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Hi jivemonkey. If it’s of any help, I own a 2016 petrol Mazda 6 Sport Estate with the 165 BHP engine variant, which I have had for just over two years now. Some observations I can share are:
MPG: I average about 45 on a mix of A and B road driving. Best I’ve had is 53 on a gentle motorway cruise at about 62 mph (100 kph) between Belfast and Dublin (about 200 mile round trip).
Tyres. mine are 19” dia wheels with a somewhat unusual size so tyre prices can be a bit on the high side. My first set of Bridgestone all seasons were around £190 per corner. Choice has improved since then and the same ones are about £160 now. Plenty of summer tyres available for around the £100 mark if all seasons make your eyes water. Alternatively a set of 17’s should have cheaper rubber options.
Reliability: perhaps too early to tell on a sub 5 year old car but I have had little to complain about. No warnings or dashboard lights and nothing has worn out and needed fixing. Auto folding mirrors were both replaced under warranty, no quibbles.
Mazda spare wheels are a bit of a rip off at over £300 for the kit. Note however that the 16” space saver from a Hyundai i40 fits perfectly and can be had much cheaper on eBay. I got one for just under £90, complete with toolkit.
Do not let the posts above decrying lack of torque put you off. The headline torque figure at the crank is only one part of the equation as it is torque at the wheels that moves a vehicle. The gearbox bit in between takes care of this. My own personal experience is that the engine feels strong and lively in the lower gears due to some well chosen ratio’s. however whilst I have a towbar fitted to mine, I’ve not tried pulling a caravan.
If there’s anything in particular that you would like to know about these cars, please feel free to ask below and I will try to answer.
Best Regards,
M
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that's really helpful thanks, on the lookout for the mazda 6 petrol in my area to see what I can find. Only other question if you don't mind is sound system, is it any good? love my music so depending what I buy, wondering if I will need to rip out the info system and speakers and replace them!
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The petrol is harder to find as a second hand offering, mainly because owners are far more pleased with them than those owning diesels - especially if they were one of the many people buying one not knowing about the issues related to short distance driving and DPFs/oil dilution.
The vast majority of Mazdas that end up back at the dealership as second hand cars tend to be either diesels and/or upper spec 'Sport' type models, the latter most likely because the owner wasn't happy with the firmer ride than the mid/lower spec models that are shod on smaller wheels and higher profile tyres.
My recommendation generally for a secondahand Mazda is to find a petrol car shod on more sensible 55 profile minimum tyres - it'll give a better ride and the wheels/tyres are less susceptible to damage, last longer as a result and cost vastly less to replace.
The mid-spec cars (SE-L [Nav]) are, in my view, great value for money and are well-specced. I would, however, check websites associated with towing caravans, etc, to find out the experience of those who've bought a petrol version rather than the 2.2TD.
Saying that, the more reliable VAG diesels previously mentioned (manual only) are more than worth a look, given they are far more suited to longer distance driving and towing, especially those than didn't need a 'dieselgate fix' that may have residual issues from the 'fix'.
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It’s rare to find an unhappy petrol Mazda owner. They’re great to drive, from £1500 1300 Mazda 2 to £25k CX5 they’re reliable, attractive and good to drive. I really rate them, they’re almost as reliable as Toyota but drive much better.
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In the Sport Nav trim, the factory audio system is a Bose unit. It is an 11 speaker system. The dashboard has 5 speakers, a large one in the centre with a woofer/tweeter pair at either side. Two in the front doors, two in the rear doors and two down near the tailgate. There’s a built in surround function, probably not to dissimilar to Dolby pro logic, that gives that surround sound enveloping effect. It’s quite nice.
Inputs include a cd player (for those that still buy these antiquated things :-) ) two usb ports, aux port, and also Bluetooth streaming. FM and DAB are present too. Supported file types are MP3/WMA/AAC/OGG. I Think WAV work too, not sure about FLAC. Hopefully the following link explains it better, automotive.bose.com/vehicles/mazda/mazda6.
Please note that the Bose system is on the Sport Nav trims only, I’m not sure what system is fitted to the SE-L and SE trims.
With regards to Andys tyre/wheel comments above, I don’t personally find the 19’s to be overly firm or crashy but I prefer to have some feedback when driving, I don’t like floaty or wallowy handling which can happen on squidgier tyres. Tyre size is 225/45/19 if you want to look up tire pricing first (45 profile is not absurdly low compared to some out there).
Also as Andy says, petrol estates can be quite thin on the ground, in my neck of the woods, I could count on one hand the number I’ve seen for sale since I got mine two years ago. Large petrol cars are a rare sight here in NI anyways so hopefully it wont hinder you too much wherever you are.
Another point that probably should be raised is that towing with a diesel manual can absolutely murder a dual mass flywheel, particularly when carrying low speed manoeuvres at low rpm. I remember a former colleague who towed a caravan a lot was having to replace his DMF every 30,000 miles or so give or take, a cost which surely mounted up over time. If you are intending to tow a lot, personally I would look towards a torque converter automatic vehicle, they will cope with it much better.
Hopefully this is of use to you, anything else you want to know, please don’t hesitate to ask below. Best of luck, M.
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The reasons diesels and Sport models end up at the dealer is there is a lot more of them about in the first place. They simply sold more new.
The fact is that cars in the 6 sized segment still sell a lot to fleets/lease whatever as company hacks and for whatever reason they still tended to prefer the diesels and the Sport models or rather Mazda UK assumed they did so ordered large amounts from the factory.
