Hanslow

Anyone got any experience of owning, driving, running either or both of the Avensis and Mazda6? Looking for a daily diesel barge (would be the 2.0 diesel in both cases) around an '04 plate. Have driven the Avensis which seemed fine, should hopefully be taking a 6 out in the week.

Anybody know the service schedule of either car, i.e. how many miles / years between services?

Cheers

Steve

The Zohan

I know this is a stereo typing but i away expect to see a retired man behind the wheel of an Avensis, the Mazda less so. To be fair it is a Toyota so build, ride, reliabilty, etc will all be excellent and pretty much the same on the Mazda.

Looks and image wise i would go for the Mazda.

I have driven several of the old shape Mazdas and found them a good drive and well equipped.

Coupe-Se

I had an Avensis as a hire car for 4weeks and ran Madza 6 TDI for 20K miles in its 1st year.

Me and the wife found the Avensis to be the dullest car we had ever driven with no redeeming features. Everything worked fine but nothing about it was anything other than plain. We could'nt wait to get rid of it!!!

We then bought a Mazda 6 TDI TS2 new. The general drive and level of toys was pretty good and mechanical reliabilty fine. We had constant problems with the alarm which is a far too common problem on them. We had the roof lining and interior trim removed twice to replace sensors. The alloy wheels were blistered after 6 months and this also is a common fault as they only spray the faceof the wheel that you see and the road salt soon finds it way underneath. Around town it is common to get some clutch chatter when going slowly in 2nd gear, but does'nt effect the drive. Most of the miles I did were on the motorway 70-80mph cruisng but all 4 tyres wore out equally and had to be replaced at 15K miles. The servicing was every 12k mile and a basic 1st service of an oil change was £200!!!!!

Mechanically the car was fine and handled very well. The bodywork resisted the carpark dents REALLY well and paint seemed quite tough. It was well equipted and comfortable with mpg always 40+ even when heavily loaded. It was a very nice car to own but not special enough and the wife eventually wanted to change it as she felt it was an old persons car and wanted something abit more exciting.

The Mazda 6 was a nice step up from the TDCI Zetec S Mondeo we owned before and would recommend one.

Hope this helps!!

ScoobyJawa

Mazda - got really good reviews and a good drive - the Avensis looks crap and drive dull.

Hanslow

Thanks all The Mazda6 I was to testdrive has been sold, so I've got to find another locally at a good price to try Looked a decent price for what it was too

I guess all cars have problems so whatever I get is likely to go wrong

This is to be a daily runner, so I'm not too fussed about boredom. Am leaning towards the 6 though, despite not even having driven it yet

Back to trawling the for sales