Mazda MX-30 Electric 2022 review: long-term

The MX-30, in the brand’s signature ‘Soul Red’ lustre, is replacing my previous long-termer, the Nissan Leaf e+.

The little Nissan was a tad smaller and more traditional, but packed a significantly larger battery, with around 385km of range on a single charge.

This MX-30 appears in the brand’s signature ‘Soul Red’ lustre. (image credit: Tom White)

That was appropriate for most scenarios – even coastal holidays, provided you planned your route, so I was particularly keen to see if this Mazda could be as convenient.

The ride home is immediately impressive. The Mazda feels great with its array of interesting cabin materials, and the electric drive features are even smoother than those on offer in the Leaf.

While you still get a quaint analogue power dial, the digital dash and dual screens in the cabin feel far more sci-fi than the Nissan.

The Mazda has the feel of an upmarket EV. (image credit: Tom White)

And the recycled cork materials, seats clad in synthetic leather and cloth, and the interesting door cards and centre console all give the Mazda the feel of an upmarket EV, even more than its alarming $65,490, before on-road costs, price tag might suggest.

There is an array of interesting cabin materials. (image credit: Tom White)

While I adjusted to the Mazda’s milder regenerative braking tune on the way home, I was also reminded of this car’s more immediate usability flaws.

As nice as it is having widescreen Apple CarPlay on the 8.8-inch media panel, it’s non-touch, and requires clumsy operation via a dial located in the centre console.

Featuring an 8.8-inch media panel. (image credit: Tom White)

It’s sort of okay for flicking through apps and the relatively simple Mazda software, but trying to enter an address in your navigation suite of choice? No thanks.

The next issue I ran into was opening the doors when I got home. Who would have thought something so simple would be an issue? The MX-30’s clamshell rear doors are a throwback to some great Mazda ancestors like the RX-8 but trying to use them in a tight unit parking spot proved painful.

You have to open the front door so far to get the rear one to swing out there are times where you won’t be able to access the rear seats. What a shame.

Other EV quirks include a huge storage area under the centre console (which immediately became home to all sorts of loose objects) which also features a full-size power outlet (I’m hoping this will come in handy), and elsewhere it gets paddle-shifters on the wheel to adjust its four levels of regenerative braking. Neat.

Paddle-shifters on the wheel adjust its four levels of regenerative braking. (image credit: Tom White)

In terms of distance travelled the first 500-plus kilometres travelled in our first month were largely spent kicking around town, to the shops, and visiting relatives.

The Mazda proved to be excellent for these urban duties. It’s nice and quiet at city speeds, with engaging steering and at times surprisingly firm suspension making it a hoot for darting around traffic in.

The Mazda proved to be excellent for urban duties. (image credit: Tom White)

It also feels very light for an EV, thanks to that small battery pack, with what I would consider even better handling than its combustion CX-30 relation.

No range issues in the first month, either. Distance travelled was largely urban and there are two (free) AC charging units close to me, so no cost to charge for November.

There were no range issues in the first month. (image credit: Tom White)

Spending largely urban time behind the wheel with the regen setting maxed out also let the Mazda best its own combined energy usage claim of 18.5kWh/100km, showing 16.3kWh/100km for the month. That lands it close to the efficiency I scored in the Leaf.

This situation usually had the car floating around the 80–140km range mark with top-ups every couple of days.

Once you get in the rhythm of plugging in at the shops it becomes a largely forgettable exercise, and generally I found I had range to spare if I needed to do a day with a bit more driving involved.

Will it be enough to venture beyond the city limits though? You’ll have to wait until December’s instalment to find out.

Acquired: November 2021

Distance travelled this month: 549km

Odometer: 1292km

Cost to charge in November: $0

Average energy consumption for November: 16.3kWh/100km 

In the MX-30’s third month with us, I still find myself learning little things about it. With the CarsGuide review schedule starting to fill up as the year kicks in properly, it didn’t see as many kilometres in the preceding months.

My partner had become quite attached to it, telling me she finds it easy to drive, relatively easy to see out of, and that the cabin is generally a pleasant place to be.

She also became a total pro at charging the thing up, on several occasions proudly announcing she’d managed to get it close to 100 per cent from her trips to the local shops.

The mazda stayed at a high state of charge for much of the month. (Image: Tom White)

It stayed at a high state of charge for much of the month, as the low total distance on offer from a full juice builds up your habit of plugging it in everywhere. And we didn’t really have the need to take it on the freeway.

It would occasionally even influence where I would choose to stimulate the economy. No charger? No business. Perhaps this is a word of warning to shopping centres of the near future.

Mazda MX30 feels slick and upmarket compared to our previous long-term Nissan Leaf e+. (Image: Tom White)

She also loved how slick and upmarket it felt compared to our previous long-term Nissan Leaf e+. It’s not that she didn’t like the Leaf, judging it easy to park and noting it “didn’t have the stupid rear doors” of the MX-30.

But she added the Mazda's smooth drive characteristics and nicer cabin design felt more in tune with an EV in 2022.

