Yeah 1.8L. Still v. fun to drive.

I had a 1.6 Focus too - old school style. Also v. fun to drive.

Mazda need to pull their finger out with the diesels. It's a crying shame not to fix that big an issue when the cars are so good in other respects.

I know - I love the shape and styling of the mark 2 mazda 6 but I'll probably be getting a diesel next so that rules mazda out.

If you want a decent Jap diesel, seems like Honda is the only one. Only prob is the Accord with the I-DTEC will cost about the same as the equivalent BMW 3-series diesel model

If you don't need a car as big as a 6 then get a 3, the bigger car will cost more to run, higher insurance cost, more expensive tyres, generally more expensive to tax. The Mazda 3 is a cracking car as is the Ford Focus it's based on. For £6K you will also be able to buy a KIA Cee'd with 4 years of the manufacturer's warranty left - which is nice.

I reckon it depends how much stuff you want to put in the car, as to looking at the 6 rather than the 3. Personally I think the 6 is more attractive and I once bought an entire bed back from Ikea in mine - it fitted with a bit of spare room. There's just me using mine; no kids, no pets, but I like big cars.

I reckon it'd be worth looking at the 6. You can get a 2.0L 2008 petrol for about £5.5k (£500 more for the diesel version).

The only difference I can see for the 3 is that you're getting a 2008 plate 1.6L with generally lower mileage than the 6 for around £6k.

I've no major negatives to report. I've only ever had to replace headlight bulbs and wiper blades on mine. Perhaps others will beg to differ, but they will run sweetly for a long time with relatively little looking after.

Thanks for the replies, all very helpful.

To the Mazda owners; are there any majoy negatives to owning them, are they particularly expensive to fix if something does go wrong with them? I have read that the parts can be expensive?

Would it be worth looking at the Mazda 6 or would sticking with the 3 be a better bet?

Thanks again.

Yes - ford's input wasn't very helpful and as a result the mazda 6 is not as reliable as the mazda 3. The mazda 6 is made at the joint ford/mazda plant in Michigan whereas the mazda 3 is still made in Japan.

You will find that the mazda 3 holds it value better - most likely because people want a 'mid size' family car and the mazda 3 has better reliability

They are no more or less expensive than toyota IME. Less expensive than Honda or any of the German's though