Mazda MX-30 R-EV Review & Prices

The Mazda MX-30 R-EV tries to pull Mazda into the electric future by looking back to the company’s past — that’s because Mazda has had a root around the back of some cupboards and found a rotary engine to act as a range-extender for its short-legged electric SUV.

Rotary engines were once the performance engines of choice for Mazda — think back to the gorgeous old RX-7 sports car and the screaming 1991 Le Mans-winning 787B race car — but now the rotary is relegated to being a generator for the MX-30’s compact battery. From screamer to generator — it’s a bit like asking Pavarotti to play the kazoo. 

The MX-30 still looks good on the outside in this R-EV form. It’s a quirky SUV, with a sharply sloping rear end, funny Mini Clubman-style rear-hinged back doors, and a lineup of lights and radiator grille that looks faintly retro, almost a bit 1970s. Still, it looks especially nice if you get in the gorgeous ‘Soul Red’ colour with a contrasting black roof. 

Inside, the MX-30 is even quirkier. Mazda began life as a maker of cork products, so to pay homage to that history, the MX-30 has cork trim on the centre console. You could literally pin notes to it, but at least it’s a change from ‘Piano Black’. 

The MX-30 gets net part-digital instruments which don’t look as high-tech as those of some rivals, but which are actually far easier on the eyes. Ditto the 8.8-inch infotainment screen, which isn’t a touchscreen at all, but controlled by a click-wheel down near the cork. Again, that sounds old-fashioned but it’s much easier and safer to use when you’re driving, and while the graphics and menus can look a bit basic, at least it’s easy to find your way around. 

Overall quality in the Mazda MX-30 is very good, but there are some cheap plastics and some ‘clicky’ buttons here and there. Space and comfort in the front are both very good, and you sit just about high enough to get a good view out, though things are much less impressive in the back. 

The rear seats are actually quite cramped, and the rear-hinged doors — which allow you to open up the entire side of the cabin — actually make it harder to get in and out, especially if you’re trying to put child car seats in the back, as the chunky hinge eats into the space. 

It’s also quite dark back there, with small side windows and a small rear windscreen, so rearwards visibility isn’t very good at all, although at least you get front and rear parking sensors on all models. 

In fitting the rotary engine — a dinky little 830cc thing — Mazda has also chopped the MX-30’s battery roughly in half, leaving you with 17.8kWh of energy, and an electric range of just 52 miles — even worse than the regular electric-only MX-30’s 124 miles.

Helpfully, the MX-30 R-EV can charge at up to 36kW from a DC fast charger, but of course the point is that you charge it at home to use for regular short journeys, and then use the rotary engine and its tank of petrol to keep you going on longer runs. 

Mazda claims that on a full battery and a full tank of fuel, the MX-30 R-EV has a long-haul range of up to 400 miles, but realistically that’s going to be closer to 300 miles, maybe even slightly less, as the rotary engine does chomp through petrol pretty quickly once you’re up on the motorway. It makes some odd noises at times, too.

The regular MX-30 is one of the nicer electric cars to drive, and that’s still true of the MX-30, which corners briskly and rides comfortably. However, it is quite heavy, so it lacks true driving fun when you’re out on the open road.

You can find the latest Mazda MX-30 R-EV deals on Carwow, as well as great prices on used MX-30 R-EVs. You can also browse other used Mazdas, and when it's time to change your car, you can sell your car through Carwow, too.

Mazda has a bit of a reputation for having chunkier prices for its cars, but softening the blow with better standard equipment, and that’s the case with the MX-30 R-EV. It is more expensive, model for model, than the all-electric MX-30 though — as much as £4,000 more expensive, so you’d have to really hate charging on long journeys to spend that.

However, that does make it more affordable — by £1,000 or thereabouts — than a Hyundai Kona Electric. In fairness, the Kona is much bigger and more practical inside, and the hybrid Hyundai Kona, which is arguably a closer comparison, costs around £1,500 less than the basic MX-30 R-EV.

However, a long-range version of the fully electric MG 4 costs £2,000 less than the Mazda, and although it’s not a patch on the Japanese car in terms of quality, it has really impressive electric performance. 

The Mazda MX-30 R-EV feels engaging to drive, but its weight counts against it on twisty roads

In town

This is where the MX-30 should — and does — shine. Fully charge the battery from a home charger and that 52-mile range seems pretty realistic. Indeed, stick to low-speed urban roads and you might even get slightly more out of the battery. 

