly,

03:35 but it's also not that functional.

03:36 When I had this charging at home last night,

03:39 I had the door open,

03:40 and 'cause I have another car parked next to me,

03:42 when you've got the cable plugged in and the door open,

03:44 it actually makes it quite hard to get past the car.

03:47 So you've got to kind of close this again

03:48 over the charge handle.

03:50 So I don't know, not a very smart design,

03:52 and I have no idea why they needed to make it that big.

03:54 It could have easily been half the size.

03:55 So anyway, now around the back here,

03:57 you have more LED lighting,

03:59 but I love the fact that with this center light,

04:01 it kind of mimics an incandescent globe.

04:03 So it doesn't just come on and off.

04:05 It sort of fades in and fades out.

04:07 So I like the way they've done that,

04:08 and just, I don't know,

04:09 it makes it a little bit different

04:10 to other cars on the road.

04:11 So overall, I think the design looks pretty good.

04:14 Keen for your feedback, though.

04:15 Let me know in the comment section below.

04:17 Do you think the design is good?

04:18 Do you like the way that it looks?

04:19 And do you think that you would pay extra

04:21 just because it is a good design?

04:23 Is my handbag theory correct?

04:24 Let me know down there.

04:25 So we're inside the MX-30.

04:27 We'll start off with the key.

04:29 Here it is here.

04:30 So you've got the Mazda logo.

04:31 On the side there, you have that sort of brushed aluminum

04:33 blank on the back, and then you have lock and unlock.

04:36 It's a proximity sensing key,

04:38 so you just leave that in your pocket,

04:39 and then you have a push button start over here.

04:41 Now let's talk about styling.

04:42 So you are paying a premium for this car,

04:45 but I think that when it comes to paying a premium

04:48 for electric cars,

04:49 you kind of want to feel good about paying that premium.

04:52 I think Mazda's gone to a lot of effort here

04:53 to make you feel good about spending that extra money.

04:56 So we're talking about these sort of premium materials

04:58 along the top there.

04:59 You've got that stitching,

05:01 and then as you move down a little further,

05:03 you'll notice this, which is new to Mazda.

05:05 It's a display that's just for your climate control.

05:08 So you've got buttons along the side,

05:09 but also an LCD display.

05:11 If you then move further down,

05:13 you've got this floating display here,

05:15 and then the use of cork.

05:16 So if I close that over,

05:17 this cork here is made from recycled materials.

05:21 This looks darker than the cork

05:22 in the last MX-30 that we tested.

05:24 So I'll be curious to know,

05:25 and I don't know if any of you guys know

05:27 whether they do have, I guess,

05:29 different grades of cork color,

05:31 or whether this is just my eyes tricking me.

05:34 It also follows along to the doors

05:35 where you have recycled plastic materials

05:37 built into those doors.

05:39 But the curious thing is,

05:40 while they have gone with an artificial leather

05:42 on the seats,

05:43 the gear shifter and the steering wheel

05:44 still use traditional leather.

05:46 So it's not quite that sort of vegan interior

05:48 that you can find in some cars today.

05:50 Anyway, touch points.

05:51 So here where your elbow rests is nice and soft,

05:54 and the door is nice and soft as well.

05:56 How soft are they?

05:57 Well, we've tested the surfaces with our durometer.

06:00 If you want to see how this car compares to others

06:02 that we've tested before,

06:03 have a look at the link in the description below.

06:06 Now, what about build quality?

06:07 Let's do our little shake test.

06:10 No, that's a tiny bit loose along the top there, actually.

06:15 The rest of this feels good.

06:17 I don't remember this being all that loose

06:19 in the last MX-30 that we tested.

06:20 So yeah, a little curious on that one.

06:23 Okay, let's talk infotainment.

06:25 I'll also discuss the screen down here,

06:27 which is for the climate controls

06:29 and the screen ahead of the driver,

06:30 but we'll kick off up here.

06:32 So 8.8 inch display.

06:34 It's nice and wide,

06:35 but the curious thing is it doesn't take up

06:37 the entire screen.

06:38 So you've got all these black sections

06:39 around the outer edge.

