► A new Mazda joins the fleet
► It’s a range-extender
► And it has a cork interior
What a weird car. And yes, I mean that in a good way. These days, when we’re surrounded by lookalike SUVs and Chinese electric cars so vanilla they’re an insult to custard, it’s refreshing to drive something that wilfully swerves left.
Mazda (which is 68 per cent owned by Mazda, giving it more freedom than most) seems to answer to no one in its product line-up, and while the MX-5 remains the jewel in the crown, this MX-30 is surely the car that says the most about the company’s obstinate independence.
Were any corporate bean counters involved in the MX- 30’s conception? Any focus groups? I mean, who else would build a hatchback-coupe-SUV-thingy with a battery and electric motor plus a rotary-engined range extender? A car with pillarless doors and an interior trimmed with cork? Answer me! Who?? WHO!!??
Look at it. Head on, the nose has the familiar Mazda face with those hard-stare headlights. But as you come around the flank the roofline becomes strangely bulbous towards the rear. And there’s its posture on the road – it’s not a 4×4 but it echoes SUV crossover-ish styling with those big black wheelarches and the high-waisted glasshouse. And the crazy doors, that open like the flaps of a cardboard box to reveal a coupe interior with that crazy cork detailing. Madness.
The MX-30 is available as a regular plug-in EV, with a 35.5kWh battery and a range of 124 miles, or there’s our version, the R-EV, which has a smaller 17.8kWh battery and a reduced EV range of just 53 miles. However, it’s fitted with an 830cc rotary engine that acts as a range extender. That means the petrol engine never directly powers the wheels; it just runs an onboard generator that recharges the battery as you drive along.
By continually charging the battery, a full tank of fuel gives it a theoretical range of over 400 miles. Being able to boost your electricity supply as you drive also means the R-EV can juice up a more powerful e-motor than the straight EV, so the R-EV produces 168bhp versus 143bhp in the battery-only version.
While it’s a complex car under the skin, choosing the spec of your MX-30 R-EV is very straightforward. There are three trim levels available: Prime, Exclusive and Makoto. Our example is a mid-level Exclusive, which means a starting price of £33,495 and loads of standard equipment, including 18-inch alloys, sat-nav, climate control, a head-up display and electric front seats.
The only option fitted to our car is the split paint finish, Soul Red Crystal with a black roof, which adds £1800. Inside, it has the standard light grey cloth with stone leatherette and heated seats. After that, your configurator options are just tinsel, like illuminated scuff plates and a boot liner, none of which is fitted to our car.
Altogether our rotary-engined MX-30 R-EV stands at £35,295, compared to £31,495 for the equivalent spec in the battery-only car. Mazda, of course, has a long history with rotary engines, having built its first way back in 1967 (the Cosmo). Its last was the RX-8 (which also featured pillarless ‘suicide’ doors, remember). That went out of production back in 2012, so it’s been a while since Mazda offered a rotary in its line-up.
This new motor is all new: called the 8C, it’s the smallest-capacity rotary engine ever to appear in a Mazda production car and the first to use direct injection, improving efficiency. It produces 74bhp at 4500rpm – though of course you never actually see any of that horsepower, as the engine is just busy beavering away at keeping the battery charged.
So, the whole thing is a curiosity, and there seems so much to say about it – the doors! The drivetrain! the cork! – that I admit I feel a little overwhelmed. Where the hell do I start? It’s going to be an interesting (weird) six months.
Logbook
Price £33,495 (£35,295 as tested)
Performance 17.8kWh battery, electric motor plus 830cc rotary range extender, 168bhp, 9.1sec 0-62mph, 87mph
Range 53 miles electric (official), 400 miles with range extender (claimed)
Efficiency 37.2mpg (official), 28.0mpg (tested), 21g/km CO2
Energy cost 22.8p per mile
Miles this month 694
Total miles 4072