The high-ish seating position means you get a good view out to the front, but the small rear glass area, and the chunky and sloping rear roof pillar means over-the-shoulder views are pretty restricted. There are standard front and rear parking sensors, but you’ll definitely want to upgrade to the mid-spec Exclusive-Line model to get a rear parking camera if you actually want to see where you’re going. 

The MX-30 doesn’t feel especially quick, even around town, but it’s comfy over bumps for the most part, and the compact dimensions and reasonably tight turning circle mean that it’s easy enough to manoeuvre in town. That said, you might find the steering can feel a bit too heavy at low speeds.  

One odd thing is that the gear selector, a small and chunky fist-sized leather-covered thing, can be awkward when switching between reverse and drive — it can leave you hanging during three-point turns. 

On the motorway

The rotary engine means that the Mazda MX-30 R-EV is capable of long motorway runs in a way that the ultra-short range all-electric version of the MX-30 just isn’t. While the regular MX-30 is all done at 124 miles (and realistically much less if you’re on the motorway) the R-EV version can fire up the rotary engine to keep the battery topped up as you go, stretching the useable range on a full tank of fuel and a full battery to about 300 miles – or just under, as the rotary engine tends to get through its small fuel tank pretty quickly at motorway speeds. That said, it will easily handle a two-hour motorway stint with range to spare. 

Performance is pretty leisurely, though. Because the rotary engine doesn’t drive the wheels, and only charges up the battery, there’s only the MX-30’s 170hp electric motor to rely on. A 0-62mph time of 9.1 seconds isn’t terrible, but neither is it quick so you have to build up momentum for merging with fast-moving motorway traffic. There’s also no direct relationship between what you’re doing with the accelerator pedal, and what the rotary engine is doing to charge the battery, so the MX-30 makes some odd, out-of-sync noises as it goes. Anyone hoping for the smooth scream of the old RX-7 sports car is in for a crushing disappointment. 

The MX-30 R-EV does come with radar-guided cruise control and lane-keeping steering, which help on a longer journey, and they’re relatively well-tuned systems which don’t jerk you about the place or become too irritating. 

On a twisty road

While the MX-30 — in its all-electric form — is one of the sweeter EVs to drive, the MX-30 R-EV is perhaps a little less so. That’s maybe because once a car enthusiast hears ‘rotary engine’ they expect a low-slung sports car, which the MX-30 definitely isn’t.

The primary culprit here is the 1,770kg kerb weight, which although not terrible does make the MX-30 feel a little bit ponderous at times. There is quite a bit of body lean when you’re cornering fast. 

The MX-30 R-EV makes up for that with nice steering which, while it can be too heavy around town, feels much better and more rewarding on the open road. The MX-30 R-EV also feels well balanced, with plenty of grip so it can corner at a surprising lick, albeit the slightly sluggish performance holds you back from having proper fun.

The Mazda MX-30’s cabin is lovely up front, but much less so in the back

The cork trim in the front of the Mazda MX-30 might seem odd, but it has one major benefit — if you stash some loose change or a set of keys in the cork-lined tray at the base of the centre console, they will rattle around much less. There’s a large storage box under the front-seat armrest, which is open at the front until you flip up two cork-backed lids in front of it. They close off the storage area, and open up the two cupholders, allowing you to choose between somewhere to store odds and ends or drinks. The glovebox is fine and so too are the door bins.

The driving position is excellent — the MX-30 R-EV’s front seats are very comfortable, and there’s plenty of adjustment for taller or shorter drivers. 

Space in the back seats

The MX-30 R-EV falls down badly here. While it’s billed as an SUV, it’s really quite cramped in the back. Higher-spec models get buttons in the back which allow rear seat passengers to adjust the front seats so that they can find a bit more space, but thankfully this is locked-out when the car moving — imagine the carnage if your kids could move your seat as you drove…

While legroom and headroom are in tight supply in the back, getting in in the first place is also tricky. Because there’s no door pillar in the middle of the body, when you have both the front doors and the back doors open, the whole side of the car is opened up. Instead of this making it easier to get in and out, though, the massive hinges for the back doors just get in the way, and you kind of have to wiggle and step around them to get in.

The rear is also quite dark, with very small windows, so kids aren’t going to be too happy. Equally, if you want to fit a big, rear-facing child seat, anyone sitting in the front is going to have to scooch up a bit. There are at least ISOFIX anchors in both outer rear seats. 

That said, the rear bench is quite wide and flat, so it is just about possible to squeeze three people in sitting side by side. 

