2026 Mazda 6e Australia Pricing from $49,990 and specs walkthrough

Music

Hello everyone, my name is Tom and this is Joy.

Hello.

Welcome to Ludicrous Feed Live on Wednesday, the 18th of February, 2026.

So nice of you all to join us tonight.

Lots to chat about as always in the EV world, which would be fantastic, but we get started.

Just wanted to quickly thank our sponsors as well.

Let's pop them back on the screen here we go.

So I just wanted to once again thank Power Shop for sponsoring us for the EV day and

night plans.

Check out the link in the video description and also to CarLoop as well, power to, well

data to power Australia's EV revolution.

And speaking of CarLoop, the man himself who runs CarLoop, Mr. Rezactar, how are you Rez?

This very muggy evening from Sydney.

Tom, Joy, good to be on.

Yeah, going well.

Just not as hot as it was, but I think things are cooling down a little bit.

We've got hopefully not that level of heat coming back given we're supposed to be leaving

summer shortly.

Is it still very warm and muggy up there?

It was today actually before the cool change at about three o'clock, yes, very steamy.

Let me know when it cools down even further in the coming days.

I'm going to book my Bons of Light up to see.

There's always the Bons of Light.

It's always 20 degrees in there Rez, you don't have to worry.

And of course the very happy Chinese New Year of course to those of you who celebrate around

the country, around the world, who are watching us tonight.

Happy year of the horse.

Yes.

A fire horse.

Yes, special horse for you, so happy Chinese New Year or happy Lunar Solar New Year if

you're celebrating in other Asian countries.

Xin Yan Kuala.

Oh, very good, Xin Yan Kuala indeed.

Let's say hello to our guests who have joined us early this evening.

Hello Scotty, nice to see you.

Looks like it's warm in Melbourne as well.

Hello Murray, yes warm and windy in Stormy in Sydney as it was.

Hello Muzza.

Hello Forteburbs, hello Jim and hello Senekro, yes, yes certainly will touch the BMW story

very shortly.

Yes, it does look like a very good car indeed.

I guess the price is the issue of course.

Hello Tony from the Gold Coast, hello Pauline from Newcastle.

Hello there.

Nice to see you there.

And hello Wayne as well, and hello Xander, hello Quavid.

Very happy with the Ato too, still good to see.

Yes indeed, and hello Scot, hello to Tassie E.V. Excellent, well yes, why don't we launch

the night off with that story since we're chatting about it.

So let's put on the post that I popped on the LinkedIn this morning, let's put that

on sorry, this one here.

So this is Joy and me in front of the BMW iX3, new iX3, how do you say it?

What?

Oh, the Neuer class.

Neuer class.

I thought you'd be clampering to say that.

No, you said like iX3, I'm like you already said iX3.

How else do you say?

I could say Neuer class all day, yes, it's very special.

Of course for those of you who know the BMW legacy, Neuer class is hark back to 1962 when

the first Neuer class was released and this is kind of a nod to that legacy with the vertical

kidneys there, but a very futuristic car otherwise inside and out.

I guess for me it's the range, 805 kilometers they're boasting of WLTP range, looks pretty

special.

Yeah, well, I was told that apparently it did over a thousand kilometers somewhere in

Germany, not on the Autobahn.

So yes, range is pretty much up there, would it be Australia's longest range car when it

lands?

I think the second longest range car would be the Model 3 long range rear wheel drive.

This of course has a nearly 30% bigger battery in it, so yeah, you'd expect that, but yeah,

I think real world testing is what we're about and I'm sure when you enjoy both get behind

the wheel of one, we will find out what it can really do.

Yeah, that's right, Risa, they did tell us, I'm sure they told you the same story when

you were there too.

1,000 kilometers from Debra in Hungary where this car is produced to Munich in BMW's HQ,

that's 1,000 k's, not on the Autobahn, probably with the air con off and just going very slow

through the back roads, still 1,000 k's is not bad.

And we're hoping, as you said Risa, we're hoping to do that real world testing in Melbourne

in one stop, one charging stop.

I don't think that many people have done that in Australia yet, that one's charging stop

between the two cities, from what I've heard.

Yeah, likely not, and obviously this car, in this variant, 400 kW of charging, 8-in-the-wall

architecture, yeah, it should be quite interesting to see how it does in those charging tests

and yeah, Melbourne to Sydney, one charging stop.

That's right, maybe even no charging stop, no, we need to stop, blood range is not that

long.

Yeah, EVS has a good package, price will be the key, absolutely.

Riz, what do you think?

What do you think, looking at the car, having seen it?

If you look at what their other models are like, an X3, which is this ICE vehicle in

this performance variant is, from memory around 110, 120, this would be, I'd say closer

to 120, but the whispers keep saying that it's going to be better than what we expect,

but time will tell.

The current X1 and X2 are in their $80,000 price range, it's some variants, I think the

base variant of the X3 or IX3, current generation is under the luxury car tax, so this is sort

of the top spec in some ways.

So yeah, expecting around 120, what do you guys think?

Yeah, I mean, that's kind of the figure that we posited to BMW when we were there and

they didn't laugh at us, they were sort of like, okay, that's not too bad, I guess.

But I guess the other thing is that the one we were looking at is not the base spec, it

was kind of like the top spec.

22-inch wheels, so yeah, definitely the top of the top.

Ross asks, will the BMW teach drivers to indicate, yeah, you know, I'm sure, you know, I'm sure

I don't know, I hope.

I mean, the question is right, you know.

Well, I actually forgot to indicate when I was driving in the BMW.

That's right, that was not rehearsed.

You know what we should have for every time you see a BMW driver on the road that doesn't

indicate.

I feel like having bananas or banana peels that I can leave off the back of my car if

they're behind me, then they can slip out like Mario Kart because, guys, it's not hard.

Maybe they already think they're living in a full self-driving world where they don't

need to indicate the car doesn't themselves.

That's right.

It did happen to me though, so I kind of get it.

I think there's something about the air in them.

It's the air conditioning.

It just sort of seeps out that air superiority into the cabin, maybe.

Look, maybe that's how they do it in Bavaria, I don't know.

So the question begs, right, so obviously this car will compete with a lot of the high-end

Chinese cars like the 7x, the 7x, you know, the X-plane G6, when it comes out, the oil

will dry.

