Everyone loves Mazdas these days. Mazda has consistently been putting out solid, reliable cars and SUVs at reasonable prices. Their sales have been proving that they know what consumers want. Yet Mazda’s newest SUV, the 2022 Mazda MX-30, leaves a little something to be desired. Sure, it’s got all the attributes that make a Mazda so beloved, but it’s lacking the things necessary to really make it a member of the Mazda family worth showing off. In fact, Car and Driver says that the MX-30 “comes up short.” So is the 2022 Mazda MX-30 a good car, or does it need more work?

The 2022 Mazda MX-30 is Mazda’s first electric vehicle

Maybe Mazda wanted to take its time to make sure it got the electric vehicle right. Maybe they weren’t sure whether electric vehicles would catch on. Either way, the 2022 Mazda MX-30 is Mazda’s first electric vehicle. 

Car and Driver tested it out, and found the 2022 Mazda MX-30 to be enjoyable to drive. That said, it didn’t provide quite enough ‘oomph’ for the testers to be taken with the 2022 MX-30. They call it “disappointing,” noting it has only 143-hp and 200 lb-ft of torque. While it handles well, its “sluggishness” left something to be desired about actually driving it. 

The MX-30 is a lot like the CX-30

Similar to the Mazda CX-30 that the electric MX-30 is based on, the 2021 Mazda CX-30 offers a comfortable and stylish interior, with white and gray seats (you can go darker if you upgrade). Yet the exterior is different, with Mazda choosing a smaller grille for the electric Mazda and doors that blend in with the rest of the SUV.

All 2022 Mazda MX-30s come with a power moonroof, leather steering wheel, and heated front seats. They’re equipped with the latest technology; you can use both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in your MX-30. 

How much will the Mazda MX-30 cost?

The 2022 Mazda MX-30 starts at $34,645. Car and Driver notes that this is more than the Chevy Bolt, though the MX-30 probably couldn’t pass a Bolt on the highway. 

And this is where the 2022 Mazda MX-30 really falls short. For that price, you get only 100 miles of range on a single charge. It takes 36 minutes to get to 80% on a Level 3 charger, but 2 hours and 50 minutes on a Level 2. If you do even a moderate amount of driving, this isn’t going to be enough. You couldn’t even go somewhere 50 miles away and still get home.

If the 2022 Mazda MX-30 was an economy car, it might make a little more sense. After all, if you just need something to get you to and from the train station, and your family has another car to take you on a weekend getaway – or even just a furniture store a few towns away – this may be no big deal. But for $34,000, many car shoppers will likely look elsewhere. The 2022 Mazda MX-30 costs just $5,000 less than the 2021 Tesla Model 3, but the Model 3 gets 262 miles of range on a single charge. That’s a pretty big difference.

Perhaps people who really love Mazdas (or really hate Teslas and don’t like any of the other alternatives), won’t be dissuaded by a measly 100 miles of range. Perhaps those gorgeous seats will be enough to make someone forget about the fact that they won’t be able to drive their car for more than two hours or so at a time. And maybe Mazda will find a way to put a longer range battery in the MX-30, and futuer iterations will be even better. The biggest questions is, what will the future of the 2022 Mazda MX-30 look like? And right now, nobody knows.