• Useful 480-litre boot volume
• Lacks practicality of hatchback rivals
• Tourer estate offers greater volume

How much space is there?

The 6 is a long car, though its sloping roof means that headroom is the limiting factor for those in the rear seats, as legroom is in pretty abundant supply. Meanwhile, all models include a folding rear armrest with a USB port inside.

Those up to around six-foot tall should be pretty comfortable – and there’s decent support from the rear seats too – though anyone taller than that may find their heads against the roof. The middle seat is less spacious, however, with the transmission tunnel limiting foot room.

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Boot space and storage

The Mazda 6 saloon’s boot is a decent size, though loading large items into the luggage space is trickier than it would be with a Skoda Octavia because it doesn’t have a tall-opening hatchback style boot.

Dropping the rear seats down is simple and there’s a large aperture for loading long luggage. Provided you don’t have any oversized boxes to load, most drivers couldn’t want for more space.

The 6 Tourer estate is much better equipped for carrying large loads, though, offering greater volume and a far wider opening for loading luggage.

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Is it easy to park?

The 6 is an easy car to drive, but it’s sheer length means that parking in tight spaces is a bit of a challenge. Thankfully, all models have front and rear parking sensors, with a rear-view camera standard on all bar the entry-level specification.

Safety

• Five-star crash rating
• Advanced safety kit as standard
• Semi-autonomous tech available

The Mazda 6 scored five stars when crashed tested by Euro NCAP in 2018. Standard safety kit includes an active bonnet, which pops up in the event of a collision with a pedestrian to reduce the impact, plus automatic emergency braking, which applies the brakes if it senses an impending collision at town speeds and the driver has not taken action to avoid this.

The 6 also gets Blind Spot Monitoring with Rear Cross Traffic Alert, which warns the driver of vehicles approaching from behind, plus Lane Keep Assist, which helps to keep the car in its lane. The range-topping GT Sport Nav+ model also includes Intelligent Speed Assist, which flags the speed limit and helps the car adjust to the speed limit when engaged.

Other equipment that comes as standard includes adaptive cruise control that automatically adjusts your speed to keep you a safe distance behind the car in front and automatic lights and wipers.

The Mazda 6 has two Isofix mounts found on the rear seats.

WATCH: Mazda 6 saloon Euro NCAP crash test