Okay, so where should a BMW be priced?

Like, obviously, it's an aspirational vehicle.

It needs to be a little bit out of reach from the common man, like, well, a common person

like me enjoyed.

That's not as much really as he drives a Spectre, I know, but, you know, what kind of pricing

range should we expect to be?

Just a little bit out of reach, a bit aspirational.

Yeah, see, this is the thing.

So BMW's general strategy for the EVs in Australia has been price it pretty close to what equivalent

ice variants are, so then a customer walks in and is looking at ice variants as well

as the EVs and says, I'll pay five grand more and get an EV.

So I think that's where things sort of need to be with this particular car, that it can't

be priced too high, but it has to be priced sort of what a BMW customer would pay today

for that sort of vehicle.

I really think this is probably the first proper German EV that sort of competes with

some of those high-end Chinese vehicles such as the Zika 7X in terms of the technology

data and what architecture.

Some can argue Porsche Macan, but Macan is it's next like that price point is far too

high.

Yeah, I think this is sort of the right sort of car, so then customers can sort of make

up their mind, would they pay 80 to 90 for something from the Chinese brands or are

they quite happy to pay 110 to 120 from, you know, but it's got a lot of tech in that car,

like that panoramic, what do they call it, the panoramic?

Panoramic vision?

Yeah, the panoramic.

That is cool.

Yeah, do I remind you of the Xiaomi 2.7 or the U7?

Yeah, that's pretty cool.

I think some of the avatars got it as well, they were the first to bring it out.

Yeah, actually speaking of the Porsche Macan, I've been seeing a lot of those around north

of Sydney.

Obviously, there must have been a special or something, maybe a Lunasola special, the

standard Peter Lud.

I mean, it looks like a quite a nice car to be honest with you, but the inside, I don't

know, it could be, it could be done better, I think the inside.

But this is where the Porsche sort of stuffed up their pricing.

So just to give people an idea, I think the ICE Macan used to start at just over $90,000.

And then they bought this EV in which is like 140 or something plus on roads.

There's a huge difference.

And this is where BMW is like our IX3 or X3 was, you know, 100 grand, IX3 was 110,

this is 120.

Yep, agreed.

And so Necro says, yes, the base model looks like it will align with the Polestar 4.

Yes, I think that we mentioned that in our video as well, Polestar 3 Polestar 4, that

kind of pricing.

Right, well, speaking of another vehicle that was launched, let's talk about this one announced

today actually, the pricing of the Mazda 6E.

This is not Mazda's first bite of the cherry, but it is their, I guess, the first collaboration

with Chang'an, a Chinese brand.

And Joy and I had a chance to look at it at Leng Leng last year in Victoria.

It was quite fun to drive that around the track and on the testing grounds.

But $49,990.

Now, this is more kind of my ballparker is.

And this article from Danny Tarn's e-cars, pretty good $49,990 for the base spec, which

is the GT, I think $52,990 for the Atenza, which is the next grade, the higher grade.

So $3,000 difference between the two.

That Kodo design language, Joy, what do you think about that color?

The dark, deep red?

Yeah, I mean, my original model 3 was red.

So I have a soft spot for red cars.

I actually had an orange Mazda 3 as well.

So, yeah, I guess I have gone for bright colors in the past.

Yeah, it's a nice red.

I'm a sucker for red.

Anytime I see red, I'm like, ah, that's a beautiful red.

Well, you did the new Mazda, the new Tesla Model 3 and Y red was called the Mazda red.

It was such a deep, cherry red, so I can see where they got it from.

It looks like the GT and the Atenza will have the same performance spec,

560Ks with WLTP range, 78kWh battery and 190kW.

It looks like it's going to be probably cosmetic improvements between the two grades.

So, yeah, I think it's priced pretty well, Riz.

I think, you know, I'll just scroll down to Danny's article here.

He sort of compared the difference of Dans in this market.

So, you know, BYDC obviously, here, the Ford just nearly announced as well.

Tesla Model 3 will drive.

IM5 is probably up there, 60 grand.

So, I think Mazda 60 is probably priced reasonably well amongst the pack.

I mean, it's the same price as the Kia, but you get a much bigger battery.

Big battery.

And I guess, yeah, the, how much is a SEAL, what's it called again?

Not the long range, the mid-spec one, the one that you have tomorrow.

Premium.

Premium, that.

Premium.

They're 52, 53,000.

Yeah, I think this article says 52,000.

Yes, 53,000, that's right, yeah.

So, that's probably, it's somewhat comparison for, you know, I guess a lot of Mazda buyers

are buying, not really buying sedans anymore.

So, this is sort of Mazda 6 equivalent in the electric range.

And yeah, 50 grand, I think it's a good price.

Whether Mazda will be able to, or the dealers will be able to market it correctly, that's

a different story.

But I think it's priced well, it drives well.

It's, you know, that left-hand drive car that I think you both drove as well at Lang Lang.

It's probably not the most dynamic sedan that you can buy.

It's that probably goes to the Model 3.

Oh, there we go.

Yep, that was fun on the, on the gradients.

That was quite good, actually.

I think that's joy driving.

About just, well, 10.

I'm slowing down.

I'll go back a bit, there you go.

Right on the top.

Oh, that was, yeah, that was fun.

What was I doing?

160?

It was 150, I did.

E-Zoom, E-Zoom.

There it is, just rolling around there.

It's the closest you're going to get to Autobahn here in

in Victoria at the Lang Lang track.

That's right.

Yeah, not sure what to think about six seats.

Is John long range, charges lower?

It's a cheap car in China, apparently.

Yeah, I feel like, I feel like the BMW and the Mazda are the same in the sense that the

target audience for the new BMW are like existing BMW owners who are moving from an

ICE BMW.

And it's like, look, now we've got an electric version.

And I think it's the same for this one, that the market is not really kind of like

people who are already into EVs and looking at all the other EVs.

It's trying to get like Mazda drivers out of like a petrol version of a Mazda and into

an electric version of a Mazda.

So I think for that, it ticks the box.

And Donald makes a good point.

It's the same price as the D-Pilot, but this is essentially the same platform,

isn't it? The D-Pilot hang on.

And the Necro is a bit like Joey, you know, Mazda tragic.

Been driving Mazda since 2011.

We'll be lining up for a test drive.

