Mazda MX-30 vs Nissan LEAF

What's the difference?

Mazda’s MX-30 is an odd one. It’s Mazda’s third small SUV and its first production electric car, yet it wears the brand’s MX sports car prefix and originally launched as a combustion mild hybrid.

Of course, Mazda is no stranger to automobile enigmas, with left-of-field rotary choices in its past, and its semi-combustion SkyActiv-X engines showing a different take on the future, but can the brand’s innovative nature help make its first fully electric car a hit?

I drove an MX-30 E35 Astina shortly after its Australian launch to attempt to unravel its mysteries. Will it find its place in an increasingly busy EV marketplace? Read on to find out.

Here in 2021, it finally seems like Australia is ready to adopt electric cars, with interest on the rise and many, many new models of various shapes and sizes on the horizon.

Nissan, though, has been quietly chipping away at the EV market with its Leaf, which first launched in Australia way back in 2012 and was then refreshed with a new-gen model in mid-2019.

But even the latest Leaf is beginning to look a little dated compared to the likes of the Kia EV6 and Hyundai Ioniq 5, so what is Nissan to do?

Introduce the new Leaf e+ of course, which features a larger battery for increased driving range, as well as a more potent electric motor for peppier performance.

But is the Nissan Leaf e+ the electric car to buy?