Forget the MG4, BYD Dolphin and GWM Ora, buy a $40k Mazda MX-30 EV instead | Opinion

I think you should buy a Mazda MX-30 Electric… and I’ve not even been drinking.

You know, the small SUV we panned at its July 2021 launch for its “poor value proposition”. Our review, in short, suggested you’d be almost out of your mind to buy one.

But that was when it was over $70,000 to drive away. We, and every other car reviewer with a basic grasp of the market, knew this fee for a small EV with paltry 200km (WLTP) range was laughable.

Ergo, very few sold.

But you can now buy an ex-dealer demo one, typically with just a few thousand kilometres on the clock, from $40,000 drive-away. And that’s before haggling.

Hello, that’s suddenly very interesting.

Not least because, crap electric range aside, the MX-30 came only in range-topping, high-spec Astina grade.

It has a beautifully presented, quality interior, quirky features and it’s even good fun to drive.

A challenge to Chinese cheapies

Head to carsales.com.au and, at time of writing, a Queensland dealer has a 2021 MX-30 Electric with 8300km showing for $39,990 drive-away.

An even better buy is a 1700km-old ex-demo in Victoria for $40,990 on the road; then there are seven more for under $45,000 in the traffic.

On the face of it, that’s remarkable value now some $30k has been slashed from the original silly price.

While the MX-30 Electric’s now been discontinued, head to Mazda’s website and the petrol-powered MX-30 M Hybrid (which is the mildest hybrid known to man), quite comically, costs more than those ex-demo MX-30 Electrics. A petrol MX-30 Astina’s over $46,000 drive-away.

Is it fair comparing an ex-demo to a brand new EV? To my mind, with 1700km showing, it’s still a new car, with the only obvious negative being Mazda’s five year warranty having ticked over two years already.

Thing is, if you can snare a near-new Mazda MX-30 Electric for around $40k, that throws it into the mix against an MG4 51 Excite at around $41,000 drive-away. The MG has better range at 350km (WLTP), but good grief it’s lean on equipment.

How about the GWM Ora? It’s around $45,000 drive away and has 310km range, but you’re driving something that looks like a startled beetle.

Then there’s the BYD Dolphin. It’s around $42,000 to drive away and has 340km (WLTP) range, but after our first test, decided those seeking any sort of driver joy should look elsewhere.

All the above Chinese EVs have their merits, but for right or wrong, there’s a sector of the Australian buying market who won’t consider buying from China. Trust me, I get letters from them each week.

Other buyers, quite understandably, aren’t keen on brands that have only been in the country for five minutes.

The familiarity of a Mazda – a brand long and successfully established in Australia – gives the MX-30 Electric a strong trump card here.

Revisiting the MX-30 Electric

Electric or not, driving away any high specification Mazda SUV for around $40,000 these days isn’t easy.

Which is why the much maligned MX-30 Electric’s worth a re-visit, now it’s been moved to Bargain Corner.

Thing is, its daft launch price and poor range aside, Mazda’s first all-electric effort was actually a pretty good car with heaps of enjoyable features.

Reason behind fitting a titchy 35.5kWh battery – offering the mere 200km range – was Mazda’s ‘well-to-wheel’ philosophy. This considered CO2 produced over a car’s full life cycle, from materials extraction to disposal.

Smaller batteries mean lower life-cycle CO2 emissions, hence not fitting a whopper with extra weight just to give 500km range many people would never need.

Why haul around heavy, expensive batteries if you’ll rarely, if ever, travel close to 200km without a charging opportunity? Reasoning is sound, but for most, it’s just a one-way ticket to range anxiety hell.

The MX-30 Electric is practically the same size as Mazda’s ubiquitous combustion CX-30 SUV, but with coupe-like roof, massive C-pillar and quirky ‘freestyle’ (suicide or rear-hinged doors), as previously found on Mazda’s RX-8 sportscar.

These funky doors add wow factor, but daftly, a back door can only be opened with the front door open too. The driver or passenger therefore must get out too if you’re letting rear occupants out.

It’s cramped and dark in the rear seats too, but really, many small SUV buyers never use the second row anyway.

Buyers score LED lights all round, elegant Vintage Brown faux leather/black cloth seats, cork trim, heated driver’s seat and steering wheel, 8.8-inch infotainment, Bose audio, head up display, dual zone climate control and glass sunroof. Pretty generous.

Safety kit’s comprehensive, the material quality throughout is lovely (recycled plastic door trim excluded) and space for driver and front passenger is very good.

It’s not a quick car with 107kW/271Nm: it takes around ten seconds to hit 100km/h.

But it’s blissfully smooth in town, zippy enough to squirt between traffic, and, as it weighs a relatively light (for an EV) 1670kg, it even does direction changes with a bit of agility.

Bumps are well absorbed, cabin insulation’s superb, and steering’s nicely light for city manoeuvres.

Engaging to drive? I’d say far more so than the Chinese rivals listed above.

Mazda’s smart G-Vectoring Control (e-GVC Plus) uses the motor’s torque to help with weight transfer when cornering, braking and accelerating, offering decent sure-footedness and balance on twisty roads. It’s not Mazda MX-5 levels of fun, but there are smiles to be had.

The case for the MX-30 Electric

I’m not saying an ex-demo Mazda MX-30 Electric is Buy of The Century, but I do think it should be thrown into the mix for those considering dropping $40k on the current crop of entry-level EVs.

Think about your car use. Is it urban stuff? Just a commute? The second car for shopping? If so, that 200km range shouldn’t be an issue. Especially if you can simply charge it at home at day’s end.

Which, incidentally, won’t take too long.

It goes from 20 to 80 percent battery charge in nine hours using a normal domestic power point. Add a home wallbox and that drops to three hours.

For $40,000 drive away, you can get into a funky, luxury-packed and truly scarce little electric SUV with a very familiar badge on the bonnet.