| Arrival date: | | May 2008 |
| Price: | | £19,490 |
| Current mileage: | | 15,700-miles |
| Average economy: | | 39.8mpg |
| Relevant links: | |
First drive of the Mazda6
|
Been anywhere interesting?
Our Mazda6 has been all over the country delivering presents and people over the festive break. It's been up to Scotland and back, over to Stratford and back down to London all in the space of a few days. It also took us to the new Westfield shopping centre in London where the boot was once again filled - the 6 looking terribly dirty in the pristine and beautifully lit underground parking garage at London's new shopping centre. It will spend its last few days in our hands parked up in an airport car park. That's pretty fitting really, the 6 doing a grand job in its nine months in our hands rushing around from place to place then getting well deserved rests in airport car parks as we nip abroad to drive other new metal.
Anything stand out...?
Driving to Edinburgh leaves me with two options when I reach the Scottish borders. The easiest is to continue on the motorway all the way home, but it's also possible to cover the last 100-miles cross country. It's testament to both the 6's long distance comfort and its fine handling that the latter option is usually taken. The 6 might be a great cruiser but it also grips well and delivers a fine drive on more challenging roads.
I've always liked estates, but parking the 6 alongside my Dad's old Volvo underlines just how far they've come in the styling stakes. The boxy old Swede lacks the smooth, classy lines of the 6, while the size of the Mazda is also surprising - I used to think the Volvo was massive.
...and for the wrong reasons?
With it being Christmas I treated the 6 to some premium diesel, the sort that's a good bit pricier and claims increased responsiveness, economy and performance. Bunkum I say; indeed if anything the 6's 2.0-litre turbodiesel lump seems noisier than ever, though in fairness the economy has crept up to 39.8mpg. That's probably got as much to do with the sort of driving it has undertaken than the fuel - that and the fact my girlfriend has been using it and her foot isn't anything like as heavy as mine. The noisiness might just be down to the extremely cold weather we've been experiencing; certainly the gearbox baulks a touch at the moment until there's some heat through it. Annoyingly in the last hundred or so miles a fairly pronounced wobble has arrived in the steering. It's only apparent at motorway speeds and is likely to be something as simple as a wheel out of balance. However, the power steering went very heavy when parking in a tight space the other evening, though was fine the next morning. We'd have it investigated but the 6 goes back in a couple of days and won't be doing more than 50-miles or so before it does.
At its first service I asked for the stereo to be looked at as it had on a few occasions lost all the pre-set radio stations. It did so again, only I heard it happen with the speakers making a popping noise and all the presets being lost. It's been fine ever since, though there's clearly something wrong with it. It's annoying these niggles have been thrown up so late into our stewardship of the 6 as we'd like to see what's caused them and it does mean we'll remember it for all the wrong reasons - it's otherwise run faultlessly over nearly 16,000-miles in our hands.
Where next?
As we've said, the 6 will be back in Mazda's hands by the time you read this. It's been a great all-rounder that's more often than not been full to the luggage cover with kit - the large load space making us lazy packers. It drives well, although we've always thought it should do a bit more than the 38mpg it's consistently returned given the long runs it's usually used for. Likewise the Bluetooth system has never impressed, nor the radio reception. Admittedly, these are minor niggles in what's otherwise been a good car. We'd happily recommend one to anybody in the market for a comfortable machine in which to cover big distances in. Particularly as it's an entertaining steer when you're not on the motorway. It'll be missed.