Mazda MX30's smooth drive characteristics and nicer cabin design felt more in tune with an EV in 2022. (Image: Tom White)

The mild annoyances with this car persisted, though. The rear doors are very frustrating in side-by-side parking scenarios, the 6.6kW AC inverter makes it tough to keep those charge levels up.

You find yourself constantly wondering if you can make a return journey with the required amount of range to spare, which often made me reach for the keys to an alternate set of wheels.

Again, this month I had to plan around the fact that the MX-30 would struggle to make it from Sydney to the closest northern high-speed charger in Newcastle, as our weekend adventures took us to Nelson Bay, a further 55km to the north.

The rear doors are very frustrating in side-by-side parking scenarios, the 6.6kW AC inverter makes it tough to keep those charge levels up. (Image: Tom White)

In the end (and despite AC chargers being available at the hotel), I elected to take a combustion car instead.

My partner would roll her eyes at this and say, “not very convenient, is it?” No, it isn’t.

While it feels the part, 200km of range on a full charge (slightly less actually, but we’ll get to that) is not enough for an Australian motorist, really.

In its role as a ‘second car’ it’s fine, but perhaps not even suitable for a couple like us which appreciates weekend sorties.

I discovered other things about the MX-30, even this far into my long-term experience, experimenting more with the regenerative braking modes, which yielded interesting results.

While I'd become accustomed to simply maxing out the two levels of regen on offer, after having spent some time with the modes in the opposite direction, it became obvious the paddles controlled more than just regen, they were in effect different drive modes.

Bumping the paddle shifters up twice puts the car in more of a ‘sport’ mode. Not only does this setting remove regenerative braking, it steps up the responsiveness of the electric motor.

I’ll admit, it has even more power than I had expected. The seemingly ordinary motor outputs of 107kW/271Nm are plenty to propel this little SUV with some vigour, even overwhelming the front tyres without too much input.

The seemingly ordinary motor outputs of 107kW/271Nm are plenty to propel this little SUV with some vigour. (Image: Tom White)

This mode proved to be useful for overtaking and conquering steeper hills, but notably began to shred battery efficiency, with my drive mode experimentation pushing the final number for the month to 16.8kWh/100km, from 16.3kWh the month before.

Dividing this into the battery capacity yields you around 190km per charge instead of the car's WLTP official 200km claim.

The dash indicated as much, showing a variance between 170km and 190km when a 100 per cent state of charge was achieved.

The dash indicated, a variance between 170km and 190km when a 100 per cent state of charge was achieved. (Image: Tom White)

During my last month with the car, I swapped it for a week with Matt Campbell, who gave me a steer of his top-spec Kia Sportage. You can read what I thought of that car over on his long-term chapter here but Matt was less forgiving in his verdict on the MX-30.

“It’s not really good at anything is it?” He said upon returning the keys. “It’s not a good SUV and not a good electric car. It’s pretty good to drive, but that hardly makes up for its flaws.”

It’s hard to disagree. As I said in my original review of the MX-30, it’s baffling that Mazda has managed to imbue a small SUV with the practicality of a sports car.

A 211-litre boot won’t fit the three-piece CarsGuide luggage set, and convenience-wise there’s nowhere under the floor to put your charging paraphernalia, forcing it into the boot or cabin.

Like most Mazdas, the MX-30's wing mirrors are mounted up close on the doors, making them feel as though they almost have a zoom factor on them, restricting your view of neighbouring lanes. (Image: Tom White)

Further, Matt pointed out something I almost forgot to mention. The blind spot.

Like most Mazdas, the MX-30's wing mirrors are mounted up close on the doors, making them feel as though they almost have a zoom factor on them, restricting your view of neighbouring lanes.

On the MX-30 though, this is made worse by the fact the blind-spot monitoring system doesn’t seem to line up with this car’s blind spot.

It detects vehicles further back, when you can still see them in the mirror, not when they’re closer. And this car’s rear clamshell doors causes them to disappear from your proverbial scopes.

Now, we’ve been harsh, but I am more forgiving overall. Yes, the MX-30 is weird. Yes, it doesn’t have enough range and the rear doors and tiny boot are inconvenient. But it’s worth remembering this little SUV is more like a concept car you can actually buy.

The commitment to the design, cabin materials, and workmanship details are impressive. Even in the rear seat, for example, Mazda has made the plush seat material wrap around the plastic C-Pillar covering, so you never touch bare plastic.

Attention has been paid to other little areas, like the padded elbow rest back there, and lots of hidden pieces of cork trim where you wouldn’t expect them.

Plus, the fact a light battery and careful tuning mean the MX-30 maintains Mazda’s signature drive experience, despite being an EV, is admirable.

Few 'first attempt' EVs can claim they’ve maintained a brand’s signature feel so well.

Finally, the small battery leads to an interesting consequence for your cost-to-charge. Because you’ll be relying so much on often free public AC charging, the MX-30 has been particularly cheap for me to run in my time with the car (1388km / three months).

I’ve only had to use a DC charger three times, two of which were paid sessions, with a total cost of just $10.52.

Acquired: November 2021

Distance travelled this month: 284km

Odometer: 2132km

Cost to charge in January: $2.02

Total distance travelled: 1388km

Total cost to charge: $10.52

Total average energy consumption: 16.4kWh/100km