I think that's the kind of market Mazda is going for.

I think both brands are really good at building brand loyalty.

You know, like I went from, yeah, a Mazda 3 to a CX-5.

Exactly.

So there's something about that where it's like you just want to kind of stick with what you know.

Yeah, it's like the fun brand, isn't it?

Just a Toyota alternative.

And Wayne says, yeah, good mate of mine just bought a Mazda 3 sedan, cost you 40 grand.

I mean, 40 grand, you know.

Should have waited a little bit longer.

It's not far off the market's car, isn't it?

Yeah. Anyway, we'll keep an eye on it and hopefully we'll get a press car to drive

on Real Rose in Sydney.

But from what we drove in Lung Lung was quite fun, quite stable suspension,

quite good handling.

So yeah, it looks promising.

That's for sure.

Okay. Well, actually, I'll just put this up to you.

This is the pricing from Gemini.

So this is, I mean, look, it starts at 36.

But I mean, if you look at the GT spec, which is what the Mazda 6C has,

it starts with the GT is 49.

So you could say it's almost equivalent in pricing, GT with GT.

And same with the Tenza.

It's pretty similar.

So Mazda's not stupid.

They've done their homework.

And I know people don't want to pay more for an EV now,

especially at that price point.

Well, last time we looked at the scenario and it was priced,

you know, I thought of at least five to 10 grand above in each variant of where it should be.

And they're not really moving any cars.

And I think Mazda is also realistic here that it's a sedan space.

And, you know, given the Model 3 sold 6,000 units last year.

And, you know, it's not the hottest segment.

I think the seal was three and a half or 3,700.

So, yeah, I think Mazda could do pretty well,

maybe even better than the standard Mazda 6, you never know.

Let's hope, let's hope, you know, as we said last week,

multi-polar world.

We want the different areas of the world to really fill the space for the EVs,

not just China, I guess, you know,

China is leading the moment.

It's good to see other players to just give us that choice.

That's what we love about living in Australia.

I should also just say that Roland does send his apologies tonight.

He's not feeling well at the moment, so he was sending me a love,

but he'll be back next week, I'm sure.

So, yes, that's why Roland did still have some contributions as well,

which we'll go through in some of his exes, his suites.

I thought I'd share this as well.

So, we have the first bit of data.

We know how much it is, loves data from the NVES,

the new vehicle efficiency standard people.

So, let's put this up on the screen.

So, we have the first performance results for 2025,

and of course, this is only from July 2025 to December 2025,

the first or last six months of the year.

And according to the data and risk and verifiers,

less than 12% of the cars were electric vehicles.

What do you think that is?

Yeah, that's good.

That gives us a pretty, well, I'm assuming these are fully electric.

Yeah, I don't know about the category, but if it is, as it sounds like,

that the second half of the year, I think this has to include plug-in hybrids.

Yeah, surely, because we didn't really see it go past 10% very much,

did we last year from our data, from your data here.

They've got a bit of a highlights screen here too,

so here's an infographic at a glance.

So, Type 1 and Type 2 vehicles,

Type 1 being passenger-like, passenger vehicles,

and the Type 2 being light-good vehicles,

including youths from the document that I read.

So, 620,000 vehicles covered in this infographic.

And it looks like the average emission numbers were

hit lower than the targets, which is good.

I can't remember whether they set the targets quite high last year.

I can't remember now, my memory's fading, but it's good.

Whatever the targets they set, they've hit inside.

That's also good, I guess.

So, it looks like 40 entities beat their target, and 19 did not.

We need to name and shame.

Maybe it's in the document, I haven't delved into it yet,

which entities didn't hit the targets.

So, there we go.

Yeah, so that's good.

That's good that they've been kept accountable.

We'll keep it on that graphic as time goes on.

Yeah, Ray's saying it must include PHEVs as well.

I think I agree with that.

Okay, there you go.

Question from Dorothy Hart joint.

Tom, are you still enjoying the MG?

I really see them in lists like this.

Not sure whether to hold out for the 62 kilowatts.

Thanks.

Just anecdotally, yes, in Sydney, I've certainly seen them.

I saw one today, actually, just past me.

So, they are fast enough to pass each other.

It's a nice blue car, to be honest.

I mean, they don't make the list normally,

but they still sell it reasonably, why don't they?

Yeah, I think every month, pretty much,

they've been between 150 to 200 sales.

So, yeah, I think they're doing well.

I personally think MG could do a lot more

on the market in front of that car.

It's genuinely a really, really good car.

So, yeah, very easy to recommend to anybody.

Yeah, correct.

I mean, I haven't had to press car in a couple of weeks

just because it's a bit quiet at the moment,

but yeah, being able to drive the 49 kilowatt album,

one that we have, and it's great.

It's been a fabulous drive.

Yeah, I know.

Even I've driven it this week, and it puts a smile on my face.

The only negative is the sound system.

I can't stand the sound system.

It's not very good sound system.

It draws up high standards.

But apart from that, it drives really well,

and that's the important thing.

Yeah, real drive definitely makes a big difference.

So, Necro, just back on the infographic,

yep, it would be new energy vehicles.

That's true, rather than just TVs, so that makes sense.

Okay, cool.

Right, let's keep pushing on.

I have one more to talk about.

I think if we move on to Tesla news,

no, I think that might be it actually.

So, let's just pop this on the screen.

So, this was announced this week through a press release

that the FSD Supervised version,

it will be subscription only in Australia and New Zealand,

effective from last Friday, which is no surprise,

because as you've been following our streams,

you know that in the US that has also ceased.

So, that is basically you need to, what is it, from April?

From April 2026, that's when it will be subscription only.

So, if you order and take delivery, no, just order.

If you order this car with the package,

then you'll be able to have this outright package

for the wife of the vehicle.

I don't, look, I can understand the people that,

you know, purchased FSD once upon a time,

but if it's a decision today, $10,100 is a lot of money

for a subscription on a car, you know,

what's the payback period of that?

Like, I don't know, five years, a bit over five, six years.

Yeah, and then you do decide to sell the car in five,

six years time, because the technology is sort of

phasing out you out of the Tesla's extended five-year warranty now.

Yeah, you're not going to have an FSD anywhere,

and there's no chance of transferring anymore, so this is it.

I think it's even less than that result.

