Mazda6 Estate: month 5

Arrived: May 2008
List price (including options): £19,490
Average economy: 38.2mpg

The Mazda6 Estate has been -

I signed off my last Mazda6 report looking forward to a summer of activities with it. How wrong could I be? The summer has never really materialised, but the Mazda has still been very busy regardless. Not that it's been up to anything outstanding, except conveying me - and usually a boot load of stuff - all over the place. The summer festival season saw me trade it in for a few days for a Mercedes Vito dual-liner van, which was better for sleeping in the back of, but the Mazda once again impressed by managing to swallow all the camping gear, BBQs and other junk when I emptied out the Mercedes post V Festival. It also took me down to Mercedes-Benz World recently where I swapped it for a 1968 SL Pagoda for a while. As much as I loved the charismatic old Mercedes, I know which I'd rather drive everyday...

We're loving the -

Style. Two months of madness schedule-wise has seen the 6 wearing a coating of muck that wouldn't look out of place on a tractor. Thankfully the nice people at Mercedes-Benz World valeted the Mazda for me while I was playing in their classics, and the result is extraordinary. I'd forgotten just how handsome the 6 is, a bit of spit and polish forcefully reminding me that this is one of the best looking cars in its class. So much so it got me some unexpected attention at the supermarket when a chap excitedly approached me to ask what I thought of it. He was thinking of buying one and seemed very keen indeed. Stuff like that only usually happens with supercars, not family estate cars.

But not so impressed by -

I bemoaned the workings of the Bluetooth system last time and it's no better now I've changed phones. Being a slave to Macs I've gone for an iPhone, which despite going through the pairing process and connecting faultlessly first time never works. I'm not sure whether it's the phone or the car, though I'm actually enjoying the peace and quiet. Fuel consumption is resolutely sticking around the 38.2mpg area, which isn't too bad, but it's not great either. Colleagues who have driven the new 2.2-litre turbodiesel report it's a good bit smoother, and should be more economical too. If I were ordering again it's the engine I'd have.

We're looking forward to -

The Mazda's first service. I've been keeping an eye on the oil level and despite having done more than 10,000 miles - most of them hard - in our hands the 6 refuses to use any. That's impressive indeed, but I'm looking forward to the peace of mind a service brings. With just over 11,000 miles on the odometer that service should be arriving very soon, too.

Kyle Fortune