![With three main driving modes, the R-EV can be a variety of different cars according to how you set it](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/images/2023/10/19/TELEMMGLPICT000352780260_16977161560390_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqZ-FC2zF52Ic8cwMjpfVdXPGfJCqwigcgFBuK2gH8aVU.jpeg?imwidth=680)
Mazda MX-30 R-EV review: the best of both electric and petrol worlds... sort of
The Japanese car maker brings ‘triangle power’ back to the road – just not quite as you might have expected
![With three main driving modes, the R-EV can be a variety of different cars according to how you set it](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/images/2023/10/19/TELEMMGLPICT000352780260_16977161560390_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqZ-FC2zF52Ic8cwMjpfVdXPGfJCqwigcgFBuK2gH8aVU.jpeg?imwidth=680)
In case you’ve been listening to car makers lately, please be assured that (despite what they say) making a battery electric car isn’t a particularly complicated business. A few years ago, even the BBC Top Gear team managed the task with a reasonable degree of success.
Building a plug-in hybrid (PHEV), however, is. Two distinct power trains yoked together, both capable of driving the car either on their own or together. If it weren’t for the tax advantages, it’s difficult to imagine a car maker undertaking such a daunting task of design, cost, packaging and calibration.
Just as fiendishly complex is the idea of a range extender hybrid. This is where a small petrol engine drives a generator, which provides electrical current to drive the car and charge the battery – but not the wheels. BMW’s i3, with its two-cylinder motorcycle engine, worked pretty well yet is unlikely to have made the German company any money. In 2010, Audi and AVL produced a similar concept in the A1 with a version of Felix Wankel’s rotary engine in the spare wheel well, but Mazda has stayed the course and the rotary-engined range-extender R-EV version of its MX-30 battery electric car goes on sale this autumn.
Is this just an over complicated battery car, or the answer for those who don’t have access to cheap off-street charging?
Electric or plug-in?
Where the standard MX-30 has a 35.5kWh, 310kg lithium-ion battery and a 124-mile WLTP electric range, the R-EV version has a 17.8kWh, 188kg version that gives a 53-mile claimed combined electric range, plus a 74bhp/86lb ft, 803cc single-rotor Wankel petrol engine which, with a full battery and 55-litre fuel tank, gives a total range of up to 400 miles. Now this is my kind of electric car…
![The doors are hinged so that they open wardrobe-style](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/images/2023/10/19/TELEMMGLPICT000352780097_16977171495720_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqihRP6gWY8mbaQhPEvODw7NJ5EscYg5Ja_pwKx7nONcs.jpeg?imwidth=350)
Recharging on a 50kW DC fast charger (peak charging rate is around 36kW), the range extender will fill its small-ish battery from 20 to 80 per cent in 25 minutes, or a 7.4kW home wall box will do the same in 1.5 hours.
It’s not such a small car either, being 4,395mm long and 2,035mm wide with wing mirrors.
Tick the ‘unusual’ box
It’s not just the drivetrain that ticks the ‘unusual’ box here. The pillarless body configuration is, too, with the tiny rear doors hinged at the rear and no B pillars, so the effect is like opening a lopsided wardrobe. It’s not even as elegant as that sounds, since you can’t get into the back without the front doors being open first and the door edges effectively form the side-impact protection, so it’s a pretty massive construction with convoluted weather sealing that resembles a family of weasels in wetsuits.
![The interior has a decent finish, although taller people might have to compromise their comfort](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/images/2023/10/19/TELEMMGLPICT000352780184_16977170226110_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqrpfQw2hJyG_yckwxPAr0gmyy-GsNrhPQbLesooHneHs.jpeg?imwidth=350)
The cabin is finished in a nice combination of stitched fabrics, polished metal and padded fake leather, with some interesting natural-looking textiles and surface options, including wood and cork. The front seats are large, comfortable and have lots of adjustment, but the rear seats are more cramped, with compromised leg room, so a six-footer can sit behind a six-footer only if both compromise their comfort.
