Mazda's CX-6e does 240 miles at 80 mph. The platform is still Changan's

At a steady 100 km/h on a German motorway, Autogefühl recorded 16 kWh/100 km in a Mazda CX-6e. Stretch that across the 74 kWh Thomas Vogt treats as usable and the car is good for about 460 km, or 290 miles. Raise the cruise to 130 km/h, 80 mph in the units that matter on an Autobahn, and consumption rose to 19 kWh/100 km. That is 390 km, about 240 miles, from a 78 kWh lithium-iron-phosphate pack Mazda quotes as 300 miles WLTP.

Those are not laboratory numbers, and they are kinder than the brochure fight Mazda is losing on paper. A Tesla Model Y can be rated at up to 390 miles, a Skoda Enyaq at 360. The CX-6e does not win that table. It does something less fashionable: it stays efficient when the speed limiter comes off.

The CX-6e is the second car from Mazda's tie-up with Changan, after the 6e liftback. Underneath sits the same family of hardware as the Deepal S07. Mazda UK priced the British car on 1 September: Takumi from £42,990 on 19-inch wheels, Takumi Plus from £45,350 with 21-inch wheels, digital cameras in place of door mirrors, and heated, ventilated outer rear seats. A rear motor makes 258 PS and 290 Nm. Officially, 0-62 mph takes 7.9 seconds on the smaller wheels and 8.1 seconds on the 21s. Top speed is 115 mph.

Jeremy Thomson, managing director of Mazda Motors UK, called it “a compelling proposition” in the electric SUV segment and tied it to the company's “Multi-Solution” electrification plan. Auto Express's Dave Humphreys was less interested in the slogan. He gave the car 3.0 out of 5 and wrote that it “lacks a certain feel and authenticity to be considered one of Mazda's best.” The Signature Wing now lights up. The D-pillar hides an air channel. Nightfall Violet still does the old Mazda trick of reading black until the sun hits it. Humphreys still came away thinking the CX-6e “doesn't feature much, if any, of the innate Mazda-ness” that used to separate the brand from a competent mainstream SUV.

Vogt was blunter about the bones and kinder about the bill. “It's not the Mazda platform,” he said. “They try to make it as much Mazda as they could.” He then kept circling the price: a long list of luxury kit for money that, in Germany, sits around €50,000 as tested. Nevo EV Review's first drive in Düsseldorf, in the same Soul Red, put Irish Takumi pricing at €46,440 and treated that as “in the ballpark” for a 78 kWh LFP SUV. The presenter noted the car exists as a range extender in China; Europe gets the battery-electric version only.

Mazda quotes a 200 kW DC peak and 10 to 80 percent in 24 minutes, plus 11 kW AC. Vogt could not run a full curve on this first outing. He did plug in at 70 percent state of charge and still saw 130 kW, which is the more useful data point for a road trip that is already half done. He also flagged that the 6e's earlier LFP pack had given him charging trouble. This SUV, he said, uses a different LFP battery; Mazda is now moving the sedan onto the updated chemistry as well.

Auto Express is less impressed. Humphreys worked from a 165 kW peak rather than the 200 kW on Mazda's UK sheet, and called that “lower than most key rivals and significantly less than the class best.” Either figure describes the same car: a 400-volt LFP crossover, not an 800-volt poster. The consolation, which Humphreys did grant, is that LFP does not punish a regular 100 percent top-up the way a nickel pack can.

Wheel choice is the other efficiency fork. Vogt would not take the 21-inch, 255-section tyres. They look better. They add rolling resistance against the 235-section 19s, and Mazda already admits they cost 0.2 seconds to 62 mph. If the Autobahn figures are the reason to consider this SUV, the smaller wheels are the spec that produced them.

Where the CX-6e does push its class is the rear bench. Humphreys put legroom and headroom “among the best in the segment,” with raised front seat rails so second-row feet can slide underneath. Mazda's own figures are a 468-litre boot, 1,434 litres seats-down, an 80-litre frunk and a 1,500 kg braked towing limit. ISOFIX is on both outer rears and the front passenger seat.

The 26-inch widescreen display is the other headline, and Humphreys found it less distracting than expected, helped by a head-up display. The climate controls are too small to hit while driving, though, and Apple CarPlay sits on the screen “more like a pop-up” than an integrated interface. Both testers met the same assistance chorus: an “often annoying mix of beeps and bongs”, mutable only after a hunt through the menus. Vogt wanted a software upgrade for the lane-keeping too.

High-speed refinement is the quieter surprise. Vogt kept coming back to how silent the cabin was at 130 km/h in filthy weather, and Auto Express credits the aero detailing — a spoiler on the bonnet's leading edge, wipers tucked below the bonnet line, camera mirrors on the top trim — with cutting wind noise at speed. Humphreys thought the suspension often seemed busy but rated the brake pedal feel, and noted several recuperation modes, the strongest of which gives one-pedal driving of sorts. None of that makes the CX-6e feel like an MX-5. It does make it a car you can sit in at 130 km/h without the usual EV roar of tyre and wind arguing with a slab of glass.

Buyers who want a Mazda because it is a Mazda should drive this one twice: once for the cabin, once after the beeps have been turned down. Buyers who want 240 motorway miles from a £43,000 LFP SUV already have the number that matters, and it did not come from the WLTP cycle.