2017 Mazda 6 vs 2018

What's the difference?

So, you’re thinking about a wagon? Wow, you’d be one of the very few people left in the world yet to be convinced that SUVs are the answer to everything. That’s what I like about you; you’ve always been your own person, sticking to your guns, not following the crowd.

Problem is, most car makers do follow the crowd. Because crowds equal money. And because everybody has gone crazy for SUVs, the manufacturers have given them what they want. And mostly that means no more wagons.

But there are a few brands who have kept wagons in the lineup. There’s the Ford Mondeo, the Volkswagen Passat, the Skoda Superb, the Subaru Levorg.

And the car we’re testing in this review; the Mazda6 wagon. The version we tested was the GT grade with the petrol engine and an automatic transmission. 

So, is a model that’s been around almost six years starting to show its age? And is that boot going to be big enough? I found out when the Mazda6 GT wagon came to live with my family for a week.

Mid-size sedans. Remember them? I don't mean premium-brand German ones, I mean the sorts of cars we all bought when we didn't want a Falcon or a Commodore. The kind of cars that used to be made here, like the Camry, Magna (yeah, I know; pipe-down granddad), or the Sigma.

But we've also had a bit of a love affair with one particular Japanese import - Mazda's 6. They were pretty, they went alright, and they were well-priced.

And yet now they're being out-sold by cars double the price. It's a weird world.

Mazda, however, won't let us give up on the 6. For the past few years, the Japanese company has steadily addressed a number of problems the 6 had (more on that in a moment), and a recent facelift came with something even better - a turbocharged 2.5-litre petrol engine.