2021 Mazda MX-30 Long-Term Review Car News

It made me nervous; the official range is 130 miles (I see around 117 miles displayed after a full charge), but I live in an apartment and do more miles than the average Londoner. Surely that can’t be a match made in heaven?

So far I have made it work. Free overnight parking on my local streets means I can pick up the Mazda around the corner after dinner, plug it into an Ubitricity lamppost, and pick it up after my morning coffee (before the parking guards come prowling) . It’s not ideal – these street chargers operate at less than 5kW, so even a 25-50% charge takes a good few hours – but remember, this isn’t a big battery, so it usually is. full when I come back to it, and I will not have paid dearly for the privilege (24p per kWh).

Granted, I’ve done a lot of work in crowded West London, which is the kind of environment the close-range MX-30 is destined to be most popular in. But when put through my patented M25 U-turn endurance test, the MX-30’s displayed miles still match actual distance traveled, and range doesn’t crumble as quickly as I did. Thought so at a 65 mph cruise.

In numerical terms, on my longest nonstop trip so far, I traveled 62 miles – mostly on the motorway but with a few country roads and London thoroughfares – and returned home with 37% battery remaining. .

If the drums were bigger (and therefore heavier), I think the MX-30 would lose the dynamic advantage it enjoys over its contemporaries. Compared to the numb, disengaged bar of many rivals, he’s more than quick and nimble enough to liven up the race. In the corners, it turns crisp, stands pleasantly upright, and lets you regain power quickly without the scratches and jumps that can spoil the experience in similarly positioned cars.

So what became clear in the first 500 miles? Well, Mazda’s refreshing and logical approach to infotainment ergonomics continues to stand out among contemporaries with big screen and touch controls, and I’m especially happy that neither the center display nor the group of indicators display more information than necessary: ​​range, radio station and speed. Why try harder?

The rear seats are a slightly more controversial issue. ‘Suicide’ doors are a neat touch, but they are so small that they prevent access to everyone except the most compact passengers. Not that someone bigger wants to try; a neighbor of mine jokingly called the MX-30 “the world’s first electric two-seater SUV” in reference to its tiny backseat.