Mazda 6 2013 Review

Wow. What do you say about a car that looks as good as this and can do 500km on half a tank of juice? Add in the quality and driving feel, and Mazda is on another winner.

VALUE

The diesel wagon is available in Touring, GT and Atenza grades, priced from $41,650 and commanding a $2850 premium over the equivalent petrol model. The top of the line Atenza tops the $50K mark at $50,960 before on road costs  a fair old whack but a nice car at the same time.

TECHNOLOGY

The diesel engine is paired exclusively with a six-speed auto in the wagon, complete with wheel-mounted change paddles. The new 2.2-litre twin turbodiesel produces an impressive 129kW of power at 4500 revs and 420Nm of torque at 2000 revs.

It features a range of Skyactiv fuel saving technologies including i-stop and i-ELOOP. i-Stop automatically stops and starts the engine again as required while i-ELOOP saves the energy normally lost during braking.

Fuel consumption is rated at 5.4 litres/100km and we actually saw this figure briefly, but expect around 6.0 litres as a rule of thumb.
With a 62-litre tank that gives the wagon a theoretical range of 1148km. We chalked up 600km at a rate of 5.7 litres/100km, much of it on the motorway.

DESIGN

Long and low it is cut very much in the mold of a Euro sports wagon, where form rules function. As such the load carrying capacity is somewhat compromised by the low roof line. The boot by the way houses a full size -- but temporary -- spare wheel.

SAFETY

No rating from ANCAP yet, but the old one scored five and this one is fitted with even more safety gear. i-ACTIVSENSE is a series of advanced technologies designed to aid the driver in recognising hazards, avoiding collisions and reducing the severity of accidents when they cannot be avoided.

DRIVING

This is a seriously good car, as good as anything from the Germans and just as good looking too. It has plenty of grunt and slides through the air like a stealth fighter, with the engine hardly ticking over at motorway speeds.

That said it's not as smooth as the Subaru diesel we had sitting in the driveway at the same time, which is paired with a CVT auto. And the tyres too can be noisy at times, particularly on coarse bitumen.

The TomTom based satnav system is one of the better ones and gives warnings for speed cameras and schoolzones. But the switch between day and night modes doesn't work, nor did it work in the CX-5 that we had previously.

VERDICT

Love it. Why would you bother with a Benz or a Biemer when you can get something as good as this at a fraction of the cost?

Mazda6 diesel wagon 

Price: from $41,650 (Touring)
Warranty: 3 years/unlimited km
Resale: 54 per cent (3 years, Glass's Guide)
Service interval: 6 months/10,000km
Safety: 6 airbags, ABS, TC, ESC, EBD
Engine: 2.2L four-cylinder turbodiesel, 129kW/420Nm
Transmission: 6-speed auto, FWD
Dimensions: 4.8m (L), 1.84m (W), 1.48m (H)
Weight: 1561kg
Spare: Space-saver
Thirst:5.4L/100km, 141g/km CO2