I did a math on this, $149 per month into $10,000,

that's actually three and a half years, so it's pretty...

It's a pretty short payback, but I think the main point is that,

you know, Tesla at any time could say,

look, it's actually hardware five, we're after now for,

you know, FSD, so it's kind of stuck with the older hardware

that you paid money for.

I personally would prefer to just describe when needed.

I don't know about you guys.

Everything's becoming the subscription-based model,

like everything, yeah.

Yeah, so you may only want to use FSD for road trips, maybe,

or, I don't know, when you don't feel like driving,

then you can just pay for it, but for the other months,

you can turn it off, I suppose, so that's the beauty of subscriptions.

Yeah, okay, Ray's actually done the math for your risk,

it's actually five years, okay?

I thought it was three and a half, maybe.

I've been off, I apologize.

But yeah, three and five years, whatever, five years.

Whatever, no.

Yeah, hey.

See, this is the thing, when you're talking to the wealthy,

three years, five years.

You know what, ten years.

Let's take it.

Where's my ten grand?

Here it is.

Right, okay.

They should put FSD in with the $10 connectivity subscription per month.

Maybe in that case, raise the price to $20 per month.

Okay, and that's quite cheap if it's only $10 per month for FSD.

I think a lot of people will take that up.

Yes, and a good point from EVS, I think Elon Musk does have a target for FSD,

so the premium will have to be reduced significantly to get that uptake.

Yeah, so we'll see.

I don't know, here's what you're looking at.

Will there be a chance this might be reduced in price?

Who knows, right?

My thinking is they're going to try and do what they did previously

with enhanced autopilot.

Sorry, what they do today in America, which is I think every new Tesla gets a one-month free

FSD subscription, and then it's up to you whether you want to subscribe after that or not.

So maybe that's what they need to do to get people to experience it for the first time,

and maybe this coming Christmas allow people that have eligibility to be able to download it

over the Christmas and New Year period for a month, let's say 15th of December to 15th of January

or something like that, and let them experience it for themselves.

It's what is it, $150 out of Tesla's pocket according to what they're charging,

but that could mean someone might subscribe to it.

A lot of people I know that have experienced it and have used it are quite happy to subscribe to it.

Even in its most basic current format that it is available in today with

a few of its quirks and features that they have in our market.

Speaking of quirks, we'll get to that in a second.

I've got a special document for you to show you guys, but yes, Ray has reminded us that,

yes, they've just built the first RoboTaxi in Austin today, so yes, it's getting rolled out,

and yes, we wonder what the RoboTaxi count towards FSD targets.

I don't know, to be honest.

Here we go, that's for you.

Target is 10 million FSD, currently only 1 million FSD worldwide, so there you go, 10%.

And actually, it's been confirmed today through a bit of a joke going on on X between Elon Musk

and Marcus Brownlee who said that there's no way that Tesla would deliver a cyber cab

before the end of 2026 to a customer for under 30,000 US dollars.

And Elon has said, we will.

So that's what Marcus Brownlee said a while ago.

So apparently, yes, and if Tesla does deliver it, he'll have to shave his head.

So apparently by October is what they're saying that customers, as in if three of us

or any of our viewers lived in the US, we could order one.

So order a RoboTaxi and then make money, and then it'll make money for you, right,

as it drives around the city and so on.

Yeah, basically, you get the car and an Uber driver that you just send out there and make your money.

Yeah, interesting what the return on that would be, I suppose,

we'll have to see if someone will do this, perhaps I'm not sure.

Now, I do want to show you guys this.

So this is actually a bit of data from one of our viewers who has asked me to share this with you all.

So this is a little project being organized by a few FSD supervised subscribers or owners

in Australia. And they're not doing this to nitpick.

They actually do want to help Tesla improve the software in Australia.

So they've actually gone here and entered this data.

And this is a summary of what they've produced from all the data that they've got.

So these are the known issues that keep recurring with version 13 at the moment.

So let's have a look at the summary.

So we've got FSD function with issues.

So it looks like speed control is an issue, lane selection is an issue.

Having experienced FSD ourselves, we kind of agree with that.

It does tend to go a bit slower than moving traffic sometimes.

And not just a bit slower, like dangerously slower.

That's the thing, like you're not just going a little bit slower.

It's what I call, you will get beeped slow.

Or like, you know, people will try and cut around you because you're going that slowly.

Yes. And I must agree, lane selection is an issue as well.

So picking the right lane or even merging at the very last minute, which annoy most people

or just not selecting the correct lane at the time.

We had one experience called a camera where it just missed three exits off

one of the freeways in Sydney.

So again, this is another issue.

That might also come under the navigating.

Yes. Yes.

And then this one too is interesting road type.

So most issues are on the street, of course, city streets.

That's where it's to improve.

Well, as they say, time enjoys the streets are rough.

And for FSD, it is very rough.

Speed control, I think that's, that's my biggest bug, go with it.

You know, go through a construction zone where it's 40 kilometers an hour in a state like Victoria,

where forget about EVs, we'll build any tunnel, anything else you want,

pay CFMU, whatever the need to be paid.

So yeah, for that, there's always, you know, once it gets past, gets out of that zone,

it just doesn't speed up.

Sometimes it gets stuck.

So yeah, no, you're not alone.

It happened in Sydney as well for us.

And, and then by scenario, so it looks like it's sort of divided into different scenarios

situations for continuing lane change, roundabout, roundabout is a big issue at the moment.

We did try the DFO roundabout on our tests.

We did survive.

It got lucky with a good kind of like set.

That's right.

And then these guys also graded the severity as well, which is great data set by the way.

So most of it was kind of hovering around sort of upper to higher sort of terms of severity,

which it makes sense because you would only report if it's quite severe.

I was going to say you probably don't even remember the ones that were low severity.

It's cute, obviously, this data.

I will leave a link to this data in the video description.

It's been given permission by the authors and they've requested if you have any

anything you want to add in terms of feedback from your FSD experience,

please leave that in our comment section in this video.

And yeah, they'll add that to the data set as well.

And we'll keep updating this data week to week.

So thank you to these anonymous authors, but very, very smart and very hardworking authors.

Thank you.

We've got some comments already.

So I drove with FSD on my test drive.

It was great until across to the opposite lane and nearly killed me.

That's never good.

