Author Topic: 2013 MAzda 6 2.2 TD sport  (Read 6203 times)

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Offline jsan

  • S Class
  • *
  • Posts: 1
  • Gender: Male
  • Colour: True Red (A4A) Metallic
  • Engine: 2.2L
  • Fuel: Diesel
  • Transmission: Manual
  • Trim: Sport
  • Year: 2013
2013 MAzda 6 2.2 TD sport
« on: April 01, 2016, 03:45:48 pm »
Hi all, it's a quiet Friday PM at work, so for what it's worth, my impressions:

Bought 2.2 175PS sports with the 19 inch wheels in pearl white.

Had it 4 months now.

bought it at 2 and a half years old, from a BMW dealer  ;D

Firstly, it looks fantastic. Call me shallow, but it is nice to drive a car that looks good. :D It really turns heads and people have been very enthusiastic about the way it looks. I can't think of many other cars on the road that have the visual appeal of the 6. Mine is the estate, but I like the lines of the saloon too.

Driving: This is the main reason I bought it. For what is a big car, whichever way you look at it, it is amazingly agile. It does not feel like you are driving a large estate at all. Acceleration is  quick (officially 7.8 secs 0-60 I think), but it is a relaxed kind of quick , if that makes sense. I think what I mean is it feels very controlled and effortless to get up to speed. Midrange and higher up, I tend to still drop a gear to accelerate quickly (maybe that is just me not the car). It feels very poised on corners. On long motorway journeys it is very comfortable - I don't get that driving fatigue that I have had with previous cars (though my previous cars were older and cheaper  ;) )   I love driving this car, and even take the long way home just for the hell of it, like in that old TV advert.

It is strikingly quiet. It still makes that diesely rattle, but you can hardly hear it. In fact when you accelerate, it is a bit too quiet! Come on I paid for a powerful car, make some noise!

RIDE: well, all the online reviews say yes handles lovely etc etc but ride is a little firm, bad over pot-holes etc.
Well, those reviews are absolutely correct, as a DRIVER the ride just feels firm and sporty in a good way, but it is not the most comfortable as a passenger, as my wife has already noted a couple of times. And, when you do hit an actual pot-hole, boy do you feel it. Actually, I would have to point out that the ride is fine overall, once you get going and up to speed. At lower speeds / combined with bad road surfaces, it is not so good though.

Major annoyance: Not being very original here, but the fact that the stereo starts from track 1 on a USB stick, every time you start the engine, well it is just piss poor. My local Mazda dealer said yes you're not the first person to complain and no there is no fix. Also , however I set up the sound, most of it seems to come from the centre front speaker. Which makes the allure of an 11-speaker BOSE sound system, well, a little disappointing. That said, it's still a decent sound. People moan about the Sat Nav on this car but it's been fine for me. The voice recognition thing is utterly useless, however.

Minor annoyance: Is it just me? What is the point of the auto-dimming mirror? It just makes everything dark and difficult to see. This wouldn't matter except that it defaults to ON so have to switch it off every journey. Actually this might become a major annoyance in time...

Major non-annoyance:  the rest of the tech. Really great useful stuff comes as standard. I'll be honest and say that my previous car, a 12 year old Subaru, counted among its technical features, a radio and a steering-wheel, and that was about it. And I don't like techy gadgets and things anyway. BUT, the colour reversing camera and sensors negate any problems parking this car. And the lane change thingy is actually very useful on the motorway, as is the lane change indicator auto switch off, and the fact that it will read out your incoming text messages (careful with this one if you have passengers) and the auto-wipers and the auto-lights especially (never had to touch the lights in 4 months) but the one gadget on this car that I think is great and wouldn't be without again, is the full-beam auto-dim, which is one of those bits of kit that immediately makes the old-fashioned way seem quaint, not to say tedious.

 The keyless entry thing works very well. I like the way you can just get out of the car and walk away. I do worry about leaving the keys in the car though. Because I don't know what would happen, if it would lock itself or something, I should test it out with the spare keys, I'm probably worrying about nothing. 

The radar detection thing is a nice feature too. Actually, I bought the car for its driving, practicality and looks, but I seem to be raving about the techy bits that I wasn't that interested in. Just goes to show.

The interior: I like it. The motoring press were mixed on it. I like it, it's dark, there's a bit of chrome  about the place, the driving cowls if that's the right word, look sporty. It's understated, and there's no clutter. The digital clock however, by the time you have got a visual on it, you've probably crashed the car. Might as well have stuck it on the boot.

The car has no spare wheel. Most guys my age start to foam at the mouth about this sort of thing.

Fuel: I just had a service and run about 500 miles. The car averaged 46 miles per gallon (diesel) This is slightly below the figure on Honest John's actual mileage website. But as it is twice the mileage my old car did, it all feels good to me. This translates to about 500 - 530 miles per tank, though I haven't gone anywhere near to empty yet.

Hope some of this was useful to someone.

cheers
J.