06:40 So maybe in the future,

06:41 they'll have a bigger infotainment screen

06:43 that gets into there.

06:44 So no touchscreen up the top here,

06:45 but it is all controlled down here

06:47 by this iDrive style controller.

06:50 It has inbuilt satellite navigation

06:52 in addition to AM/FM, DAB plus digital radio,

06:56 and also a 12 speaker Bose branded sound system.

06:59 In terms of smartphone mirroring,

07:00 you've got both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

07:02 Both of those are wired,

07:04 so you'll need a cable there, no wireless available.

07:06 I'll show you what Apple CarPlay looks like.

07:08 I love this design

07:09 'cause it takes up the entire screen.

07:11 It is ultra sharp as well,

07:12 and pretty straightforward to use.

07:14 It combines with the voice recognition.

07:16 So it means that you can either use

07:17 the car's voice recognition or Siri,

07:19 which I think is just a better option most of the time.

07:22 The only thing I don't like here though,

07:23 and I've mentioned this in a few other videos,

07:25 is getting from this menu where we are now to this side,

07:30 you've got to scroll through all of the menus

07:32 before you reach that side,

07:34 instead of with the joystick

07:36 being able to just push it to the side here.

07:38 So it's a little bit frustrating

07:39 and it takes a little bit of time

07:40 if you do want to transition

07:41 between the far extremities of the CarPlay menu.

07:45 And this is what Android Auto looks like.

07:47 Same story here, so full screen integration.

07:49 I like with Android Auto with the split screen,

07:51 how you're able to get different things

07:54 on different sides of the screen.

07:55 So right now it's just the date and the time,

07:57 but if I scroll across to the menu,

07:59 it pops the maps over there

08:01 and then allows me to select whichever app I want.

08:03 Keep in mind as well that with Android Auto,

08:05 using the joystick,

08:06 I can jump between the sides of the menus there

08:09 without having to scroll through everything.

08:11 So it's just a much better integration.

08:13 And obviously if you've got the joystick there,

08:15 why don't you use it?

08:16 So down here is the climate control screen.

08:19 This is entirely driven by the screen itself.

08:22 It's a seven inch screen,

08:23 or you can use the shortcut buttons either side.

08:26 It's not capacitive touch like it is in the Audis,

08:28 but it does allow you to control your elements,

08:30 such as your heated seats, heated steering wheel,

08:33 and then you have other functions

08:35 that you can operate here,

08:36 all to do with climate control.

08:37 So nice little setup.

08:39 And I think it makes the car just feel

08:40 a little bit more premium and luxury inside.

08:43 Now let's have a look at the screen ahead of the driver.

08:45 You have an LCD display in the center here.

08:47 So this gives you trip computer details,

08:49 including average energy consumption.

08:51 You have a percentage gauge for your battery,

08:54 ambient temperature, range left,

08:56 and also digital speedometer and safety information.

08:59 That's all bundled into there.

09:00 When we go for a drive,

09:01 I'll run you through the rest of the items

09:03 that are on that cluster

09:04 that are unique to the electric version of the MX-30.

09:07 Let's talk about safety technology.

09:09 This car comes with forward and reverse

09:11 autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian detection.

09:14 You've got radar cruise control, blind spot monitoring.

09:17 Now the curious thing about blind spot monitoring

09:19 is you have a little light inside the wing mirror there

09:21 that lights up when you have a car in your blind spot,

09:23 but also on the head up display,

09:25 you get a little icon as well.

09:26 So you're kind of double covered there,

09:28 which I think is really cool.

09:29 You have a lane departure warning

09:30 and a lane keeping assistant.

09:32 With the adaptive cruise control,

09:33 there is a self-steering function.

09:35 It just really doesn't work very well.

09:36 And the frustration I have with these systems

09:39 is they all have caveats that say it's not full self-driving.

09:42 You can't take your hands off the wheel.

09:43 I totally get that.

09:44 But when you present people with an image of a steering wheel

09:47 they assume that they can just let the car do the driving

09:50 and it just doesn't work well.

09:51 It veers over lines and it just,

09:53 it struggles to stay centered inside its lane.

