2020 Mazda 6 vs 2018

What's the difference?

Mazda6 wagon, with its impressive dynamics, great practicality and value. The Atenza grade adds another level of luxury but also look at the GT, which has the same engine and an almost identical features list. Oh, and you don't have to put a bed in the back like I did, but it's good to know you can.

The Mazda 6's competition is not nearly as good looking, and none have that smooth 2.5-litre turbo to get them whistling along with such little fuss.

You can buy a Camry and enjoy the solid drive, or a Kia Optima and enjoy the, erm, exclusivity. Or the turbo Hyundai Sonata, which is also somewhat exclusive.

The GT is a terrific car, and it's terrific because of its smooth, powerful and calming engine. It's a shame that the engine is only available in the top end of the range, though...

Despite being heckled for driving a Mazda6 wagon to an old-school rod festival, more than a few punters inside wanted to take a look at it. One mate who's an auto spray painter even called it a "Mazdaratti" for its high-end looks and was impressed with the Machine Grey paint it wore.

I'm a fan of the hue, too and also the car's styling, with that glittering grille, the broad bonnet and the low-slung stance. The interior is also outstanding in its design and the materials used. From the Nappa leather seats to the layered dash with its suede-like trim, it's a premium-feeling cabin.

If there are any criticisms it's that the cabin is feeling dated compared to the cockpit of the new-generation Mazda3, with its beautiful and modern insides boasting an integrated display and a more minimal design to buttons and switchgear.

How big is the Mazda6 wagon? The Mazda6's dimensions show it to be 4865mm long, 1840mm wide and 1450mm tall. That's big, and only about 210mm shorter in length than a CX-9. How does its size affect the driving? You'll have to read on to find out.

The 6 is a seriously good-looking car, and I mean that in a head-turning, wolf-whistling kind of way.

Mazda's Kodo design language rarely disappoints. Here in the 6, the facelift is similar in nature to the CX-5 - slimmed headlights, simplified shapes front and rear, but a muscular, lithe profile.

Changes in the cabin have been more noticeable, because unlike the exterior design, Things Needed To Happen. The old interior wasn't bad, but Mazda had this terrible habit of making its cabins dark and gloomy.

A simple thing like sending some of the indicator lights up into a unit with the rear vision mirror significantly reduced the clutter on the centre console. There's a distinct Audi influence in the way the horizontal stacked sections make the cabin feel wider and more airy, too. Just about everything has been changed, except the steering wheel and the shifter, and it's worked.

Any car you can put a double-bed camp mattress into and sleep in has to be practical, right? As you can see from my images, that's just what I did when I took the Mazda6 Atenza wagon to a hot-rod festival that went over a weekend. The temperature dropped to -2C but I was cozy in my Mazda6 camper.

I don't suggest anyone else should do the same, but even for me, at 191cm tall, there was enough room to stretch out with the tailgate shut – those second-row seats fold flat and open up to give you a cargo capacity of 1648L (VDA).

Put those seats back into the upright position and the boot space is still good at 506 litres. You'll find hooks for hanging bags and a 12V outlet in the boot, too.

Cabin storage is also good, with two cup holders in the second row and another two up front. There's a big centre-console bin with two USB ports and a 12V outlet and pretty decent-sized door pockets, too.

People space is good, but not fantastic. I can sit behind my driving position but only have enough room between my knees and the seat back to squeeze in one of my fingers.

Headroom back there is getting tight, too, and that's because of  that swoopy roof line. The low roof and small door openings also make it hard to lift babies in and out. Parents will have to bend over further than in an SUV. This is one of the advantages of an SUV's ride height. That said, for kids who can climb in on their own, the wagon's height is ideal.

While we're talking ride height, SUVs tend to have high boot-load lips that you're forced to heave your bags and shopping over - not so with the Mazda6 wagon.

Front-seat passengers score a pair of cupholders with a neat cover for when they're not in use. The centre console is on the smaller side, but a decent phone cubby under the climate controls makes up for that. The fold-down centre armrest features a pair of cupholders, too, plus there's a slot to hold a phone or small tablet upright, and a small lidded tray with a pair of USB ports.

There is plenty of room for front-seat passengers, and even those in the rear won't run into any headroom trouble. There is plenty of leg room, too, as well as decent foot room. Smaller folks will be okay in the middle seat.

Boot space isn't too bad, at 474 litres (VDA) with the rear seats in place.

The GT is third in a four-model line-up that starts with the $32,940 Sport and ends with the $50,090 Atenza diesel. The GT is the first in the range to feature the turbocharged petrol engine, which is kind of sad, because a turbo-powered Sport would be brilliant.

Starting at $43,990, you get 19-inch alloys, active LED headlights, black or white leather seats, power heated and folding mirrors, power windows, electric seats, an 11-speaker Bose stereo, auto headlights and wipers, dual-zone climate control, leather steering wheel and shifter, sat nav, keyless entry and start, active cruise control, adaptive headlights, front and rear parking sensors, heated front and rear seats and a space-saver spare.

