Mazda CX-6e 2026 review: Australian first drive | Zeekr 7X rival tested

Price and features – Does it represent good value for the price? What features does it come with?

8 / 10

Discounting temporary drive-away offers, the Mazda CX-6e range opens at $53,990 plus on-road costs for the GT, and then climbs to $56,990 for the flagship Azami. There’s not a huge gap between those numbers, and that’s because both cars share the same battery and engine, and a lot of the same equipment.

As I write, the cheapest Tesla Model Y (the big dog in the electric SUV fight) is $58,900, so you'd have to argue Mazda has the pricing right.

The GT opens with:

• 19-inch alloys
• LED lighting
• Panoramic glass roof
• Black Maztech trim
• Heated and ventilated front seats
• A massive 26.45-inch multimedia screen
• Head-up display
• Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
• 21-speaker stereo

Stepping up to the Azami gets you bigger 21-inch alloys and digital wing mirrors — the latter of which I don’t like.

If it was my money, you’d find me in a GT.

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Design – Is there anything interesting about its design?

8 / 10

Mazda's designer is rightly proud of what he's managed to achieve here, and says every panel, and everything you touch inside, is Japanese, not Chinese. 

The brand has inarguably made a very attractive SUV here. It’s sleek and modern feeling, but it has soul and character, too. Oh, and the brand insists the aerodynamic raised air curtain on the bonnet was done by Mazda first, and not the Ferrari Luce.

The black and swept-back roofline lends a sporty feel, too, while both the 19- and 21-inch alloy options suit the vibe.

But there is one view I’m not keen on, and that’s standing (or driving) directly behind it. Stay close to the car and you don’t really notice it, but take a few steps back — or follow behind one — and the rear end looks somehow blobby and out of proportion.

It's the one weak spot in an otherwise very good looking package.

The Mazda treatment has occurred in the cabin, too, and the touchpoints are suitably plush, though it is entirely lacking in tactile buttons or switches.

Pride of place instead is the massive screen, which is a whopping 26.4 inches. Honestly, though, only about half of that is of any real use. The passenger side has super limited functionality – it's limited to stuff like changing the theme of the screen or the radio station – and so it feels wasted and a bit pointless on that side of the cabin.

Practicality – How practical is its space and tech inside?

8 / 10

At 4850mm long and 1620mm tall, the CX-6e is longer but lower than the CX-5. But I'm 175cm, and I had no problem getting comfortable in the backseat. The leg room is huge, and I didn't find the headroom an issue at all, with clear air above me, even with the swept back roofline.

That's probably the biggest practicality perk here, with the backseat properly cavernous in that way they often are in modern EVs. There are also air vents and temperature controls for backseat riders, as well as cupholders in the middle-seat pulldown divider.

At the boot, you'll find 363 litres of storage space measured to the parcel tray (so more if you stack to the ceiling), and a total 1434 litres should you fold the second row and load all the way to the ceiling.

What you won't find, though, is a spare tyre. If you get stuck, a puncture kit is your only hope.

Under the bonnet – What are the key stats for its motor?

7 / 10

There’s a single motor at the rear axle, making 190kW and 290Nm. Not a huge torque figure, but I like the way that the power is delivered here. It doesn’t feel overly aggressive, but it doesn’t feel underpowered either.

Efficiency – What is its driving range? What is its charging time?

7 / 10

Delivering the range is a 78kWh LFP battery, producing a WLTP driving range of up to 484kms. The DC charge rate is capped at 194kW, which should take you from 10-80 per cent charged in 24 minutes. AC charging is up to 11kW, too.

Driving – What's it like to drive?

7 / 10

It's not just outside and in the cabin where Mazda has worked its magic, it has done a whole bunch of stuff under the skin as well, retuning things like the steering, the suspension and the brakes, changing the tyre brand, and tweaking the damping to deliver a car that drives more like a Mazda than what you might of an electric Chinese SUV.

And it does feel more engaged from behind the wheel, but it also feels a little bit like Mazda has done the very best they can do with the package they've been given, rather than start from a clean sheet of paper.

There are some elements of the drive experience I'm not 100 per cent convinced by. One of them is a fairly busy ride, even on relatively smooth and straight roads, where it can feel a bit bouncy through the suspension. And another is the fact that it feels like it's been dialed up to 11 in places – the accelerator, for example, is super responsive, so even breathing on it can get that kind of surging feeling through the cabin, reminding you to be a little bit more gentle with your inputs.

Elsewhere, though, it is a composed and quiet package. We did a lot of driving through the city and then on flowing country roads, and it handled it all well. In fact, Melbourne is beset by potholes at the moment, and I actually targeted a few of them to see how it would handle them, and while the ride can feel busy in places, it does also soak up those really big road imperfections really well.

The two-tonne-plus kerb weight only really lets itself be known in super tight and twisty stuff. Otherwise, the CX-6e is happy just to flow along, a feeling helped by the not-stratospheric power outputs which suit the nature of this electric Mazda, too. 

If you were to blindfold me, I probably wouldn't immediately guess that I was driving a Mazda, but equally, I wouldn't say I was driving some new brand of Chinese SUV either. I think it straddles those two worlds, and it does it pretty well.

Safety – What safety equipment is fitted? What is its safety rating?

7 / 10

There’s no ANCAP rating yet, but Mazda is hopeful of five stars. It is waiting for EuroNCAP testing, but for now the CX-6e launches as an unrated vehicle.

I do like the fact that both models share the same safety package (I don't think you should have to spend more money to be safer), which means things like:

• Rear cross-traffic alert
• Auto emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian and cyclist detection
• Seven airbags
• 360-degree camera and more

Not all of it feels particularly Mazda, though. The driver attention monitor, for example, gets more annoying the more time you spend with it (every time you yawn it will tell you to pull over, for example), and the over-speed warning chirps you every time you stray over the limit by even a kay or two.

Ownership – What warranty is offered? What are its service intervals? What are its running costs?

7 / 10

The CX-6e is covered by Mazda’s five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, which is a little underwhelming by today’s standards. The battery is covered for eight years or 160,000kms.

Service intervals are 12 months or 20,000kms, and a capped-price servicing program will see you paying a total $1860 over the first five years of ownership.

Verdict