I don't know what percentage of new 6 buys were private but it will be a lot lower than for the 2, 3, CX-5 etc.
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thanks guys, going to hunt for a petrol for a drive, assuming I can with all. the covid restrictions!!
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The reasons diesels and Sport models end up at the dealer is there is a lot more of them about in the first place. They simply sold more new.
The fact is that cars in the 6 sized segment still sell a lot to fleets/lease whatever as company hacks and for whatever reason they still tended to prefer the diesels and the Sport models or rather Mazda UK assumed they did so ordered large amounts from the factory.
I don't know what percentage of new 6 buys were private but it will be a lot lower than for the 2, 3, CX-5 etc.
I doubt if Mazdas end up as fleet buys - most are private sales, even if they may be a 'company car' chosen by the employee with a company contribution. Not the same as an employee given a limited choice of makes and models with a price limit where the company buys or leases it and it goes back when they leave the firm.
To this day, I've never seen a rental Mazda 3 or above. Very few cars, now that oversupply in the whole of Europe is a thing of the past (why I got a huge discount on mine from Motorpoint), very few Mazdas end up on car supermarkets' books - even prior to the pandemic. Since about 2008/9 - and I've always kept a good eye on them, Motorpoint rarely has had over 20 Mazdas for sale, and often well under that.
Even if most Mazdas sold are upper trim level and/or diesel versions, why is it that so few mid-level trim petrol-engined versions find their way back to forecourts in the first 5 years of life and make up the vast majority of older ones I see on the road?
IMHO, this is because of the reasons I gave earlier - harsher ride that gets a lot worse as the suspension ages quicker due to more of a pounding (tyres take less) and the obvious issues with diesels being unreliable because they weren't used as originally designed (a sales problem as much as engineering).
I also notice that such cars also take longer to sell nowadays - now that vastly more people know about the diesel issues, and attract lower sale prices as a result, especially when they end up away from main dealer forecourts. Good news for the lucky buyer who actually needs a car for long distance driving and the previous owner used it in the same way and looked after it. Not so good for everyone else if not.
If The OP wants to go the petrol Mazda6 route, then they might get lucky via a PX at a dealership when someone is buying a new car. Otherwise it's a private buy or risk a small indie dealer.
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To this day, I've never seen a rental Mazda 3 or above.
triavi.com/rent-a-car/uk/london/mazda-hire
Triavi will search the best rates on all Mazda hire in London from all the major agencies internationally; the best car hire deal for you is just a click away. Easily available at all car hire locations including Airport car hire branches, and with options for one way car hire, renting Mazda in London has never been easier.
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I doubt if Mazdas end up as fleet buys - most are private sales.
www.fleetnews.co.uk/fleet-management/case-studies/...v
Mazda entered the coronavirus crisis in a position of strength after achieving 113% of its fiscal-year sales plan (April to March), with 120% of plan in the core fleet sector of end user, contract hire and white label leasing. Just one model line didn’t hit target – the Mazda3 (pictured), due to delays with the SkyActiv-X engine.
Not bad for a self-professed ‘retail brand’.
“Core fleet is 20-30% of our volume in the UK and there’s no pressure on me to be any bigger than that,” Tomlinson says. “But there is pressure on me to achieve the plan I put forward.”
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I've had a lot of rentals Mazda's off Enterprise which were the just replaced 3 and current 6. That was 2-3 years ago so they evidently had a batch.
The 6 in all guises will always be a relatively slow seller simply because that segment is dying, hence Ford not replacing the Mondeo. The 6 sells well in the states though which. Is what it is primarily designed for. It is what the US class as "full sized" which is why it is b***** huge.
I wouldn't buy a diesel one either, but it is because I don't trust their engineering. Other manufacturers manage to make ones which work however you drive them. Nice enough car in petrol guise and good looking to my eyes.
Is it being replaced in the uk?
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I doubt if Mazdas end up as fleet buys - most are private sales.
www.fleetnews.co.uk/fleet-management/case-studies/...v
Mazda entered the coronavirus crisis in a position of strength after achieving 113% of its fiscal-year sales plan (April to March), with 120% of plan in the core fleet sector of end user, contract hire and white label leasing. Just one model line didn’t hit target – the Mazda3 (pictured), due to delays with the SkyActiv-X engine.
Not bad for a self-professed ‘retail brand’.
“Core fleet is 20-30% of our volume in the UK and there’s no pressure on me to be any bigger than that,” Tomlinson says. “But there is pressure on me to achieve the plan I put forward.”
Doesn't 'fleet' these days also include 'sales' to brokers, which in effect are all private sales to members of the public? Besides, 30% is a lot less than 'most'.
Even with them exceeding their sales target, that still is some way behind the numbers sold in the mid 2000s, when rivals like KIA, Hyundai and others were well behind (KIA sold 90k+ last year). They are doing well in markets where they sell a much fuller range of cars and engines.
What I'm wondering is the can manufacturers like them with no British/EU manufacturing plants take advatnage of Brexit in that, FTAs aside, will the UK government repeal any EU-led laws on coporate CO2 emissions, meaning engines like Mazda's 2.5 SA-G and 2.5T SA-G (including the former with more torque than the 2.0 SA-X and thus more useul grunt without the need to trash it) would be viable, especially as new VED rates have no bands other then year 1, which are only bad for properly sporty cars with high CO2 emissions.
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