Mazda's 'MZD Connect' multimedia system is accessible through the dash-mounted touchscreen and a console-mounted rotary dial. And my usual whinge about the lack of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto now has a happy-ish ending - by the end of 2018, you'll be able to retrofit both. Not perfect, but even older Mazdas dating back to 2014 are upgradeable.

The Mazda6 Atenza has a 2.5-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine making 170kW and 420Nm. Only the GT and the Atenza have this engine, while the bottom two grades get a 2.5-litre without the turbo. What's the difference? A lot. The turbo engine makes 30kW and 169Nm more in power and torque. Two words to describe it: velvety smooth and powerful. OK that was three words, possibly four.

Shifting gears is a six-speed automatic transmission. Sure, other car makers are moving to more and more gears, but there's no fishing around for the right cog in this Mazda transmission, as you occasionally find in some eight- or 10-speed autos.

Mazda slaps a 'SkyActiv' badge on just about everything, so it will be no surprise to find that this engine bears the name. The GT's 2.5-litre four cylinder spins up 170kW and 420Nm - the same figure as the CX-9, but with a quite a few less kilos to haul.

The 6 is front-wheel drive, and power reaches those wheels via a six-speed automatic. I didn't think a six-speed 'box would be enough, but it didn't bother me at all.

Towing capacity is rated at 550kg unbraked and 1550kg braked.

We've written news stories about how Mazda refuses to bring hybrids or electric vehicles to Australia. Mazda's thinking is that its petrol engines are already super-efficient, and it says the 2.5-litre turbo petrol engine with the six-speed automatic in the Atenza wagon should use 7.0L/100km after a combination of open and urban roads.

I put more than 450km on the clock of the wagon but began fuel testing towards the end of our time with it to ensure a good combination of driving. My testing measured at the fuel pump found that after 144.3km our test car's mileage was 11.6L/100km. That was fully loaded up with a weekend away's worth of luggage for two adults and a five-year-old child on board.

You'll only need to feed it 91 RON, too.

Mazda says that the 2.5-litre turbo drinks 91RON (yep, the cheaper stuff) at the rate of 7.5L/100km.

My week with the car in mostly urban driving yielded a disappointing 11.3L/100km. That might have had something to do with my right foot, but that's classified information.

You now know from what I've written above that the turbo-petrol engine and six-speed auto are excellent, but what's the Mazda6 Atenza wagon like to pilot? The answer is: outstanding, for the segment and price. Steering is excellent with good feedback, the ride is comfortable and composed and because this isn't an SUV, handling is impressive, with a low centre of mass.

That engine provides plenty of oomph for great acceleration and I know I've mentioned it already, but the transmission is also superb at holding gears for sporty driving or shifting almost seamlessly in the traffic and when cruising leisurely.

Okay, I feel I've misled you a little, way back at the beginning of this story.

I feel like I may have intimated that shoving this turbocharged engine under the bonnet meant a transformation to something a bit hotter. After all, it has a lot more torque than the fondly remembered 6 MPS, and isn't all that short of that monster's power figure either.

It's nowhere near a replacement for the 6 MPS, though. In fact, it's better than that.

Mazda got out of performance cars a long time ago, preferring to just pretend there's another RX-7 on the way (that story always surfaces in April for some reason). The new turbo engine isn't a huffing, puffing performer. It's actually borderline dull. It isn't peaky or laggy, but super-quiet and super smooth.

You can surf along on the torque, overtake with far less planning and buttock-clenching.

Adding the turbo engine to the 6 fixes what was an extremely competent car looking for a good engine. The standard petrol in the lower-spec cars is adequate, but it's not really up to the task of swift, effortless progress.

This turbocharged unit actually calms the driving experience because you know you can surf along on the torque, overtake with far less planning and buttock-clenching.

The rest of the car? Well it's as lovely and easygoing as ever. The new car is stiffer than before, and, like most Mazda updates, is filled with detail changes that add up to a significant improvement.

It's so much quieter, too, with just a bit of racket from the GT's bigger wheels over coarse surfaces. Most of the suspension noise from the older cars is gone.

Passengers really liked the interior of the 6, with its broader, airier feel, and in Soul Red with the white interior, it looks properly classy.

The 6 arrives with six airbags, ABS, stability and traction controls, high beam control, lane-departure warning, lane-keep assist, blind-spot monitoring, forward and reverse AEB, reverse cross-traffic alert, a reversing camera and traffic-sign recognition.

ANCAP awarded the Mazda a maximum five stars in 2012.

The Mazda6 Atenza wagon is covered by a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty. Servicing is recommended every 10,000km or 12 months and you can expect to pay $324 for each of the first five services.

Mazda recently increased its long-standing three-year warranty to five years/unlimited kilometres, which was odd, because at the car's launch in May, they said three years was plenty. Still, I'm not arguing with the change.

Roadside assist, sadly, is not part of the deal. It costs between $99 and $109 per year.

Service intervals are a bit close at 12 months or 10,000km, whichever comes first. Prices are capped for the first five years, alternating between $312 and $341 for a total of $1618 for the first 50,000km.