gingerboy

I got this about a month ago now and for a 2.0d family estate I am loving it!!







After a very poor 2 years with the most unreliable VW Passat in the world (I won't bore you with the gory details) I am loving the New Mazda 6 Sport!!

It has all the toys as well and for me was a no brainer when I was choosing what to go for. The Bose stereo is fantastic, the sound reproduction and quality is awesome. Factor in lots of other goodies such as bluetooth, voice recognition, Xenons, heated seats, 3/4 leather sports seats, auto everything and it makes for a very convincing package.

On the road it is in a class of it's own when up against it's main rivals - Passat, Mondeo, Laguna, Avensis , Pug 407 etc etc. It handles very well indeedy and the engine is getting better all the time in terms of grunt.

I know it's not the usual sort of rocket ship discussed on here, far from it in fact but we all have different requirements and as a family / commuting bus this is well worth a look if you are in the market for something a bit different looks wise that can be fun to drive and get you, the Mrs, 3 kids and 2 dogs from A-B without any drama then it's gotta be worth a punt .

Regards

GB

paulwrxboro

They are a great looking car and like you say people have difrent needs we are not all the same id love another scooby but do to many miles at the moment

Stephen Pope

looks cleaner than your old scooby!!!

looks practical anyway.....

SimonD

Very nice. I've half an eye on one of these for the future.
What's the refinement like. Our old Mazda 5 was tortuous on the motorway and the old 6 was not much better - I only drove the 2.0 petrol though.

gingerboy

Thanks for the positive comments everyone

Yep, I am keeping it clean..... very clean Mr Pope (the wife is a car washing widow ).

The ride is firmish but then again it is on 18" standard rims which are shod with 225/45 rubber. I suppose it is that old catch 22 of having something that handles well when required and comprimising a little putting up with additional ride and road noise.

Don't get me wrong it is great on the motorway, the seats are very comfortable and the ride is fine. It tends to be on B roads that are very, very rough that the ride is a little firm / disturbs the peace in the cabin. Handling wise though it is pretty good fun for a large car. V's the Passat I had the Mazda 6 wipes the floor with it on A & B roads, the Passat is slightly better on the motorway but only in terms of road noise and even then it is marginal.

Overall though I would have the Mazda over the Passat anyday of the week - when you look at the standard kit / package the Passat doesn't get close. Everything I have read review wise places the Mazda quite highly, the new mondeo seems to be the class leader followed by the Mazda 6 or new accord dependant on who was testing it.

I'm a happy man anyway - for me it looks good, goes well, has lot's of toys, handles very nicely and is different to the usual buses you see in massive numbers.

The rear space is quite impressive, flip the seats down and it's huugggeee you could easily get a couple of coffins in side by side much wider than the passat for sure!

The kids love the bluetooth / comm's pack thingyumy - they think it's great that I have another bossy woman in the car asking me what I want to do .

Worth checking out if you are after a workhorse!

Regards

Paul

SimonD

Which year/shape/model Passat are you comparing to?

gingerboy

55 plate "new shape" or current model, whichever variant you want to call it, it was an SE estate TDi 140 bhp passat.

I must have been the most unlucky person in the UK, it was one of the first registered in the UK in Dec 2005 and if I am honest when it worked it was OK - comfortable on long runs but pretty bland otherwise. The negative feeling comes from a catalogue of faults and failures too long to list, thats not an exageration it's fact.

I lost count of the number of times it went into the dealer often for days and on one occasion for two weeks .

Just a few of the faults:

Climatronic control panel replaced 3 times

Engine coolings fans both failed in June 2006 - car reverted to limp home mode

2 glow plugs failed - limp home mode

2 convenience pack ecu's replaced

Steering column replaced (recall)

Fuel pump failed whilst in the outside lane of the motorway - that was a pleasent experience

Fuel cooler located under the rear drivers side of the car came loose and was dragging along the ground - again another very nice fault.

interior fan blower unit replaced - intemittent fault which started 2 weeks after delivery, used to cut out whenever it felt like it. If it was raining the windscreen would fog up withing about 30 seconds (another nice fault)

other stuff that detracted from my time with the passat - it was broken into and vandalised whilst parked at work (£1500 worth of damage).

So beyond the vandalism and theiving scum bags the car was pretty much a death trap I have 3 children, the eldest is 5 so when the fuel pump failed in November of last year that was the final nail in the Passats coffin. "Death trap" probably sunds a bit OTT but losing all power in the outside lane @ 75mph was no fun I can tell you, factor in that when the interior fan problem chose to cut in the windscreen would mist up to the point of not being able to see out of it - and no matter what would not kick back in. It turned out that an earth lead in the passanger footwell for the climatronic / fan blower had never been connected when the car came off the production line....... it only took them 20 months to diagnose the fault and 3 control units and one fan blower !

It would take a hell of a lot for me to ever purchase a VW product again, the attitude of VW UK was pretty rubbish throughout all of the above. The dealer service from both dealers I used was in the first instance crap, the second dealer was a lot better and were the one who got to the bottom of the fan problem.

The above is not everything that I had wrong with the car, just the headline stuff.

Regards

Paul

SimonD

Shocking. To be honest, my brother had a similar catalogue of faults with his Golf 1.8T GTI. Something like 26 visits to the dealer in the first four years including a two month spell with a filthy Astra hire car (provided reluctantly).
Stories like this and the silly handbrake put us off the Passat a couple of years ago.
The Mazda seems good but our '5 had a few minor faults which were made worse by our local dealer. Every visit required at least one more visit to fix what they screwed up the first time - a real pita when you are dragging a couple of young kids around with you!
The dealer is a big part of the purchase decision for me. We have 2 Subarus at the moment and I may replace mine with a Legacy just because I'm happy with Cheam Motors. The Mazda would give us more for the money though.