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| Road Test Mazda6 2.0 TS2 |
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King Of The Heap
The last version of the Mazda6 was no moose in itself, but this latest model, introduced last November, is a lot more sleek and sporty-looking. It has a long streamlined bonnet running up from a delta-wing grille to a steeply raked windscreen. Cats-eye headlamps are moulded into the muscular wheelarches and the long, clean flanks sweep back to a high and tidy tail with similar shaped lamps at the back. In short, there's a lot more shape going on. Lifting the hatch on this TS2 version revealed a square cargo-hold so big that once I'd dropped her kitbag inside, it looked a lot smaller than it felt as I'd lugged it back from the terminal. A drizzling night was coming up as I fired up the two-litre petrol engine and slipped the stick into the first of the six gears. The headlamp and the wiper switches were on "auto" so they had both come on without me having to touch anything. Indoors the dials lit up orange and a glimmer of blue light gently bathed the console and gearstick.
It felt a bit firm as we drove out over the road humps but once we were on the road north there was no more sign of harshness. The suspension was tuned more for firm cornering than comfort, but there was nothing uncomfortable about it at all. As we snaked our hurried way home along the coast road through the gathering dark, every gear came quick and secure with a short, snacking shift of the stick, and that two-litre engine with par-for-the-course power and torque figures of 143bhp and 136lb/ft was making light of the climbs – it was doing it quietly too. I think it was something plaintive by Gabriel Fauré playing as we turned west with just another 25 miles to go. The combination of quiet mechanicals, very little windrush and only a bit of road noise made it easy to enjoy the delicate classical piece. Setting aside the looks of the thing, statistically the new Mazda6 with this engine isn't a hugely different beast from the model it replaces. Outside it's marginally longer and wider, inside there's less than an inch more rear legroom, and shoulder room is up by less than half an inch. We're also told it's lighter but a lot more rigid. The engine is carried over from the old 6 but it's a bit more economical.
We ran a few hundred miles across that weekend, mostly on open country roads but some times on smaller single-track lanes with lots of starting and stopping in passing places. Without any special effort to go easy, I got over 39mpg from it – within a gnat's crotchet of the official average. Carbon dioxide emissions are also low for such a big car – 166g/km. For my money, this TS2 is the king of the heap. It has just the right level of technology without going into the realms of the Nice But Unnecessary. There are all the clever braking, stability and traction control systems you'd expect, a nice music system with a 6-CD stack and MP3 connectivity, enough leather on the bits you touch to make it feel classy, and audio, trip computer, telephone and cruise control buttons built into the steering wheel. Exploring the car showed up only a few niggling issues. In the back, although kneeroom was excellent, sitting upright put my head on the ceiling. Sitting in the middle rear seat was positively hunching. The view out the back window was also limited because of the high boot-line, the thick C-pillar and a fairly small rear window.
But it has to be said this car is right up there with the best of them in this overcrowded, highly competitive sector of the car market, being quick and quiet, economical and elegant, sexy and spacious. The company also has a top-notch record for reliability so bills should be kept to a minimum and the residual value will be good when it comes time to part with it. Price: £17,840 |