09:56 And I don't know, I just wish that none of these systems

09:59 would exist until they actually worked well.

10:01 And at the moment, a lot of them really don't work very well.

10:03 This is one of them.

10:04 Now, moving on to parking,

10:05 you have front and rear parking sensors

10:07 and a 360 degree camera.

10:09 I'll show you what the camera looks like.

10:11 Press this button.

10:12 Cool, okay, so that is really high resolution.

10:15 I love that.

10:16 So this is looking out the front

10:17 and that's your bird's eye view.

10:19 Another press of the button

10:21 then gives you a closer look down the front there.

10:23 And then you can also go to wheel cam.

10:26 So there's no excuse ever for curving your wheels

10:29 because you can literally see exactly where you're parking.

10:31 So very nice and impressive setup there for the cameras.

10:34 Let's talk practicality

10:35 and we'll kick off with connectivity.

10:37 So down here, nestled away in this Norka,

10:40 you have two USB ports.

10:42 Now, the curious thing is you won't find this

10:43 in the standard MX-30,

10:45 but it is a plug, a standard power plug.

10:47 So 220 volts, 150 watts,

10:49 you can plug an appliance into there.

10:52 I think that's really cool.

10:53 Only downside to it is,

10:55 and I hate sounding like a negative Nancy here,

10:56 but it's an electric car

10:58 and all they can muster is 150 watts.

11:00 So that's the exact same as you can get

11:02 in something like a Ford Ranger.

11:04 If we look at the Ioniq 5, for example,

11:06 that's coming up,

11:07 there's something like three kilowatts

11:08 out of the power socket inside the car.

11:11 150 watts is enough to run something

11:13 like a standard laptop charger,

11:15 and that's about it.

11:15 You can't really sort of run anything else out of there.

11:18 I think that's potentially a bit of a missed opportunity,

11:20 given the fact that this is a full electric vehicle

11:23 and you can easily extract more energy out of the battery.

11:26 So yeah, like that it's there,

11:28 but could have been just slightly better.

11:30 Now, what about storage?

11:30 So let's lift these out of the way.

11:32 We'll get our coffee cup.

11:34 That sits in well just there.

11:36 And we'll try our phones as well.

11:39 Phone easily sits in there

11:40 and there's plenty of storage room down here

11:42 for your phone as well.

11:43 No wireless phone charging,

11:44 which is a little bit disappointing,

11:46 but you can store your phone wherever you want

11:48 while it is plugged in.

11:49 What about water bottles?

11:50 So they easily fit into there as well.

11:52 You have teeth that hold them into position.

11:55 Storage inside the door for a standard water bottle.

11:58 And we'll try a big one now.

11:59 Kind of fits in if you wedge it into there,

12:04 but it's not really a snug fit.

12:07 Now you do have this center console here.

12:10 The top of it slides forwards and backwards

12:12 to give you a little bit more flexibility.

12:14 And then when you open it up,

12:15 you can move these down and out of the way

12:17 and you have a fairly decent storage slot in there.

12:19 I'll put this in here just so you can get an idea

12:21 of how deep it is.

12:22 Closes nicely.

12:23 Then got a glove box over here

12:26 that will easily fit your water bottle.

12:28 You have sunglasses storage up the top.

12:31 And finally you have a little slot here

12:33 just next to the driver's knee.

12:34 Now, what about comfort?

12:36 And we'll start off here with our climate controls.

12:39 So single zone automatic climate control.

12:41 You don't have a dual zone setup.

12:43 You do have though a heated steering wheel

12:45 and heated seats for both of the seats in the first row.

12:48 Then in terms of the seats themselves,

12:51 they're electrically adjustable with memory for the driver

12:53 and then fully manually adjustable for the front passenger.

12:57 In terms of the comfort of the seats,

12:59 they actually feel really nice.

13:00 They hug you in nicely.

13:01 Now the steering wheel.

13:02 It sits nicely in the hands.

13:04 You've got the paddle shifters that are easy to reach.

13:06 I'll run you through how the paddle shifters work

13:07 when we go for a drive.