Boot Space

At 350 litres, the MX-30 R-EV’s boot seems about right for a small-ish SUV, but when you spot how much luggage space alternatives offer, it seems far less impressive. A Hyundai Kona Electric has 466 litres of luggage space, for instance. If you’re taking am MX-30 R-EV on holidays, pack light. 

The rear seats do split 60:40 to open up 1,155 litres of space, but there’s a big lip between the boot and the backs of those seats, which isn’t helpful when you’re loading larger items. Equally, there’s nowhere to put the big one-piece luggage cover, so that either has to stay at home or be abandoned in the IKEA car park. There are some tie-down points in the MX-30 R-EV’s boot, but no shopping bag hooks, and there’s no ‘frunk’ or ‘froot’ in the nose for stashing your charging cables. 

The Mazda MX-30 R-EV’s cabin looks and feels good, but some of the tech is downright odd

Generally speaking, we applaud Mazda for not following the herd when it comes to infotainment and digital dashboards. The MX-30 R-EV’s simple, relatively understated cabin layout is far better and easier to use than the whizz-bang big-screen setups of many rivals. The mixture of analogue and digital dials behind the steering wheel may look a touch old-fashioned, but the dials are simple, clear, and very easy on the eyes when driving at night — not something you can say about the big digital displays of some others.

Equally, the shallow 8.8-inch screen set atop the dashboard uses a click-wheel controller on the centre console, just behind the stubby gear selector. That seems a bit early-2000s, a feeling backed up by the slightly clunky graphics on the screen, and the ancient-looking sat nav maps. However, it all works really well, and using the click-wheel when you’re on the move is much easier, simpler, and takes your eyes off the road much less than a touchscreen.

At the base of the centre of the dash, there actually is a touchscreen — one that exclusively looks after the heating and air conditioning. This is really odd, as it’s fiddly to use when you’re pressing icons on the screen, and yet there are physical buttons around the edge of the screen which replicate pretty much all of its functions. It’s a strange choice, and Mazda might have been better off just using the panel of buttons and rotary switches which are fitted as standard to the Mazda CX-30 and Mazda 3, and which work really well. This extra screen just feels like it’s being too clever by half. 

Thanks to the compact 17.8kWh battery pack, the MX-30 R-EV is quick to charge. With a maximum charging speed of 36kW on a DC fast charger, it will take around 25 minutes to top up, so long-range charge-ups are do-able to maximise your all-electric motoring. More importantly, for most people, is that on a 7.4kW AC charger — such as a home charger, or one at work, or even in a car park — the MX-30 R-EV will top itself up in an hour and a half. If you don’t have a home charging point, a regular three-pin outdoor socket will do, as the battery charges in about nine hours from one of those. 

Overall efficiency is rated at 3.6 miles per kWh, which isn’t bad. Officially, the R-EV’s fuel economy is a staggering 285mpg, but on long motorway runs, realistically, it’s more like 35-37mpg or thereabouts. CO2 emissions of 21g/km mean the first year of VED road tax is free, and it benefits from low company car tax rates.

Mazda is low-key brilliant at crash tests, often matching Volvo’s scores in the Euro NCAP safety test. The MX-30 did just that when tested in 2020, taking home a full five stars, with a 91% rating for adult occupant protection, 87% for child occupant protection, 68% for vulnerable road users, and 73% for its electronic safety systems. Those scores were for the battery-powered MX-30, so the R-EV with its front-mounted rotary engine may well score slightly differently. 

Standard safety equipment includes rain-sensing wipers and dusk-sensing headlights, adaptive cruise control, a head-up display, blind spot monitoring, driver attention alert, emergency lane-keeping, traffic sign and speed limit recognition, and smart brake support, which slams on the brakes automatically if it detects you’re about to hit a car, cyclist, or pedestrian. 

Rotary engines have a truly dreadful reputation for reliability — they sunk the NSU company entirely in the 1970s, and the old Mazda RX-8 rotary engined coupe has a terrible reputation for early engine failures and rebuilds. The MX-30 R-EV’s saving grace might — emphasis on the might — be that it runs mostly at a constant speed, so Mazda’s engineers will have been able to optimise it to do so, hopefully eliminating the old issues of rotor tip wear. This is a very new vehicle, so only time will tell on that score. 

For the rest of the car, Mazda offers a standard three-year, 60,000-mile warranty, with a further eight-year, 100,000-mile warranty for the hybrid battery. There’s an optional extended warranty too.

Mazda scored well in the most recent Driver Power owner survey, coming in seventh overall as one of the best brands to own.