Mazda 6 Estate (2012 - 2023) 2.2d Sport Nav 5d Owner Review

Mazda have a great looking car here with a very impressive 2.2 Diesel engine. It's smooth and powerful - far better than the 2.0 BMW diesel it replaces. I can't believe how quiet it is for a diesel and doesn't need AdBlue to get its Euro6 compliance. It looks great in Soul Red with the Sport trim's large alloy wheels, and has a good spec. Unfortunately I feel the high spec is just packing in headlining features, without much thought into how well integrated they are. For example my car has auto headlights with LEDs, but there's no 'see me home' or 'welcome' function. The Bose sound system sounds good, but it's so powerful it almost constantly vibrates the door lining. The infotainment screen could be put to more use, for example Mazda could allow service records and more interior control options through the big screen, but instead this is only available on the tiny black and white trip computer screen. The infotainment system also cuts off whenever the engine is switched off and won't turn on unless you turn on the ignition - I cannot understand why Mazda would force this upon its customers especially as it takes a good 5 mins for the car to connect to any phone. The auto locking seems a bit iffy at times as it doesn't auto lock on occasions, but annoyingly it does when you walk away with other passengers left in the car - then off goes the car alarm. Overall, a car with could building blocks, just a bit of a cheap interior and informative system let it down. That said, It looks like these things have been addressed in the latest facelift version - shame existing owners can't benefit.