2.2 150 SE-L Diesel Auto 5dr Estate

Excellent - Don't bother with the German offerings

Having had a Mk 2 Mazda 6 TS2 before this for 3 years (which was very good) and several German brands before that (which were very German) I have to say this new Mazda 6 is just great and is in a different league. It is very comfortable, firm but not silly, not as bad as the old version, road holding is extremely good. The power delivery from the 2.2 diesel is astonishing, there is just so much torque. I opted for the 6 speed auto, and having had several VAG cars with the impressive DSG boxes I was some what concerned how a standard auto box world fair as far as drivability went when coupled to an diesel and its reliability as I had serious problems with the 6 speed manual box in the last car, well no worries there, the box is extremely intuitive and is always in the right gear, no delays, no need for hurried kick downs, obviously the manual trip-tronic is not as good as the almost instant changes of the DSG box in as so much its a bit slow on the up take, but to be honest there's no need to use it, the auto selection works whether you tootling around or feeling a bit sporty.

The spec is good and the dash layout works well. The sensitivity on the auto wipers actually works on this car which is an improvement over its predecessor where the dial didn't seem to be connected to anything, and being able to alter the sensitivity of the auto headlights is a bonus. The sat nav being a Tom Tom will be easy to use for anyone who has had a stand alone unit and is a good addition to the car.

Now for some points I have found not so good. Fuel economy is not great as yet and not as good as my previous 6, but its early days and the car is barely run in, I'll be disappointed it if isn't better than the old ones average of 53mpg over 3 years. The door pockets! What was Mazda thinking of here, OK for drinks bottles but not much use for anything else, a step backwards from the old model. The folding door mirrors are still manual ... why... these should be auto on locking these days. No LED running lights, on a car in this price range? Mazda have also removed the tail gate open button from the key fob, I find this a little annoying especially when the rear of the car is dirty and I have to fumble under the lid for the button.

The estate also appears a little small in the boot area when compared to the cavernous previous hatchback, though the sizes given by Mazda disagree I had my old hatch and new estate parked back to back and there seemed no comparison, the hatch was bigger with a much larger opening. I'm not worried about load space as such, I only chose the estate because I think its a better looking car than the saloon and I have a dog, but if you are looking for a load lugger with good access you may be a little disappointed.

Mazda have also removed the Rear View Monitoring system (RVM) as a standard feature, very disappointing as I believe this was one of the best safety features of the old models. Sounds like I'm moaning here and some may say why have it if you found so many things wrong, well with the exception of the removal of the RVM the other issues are minor and I knew about these before I ordered the car and I can live with them. The good by far out weigh the bad. This is a great car for the money and I enjoy driving it, it is one of the best looking cars on the road and I believe the best in this sector. I would recommend a test drive if your looking for a new car.

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