The luggage capacity to the window line is 350 litres if you fold the rear seats – not far off what you get in conventional family hatches like the VW Golf, for instance – so, not bad for a small family. Those rear seats split fold 60/40 per cent onto their bases, but the extended load-bed is far from flat.
Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard on the 8.8-in centre touch screen. There’s also a phone app to check the state of charge/charging and the whereabouts of your Mazda and there’s a Bose sound system for the top models.
There are three trim levels: Prime, Exclusive, and Makoto Auto and prices range from £31,250 to £36,000 – with both the pure electric MX-30 and range-extender MX-30 R-EV we’re driving here costing near enough the same on list price. Benefit-in-kind tax rises (from two per cent for the former to eight per cent) for the range-extender, though, as do insurance groups.
![The Makoto Auto interior](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/images/2023/10/19/TELEMMGLPICT000352780440_16977172481430_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpVlberWd9EgFPZtcLiMQf0Rf_Wk3V23H2268P_XkPxc.jpeg?imwidth=350)
Standard equipment for the base Prime includes 18in alloy wheels, automatic dipping LED headlamps and rain-sensing wipers, grey cloth upholstery, a 7in touch screen, adaptive cruise control and front electric windows, blind spot monitoring, driver alert monitoring, lane-keeping assist and remote central locking. Exclusive gives you a few more toys, such as keyless entry and electric seat adjustment, while Makoto adds a 360-degree view parking camera, a sun roof, and a power-to-load facility so that you can charge or power electrical devices using the car’s high-voltage battery.
Triangle power
It’s been a decade since Mazda disbanded the rotary petrol engine that it had kept faith with despite most others – including Mercedes-Benz, Alfa Romeo and Ford – having long since given up on it. The rev-happy rotary has proven ill-suited to modern emissions requirements and quite thirsty. As a range extender, though, it has the advantages of small size, high output and low weight, as well as high efficiency when used at constant speeds as a charger – as is the case in this range-extender. The engine never powers the wheels, and only charges the battery that delivers drive to the electric motor.
The 803cc Wankel engine sits on the side of the motor/inverter unit and spins into life when required, turning a generator that lives between the electric motor and the engine. It operates between 2,300 and 4,500rpm, where it’s at its most economical.
![The engine never powers the wheels, and only charges the battery that delivers drive to the electric motor](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/images/2023/10/19/TELEMMGLPICT000352780188_16977173680580_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpVlberWd9EgFPZtcLiMQf0Rf_Wk3V23H2268P_XkPxc.jpeg?imwidth=350)
Even with half the battery cells, the engine and generator means the range extender weighs more, up from the battery version’s 1,750kg to 1,881kg and it has a fuel consumption rated at 37.2mpg for the engine working on its own, but 282.5 in the nonsensical EU combined test.
On the road
With three main driving modes, the R-EV can be a variety of different cars according to how you set it. EV mode uses the battery until it is exhausted, or unless you want all the drivetrain power, whereupon the engine will start, sounding like a speeding tube train beneath the floor. When the battery energy is used up, the motor also starts maintaining the battery state of charge (SOC) at 0 per cent.
Normal is where electrical and petrol energy are used together to give the most efficient use of resources, but maintaining between 40 and 50 per cent SOC. Charge is where the Wankel engine, in addition to adding its Toblerone-shaped rotor to the effort, will also run to maintain a predetermined state of charge, which can be selected in increments of 10 per cent on the touch screen.
![In normal mode, electrical and petrol energy are used together to give the most efficient use of resources](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/images/2023/10/20/TELEMMGLPICT000352779406_16978154988380_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqW4htrPVFAVBkQAvbdL2OASVoCKBbzer75EE0cbkkP2s.jpeg?imwidth=350)
Should you prefer to use it as an electric car and never have cause for the engine to start, it will start, once every couple of weeks, not just to remind you of its presence but also to get the lubricating oil flowing and maintain the apex seal integrity.