13:08 And the steering wheel itself

13:10 has both tilt and reach adjustment.

13:12 Now, what about our reach test for the rest of the controls?

13:16 Easy, I can reach all of that stuff

13:17 without any dramas at all.

13:19 Okay, now let's talk about the back doors

13:21 and how you actually get inside the vehicle.

13:23 So MX is Mazda's terminology for coupes,

13:27 if you look at MX-5.

13:29 And this does look like a coupe from the outside,

13:31 but these are suicide doors,

13:32 similar to the RX-8 in terms of the way that they work.

13:35 So you pull the door handle, that door cracks open.

13:38 You can see the seatbelt is integrated into there.

13:40 So it means that if you do have passengers

13:42 that are getting in,

13:43 you're gonna need to undo your seatbelt first.

13:45 There's no way of actually getting in the car

13:47 while your driver's side seatbelt is done up.

13:49 Now there is a little bit of an issue and that is space.

13:51 So my seat is in its normal driving position,

13:54 which is quite far back.

13:55 But you can see here when I go to get in,

13:58 it's pretty cramped back here.

13:59 I've got to sort of try and squeeze in there.

14:04 You do have these controls that allow you

14:05 to move the seat forwards and backwards to get in and out.

14:08 But ultimately there isn't really

14:10 a great deal of knee room here.

14:12 I've got no toe room at all.

14:14 This sort of seats really wedged down against it

14:16 and headroom is fairly limited.

14:18 The thing I find surprising is this shares a platform

14:21 and its dimensions with the CX-30.

14:23 Yet I really can't fit in here at all

14:25 and the CX-30 is pretty okay in the back seat.

14:28 So that is pretty surprising.

14:29 You have ISOFIX points on the two outboard seats

14:32 with top tethers.

14:33 You've got a grab handle here to hold onto,

14:35 a little sort of handle up the top here as well.

14:37 And then a little bit of storage off to the sides

14:39 and a center armrest here with two cup holders as well.

14:43 So the space is okay,

14:45 but I don't think I'd want to be sitting here

14:47 for long distance drives.

14:49 Let's talk cargo space.

14:50 So battery pack is located under the floor,

14:53 which means you don't have an interruption

14:55 of your boot space.

14:56 Here in its standard form,

14:57 you have a little over 300 litres of cargo space available.

15:00 It is slightly robbed though by your charging cables.

15:03 So you've got two sets here

15:05 and then beneath the cargo floor is a subwoofer

15:08 for the sound system and then tyre repair kit.

15:10 You don't actually have any storage room

15:13 for your charging utensils there.

15:15 In terms of our bags though, let's whack these inside.

15:18 Now I don't think this fits lengthwise.

15:20 So you've got to go sideways there.

15:22 It gives you an idea of how much room there is

15:24 for our luggage inside.

15:24 But if you do want to expand the space a little bit more,

15:27 you can get rid of this cargo blind.

15:29 That pops out fairly easily.

15:30 You'll have to keep this at home though.

15:32 There's nowhere to store it in here.

15:33 And then you can drop the second row

15:35 to expand the space to just under 900 litres.

15:39 Now let's talk charging.

15:40 So this is our charge port.

15:42 I mentioned earlier, this giant door here.

15:44 Under the bonnet there, you don't have any storage.

15:46 It is just the electric motor

15:47 and the rest of the EV components.

15:49 But this is where you do plug the car into charge.

15:52 Top section is for AC charging.

15:54 It'll do single phase AC charging.

15:56 And then the bottom section is for your DC charging.

15:58 It's a type two plug.

15:59 And then the DC component is a CCS type two combo plug.

16:03 DC charging happens at a peak rate of 50 kilowatts.

16:06 So that means you are able to use

16:08 some of the fast charging network

16:10 to achieve a quicker charge time,

16:12 or you can simply plug it up at home

16:13 or onto an AC charger if you need to.

16:15 So we've hit the road in the Mazda MX-30 electric.

16:21 Now this uses a single electric motor

16:24 that sits on the front axle.

16:25 So it's front wheel drive.

