2026 Mazda 6e – Too Good To Be True?

The 6e was co-developed with Chinese manufacturer Changan, and that’s become the headline for a lot of people. I don’t think it should be. China is building fantastic EVs, and Mazda has reworked this one thoroughly, inside and out. There’s only one place you’d ever notice where it came from, and we’ll get to that.

STYLING – Officially the World’s Best-Looking Car

The 6e is the 2026 World Car Design of the Year. Andy pointed out it’s only this world, though. Other planets may vote differently.

Still, it’s hard to argue with the judges. It’s distinctive in the way the best Mazdas are, the kind of car you like to look at in traffic.

I have a soft spot for four-door coupes, and this one nails the two things I love most about them. The roofline sweeps all the way to the tail and hides a liftback, so the boot is far easier to load than a conventional sedan’s. And the doors have frameless windows which just feel special.

The front gets a big fake grille, and I’m fine with that. We've been conditioned to see them, and it's a welcome sight amongst some of the strangeness we're seeing in other EV designs. It’s also unmistakably Mazda, a close relative of the Mazda3, which took the same design award in 2020. Look closely and the nose leans forward slightly, like the bow of a ship, which gives it a subtle edge of aggression. The rear echoes that angle, so the profile forms a gentle parallelogram. It’s clever, cohesive design.

Two nitpicks. The spaced-out MAZDA lettering across the tail is meant to signal premium. So many brands are doing it now, Skoda included, that it has stopped signalling anything. Mazda’s existing logo was clean and elegant. If it ain’t broke...

Then there are the flush door handles, which are now standard EV fare. They’re fiddly, and every pull feels like it might be the one that snaps something.

INTERIOR – Smart Budget Allocation

Open the door and it’s obvious where Mazda spent a lot of the budget.

NZ cars come exclusively in tan. If that’s not your thing, consider yourself warned. I’m thoroughly bored of black interiors, so as far as I’m concerned it’s about time.

I went in expecting scratchy plastics. There are a few, but only low on the door cards, where nobody looks and barely touches. Almost everything else you touch is leather. It’s Nappa, no less, which is remarkable at this price.

The design is just as considered. Too many cabins mix landscape and portrait shapes and end up feeling cobbled together. Here, everything flows horizontally, with each element tucked neatly into the next. It has the kind of wow factor that non-car people notice immediately.

The equipment list backs it up:

• Driver’s display. The digital display is nicely judged, flanked by a Mazda logo and flowing lines that match the rest of the car. The information can be silghtly cluttered, though.
• Sunroof and head-up display. You get a split panoramic roof with blinds front and rear, plus a head-up display that not all cars in this price range have.
• Seats. The front seats are heated and ventilated. The driver’s headrest has a speaker for calls and navigation, a trick we first saw in the Audi S5.
• Audio. The 14-speaker Sony system is decent rather than fantastic, and the bass sounds muddy on its default settings. At just under $59,000, that’s a fair trade.
• Controls. Drive is selected with a stalk, and the indicator sits on the left, European-style. That’s unusual for a Mazda, and coming out of the CX-60 it took some adjusting to.

The real surprise is space. The cabin is far roomier, front and rear, than a sedan has any right to be. Both of our boys’ car seats went in the back, including a bulky rotating rear-facing one, without moving the front seats at all. Add the liftback and it’s a genuine family car.

The one black mark is the lack of physical climate controls. Changing the temperature means looking away from the road to find it on a screen, and I think that’s a real safety issue.

INFOTAINMENT – The Only Seam That Shows

If the Changan partnership shows through anywhere, it’s here. The interface looks and feels like a Chinese-brand system, but a good one.

It’s overwhelming at first , but swipe in from the right and most of what you need is there. Then spend some time in the settings menu when you first pick the car up. Each option comes with an explanation or a visual, so setting the car up your way is straightforward.

There have been reports of bugs. I only hit one: Android Auto audio dropped out once, and a restart fixed it. Mazda has skinned the software with its own imagery, but the fonts and colours still don’t feel like Mazda. An over-the-air update could sort that out easily.

It may feel unfamiliar, but it's no deal-breaker.

PERFORMANCE – Don’t Judge It by the Stopwatch

We clocked 0–100 km/h in 7.24 seconds. It hesitates for a beat off the line, then gets going nicely.

But that number misses the point. Mazda isn’t chasing performance here, nobody should expect a rocket at $59,000, and hardly anyone drives like that anyway.

The in-motion  shove is what matters. Floor it from 50 km/h and it takes off without drama, with a sci-fi whir as it goes. With torque always on tap, it feels quicker than the numbers suggest, and you won't feel held back at the lights or in the overtaking lane.

DRIVING – Calm, Planted, and Quiet

The 6e is effortless to drive. It’s smooth and easy around town, with plenty in reserve when you ask for it. Mazda have calibrated the throttle nicely.

It handles better than you’d expect, too. With all that weight sitting low, there’s hardly any body roll. Despite being rear-wheel drive, it never felt loose, even in the rain.

Comfort is the highlight, though. The ride is calm and well-sorted, soaking up undulations instead of passing them on to you.

It’s reasonably quiet as well. There’s some tyre noise but no wind whistle. At 100 km/h, I could talk without raising my voice, as if sitting in a coffee shop.

RANGE & EFFICIENCY – Real-World NZ Numbers

Mazda claims 560 km (WLTP). Fully charged, ours showed 470 km. That gap is expected: the estimate reflects recent driving, and claimed figures assume different conditions.

Efficiency is the better story. We averaged 14.8 kWh/100 km, despite more than a few full-throttle tests. That's below Mazda's official claim.

Regen is adjustable, but there’s no true one-pedal driving. The setting is also oddly buried: it’s only available in the Individual drive mode, and there’s no physical control for it at all.

VERDICT – It Really Is That Good

So is the Mazda 6e too good to be true? No. It’s genuinely that good. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a knockout.

It’s still a Mazda at heart. It doesn’t win on performance or tech. It wins on design and comfort, with one of the most comfortable rides we’ve experienced in this class and an interior that feels far pricier than it is.

For the money, I think it's incredibly compelling.