Mazda 6e

An early drive of a left hand drive Mazda 6e last year left us & many scratching our heads at a car that just didn’t feel Mazda enough. Fast-forward to June 2026 & we were given the chance to drive the UK specced versions in glorious North Wales. Have Mazda’s designers tweaked the 6e enough to make it better ? Here’s how we got on.

What is it ?

In order to bring a competitive EV to market, Mazda has collaborated with Chinese brand Changan, with the first model launched the 6e a large saloon that competes with the likes of the Tesla Model 3, BYD Seal & BMW i4, in the burgeoning electric saloon sector.

Model choice

Mazda has simplified the 6e model choice with just one long-range 78kWh battery offered, which comes with a 348 mile range & is available in two specs, Takumi or Takumi+. Both versions are rear wheel drive.

Prices

Takumi from £38,995, Takumi+ £39,995.

Specs

Takumi features 19” alloys, a 14.6”infotainment screen, a 10.2” digital drivers cluster, a panoramic sunroof, a 360-degree parking camera, a 64-colour ambient lighting system, faux leather upholstery & a Sony stereo system. It features an impressive maximum rapid-charging speed of 195kW, allowing for a 10% to 80% charge in about 24 minute

Takumi Plus adds the decidedly different tan Nappa leather upholstery, a heads-up display, ventilated wireless phone charging & more driver assistance tech.

Range & charging

The 78kWh battery is good for 348 miles & the 6e comes with a competitive maximum rapid-charging speed of 200kW, allowing for a 10% to 80% charge in just under 25 minutes.

Exterior

It’s a handsome car with some nice Mazda touches to the front with a Mazda grille & slim corner LED headlights. At the rear there’s a nod to Mazda’s of old with the half moon circular rear light clusters. And a floating electric spoiler looks good as well.

We drove a Takumi which came with black faux leather, a familiar Mazda logo-ed & shaped steering wheel & a simple clutter free dashboard.

All of the touchable surfaces are of high quality & there’s a pleasing simplicity to the dashboard & controls, although as we discovered this comes at a cost with as common elsewhere, too many cabin controls located within the touchscreen menus. Wing mirrors, climate, driving modes etc.. all will need to be accessed via the screen more of which next.

Infotainment

Here is where the 6e heads in a new direction for the brand. Gone is the brands click wheel to make adjustments, which in my opinion is a good thing as we are all smart phone obsessed & I struggled with the fact that the touchscreen usually only worked when you were stationary in a Mazda.

However there’s a caveat. Yes you get a massive clear screen, but apart from the window switches, almost everything else goes through the screen itself. Mazda stressed that there is plenty of customisation for shortcuts & there is a line of icons on the bottom of the screen to make life easier including climate. And two steering wheel star icons can be customised as short cuts, but as with many Chinese & to be fair Swedish cars with Chinese roots, it’s unnecessarily complicated

A good example is with driving modes. Three are offered; Normal, Sport or Individual. However if you want to utilise the cars built in brake regeneration, this can only be accessed in Individual Mode which is selected via the touchscreen menu. We’d have preferred steering wheel paddles or even a switch so that the regen can be set in all three modes. And yes we did try them & each slows the car down enabling some range extension but not one-pedal driving.

On the plus side we did connect to Apple CarPlay easily & our test route in was faultless. And listening to 6 Music meant more good news as the speaker set-up is first class.

Warranty

Handling

Last year we were disappointed by how the 6e felt. Mazda’s are not only beautifully built but they also offer plenty of driver engagement. And whilst the UK version drives better it’s still not as good on the road as we’ve come to expect from our favourite Japanese brand. Should we be surprised ? Not really, the cost of R&D to get a new EV on the road  is astronomical & Mazda’s collab with Changan means that the cars suspension & running feel aren’t going to be what Mazda drivers will be used to.

Having said all that & when compared to like for like competition, the Takumi we drove handled really nicely. A route around winding Snowdonia highlighted how Mazda’s designers have managed to improve the cars handling & the chassis & suspension feels just right. Thanks to a 47:53 weight distribution the battery weight isn’t obvious, which also helps the 6e so you get good balance & little or no body roll making cornering enjoyable. It also feels reassuringly safe.

On the road

We drove 184 miles in the 6e taking in some amazing A & B roads in North Wales, the A55 & the M53, basically covering all bases. It doesn’t do anything badly in fact we came away thinking just how much smoother the suspension was than when we drove it in 2025 & also how unobtrusive the drtver safety functions were.

It’s not perfect though. At lower speeds the steering feels a touch disconnected .You can actually select from two steering wheel settings, but neither we felt added nor took much away from our initial thoughts. Speed up though & the 6e feels more composed at higher speeds & genuinely offered a bit of fun on some undulating Welsh roads. Praise too for the brakes which compliment the car nicely with the brake-regeneration  settings blending in & out seamlessly.Motorway

Unsurprisingly, the 6e shines brightest over smooth motorway tarmac driving at a constant 70mph.
The cabin itself is vey well insulated against wind & road noise & the cars damping also helps in this respect. We’d go so far as to say that this is the cars biggest attribute.

Up-front the seat & cabin wrap around the driver & front seat passenger with really good head & legroom, comfortable seats with fore & aft steering wheel adjustment, making getting comfortable easy.

The cruise control is easily set using the right side steering wheel stalk & you can alter the distance to the vehicle in front of & adjust your speed with steering wheel switches. It works well. And if you do need to overtake there’s a pleasing amount of power when accelerating from 60-70mph.

Pros

Well equipped, decent ride, high-quality finishes, 3% BIK & looks fantastic !

Cons

Lacks some Mazda DNA. Infotainments a little busy.

Conclusion

With the 6e Mazda were damned if they do & damned if they don’t. Mazda needs electric cars, specially for the fleet sector & what the 6e give them is exactly that, albeit with more than a few compromises along the way. The bigger picture, is that UK customers are flocking to new Chinese brands such as BYD, Omoda & Jaecoo, all of which offer value for money, electric & plug-in powertrains & great geographical coverage though their dealer networks. And how the car rides doesn’t seem to be upsetting these buyers.

Verdict

If you can handle the fact that the 6e isn’t a pure Mazda, there’s still things to like, including high levels of equipment, a top-quality interior & some decent Mazda touches to the exterior especially with the use of  heritage lights to the rear. Best of all Mazda has tweaked the car enough to make it ride better than many competitors & it genuinely looks different. In a sea of bland exteriors the 6e really stands out & that alone is worth plenty.

Nicely done 4/5