Note that this review is based on our initial drive of the Mazda MX-30 R-EV. Our full review and verdict (complete with the car's overall score, plus scores for safety, reliability and more) will be available to Which? members once all our extensive lab and road tests are complete.
Mazda MX-30 R-EV overview
With the R-EV version, Mazda has addressed the MX-30’s limited EV range, but in a unique way. The MX-30 R-EV may be a plug-in hybrid (PHEV), but the car is always powered by its 170hp electric motor. On its own, this motor has a very impressive claimed driving range of 53 miles. However, the difference is that the small 17.8kWh battery powering this motor can be recharged in two different ways.
Like other PHEVs it can be charged at commercial chargers, which takes 25 minutes at up to 36kW DC. Home charging takes 90 minutes when using a 7.2kW AC home charger, or 50 minutes with an 11kW unit.
Three trim levels are currently available. Entry-level models feature automatic wipers, an 8.8-inch infotainment screen, a 7-inch digital instrument cluster and a head-up display. Mid-range models add rear privacy glass, an electrically adjustable driver’s seat and heated front seats.
Top-spec models also feature adaptive headlights, a panoramic sunroof, an upgraded stereo and a heated steering wheel. A limited edition trim level (called Edition R) was available when the MX-30 R-EV was launched but has now sold out.
Looking to buy a car? Our guide on shows you the options that are available.What's the Mazda MX-30 R-EV great at?If you’re looking for an EV but want to avoid public charging, then the MX-30 R-EV may be just the car for you. It has enough electric range for most daily journeys and can easily be charged at home or when you’re driving for longer distances.
What's it like to drive?
Even though the R-EV weighs nearly 1.9 tonnes (making it heavier than the standard EV MX-30), it has 170hp compared to the EV’s 145. This means that there’s plenty of power when you pull away, and enough to accelerate up to motorway speeds.
As the electric motor always powers the car, the power delivery is immediate and direct. It’s quiet when driven as a pure EV, with artificial engine noise (and some motor noise) audible at motor speeds. It’s noisier when the rotor is charging the battery and powering the electric motor, although the whirring sound it generates is quite consistent and is only really noticeable under hard acceleration. Road noise becomes the dominant sound at motorway speed, with wind noise less of an issue.
You can choose from three different drive settings. EV mode drives the car with just the battery until it runs out of charge. Charge mode runs the car as an EV until you reach 43% of battery level, at which point the rotor will fire up to charge the battery. Charge mode allows the driver to set a figure they want the rotor to charge the battery to and keep the level of battery charge the same once the set figure has been reached.
Regardless of mode, when the electric motor can’t generate enough power on its own, the rotary engine will step in.
The one-speed automatic gearbox is very smooth, and regenerative braking can be activated with the paddles behind the steering wheel.
On the motorway, the steering is excellent and the centre position is well defined. At slower speeds it isn’t as defined and lacks feedback, although it is direct and quite precise.
There’s little body roll when cornering although, like many SUVs, it does increase as you go faster.
The suspension system absorbs bumps well, even in town over uneven surfaces. Motorway comfort is acceptable, but not as smooth, with larger bumps felt in the cabin.
The cabin features cork inserts (a nod to Mazda’s origins as a manufacturer of cork products). They’re certainly different, as is the grey cloth found on the door panels. However, while the top of the dashboard makes use of soft, thick plastics, much of the rest of the interior makes use of hard plastics, and the cloth inserts also feel a little cheap.
Unusually, the cabin isn’t dominated by a large touchscreen. Instead, you use a large rotary knob to scroll through the central display, which is positioned high-up in direct view of the driver. With many manufacturers removing easy-to-use features such as selector knobs, it’s welcome to see one in the R-EV. Direct selection buttons can be found alongside the knob, which makes it easy to navigate through the menus.
The climate controls are controlled by a touchscreen that’s lower down, but even this has buttons either side and below it for the air conditioning, temperature and heated windscreen controls, among others. Using this does require some familiarisation, though.
However, the steering wheel buttons are small and fiddly to use. The shiny surfaces of some of them affect how easy it is to read what each of them controls, too.
While the instrument cluster can only be configured in three different ways, it’s easy to read, although the sheer amount of information it displays can be confusing.
Unlike most cars, the rear doors are hinged from the rear, which does impact visibility. The windows in these doors are also small which, combined with the wide rear roof pillars and sloping rear windscreen, makes manoeuvres a challenge. To address this, a reversing camera and all-round parking sensors are standard across the range. A 360-degree camera is fitted to top-spec models.
How reliable is the Mazda MX-30 R-EV?
As the MX-30 R-EV is a brand-new model, we aren’t able to tell you about its reliability, although we can take a look at Peugeot’s models overall.
How comfortable and spacious is it?
The wide front doors make it easy to get into the driver and front passenger seats. The lack of a central roof pillar also helps.
There’s plenty of space in the front, giving even six-footers plenty of head and legroom. There’s also a decent amount of legroom in the back, although the lack of rear headroom means tall passengers will be uncomfortable here.
The overall feeling of space is mixed: the cork-lined front storage tray is a useful feature but the black roof headlining can make it feel quite dark inside. The small rear windows and relatively narrow rear cabin also make it feel a little claustrophobic.
The electrically adjustable driver’s seat in our test car offered a good range of adjustment options (including for lumbar support), while the manually adjustable seats of entry-level models are also easy to configure. We’d like them to have more padding and side support, though.
Mazda claims that 350 litres of boot space are available in the MX-30 R-EV (this decreases to 332 litres on top-spec models due to the larger audio system). Up to 1,155 litres (1,137 on top-spec models) of space is available when the rear seats are folded down. The rear seats are easy to fold down and create a near-flat loading space. There’s no awkward step between the boot floor and the rear seats when they’re folded down, either.
Once we’ve lab-tested the MX-30 R-EV, we’ll provide accurate measured boot and cabin space figures.
How economical is it to run?
The MX-30 R-EV has a claimed EV driving range of 53 miles, which equates to an energy consumption figure of 3.6kWh/100km. Mazda’s combined mpg figure is an unrealistic 282.5mpg. However, Mazda also claims that when charging the battery with the rotary engine, fuel consumption stands at a more realistic (if quite underwhelming) 37.2mpg.
We’ll provide accurate battery range and fuel consumption figures once we’ve put the MX-30 R-EV through our lab tests.
How safe is it?
The MX-30 achieved a full five-star rating from Euro NCAP when it was crash-tested. However, the organisation did note that the car’s autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system failed to detect pedestrians to the rear of the car or at the front of the car when turning.
All MX-30 R-EV models have traffic sign recognition, lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control and front AEB systems. Top-of-the-range models also feature front cross traffic alert, rear AEB and driver monitoring technology.
Is there anything I should look out for?
While Mazda has aimed the MX-30 R-EV at people who occasionally drive long distances, the rate at which the battery is charged varies dramatically depending on where you drive.
Mazda MX-30 R-EV: Which? first drive verdict
Price: Pros: Cons:With the MX-30 R-EV, Mazda has created an interesting take on the standard PHEV formula. From our first drive, we think it’s a great long-distance cruiser that’s still entertaining to drive and reasonably practical, even if it isn’t particularly economical when the rotor is charging the battery.
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