Look at these.

That's what a lot of people say, isn't it?

Like it's wonderful until it isn't.

Yeah, that is the case.

Yeah, it's funny if you subscribe to X, you would swear

blind version 13 is perfect in Australia.

That's it.

It is it can be spewed on X and even comments from viewers and I guess US owners when they're

on our videos, you would think it's perfect as well.

So it's good to see real data from real users come through like this.

So I'm very happy to see this actually.

So I guess the other part is if, of course, if users and those that are, you know,

I guess want this software to improve so much, if they're giving,

collecting this information, providing this feedback,

wonder how much data Tesla has on all of those scenarios because,

you know, obviously that's how the software is improved in other parts of the world.

And I wonder how they will categorize different country data sets to improve a model.

I wonder if it's a model specifically for Australia in some ways.

So yeah, it's pretty good.

And, you know, love the work the community is doing on this as well because,

you know, if Tesla can get this right and it really helps drive autonomy forward,

mean, you know, less road tolls in the long term.

Yep. And obviously you need AI to work out exactly what's going on and work out what

issues are happening.

Is there so much data I'm sure that's being fed back from users?

Yes, I saw this too.

Drove into a lake the other day in the US.

I saw the headline for I didn't read it, but I did see that article.

So interesting.

Not much difference with the, well, actually, no.

Do you guys, oh, Tom, do you remember when a couple of, maybe weeks ago we did the Xiaomi one

where that literally, it was like supposed to park itself and it literally drove into a lake.

So the owners got out of the car.

And yes.

Yes, I remember that.

They were, yeah, the car just kept going.

I think it was a lake somewhere in China.

But yeah, things are going to happen with this software that,

yeah, we'll have to monitor and find more of those extreme use cases.

Yeah, there'll always be edge cases, right, with new tech.

So yeah, that helped it work.

Go through them and obviously report them as well.

Now, speaking of Roland earlier, who sends his apologies,

he is saying the inevitable has happened, just like Model 3, where the only all-wheel drive

variant will be the performance Model Y.

And that's not surprising, given that's happened to Model 3, of course.

So if you want a long-range all-wheel drive, this could be one of the last few chances in

Australia, given that the UK has announced it officially.

There we go.

What a wide real-drive long-range, now available for the Brits.

That's, I guess, no real surprise for us, isn't it?

Especially for our climate here.

Long-range all-wheel drive makes a lot of sense.

Yeah, we don't need much more than that.

Unless we go to the snow, I guess we need that extra traction because the winter tires on.

Yes, and also just moving on to some BYD news.

We talked about the new Ato3 last week, the EVO platform,

and this has now been spotted in Thailand, in Camo Blue.

Let's have a look.

There you go.

Can we see a hint of what the new face will look like?

That's the back.

Is this triggering me that the Camo doesn't cover the entire car?

Yeah, I mean, it does look a little bit different, maybe?

It's hard to tell, obviously, with the Camo in front.

Yeah, they haven't got, I think the official pictures are up in Europe and stuff now,

but yeah, it's, from the outside, it's roughly the same as the current model.

I think they've got new wheels, but yeah, the main changes are on the inside.

And faster charging, too, I believe, as well, is what we covered last week.

Side rear windows, so there's lightning, yes.

There's really light stuff like the C-Line 5.

Okay, that's fine.

Tony says it looks like a little more aggressive.

Yeah, possibly, possibly.

Is that an existing Ato3 in the back?

Yeah, it is one.

Yeah, okay, yep.

Look at those seats.

No, I didn't look at the seats.

It's a look on the front on view.

Front view, okay.

I wonder whether there'll be less gnarly on the inside.

I think the Catastrians are going to still be there, someone said.

Yeah, they're just in black.

And the rest of the interior is a little bit like the currently available Ato2.

The gear stock has come to the BYDs and not a lot of piano black.

It's sort of matte gray.

And yeah, I think the interior now is so much better than the first version of

not even the Ato3, but even the Dolphin and the rest.

This current interior is sort of where BYD needs to be at for global markets.

I'm afraid to comment on the interior,

because I might be called an interiorist.

No, I'm just going to hold my tongue.

Yeah, look, Tom, I'll take the heat on the interior this time around.

People are saying they're adjustable.

Maybe they were adjustable before.

I think it was.

Yeah, it was just like one molded seat like the Tesla's right now.

I should pop up the headrest, so that's good.

And of course, how can I forget?

0 to 103.9 all-wheel drive.

So in this?

Yeah, it's an all-wheel drive version coming.

So yes, hold your horses.

How would be so shocked seeing this Ato3 flying past me?

What?

We're doing that test.

And real drive too.

Oh, good work, Justin.

Yes, that's good.

That's a huge improvement.

Excellent.

All righty, that's good.

All right, we'll keep it on that one.

Hopefully BYD will bring that soon to Australia.

And Roland once again tells us that Roland is the ADR king.

So he's told us he's spotted that another EV truck has appeared on the ADR list.

Sorry, let's get back to this one.

So here we go.

BJ1065EVJAR4.

What's the name for this thing that I missed?

Photon.

It's a photon.

OK, it's just got a code name at the moment.

So single motor, 75 kilowatts of power.

Yep, single road cab, three seats.

There you go.

OK, a few variants there.

Good.

Excellent.

For those of you who need a commercial vehicle.

And speaking of commercial vehicles, now it's good to see Verizon getting on the Luna

Solar Spirit's 8888 cashback.

How good is that?

So if you need a van, EVVAR, which I'm fantastic by the way, we drove this to

and I last year.

That's a really good buy, almost four grand off.

It's nearly 12 months since the Melbourne Motor Show.

And I don't know if you both recall the, I think they've had like one of those green vans there

that they did a partnership with Messina Ice Cream.

And they were giving out ice cream off the back of the van.

And usually you get told not to approach vans where they're handing out ice creams

unless you're paying for it.

So but yeah, it was a huge queue.

Like it was already very busy sold out show, but there was a huge queue just to get

a free sort of cup of ice cream.

So hopefully they do that again this year.

But right now it's $3,888 Luna cashback.

It's not hard to attract customers.

Just give you a free ice cream.

I think it's the key.

I remember the Melbourne Everything Electric Show too.

This tall boy had, was kitted out and decked out with like an RV style area, right?

