Mazda6 Review

Mazda6

Comfort and Refinement

We drove the top of the range SL specified Mazda6 4 door saloon which is very well equipped although we would have liked to have seen Satellite Navigation as standard.

One key feature that we really liked and which we feel should be standard on all cars and vans, is the Rear View Monitor (RVM) which is Mazda's blind spot monitoring system. This system is rather clever, for instance on the motorway should you indicate to pull out and there is a car in your blind spot it beeps like mad - otherwise it is more passive when vehicles appear in your blind spot and indicates their presence by a light on the corresponding front 'a' pillar. It uses two wide-angle, 24 GHz microwave radar units on the right and left side of the rear bumper to cover both sides of car within a range of about 50 m. It is one of the best systems on the market and will certainly help to prevent collisions especially on the motorway.

The Mazda6 SL model also benefits from auto on adaptive (AFS) Bi-Xenon headlights which use an additional 'bending lamp' that monitors steering wheel angle to illuminate more area in the direction of the turn which works well especially on country roads.

In Car Entertainment and Satellite Navigation

The Mazda6 SL specified models are fitted with a BOSE 8-speaker premium audio system with digital amplifying technology. There is a rather large 23cm sub woofer in the rear parcel shelf. The volume needs to be turned up to get the most out of it, and all but the most ardent of audiophiles should be more than happy.

There is a six disc in-dash CD auto-changer and an MP3 socket (3.5mm auxiliary socket and 12v supply) in the central console.

There is a hands free Bluetooth telephone set up, so long as your Bluetooth phone is compatible you can stay safe and legal with one touch answer via a button on the steering wheel.

It would have been nice to see Satellite Navigation as standard especially bearing in mind the target audience.