There are plenty of ways to review a car, but for Plenty Left, I’d rather find out what a car is actually like by using it for what it was built for.
So when Mazda Australia handed me the keys to the new Mazda 6e, I didn’t want to just drive it around the suburbs and talk about screens, battery figures and specifications.
I wanted to take it somewhere.
The destination was the Blue Mountains, with a few very deliberate stops along the way: coffee and pastries at Con’s Patisserie in Glenbrook, a visit to Blue Mountains Ugg Boots, and a final food stop at Mountain High Pies.
A simple road trip, but exactly the sort of day that tells you whether a car actually works as part of your life.
First impressions of the Mazda 6e
The Mazda 6e is a very different Mazda.
It is fully electric, sleek, modern and noticeably more futuristic than the Mazdas many of us are used to. At first glance, it almost feels like a departure from the brand’s traditional formula.
But once you start driving it, some familiar Mazda traits begin to come through.
The cabin feels driver-focused, the car is easy to place on the road and it has that polished, well-finished feel Mazda tends to do particularly well.
For this trip, though, I wasn’t interested in dissecting every technical detail.
I wanted to know something simpler.
Would I actually enjoy spending a day in it?
Coffee first: Glenbrook and Con’s Patisserie
No Plenty Left road trip is going to get very far without coffee.
So the first stop was Glenbrook, at the foot of the Blue Mountains, and a visit to Con’s Patisserie.
It’s the sort of stop I love on a road trip. Nothing overcomplicated. Grab a coffee, find something good from the cabinet and take a few minutes before heading further up the mountain.
Glenbrook has a relaxed village feel that makes it an easy place to stop before the road begins climbing into the Blue Mountains proper.
It also gave me a chance to live with the Mazda 6e in normal conditions rather than just treating it like a test car.
Park it. Get in and out. Use the navigation. Deal with traffic. Find somewhere to stop.
Those mundane little things often tell you more about a car than a spec sheet.
Con’s Patisserie:
https://conspatisserie.com.au/
Heading into the mountains
From Glenbrook, the trip continued west into the Blue Mountains.
This is where the Mazda 6e started to make more sense.
Electric cars are often discussed almost entirely in terms of range, charging and efficiency, but a road like this reminds you that they can also be genuinely enjoyable to drive.
The instant response from the electric drivetrain makes climbing through the mountains effortless, and the quiet cabin suits this sort of relaxed touring surprisingly well.
You still feel connected to the trip, but without the noise and fuss.
For someone who enjoys road trips more than outright speed, that combination works.
Blue Mountains Ugg Boots
The next stop was Blue Mountains Ugg Boots.
This is exactly the kind of local business I like incorporating into Plenty Left trips.
The point isn’t just getting from A to B. It’s finding the interesting places in between.
Blue Mountains Ugg Boots has a long history of making Australian-made ugg boots in the region, and it felt like a natural stop on a Blue Mountains drive.
There is something satisfying about visiting a business that still makes a tangible product locally, particularly when so much of what we buy today comes from somewhere anonymous on the other side of the world.
It also fits what Plenty Left is really about: getting out, finding places with a story and not rushing through the day.
Blue Mountains Ugg Boots:
https://uggboots.com.au/
One more essential stop: Mountain High Pies
Eventually, every decent road trip reaches the same point.
You need a pie.
So the next destination was Mountain High Pies at Wentworth Falls.
It has become one of the better-known food stops in the Blue Mountains, and there is a good reason places like this become part of road-trip culture.
A good pie shop isn’t just somewhere to eat.
It becomes a destination.
Motorcyclists stop there. Car clubs stop there. Families stop there. Travellers heading further west stop there.
And that is exactly the kind of place that belongs in a Plenty Left road trip.
Mountain High Pies:
https://mountainhighpies.com.au/
So, what is the Mazda 6e actually like on a road trip?
This trip wasn’t intended to be a full technical review.
That will come separately.
But it did answer one important question.
The Mazda 6e works very well as a day-trip car.
It is quiet, comfortable, easy to drive and has enough personality that the journey doesn’t feel completely sanitised.
That last point matters.
Some electric cars can feel more like appliances than cars. Extremely competent, but slightly detached.
The Mazda 6e feels like Mazda is trying to avoid that.
It is clearly a different direction for the company, but not necessarily an unwelcome one.
And for a drive like this — Sydney to the Blue Mountains, coffee, local businesses, winding roads and a pie at the end — it made a lot of sense.
The bigger point
The thing I enjoyed most about the day wasn’t one particular feature of the Mazda.
It was simply having an excuse to go somewhere.
That is increasingly what Plenty Left is becoming about.
The motorcycle, the car, the destination, the coffee shop or the accommodation are really just the tools.
The point is to keep exploring.
To keep finding reasons to get out of the house.
To discover somewhere new, revisit somewhere old, support a local business and turn an ordinary day into a story.
And if a very different Mazda helps make that happen, I’m all for it.
There’s Plenty Left.
Featured vehicle
Mazda 6e — supplied by Mazda Australia
Mazda Australia:
https://www.mazda.com.au/
Stops from the trip
Con’s Patisserie — Glenbrook
https://conspatisserie.com.au/
Blue Mountains Ugg Boots
https://uggboots.com.au/
Mountain High Pies — Wentworth Falls
https://mountainhighpies.com.au/