You could sleep in it, cook in it and stuff.

It was pretty cool.

So you have an option as to what you can do with it.

And by the way, we're not sponsored by Verizon.

We just, I'm just impressed by the $3,888 cashback.

And you know, I guess you both have driven it as well.

And I thought it was, it drove pretty well for a van.

And I think that that's what, you know, electric sort of transition offers that they

really do drive like more like passenger cars.

Yep, correct.

It was Zippy.

Zippy.

Yep.

It means your office drivers will be comfortable.

I mentioned EV offering EV camper van builders.

That's good.

And yes, EV vans for baristas will be awesome.

I agree.

Getting ads for EV camper vans.

Maybe it's trying to tell you something.

Junete says, Junete, sorry.

Tony, just be careful.

The new BMW will be dragged off at the lights by the Ato 3 all wheel drive.

Well, Ato 3 is 3.9 and the BMW iX3 is 4.9.

So that would be hilarious if I think I drag it out.

Quav has a zero-incense Roland does the approving for cars coming into Australia.

He could very well be.

You never know.

It's a man of mystery, Roland.

There was something I wanted to put on the screen here.

Andrew is saying that very excited to be hosting one of the very first Zika owners community drives

this Sunday in Mornington, Victoria.

Should be around 40 people attending.

Great to see an active community building around the car.

That's good to see.

It is.

I would have attended if we bought my Zika 7 GT, which we're still waiting for.

But now I think a great effort by the community.

It's only been a couple of months since Zika 7 X owners have been receiving their cars.

And yeah, this really, really good run down towards Mornington Peninsula.

As in a bit of a convoy.

Yeah, seeing a lot more on the North Shore as well.

And certainly it's a great looking vehicle, I must say, in all the different colors.

The indicator lights are mesmerizing, I think.

It's a nice car.

It's the car that a lot of the comments in our video for the BMW are saying,

why would I get a BMW when I get a Zika 7 X?

That is the competition, isn't it?

It's a lot of money, a lot of car for money, sorry, for the money.

Any news on the new G6?

Here we go.

That's why nothing Joyce is looking forward to.

The all drive G6, I'm sure.

I just want the purple color.

Yeah, that lavender, isn't it?

Like sort of lavender.

I don't know, it's such a nice color.

Yeah, it is a nice color.

What else have we got?

How much are these Vans?

Yeah, not as much as you think actually.

They're pretty good value from memory.

Oh.

Late 70s, early 80s?

Yeah, I think so.

Something like that?

Yeah.

Yeah, Tony, very hard to beat the Zika 7 X value, obviously.

I think one thing worth noting here is that a BMW customer today,

Zika is something if they're sort of well informed about the market

and those sort of things that they'd be looking around

and seeing what else is available.

But most people are loyal to a particular brand.

And these brands are smart.

They do clever things to get people continuously coming back

into the dealership such as prepaid servicing.

So prepaid servicing means you pay two, two and a half grand,

bundle it into your finance for the car,

and you basically don't even feel the servicing cost.

But it means that you continuously keep going back to the dealer

to get your car serviced because you've technically already paid for it.

And every time you go in, you're like, oh, BMW's got a new IX3.

That's really cool.

I was thinking about going electric and take one for a test drive.

So it's going to be very interesting to see.

I think out of all the German brands,

BMW is least likely to lose a lot of market share,

even if the price is at that price point.

But Mercedes and Audi, I think they don't have many offerings in that,

that really sort of target that segment and have new tech.

So yeah, time will tell when they finally land in June, I think it was.

Yep. I think that's the launch around June.

I think I can be bought really, really cheaply

because I'm pretty sure my original Mazda 3 came with a free Golf umbrella in the boot.

And that's clearly all it needed for me to continue buying.

It doesn't take much.

Get another Golf umbrella.

Because every time you use the umbrella, you see the Mazda logo again.

It's like, look, it might be this,

maybe the Golf umbrella has been given out with all these BMWs,

BMW Golf umbrella, right?

And so.

Hey, I know our good friend, David Giametta.

He is at CDBMW.

And if anyone's in Sydney, go and talk to him.

I've seen a whole lot of umbrellas there.

So if you're running any luxury dealership and you want Joy's business,

make sure you have an umbrella with the big logo

and hand that to her every time she comes in for a service.

It doesn't take much.

It doesn't take much for basically any of us.

Yeah. Say hi to Dave Geo if you've got a BMW Rush Cutters Bay.

So Riz and Tom and Joy said hello.

Yeah, Riz, you make a good point.

I think, you know, BMW, even picking up a press card, I must say.

I do enjoy going to BMW Sydney because you go there.

You're welcomed by the beautiful staff.

You sit down.

You can have a coffee.

You can get all the nice snacks for free.

See all the cars on this plane.

It is quite an experience, I must say.

And it certainly does build loyalty,

put customer loyalty that way, for sure.

But on the serious note, I think BMW,

between BMW, Mercedes, BW Group,

Philantis, I think BMW are ahead at the moment with the EV,

in the EV space.

They're doing it very well.

The cars drive really well.

The tech's pretty good.

Now with the new RX3, it's suddenly very compelling.

So I was surprised at how Chinese it looked on the inside.

I was like, oh, wow, it's up to date technology.

It's a good thing.

It's a good high price.

And you know, China gets a special version of that car.

And even better one.

Is it?

Well, better for some people.

Um, the BMW IX3 Neuer Class L, the long wheelbase.

There's way more space in the back.

So I think it will be a bit stretched.

So we don't know exactly what it is.

I think Wang Zhou's show on the BMW stand,

they only showed this IX3 concept, not even a real deal.

So now I think at the Beijing show,

they will definitely have the real deal.

And we might even see the IX3 L there.

Cool.

Okay.

Well, if we happen to go there,

we will certainly have a look at that car.

It should be good.

Yes.

See, coffee and macarons.

I thought it takes for some brand-new ones, really.

Hey, at the BMW Rush Cuddle Bay,

the experience is so interesting.

And I don't even know Sydney.

And I've been to that show for months.

And I remember what that experience was,

because they're like, you know, talk to this French chef

and baker who has been baking pastries.

You've got to try his croissants.

And I'm just thinking, I've got to try it now.

And I've got to buy a BMW now.

So it's an experience that mastered pretty well.

