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Mazda outdo its Mazda3 by coming out with a better Mazda6. Bigger, better and more polished. Pricing could be better though :)
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TL;DR
- The 6 drove and handled the best out of all the Japanese D-category sedans.
- It was priced attractively (purchased in mid-Feb 2017).
- Its made in Japan.
- It looks ruddy gorgeous (subjective).
- If your top priorities are space and comfort, this might not be the car for you.
Background - my previous ride was a lightly-tuned ZC31 Suzuki Swift Sport 1.6 manual which I'd owned for 9.5 years. Going from a "Lukewarm" Manual hatchback to a mid-sized automatic family-sedan was quite a large change for me, so do read my review with this in mind.
In replacing my beloved hatchback, I had shortlisted a few cars - the WRX, the Civic Turbo, and the usual D-category cars (Legacy, Camry, Accord, Teana, 6).
Yes, I only considered Japanese makes. Cars from Korea and the continent (aka PSA Group and VW Group) weren't considered. Just like my ZC31, I plan to own this car for the full-length of the COE, and at risk of over-generalising, Japanese cars tend to fare better in this regard.
At the early stages, the wifey put her foot down and said no to the WRX, even to the automatic variant. Her rationale was that since we would be driving this car into our 40s, she wasn't keen on yet another "Ah beng" Car. I tried to argue that the WRX was just another family car with more oomph, but she wouldn't buy that argument. Dang. =P
The Civic Turbo was exorbitantly priced compared to the Mazda 6. During the weekend when I made my purchase, the Civic Turbo was priced higher than the Mazda 6 2.0L Standard, and similarly priced to the Mazda 6 2.0L Executive. Considering that the Civic was a completely different category altogether, I outed this choice purely due to pricing reasons (sidenote - the Civic Turbo drove very well, but my test-drive unit had a weird CVT that kept hunting for revs).
So, with the two outlier contenders out of the way, why did I wind up with the Mazda 6 2.5L Premium?
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Probably one of the best looking family sedans out there. After all these years it hasn't lost anything in terms of appearance. I was initially all set on buying this car to replace my previous Mazda which I'd owned for nine years. Unfortunately, when I finally went to test drive it, i wasn't as enthusiastic about it anymore. For one thing, WHile it looks great on the outside, I somehow felt the interior didn't quite live up to what I'd hoped or expected. For one thing, this car felt really squishy when compared to the likes of the accord, Camry, legacy and Teana. Even the optima and sonata gave me more of an executive feel, no matter where you were seated in those cars. Somehow, the 6, despite its Long wheelbase still felt tight. The back seat , especially, proved to be quite uncomfortable to me. The all black interior that I saw certainly didn't help either( my advice to Mazda would be to use a beige interior for their showroom and demo cars). The other thing that bothered me about the car was the road noise. Having owned another Mazda for nine years, I kinda got used to its less than ideal sound insulation, but I was still hoping for better. To be fair, it wasn't unbearable, but compared to some of the others, it , unfortunately ,was noticeable. And from my own Mazda experience, the noise does seem to get louder over the years. Another sore point I had was with the push start button and where it's placed. It seemed awkward to have it placed on the left side of the steering and relatively high up. It's just not intuitive. I mean, in every car I've ever driven the ignition has always been on the lower right of the steering wheel. Moreover, to have to use my left hand to start the car just didn't feel natural in the least. Now , all that said, the 6 does handle pretty well. During the test drive the SE actually encouraged me to do some cornering without slowing down, and it handled pretty well with hardly any understeer. He says it's to do with their g vectoring technology. All in all, the Mazda six is a nice car which I almost bought. Unfortunately, after trying out numerous other cars In that range, there was another that had me completely won over. And thus ended my long relationship with Mazda.
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An efficient Mazda 6 Executive `
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With our previous ride in its 9th year and the need to fit a baby seat and a booster seat in the car at the same time, my wife and I started looking for a mid-size sedan. Our criteria were spaciousness, reliability and fuel efficiency, so an obvious choice would have been Camry. However, that changed after we viewed Mazda 6. We were impressed with its elegant styling, although I would hope that the height of the transmission tunnel could be lower. Mazda 6 also comes equipped with more airbags and is packed with other safety features such as blind spot monitor, rear cross traffic alert and 8 parking sensors in its Executive trim and beyond, besides exhibiting an air of luxury in its cabin and offering fuel efficiency which we find unmatched in its class. We also feel more reassured of the workmanship of Mazda 6 that is assembled in Japan, and like the active driving display at eye level that is typically offered only in luxury cars.
Despite hype by the SE about G-vectoring control introduced to the 2017 model when we did the test drive, I have not been professional enough to notice the effect. Having said that, handling is indeed sharp when cornering.
Although we liked the bodyline and functionality of Mazda 6 Wagon, we decided that they were outweighed by its trade-offs in higher road tax and lower fuel efficiency, being available only in 2.5L, and shorter legroom. Hence, we finally decided on Mazda 6 Executive.
After driving the car for close to 2 months, it has not disappointed us. Over around 3000km, we have achieved average fuel consumption around 6.9L/100km that is quite close to the published figure of 5.9L/100km. However, we are still getting used to its long body length, as I have on a few occasions rubbed its rear tyres against kerbs when trying to maneuver tight corners in multi-storey car parks. Its i-stop feature could also be a little more intelligent as it activates when I have only intended to stop momentarily, for example when switching from drive to reverse gear during parking or letting passengers alight. It helps though that the i-stop feature can be conveniently turned off at the press of a button, and I have since adapted by not depressing the brake too hard when stopping the car at a red traffic light but figuring that the light is going to turn green in a couple of seconds, so that the i-stop will not kick in.
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