Mazda 6e 2026 review: Australian preview drive

This is the next Mazda6, but not as you know it. To be fair, it’s probably not even how Mazda would know it if it was up to the Hiroshima brand.

The 2026 Mazda 6e, set to launch in Australia next year, is based on the Deepal L07 with a fair amount of work having gone into ‘Mazda-ifying’ the EV.

With no electric cars in its line-up (in Australia, at least - forget the MX-30) during an increasingly electric time, Mazda has looked towards its joint-venture with Chinese carmaker Changan to source the basis of the first of its efforts to properly go EV.

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CarsGuide was given the chance to preview the one example of the Mazda 6e the brand’s local arm had managed to make available - albeit in left-hand drive and Euro-spec.

The location, on an extremely damp and rather cold day, is the Lang Lang proving ground, formerly Holden’s testing playground. 

Before we get to the drive, some details to run through.

The Mazda 6e is a rear-wheel drive electric car - a liftback-style sedan to be specific - that takes over in a practical sense from the Mazda6.

It’s coming to Australia in a single spec as far as the powertrain goes, a 190kW motor will draw power from a 78kWh LFP battery to offer up a claimed range in excess of 500km.

While specifics will be confirmed closer to the car's local launch in the middle of 2026, Mazda says charging from 30-80 per cent should be done in as little as 15 minutes.

According to Mazda Europe’s Senior Manager of Product Development and Engineering Alexander Fritsche there’s been a big focus on making the car feel and ride like a Mazda. 

More weight in the steering, a stiffer, more controlled ride and a dulling-down of the driver assist systems were some of the key areas to address, according Fritsche, who appreciated that China’s car buyer is looking for a soft and assisted drive, but notes that wouldn’t fly in Europe.

There’s more work to be done fine-tuning the ride and suspension for Australia, but Mazda Australia Managing Director Vinesh Bhindi told CarsGuide the similarities between European and Australian tastes in terms of a car’s setup would mean Mazda Europe has already done much of the heavy lifting.

Having a car sourced from China, with a lot of engineering work having already been done, could go a fair way to explaining Mazda’s indicated pricing for the 6e.

While the line-up and exact pricing is yet to be locked-in, Mazda Australia said it will set pricing around the $55,000 mark, before on-road costs. That’s not just a $49,990 entry price for the rest of the range to balloon out, either. We’re told not to expect pricing to stray too far from the mid-$50K range.

That puts it in pretty competitive company, mostly sitting in the lower price range of rivals like the BYD Seal and Tesla Model 3.

With all this in mind and a preview drive under our belt, how does the 6e stack up?

Assumptions typically attached to a car built in China and expectations for a new model from Mazda are unlikely to align for most people. So the 6e lands in a space that will likely impress those who understand its origins, but perhaps confuse those who have a clearly defined idea of what a new Mazda should be.

The biggest change is that while the interior’s design feels more Mazda than anticipated the 6e relies heavily on its multimedia touchscreen to manage the car’s functions.

After a short stint behind the wheel it felt no more complicated than many new Chinese brands’ systems. And the ability to customise the layout and keep your most-used settings and apps easy to find is a plus.

It still brings frustrations because adjusting things means taking your eyes off the road and the total lack of physical buttons feels like cost-cutting at its worst.

But the interior is relatively comfortable and the 6e seems ergonomically sound, aside from its reliance on The Screen.

Get moving, and the pleasant surprise is that everything feels more controlled and communicative than is the expectation for a car from China, where the preference is for a soft ride and light steering.

The 6e doesn’t quite have Mazda’s usually excellent ride and handling nailed, but given Mazda needed to start with a product that wasn’t its own design, and it hasn’t been specifically tuned for Australian roads just yet, the 6e holds up much better than expected, even if there’s room for improvement.

At Lang Lang, it settles well over most bumps and doesn’t shudder dramatically unless it’s thrown at some of the harsher NVH (Noise Vibration & Harshness) testing lanes. Given the damp weather, we’ll have to wait until the local launch (with a proper, Aus-spec right-hand drive car) to report back on how the 6e holds up when pushed.

Driver aids and its battery efficiency will also need to wait until we get a proper test, but first impressions of both these things, based on the information at hand, suggest the Mazda 6e should hold up well in the real world.