That's where the BMW markup goes,

to the French pastry chef in the corner.

That's what you're getting.

Chef's gift.

What's markup?

That is the price.

Oh, the price is the price.

Sorry.

Now, before this turns into a BMW ad,

I just wanted to show Riz's post here from Kaldub.

So it's good to see, what is it now, Riz?

How many charges are we talking?

1,517 sites is, well, when this snapshot was taken

a week or so ago.

32% increase over, sort of, year on year.

So things are ramping up in the number of sites.

And of course, the sites themselves are getting bigger as well.

Good.

Yeah, more stores per charging sites, which is good.

How many EVs are we up to now in Australia?

We're up to 300,000 yet?

We are above 360,000 now.

Oh, fabulous.

So it's definitely starting to sort of take off in a way.

I'd be curious to see after we sort of saw what happened in January,

what February holds, and particularly given it's a shorter month.

And I know many years ago, you mentioned a metric,

like a charger to a number of cars,

or a charger plugged to a number of cars.

Are we getting there?

We should do that math.

I don't have those figures on.

But so Richard Laxton, if you're there, take notes.

We need to come back onto the stream and talk about where are we at

in terms of the number of plugs to sort of EVs, yeah.

Yeah, plug to car ratio, definitely.

Yes, let's see how we compare with the rest of the world.

That'd be good metric, I think.

Yes, there are good numbers.

I just think our idea of fast charges is a bit below the rest of the world.

Yeah, I think at the moment, certainly compared to, say, China,

or even the US, I think.

Now, this is why I love this show because,

and there is, we talked about last week,

the talkie origin sungrove charges, right?

We wanted some pics, and of course, the next day,

we had a couple of viewers straight away tag us on X with some pics.

So here we go.

Just a follow-up from last week's show.

So that is the origin sungrove charges at talkie in Victoria.

Did I pronounce that right?

Talkie, talkie?

Talkie.

Talkie, okay.

And so here we go.

This is at a shopping centre, looks like.

The kernel is watching over it.

With these special herbs and electrons.

There are quite a few spots too, right?

I can see one, two, three, four more,

and then four behind the side maybe.

So eight charging spots.

Eight or 10, yeah.

It's a pretty, pretty big site.

It's pretty good.

I like that they're clearly signed as well.

I would have preferred if everything was orange,

and then the logo was inverse, like in negative,

but this is pretty good.

Paint's expensive.

So maybe this is the way, you know, doing it this way.

Yeah, but you need to make it like really super, super, super on.

Still get ice there, you know that.

And yeah, look, it's pretty good-looking charger actually.

Looks like a robot.

Yeah, that's quite futuristic.

I wonder whether the glare is, you know,

like some chargers you can't see.

Yeah, let's have a look.

Got one from Richard as well.

Thanks, Richard, for this.

Let's see whether we can, there's a tiny bit of glare,

but it's hard to tell in that peak.

The screens are smaller.

So, you know, where we found the old

atomic screens in ample pheasants nest

when we tried that a couple of years ago, Tom.

Yes.

But yeah, I think this is great.

That this is probably one of the,

definitely one of the bigger sites around the country

with these sun grow chargers.

Not sure if anyone's really experienced charging there.

If they're peering in the app yet or not.

But once again, it's another app, Origin 360 app.

Yeah.

They also look vandalism-resistant screens.

I wouldn't say vandalism-proof, but vandalism-resistant.

Yes.

Thank you, J.D. Music as well for J.D. Meeting Music

for helping us with this post.

I appreciate that.

It's a great ocean road, of course, and talking

at 75 cents per kilowatt hour,

which is about standard these days for a fast charger.

That'll get busy during school holidays.

Yeah, definitely.

And we're on the road trip down to the Great Ocean Road

and check these out.

Great idea to charge and go to KFC.

I think that Newcastle area works.

And look, it's not the healthiest meal,

but hey, it can't be KFC for taste sometimes.

Oh, you've got Zambrero?

Zambrero.

Yeah, I think they are Mexican chain,

sort of like Guzman and Gomez.

Coffee's not bad as Zambrero, actually.

I've had that before.

Then make more money just by putting ads on the front.

Yeah, like Jolt.

Our friends at Jolt.

Where's the shade?

Look, yeah, I'll be obviously a shade of the ideal, but yeah.

It is what it is.

Are the burgers better or hungry, Jax?

We've started to get to a fast food war here, says Jolt.

War.

Look, we're happy with food.

Thank you.

Are you from the road?

Okay, well, thank you guys for posting that for us.

Appreciate it.

And now, we're about to show this video that Joy and I

and the kids experienced on the weekend that this,

if you have dash cam or century mode built into your EV,

it's always quite handy because you can pick up

interesting videos like this.

So this was on Saturday night.

Just share it now.

Well, you can see all the stats there, isn't it?

Yes, exactly.

It was a Valentine's Day.

Valentine's Day.

Almost 9 p.m. on Valentine's Day.

So the X-Ping century or dash cam mode has got the date,

it's got the time, it's got what you're doing

at the wheel at the moment.

You were accelerating.

On the accelerator, 38 kph.

Your lights were on.

Like you, I was in.

The lights I was on.

And just watch what happens in this bottom left corner here.

So let's see what happens at almost 9 o'clock.

This is sort of in Forestville.

Deck of the Woods, New South Wales.

Watch what the boys do here.

Oh, let's watch that again.

Yeah, we don't know these boys, by the way.

Just random neighborhood kids.

As you do on a Saturday night.

Of course, yeah.

So these are your children.

I hope you're proud of them.

Caught them on camera doing something they shouldn't be doing.

I couldn't tell what it was.

It was a soft landing.

It wasn't anything hard.

So the car wasn't damaged at all,

which I'm thankful for, because it's not out there.

But I think it almost looked like an insole of a shoe.

It wasn't quite a shoe.

It wasn't as big as a shoe, but it sort of flopped off the car.

Yeah, almost like a dead fish, almost.

But yeah, so, I mean, look, it's not clear enough to show their face.

That's why I'm happy to show it, because they're juvenile, obviously.

They want to get in trouble with showing minors,

but you can't see their faces, unfortunately, if you want to.

Well, fortunately.

Unfortunately for the police report,

if you wanted to put a police report.