16:26 It produces 107 kilowatts of power

16:28 and 271 newton meters of torque.

16:31 Now that really isn't a great deal,

16:33 but it doesn't weigh much.

16:34 And that's the key difference here.

16:36 So it only uses around a 35 kilowatt hour battery.

16:39 And that means that the weight inside

16:41 the actual body itself is quite low

16:43 and you can get away with having a little less power.

16:46 And that was Mazda's whole philosophy with this.

16:48 They didn't want to jam it full of batteries

16:49 to make it heavy.

16:50 They wanted to make it as light as possible

16:52 with I guess as much range as they thought was necessary.

16:55 What does that feel like behind the wheel?

16:56 Well, let's give it a little punch here.

16:59 Look, it's okay.

17:00 Look, with the Kona EV, it's got a fair bit more punch

17:04 and it can get a little feral at times

17:06 'cause it torques steers and it tries to spin the wheels.

17:09 Whereas this kind of just doesn't have enough power

17:11 to do that.

17:12 Yes, it will spin the wheels if you're like

17:14 on a wet incline, but just driving along normally

17:16 and you give it a punch,

17:17 it's all just pretty straightforward

17:19 and nothing too over the top.

17:20 Which I guess is a good and bad thing.

17:22 The other big bonus here as well is that Mazda

17:24 has put a lot of effort into the electric system.

17:26 This is one of the best electric cars I've driven

17:29 outside of a Tesla, which is,

17:30 Tesla is a brand that is devoted to EVs.

17:33 You expect them to be good.

17:34 This really just challenges the rest of the EVs

17:37 on the market in terms of how nicely it drives.

17:39 Yes, it isn't the most powerful EV in the world,

17:41 but the transition from your regen braking

17:45 to the mechanical brake is nice and smooth.

17:47 Everything just feels dialed in beautifully

17:49 and a lot of effort has been put into making this

17:51 a smooth driving experience.

17:53 Now I mentioned the paddle shifters earlier.

17:55 This allows you to adjust your regen mode.

17:57 So right now we're in the hardest regen mode.

17:59 It means when I let go of the brake,

18:00 we have the most aggressive regen setting.

18:03 One tap of the plus sends it to the second setting

18:06 and one more tap sends it into the least aggressive setting.

18:09 That's where you're getting the least amount of regen

18:10 and the most sort of normal car feel.

18:12 So it's not slowing down like an electric car does.

18:15 It is disappointing though that they don't have

18:17 kind of like an e-pedal or the system Tesla has

18:20 where when it is in its most intensive regen setting,

18:23 you can slow to a complete stop.

18:26 Here on the other hand, when I start slowing down,

18:28 instead of it coming to a complete stop,

18:29 it just starts rolling when it gets to the end there.

18:32 I would have preferred to have kind of like a hold function

18:34 so that the car limits the amount of movement

18:37 when it comes to a complete stop.

18:38 Now let's talk economy.

18:40 You do have economy in electric cars.

18:42 Instead of litres per 100 kilometres or miles per gallon,

18:45 they use watt hours per kilometre

18:48 or kilowatt hours per 100 kilometres.

18:50 It just depends on which unit of measurement you wanna use.

18:54 Now, this car has a range of 200 kilometres WLTP.

18:57 That is just one of the measurement cycle types.

19:00 And we're gonna do a video explaining all the EV terms

19:02 because you've got different types

19:03 of measurement for economy.

19:05 It's all just a little bit confusing.

19:06 So we will work on that.

19:08 Now it has a driving range of 200 kilometres

19:10 with a 35.5 kilowatt hour battery.

19:12 What we've been consuming is around 19 kilowatt hours

19:16 per 100 kilometres.

19:18 Now that's not a very good figure and I'll explain why.

19:20 My Tesla, for example, I know you're sick of hearing about it

19:23 but it's a good reference point for me to get a good gauge

19:26 of what other EV should be like.

19:28 My Tesla has probably double the driving range of this.

19:30 It'll do zero to 100 in like 3.4 seconds.

19:33 This has half the driving range.

19:35 It takes twice as long to do zero to 100.

19:38 So you're at a disadvantage that entire time.

