Mazda6: final report

Arrived: May 2008
List price (including options): £19,490
Average economy: 39.8mpg

The Mazda6 Estate has been -

As predicted last month the 6 has been pretty busy and always full over the festive break when running around visiting family and friends. For weeks the boot was never anything less than full, our lack of restraint when packing meaning that we've often also had to use the back seats for all the extra luggage.

We're loving the -

The 6 has always excelled at long distance runs and it proved its mettle once again driving up to Scotland and back over the holidays. I've no complaints about the seat comfort, which always impresses after long stints at the wheel. Back home I could once again discover the 6's handling on roads I know well through the Scottish Borders. It's a real tribute to the 6's fine long distance ability and enjoyable handling that even after four and a half hours of solid motorway driving I took the slightly longer and significantly twistier final hundred miles home.

I still think it's a great looking car too. Once in Scotland I parked it up alongside my Dad's old Volvo estate and it showed just how big mainstream cars have become and how estate cars don't need to be boxy.

But not so impressed by -

Being Christmas I thought I'd treat the 6 to the good stuff, so I filled it with premium diesel for a few weeks. And the result? The economy has finally crept up above the 38mpg mark to 39.8mpg but I'm convinced that's got everything to do with the fact my girlfriend's been driving it a lot and she isn't so heavy footed as me. That and the sort of easy constant speed motorway miles it's been doing. It certainly didn't feel any smoother or more responsive with the more expensive fuel in its belly. Indeed, if anything since its service last month it seems noisier. The cold means a fair bit of clattering from the engine until its warm and a reluctant gearchange too. In the last few hundred miles it has developed a shudder at speed. I fear a wheel's out of balance but with it going back in a few days and my schedule taking me abroad I'll not have the chance to have it checked out.

More worryingly, the power steering seemed to pack up when parking the other evening. Oddly it's been fine ever since, but it's strange that if something is amiss it wasn't picked up at the recent service. Similarly, I asked for the dealer to look at the radio when it was serviced as it had a habit of losing pre-tuned stations. Nothing wrong was found, but a strange popping sound followed by the loss of all the pre-sets when driving the other day underlines that all is not well with the in-car entertainment.

We're looking forward to -

We'd be lying to say that we're looking forward to returning the Mazda, but by the time you're reading this the 6 will be back at Mazda. It has covered about 15,700-miles with us over the last nine months, all of which have been largely trouble free. The economy has disappointed a bit, but it's always been a comfortable car for covering big mileages and carrying lots of kit. It's only in the last few miles that it's been playing up and as it's going back sadly we'll not discover what the cause is. As a family car there's a lot to like, but we'd prefer the new 2.2-litre diesel for its additional pace. Things that could be improved include the radio reception and the Bluetooth operation, both shown up by rivals' systems. Aside from those few niggles the Mazda6 will be missed.

Kyle Fortune