But if you've got evidence like this,

then you can obviously ask for CCTV footage right here,

maybe all over there.

So that's what he's talking about.

No, I don't think it was an egg.

There was no egg on the car, but it was something odd that they threw.

Who throws a dead fish?

Who throws a shoe?

Yeah, we weren't going to Hungry Jacks for a romantic dinner.

The BYD boys.

Yeah, well, I'm the next friend.

So there will be what he fans.

Yeah, obviously just kids having fun.

But still, just be careful.

I think it is technically a crime,

even if it doesn't damage the car,

because it's distracting, isn't it?

It's a distraction to drive it.

I was halfway through filing a police report.

Just to see how far it would go.

I was just ignoring him when he was doing that.

I thought, forget it, it's too much trouble now.

Well, Tom, if you were in Victoria,

they would be swinging machetes.

So just putting it out there that, you know,

it's a safe state you're living up there.

It's pretty rough in these two, like Riz.

It's a unusual.

It's getting rougher, if you know what I mean.

Like the streets are dangerous.

And this is the four-way view as well,

the X-Pay, just in case you're wondering.

So it's like all four cameras.

So you can see this one here, that's where they were.

And then when you pass them there,

you can see on this left one.

And then when you pass them again,

you can see them on the real one.

So you can see them being delinquents four times over.

Yeah.

It's funny, because like all four of us were in the car,

and all of us just cracked up laughing,

because like it was like a big wind-up.

And then it was just like, oh.

Oh, that's good.

Yeah, it wasn't a glass bottle or anything.

It was just thankfully, yeah.

Anyway, it's good.

It's good for you to have this.

This is a remote dash cam, obviously.

So the Zinkus 7X has got it, doesn't it?

It's got a dash cam, I think, if you remember.

I don't know.

I'd have bussing people install them.

You can't remember.

Yeah.

I only thought I could remind us if it does.

Again, the tech in the X-Pay.

It's just, it's good, isn't it?

Yeah.

All right, we're almost at the end of our show.

I just wanted to show you three more things.

So this is something that one of our viewers

shared with me this week.

So this is a company called Vessev,

making electric hydro-forcing vessels.

And this is in Queenstown's Lake Wakatipu.

Sorry if I pronounced that wrong, in New Zealand.

And they're exploring potentially expanding

this hydro-force transport across the lake.

What a beautiful shot of Queenstown there.

We've never actually been to Queenstown.

I haven't been to Queenstown.

But here, by all accounts, it's beautiful.

So one day we'll get there.

But that would be cool to be on an electric craft

in Queenstown and join the scenery

without having to hear the diesel around you.

So that's the future we can hopefully look for, too,

in our part of the world.

It's good.

And there's a picture of a charger, too, which I,

did I, I'm supposed to show that very quickly,

see if I can find it.

It was a really cool charger on the water.

There we go.

I'm going to show this one.

This is really cool.

So look at that.

That is a CCS2 plugs on the water, on the pier.

That's pretty funky.

It was an amazing scenery in the background.

Amazing.

Yeah.

Yep.

And man, thank you very much.

Seven next century Mono dashcam.

Thank you for clarifying that.

Good.

And we are going to finish the show with two things.

So this is robot watch.

You've seen dancing robots.

You've seen kung fu robots.

But have a look at this.

This is a ski robot now.

This is the world we can look forward to in a few years.

A robot ski instructor.

I don't think it's quite there yet.

It's a bit unshaking.

Almost looks like the ATST walkers, right,

from Star Wars Return of the Jedi.

It's not bad.

Almost pleasant for people.

For deviating from me.

It's quite cute actually.

Down it goes.

Down the mountain.

There we go.

And finally, there is one more thing I enjoy.

There is an AEVA electric vehicle rally

thanks to Nirav who informed me of this

just before the stream started.

Tuesday 10th of March at Sydney Motorsport Park.

That's where they're starting to celebrate,

I guess, climate watch week.

I think it is climate action week.

And they're going to drive to the Balloon Mountains,

I think, along the Bells line of roads.

So it should be quite an interesting drive.

So if you're interested in attending that

on the 10th of March at Sydney Motorsport Park

for the AEVA electric vehicle rally, which is good.

Looks like the bad robot from OG Robocop.

And so far better than me.

I want to watch that again.

That's so cute, this skiing robot.

I'm concerned it's cold.

Everyone else got like a light green beanie.

I get fed this on my social media.

I guess I'll keep showing you this every week.

Robot watch.

Okay, well, that is it for tonight, everyone.

Thanks for watching.

Thank you, Joy, for joining us tonight too.

Thank you.

And thank you, Riz, as always, our co-host.

So good, good to be on.

I think next couple of weeks are going to be interesting.

Quite a few launches and things coming up.

And yeah, I think thank you to all our viewers and listeners

for sharing all of those charges and anything else

that you see on the streets, because the streets are rough.

Sure, you could get a dead fish in your cars.

But yes, thank you for watching, everyone.

Much appreciated with your support.

And thank you for listening to us on the audio podcast as well.

And shout out to Roland, hopefully you feel better.

We'll see you next week on the show.

Yeah, Chinese New Year.

Happy Chinese New Year for those of you who celebrate.

And as that wraps up, I'm sure the EV side of things

will ramp up as well as we can do.

Full swing for 2026.

So thank you, guys and girls.

Oh, no, we don't want to see the robot again.

Or do we?

No, we don't want to see the robot.

How do I?

Oh, I'm sorry.

Do you think I know how to use this program by now?

Here we go.

That's our sponsors for the night, as always.

Thank you, Riz.

Thank you, Joy.

And thank you, viewers.

We shall see you next week.

Bye for now.

2026 Mazda 6e Australia Pricing from $49,990 and specs walkthrough

About this episode

Bmw Ix3

Neuer Class

WLTP range

Tesla Model 3

Autobahn

400 kW charging

BMW X3

ICE vehicle

EV

Zeekr Zika 7X

Porsche Macan

Polestar 4

Polestar 3

6e Mazda 6E

Chang'an

Mazda 3

Tesla Model

190kW

kWh battery

Mazda 6

Lang Lang track

Mazda Cx5

MG

FSD

BYD

BYD Ato3

0 to 100 time

all-wheel drive

Dodge Spirit

Zeekr 7GT

Zeekr 7X

Dodge Charger

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