Mazda 6 2015 Review

By definition, medium-sized cars from mainstream car-makers are the most vanilla of all vehicle types. Mundane mid-sizers like the Holden Malibu, Nissan Altima and Toyota's fleet-focussed Camry (Australia's top-selling medium car for two decades and America's most popular car – period – for almost as long) tend to support that stereotype.

But the Mazda6 has always been a stand-out, and the all-new, all-SKYACTIV, two-year-old, third-generation 6 is by far the best yet, making big advances in dynamics, refinement, efficiency and design.

Even in the face of accomplished rivals, like the Honda Accord Euro, Hyundai i40, Ford Mondeo, Skoda Octavia, Subaru's new Liberty and the unsung hero of the class, Suzuki's doomed Kizashi, the Mazda6 continues to attract a stronger following of private buyers than any other model in the segment.

Not content with that, Mazda Australia will soon sweeten the deal for small business owners, in an attempt to snare some of the fleet business dominated by Camry, even before local production stops in 2017.

For now, the 2015 Mazda6 arrives with more equipment across the range and minor retail price cuts for almost all variants, with more to come soon for diesel models. And yet, while it hopes to steal a larger share of the segment, Mazda forecasts the sub-$60K mid-size class to remain steady at around 50,000 per annum – down from 70,000 in 2012 – making it one of the smallest vehicle segments in terms of popularity.

This is despite a host of new entries this year, and soaring sales in the SUV and luxury sector, which appear to be the biggest beneficiaries of the continued slump in large car sales, led by the Ford Falcon which, along with Holden's homegrown Commodore, will be gone for good within three years.

Last year Australians bought almost as many Mercedes-Benz C-Class cars as Mazda6s (despite a base price that's almost double the Japanese car's) and Mazda's biggest model was outsold by at least 20 SUVs – some of them more than three-fold, including Mazda's own CX-5.

That's a shame, because for around the same money, the Mazda6 offers just as much flexibility and more cargo space (sedan: 474 litres; wagon 506/1648 litres: CX5: 403/1560 litres) yet, with an equivalent 2.5-litre petrol or 2.2-litre diesel engine, is even more efficient (petrol: 6.6 v 7.4L/100km; diesel: 5.4 v 5.7L/100km).

And as good as the CX-5 is in SUV terms, on the road, where most owners spend most of their time, it's in another lower league than the Mazda6 in terms of dynamics and refinement.

As with the CX-5, there are four Mazda6 model grades to choose from, but the mid-size car continues to be available in two body styles – a long-wheelbase sedan aimed at North America and a short-wheelbase wagon targeting European tastes.

Priced just $1300 higher, the wagon is easily the pick, offering plenty of rear legroom but vastly better rear head room than the stylish three-box sedan, while still looking Euro-chic. The wagon also has a convenient no-fuss luggage cover that's attached to the tailgate and unrolls from behind the rear seats, allowing it to be permanently in place.

Both four-cylinder powertrains continue unchanged, which is no bad thing since the 138kW/250Nm 2.5-litre petrol four delivers plenty of punch across its smooth rev-range, and the cracking 2.2-litre turbo-diesel, with 129kW and a chunky 420Nm of torque, remains ever-flexible and even better matched to the slick-shifting standard six-speed auto.

For now, the diesel (unavailable in the base Sport) attracts a $3200 premium over the petrol engine, but that figure will reduce the full effect of the Australia-Japan free-trade deal chimes in within weeks.

So for a little over $40,000 – around the same as the cheapest 3.6-litre Commodore Sportwagon – you can drive away in a well-specified Mazda6 Touring diesel wagon.

Even the entry-level Mazda6 Sport sedan (now from $32,540 – down $920) comes laden with fruit, like LED tail-lights, paddle shifters, push-button start, dual-zone climate-control with rear outlets, leather-clad steering wheel and shifter, 17-inch alloys, foglights, power-folding/heated mirrors, height/lumbar-adjustable driver's seat, 60:40-split folding rear seat, tilt/reach adjustable steering wheel, cruise control, trip computer, remote audio controls and remote central locking.

Naturally, there's the full gamut of safety features, including a reversing camera, six airbags comprising side curtains, electronic stability control, anti-lock brakes, hill-start assist and emergency stop signalling.

New additions across the line-up include an electric parking brake and Mazda's latest MZD Connect multi-media system, meaning all 6s now come with a 7.0-inch full-colour touch-screen display that higher up than in the outgoing Mazda6 and features satellite-navigation, Bluetooth hands-free phone and audio capability, USB and 3.5mm audio inputs, internet radio integration (Pandora, Stitcher and Aha), Radio Data System (RDS) program information, CD/MP3 player, AM/FM tuner and six speakers.

Step up to the Touring (from $37,280), and new-for-2015 features kick in, including LED headlights, foglights and daytime running lights (a first for Mazda) and Black or Pure White leather trim, plus carryover features like powered front seats with driver's memory, a premium 11-speaker 231-Watt Bose amplifier and front/rear parking sensors.

GT variants (from $42,740) add new-design 19-inch alloys, a power slide/tilt glass sunroof, heated front seats, auto-dimming rear-view mirror and key sensor, plus two handy new driver aids in Active Driving Display, which was first seen in the top-spec Mazda3 and projects a clear configurable image of key vehicle data like a speedo directly in the driver's line of sight, and an Adaptive Front-lighting System (AFS) for the LED headlights.

Finally, the range-topping Atenza (from $46,420) brings adaptive LED headlights (ALH) with automatic high-beam, a lane-keeping assistance system (LAS) with subtle active steering control and driver attention alert (DAA), which detects driver drowsiness.

Also new to the Atenza and available as an option in Touring and GT models as part of an option pack is a low-speed autonomous braking system that now works in reverse at speeds between 2 and 8km/h (as well forwards at between 4 and 30km/h), dubbed SCBS F/R and now available on the CX-5.

These features are in addition to carry-over Atenza driver aids, which are also available on other Mazda models, such as radar cruise control, lane-departure warning (LDW), blind-spot monitoring (BSM), forward obstruction warning (FOW), rear cross-traffic alert (RCTA), Smart Brake Support (SBS) and Smart City Brake Support (SCBS).

The optional safety pack for Sport models costs $1230 and includes SCBS, BSM, RCTA and an auto-dimming rear-view mirror. The same pack costs $1260 in Touring models and $1020 in GT models, in which it also adds SCBS F/R.

Soul Red metallic paint is the only other option (at $200), with other premium paints (including two new hues – Sonic Silver Metallic and Titanium Flash Mica) remaining free of charge.

From the outside, the 2015 Mazda6 is only discernible via its new grille, headlights, tail-lights and (on GT and Atenza models) wheels, but it's underneath where the biggest change occurs.

Apart from the new driver aids, new centre stack design and new centre console with electric parking brake switch, there's now a Sport mode for the automatic transmission in petrol models, new front and rear seat cushions to improve comfort, three cabin colour schemes including new 'chocolate' brown leather highlights.

While the latter aims to lift interior luxury levels, Mazda has also revised the suspension tune to improve ride comfort and fitted extra sound deadening in the roof, body walls and firewall to reduce cabin noise, vibration and harshness.

Mazda says it has done so by 10 per cent on rough roads and up to 25 per cent on freeways but, to be honest, we didn't notice that much of a difference; while both engines are relatively smooth, the petrol in particular remains raucous when revved hard.

Engine noise aside, in terms of design and dynamics the Mazda6 remains the most accomplished front-drive mid-size model in its class, and the addition of an array of new safety and convenience features for less money should keep it ahead of the pack for a while longer.