19:41 You would hope that as a result of that,

19:43 it would be more efficient, but it's not.

19:44 My Tesla averages about 16 or 17 kilowatt hours

19:48 per 100 kilometres.

19:49 This is averaging more than that.

19:51 And it's a much lighter car.

19:52 So it goes to show you that the energy efficiency,

19:54 the electric motor here and the whole EV system

19:57 isn't very good, which is a little bit disappointing

19:59 because that's a compromise you make with less range.

20:01 You want it to be more efficient,

20:02 but in this case, it definitely is not more efficient.

20:05 I wanna quickly run you through the gauges

20:07 and what you see in front of you

20:08 and how different it is to the hybrid version of the MX-30.

20:11 So on the left, you have your power gauge.

20:13 When I punch this, it goes all the way up

20:15 if I'm flat to the board like I just was.

20:17 On the right-hand side,

20:18 you have an analogue gauge there for the battery

20:20 and then the coolant temperature.

20:22 The coolant temperature is interesting

20:24 because the battery system here,

20:25 unlike the Nissan LEAF, which is air-cooled,

20:27 this uses coolant to keep the batteries cool.

20:30 And it's fascinating because, you know,

20:32 in a standard internal combustion car,

20:34 if that temperature goes up,

20:35 you know that you're driving too hard,

20:36 you need to slow down.

20:37 Here, I don't really know what you can do about it.

20:39 I guess the only thing you can do is stop

20:41 because you can't sort of adjust the way that you're driving

20:44 if you're just driving normally.

20:45 So I'd be curious to see what happens there

20:48 when it does get hot,

20:49 whether it gives you a tip on what to do to cool it down

20:51 or whether there's some particular thing you have to do.

20:53 But that's the first EV I've seen with that system in place.

20:56 So it's very interesting

20:58 and I'll be keen to see if it catches on

20:59 with other EVs that use a coolant system for the batteries.

21:03 So what does it all feel like

21:06 if you get stuck into it?

21:07 Let's give it a little punch around here.

21:10 So I mentioned in our MX-30 hybrid video

21:13 that I thought this would be a little more engaging

21:16 as an electric vehicle.

21:17 And I'm not wrong, to be honest,

21:19 I've got my foot flat to the board

21:22 and because it just isn't really that quick,

21:24 it actually makes it a little more exciting to drive

21:26 because you can just sort of stay stuck into it.

21:29 And then with the regen braking in its hardest setting,

21:31 it gives you a nice bit of feedback through the corner

21:34 and allows you to adjust that speed as you go.

21:36 So it is actually pretty fun behind the wheel.

21:39 The steering's direct and it doesn't feel overly heavy

21:41 or bloated like some EVs can.

21:44 So look, it's not incredibly fast, but it's fun.

21:48 And I think that's the differentiator.

21:50 So it's not fast, but it is fun.

21:51 Now let's talk 0 to 100.

21:53 The official time Mazda quotes is just under 10 seconds.

21:56 We put it up against our stopwatch to see how it would go.

22:00 (car engine roaring)

22:03 What's the ride like?

22:11 Well, the ride is fantastic.

22:13 I think with the MX-30 Hybrid,

22:15 they had a different weight distribution.

22:16 This actually feels far better behind the wheel.

22:19 It's nice and soft.

22:20 It doesn't feel sporty.

22:21 It doesn't feel sort of too on the comfort side.

22:24 They've really dialed in the suspension perfectly

22:27 so that when you are sort of driving in and around the city

22:29 and even out on country road, it has that body control

22:31 and it doesn't feel overdone or underdone.

22:33 It really sits in that perfect middle ground.

22:35 So from a comfort point of view,

22:37 this car really just feels nice to drive around.

22:40 Let's talk about road noise.

22:41 So it's okay out on the freeway.

22:44 You get a little bit of tire noise coming into the cabin,

22:46 but the biggest contributor to noise in the cabin

22:48 is the gap here between these doors.

22:50 So to get those cool suicide doors,

22:52 the padding and insulation they have there

22:55 really isn't enough.

22:56 And you're getting a lot of wind noise

22:58 coming in through there.

