I'm now on the fence about the Mazda 6- and I say this as the owner of my third Mazda 6 in the last 7 years. The first model I had (2002 TS2 diesel ) was great, very reliable, no problems, high spec.

So I then upgraded in 2009 to a 2005 model, which was about 4 years old with 60,000 miles on the clock and a FSH. It proved to be one of the worst cars I've ever owned for fault...electric windows played up, alarm went off for no reason, then, 6 months after buying it, the turbo blew on it, with no warning. A new turbo cost around £1500. And after having it fitted, the DPF light then started coming on. That was the point where I decided to cut my losses, accept that I may have just got a 'Friday afternoon' car and sold it.

However, after getting a car allowance at work in 2012, I was tempted to go back to Mazda6 again for the 2009 2.2 diesel (73k miles)- new shape, great performance, exactly what we needed for trips around town and the occasional motorway drives to Newcastle, Wales etc. Only two weeks ago, I mentioned to my missus that it was one of the best cars we'd ever had for comfort, spec, performance, economy, and then....

.....arrived home from a 40 mile drive to the coast, everything fine. Next morning, car was very sluggish starting and sounded rough. Missus drove it across town but couldn't get it started again. When I couldn't do so, I called the AA, who diagnosed a major oil pump problem. Car was towed to nearest garage, who inspected and diagnosed cam chain loosening/slippage, which had caused oil pump to fail- with knock on impact on pistons and possibly valves = engine failure. Their advice was to put my £5k car on ebay for spares.

It's now with Mazda, who are making their own inspection, to see if there's anything they can do on a 4.5 year old car, which has been serviced every 10000 miles.

So, despite being very pleased with the Mazda6 comfort, spec, performance, drive, I've now had two four-year old Mazda 6 diesels in the last 5 years that have had major engine problems and have cost thousands. It's not quite the reliable, bomb-proof reputation that Mazdas are built on, and which made me buy.

Will await Mazda's verdict/offer and update.....

UPDATE JUNE 2014

Just wanted to balance some of the gloom on here and despair with Mazda with some praise for their customer service and unexpected successful resolution to what seemed to be a fatal engine failure.

My 2009 Mazda6 2.2 diesel had been running great until 5 weeks ago, when it suddenly wouldn't start and then sounded like a tractor. Cue breakdown and recovery to my usual garage, who diagnosed cam chain slippage, oil pump failure and knackered valves and injectors = new engine or sc*** value.

The car has full service history, Mazda up til 50,000m, indie garages thereafter, and being out of warranty and not a main dealer purchase, I wasn't expecting too much when I phoned Mazda customer services to see if they could offer any help.

Surprisingly, they suggested getting it to the nearest Mazda dealer to inspect, which I did, and called me a day later to say that there had been a cam chain recall a couple of years ago and they'd see what they could do.

Again, I wasn't holding out much hope, but after four weeks, numerous calls and the Mazda dealer being pressed by the customer services team to dismantle the engine, inspect all the damaged parts and provide a full report, I've had confirmation today that Mazda will cover most of the cost of repair to rebuild the engine, which will come back with a two year warranty.

Had a case manager at Mazda called Zoe Doyle, who has been superb at pushing the dealership to provide reports and pursue the case, and overall it has been great customer service. Based on the reports here, I wasn't expecting too much, but Mazda has come through on this one to get me back on the road and prevent a very expensive write off