Start up in Normal and, depending on the state of the charge, the engine might or might not start. It dances to its own algorithm, but the car pulls always briskly, while not being exactly exhilarating. Once under way, however, there’s enough power and torque to make short work of journey times and the occasional overtake.
Steering-wheel paddles control the regenerative braking, which smoothly augments the friction brakes and puts more charge back into the underfloor battery pack. One thing that doesn’t change is the Wankel engine’s legendary thirst, and it will drag fuel consumption down to under 30mpg when it’s working hard to keep the battery charged.
![The ride and handling compromise is gentle and soft so, for the most part, this is a comfortable car for long-distance travel](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/images/2023/10/19/TELEMMGLPICT000352779422_16977174755500_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqlI3_u7_UeBgX4ZuamarYPUIgeemWf51ygHFCveN5V_M.jpeg?imwidth=350)
The ride and handling compromise is gentle and soft so, for the most part, this is a comfortable car for long-distance travel. The compromise on chassis rigidity wrought by the pillarless wardrobe doors means that the MacPherson strut front and twist-beam rear suspension response to bumps is occasionally sharp, and the tyres are noisy on concrete surfaces.
Driving a floppy car hard, though, can be quite fun and the MX-30 feels quite spirited if you throw it through a series of curves, even if much of the steering feedback you feel is actually chassis flex.
The Telegraph verdict
Once again, Mazda is shunning the rest of the motor industry and ploughing its own furrow, though in this case with a lot more success than before. A full battery alternative such as the MX-30 (or Fiat’s 500e) might be more suitable for some folk and Mazda admits it will need to train its sales force carefully to help people through the choices, but while maximising efficiency is important when choosing a new car, maximising utility is as well. I’ve got a feeling a lot of people will find the MX-30 R-EV extremely useful indeed.
The facts
On test: Mazda MX-30 R-EV
Body style: four-door family hatchback
On sale: this year
How much? from £31,250 to £36,000 as tested
How fast? 87mph, 0-62mph in 9.1sec
How economical? 37.2mpg with engine, 282.5mpg in WLTP combined test
Powertrain: 17.8kWh lithium-ion battery pack with 167bhp/192lb ft electric motor, plus 74bhp/86lb ft 803cc single-rotor Wankel petrol engine acting as a generator
Range: up to 400 miles
Charge times: 20-80 per cent in 25 minutes on 50kW DC, 20-80 per cent on 7.4kW home wall box in 1.5 hours
Maximum power/torque: 167bhp/192lb ft
CO2 emissions: 21g/km
VED: £0 in first year then £170
Warranty: three years and 60,000 miles, battery 8 years.
The rivals
Mini E
from £32,550
![The Mini e is fine for the city, but with a range of just 140 miles, won’t suit many people](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/images/2023/10/19/TELEMMGLPICT000353544908_16977167510140_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqvWdfq-a34Yz0x6lFPidU76eZDX_TlUAsSQ8Q9bVPHGg.jpeg?imwidth=350)
Charming precursor to the full battery electric Mini, which will now be built at BMW Oxford. Nippy and cute, the trouble with this car is its range of just 140 miles – more than the Mazda MX-30 and the late lamented Honda e, but for most folk outside the metropolis, not enough.
Fiat 500e 24kw City
from £28,195
![The Fiat 500e is good to drive but has a range of just 118 miles](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/images/2023/10/19/TELEMMGLPICT000353544907_16977165766490_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqrWYeUU_H0zBKyvljOo6zlvrBHlngucm5MflHTV9w6vk.jpeg?imwidth=350)
A boutique urban runabout, but with bags of Cinquecento style and pretty good to drive, too. This 24kWh battery restricts the range to just 118 miles and the 93bhp motor gives 0-62mph in 9.5sec. There is a 42kWh version, though, which gives a 199-mile range, but it costs £31,195.