22:59 So I just think that could have been much better done.

23:03 I should also mention as well,

23:04 they've plumbed fake sound into here.

23:06 So have a listen to this.

23:07 I just don't understand why manufacturers do that.

23:12 I don't think people that buy EVs

23:14 wanna hear fake noises coming into the cabin.

23:16 I definitely don't.

23:17 I like the fact that my car just makes no sound

23:20 when I hit the throttle.

23:21 So yeah, I don't know.

23:22 Let me know what you think.

23:23 Do we need fake noises in EVs?

23:25 Now, what about visibility?

23:26 So visibility at the front is good.

23:28 Visibility out the back, not so good.

23:30 So it's quite a narrow envelope.

23:32 The seats kind of sit in the way there.

23:34 The thing I've got the biggest issue with though

23:35 is the side visibility.

23:36 We have our blind spot monitor in the wing mirror there,

23:39 but for the blind spot itself, the B pillar is enormous.

23:42 So when you go to check your blind spot,

23:44 you can barely see out of it.

23:45 So I think it is really just not very well done

23:48 in terms of those ergonomics.

23:50 I think they could have spent a little bit more effort

23:52 there on helping you see out the sides of the car.

23:55 (upbeat music)

23:56 So MX-30 Electric, what do we think?

23:58 I didn't think the hybrid version was very good.

24:01 I thought it was expensive, not very efficient,

24:03 and kind of just pointless.

24:04 This on the other hand is a completely different story.

24:07 I think they've put a lot of effort

24:08 into the electric drivetrain and it shows.

24:11 When you drive this, you really feel like it's fuss free.

24:14 It's not like a lot of electric cars

24:15 that feel like an electric drivetrain

24:17 has been tacked onto an existing platform.

24:19 This feels like it's been built from the ground up

24:21 as an electric vehicle.

24:22 That means the regen is fantastic.

24:24 It's nice and smooth in terms of power delivery

24:26 and it handles nicely.

24:27 It's just a good mix of all the electric components

24:30 that you want plus the fun factor as well.

24:32 But it is ultimately let down by two things.

24:34 That's the price and the range.

24:36 The price is just way too high.

24:38 If you look at the rest of the competitors in this segment,

24:40 you can get far better value from virtually everyone else.

24:43 I just don't understand why you would spend

24:45 the extra for a Mazda.

24:46 We go back to that analogy of the handbag.

24:48 Yes, I understand some brands demand more money,

24:51 but I just don't know that Mazda is there,

24:52 especially with their first electric car.

24:54 You can't just go charge a huge premium

24:56 until you've proven the technology.

24:58 Yes, in Australia we do have a guaranteed

24:59 future value system which improves the proposition,

25:02 but ultimately I just think there are far better

25:04 value purchases out there if you ask specifically

25:06 after an electric car.

25:07 I also think it's let down by the range.

25:09 Not giving consumers the option to go for a bigger battery

25:11 if they do want to drive further

25:13 is ultimately going to hurt this

25:14 because at the end of the day,

25:16 it will go through that range fairly quickly.

25:18 And with range anxiety, once you get to that quarter mark,

25:20 even though you still have plenty of driving range,

25:22 you're going to feel like you need to charge.

25:23 So most of your drive's already gone by that point.

25:26 So look, I just feel that it is a great car inherently.

25:29 They've done a really good job with the electric system.

25:31 They've put a lot of effort into it,

25:32 but ultimately it's let down by the price and the range.

25:35 Is that going to be an issue?

25:36 Let me know in the comments section below.

25:37 Are you one of the people that have signed up to this?

25:39 Have you bought one?

25:40 What do you think of it?

25:42 Tell me what I'm missing here

25:43 and why you think it's worth the extra money

25:45 over the rest of the competitors in this segment.

25:47 I am very keen to get your feedback.

25:49 Now, if you did enjoy this video,

25:50 make sure you share it with your mates.

25:51 Hit the like button.

25:52 And if you haven't done so already,

25:53 subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon

25:55 so you can find out every single time we do a new review.

25:58 But until next time, drive safely.

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