Mazda6 2.5 Car Review

Facts At A Glance
Car: Mazda6 2.5
Prices: £19,326-£20,011– on the road
Insurance Group: 12
Emissions: 192g/km
Performance: 0-60mph 8.0s / Max Speed 135mph
Fuel Consumption: (combined) 34.9mpg
Safety: Twin front, window & side airbags, ESP, ABS, traction control,
Dimensions: Length/Width/Height, 4735/17954/1440mm

STORM PETROL

Our Rating: 7.4 / 10

The Mazda6 looks the part inside and out but can its 2.5-litre petrol engine deliver the goods? Steve Walker reports.

You’re a sales rep. You do umpteen miles a week, pounding the motorways chasing your next juicy bonus. The last thing you want is a big petrol engine with a drink problem under your bonnet, chugging down the juice and pumping vast plumes of taxable emissions from its exhaust. Suddenly, your pay packet would be looking more office assistant than area manager. That’s the sort of thinking that has seen diesel power rise to prominence in the fleet dominated medium range family car sector. It certainly doesn’t bode particularly well for the 2.5-litre petrol engine in the latest Mazda6. This powerful, modern engine has a big job on to convince the fleet fraternity to leave the black pumps in their holsters.

The relentless march of diesel has left few corners of the UK car market untouched. Right across the mainstream car market, growing numbers of buyers, are switching to burning heavy oil and nowhere is diesel more dominant than in the medium range family car sector. The current climate of high fuel prices and taxation based on CO2 emissions makes diesels cheaper to run, especially for the company car users who have a hand in the majority of medium range car sales in the UK. That hasn’t stopped Mazda from weighting its Mazda6 engine range three to one in favour of petrol. Does Mazda know something the rest of us don’t? Perhaps a look at the 2.5-litre range topper will reveal the truth.

The MZR 2.5-litre, to give the engine its proper name, is a bored-out version of the 2.3-litre unit from the previous generation Mazda6 and it’s better by most measurable criteria. Despite its sizable capacity, this is only a four-cylinder effort and its efficiency is helped by both Mazda’s electronically controlled Multipoint fuel injection system and SVT Sequential-Valve Timing. Peak power arrives at 6,000rpm and is measured at 168bhp. This makes the Mazda6 agreeably rapid and its 0-62mpg time of eight seconds means you’ll need a pretty tasty piece of machinery to beat it away from the lights. Peak torque of 226Nm is produced at 4,000rpm and that’s a crucial difference between this engine and the diesel that delivers its 330Nm at 2,000rpm.

The Mazda6 borrows the EPAS electronic power assisted steering system from the RX-8 sportscar and this gives it a pleasantly weighty helm. The suspension system is an advanced one comprised of a double wishbone set-up at the front and a multi-link rear. This goes beyond the technology that most of the car’s rivals employ and is indicative of Mazda’s ‘Zoom-Zoom’ philosophy through which it aims to produce sharp-handling, engaging driver’s cars. Just the sort of products, in other words, that will really benefit from a free-revving petrol engine like the MZR 2.5.

Rather than an all-new model, this Mazda6 is a wholesale reworking of the previous generation car. It’s longer, in overall length and wheelbase, taller and wider than the vehicle it replaced but still isn’t quite on the scale of the sector’s real heavyweights. In fact, Mazda is proud to underline the Mazda6’s lightweight status. The designers have managed to achieve these increased dimensions and a boost to overall rigidity without adding to the vehicle’s mass. The car’s flowing lines and tarmac-hugging stance aren’t just for show either, they help it slice through the air achieving a slippery drag co-efficient of 0.27 which in-turn helps efficiency and refinement. Cabin noise is actually 2.5dB lower compared to the old Mazda6.

Mazda talks about its use of ‘Japanese Aesthetics’ when designing the Mazda6, what this means isn’t all that clear but the fluid exterior lines seem to do the trick and once you’re sat at the wheel, there’s no indication that the doors are paper thin. The build quality looks strong throughout and Mazda have retained a sporty theme using black trim materials and metallic detailing. The red information display on top of the dash looks a bit low tech initially but it’s right in your eye-line and gives at-a-glance access the information you want.

Mazda is offering saloon, hatchback and estate versions of the 6 and for the time being, the 2.5-litre engine option will sit at the pinnacle