Sleek Mazda has surprises in store

The Mazda 6 was the first car to be relaunched by the Hiroshima company after Ford sold its stake – following the new CX-5 to market.

Coming in saloon and estate forms and representing Mazda’s current flagship car, it has been refined since its 2012 launch into the product you see today.

In estate form, the Mazda 6 might be one of the most handsome cars on the road at the moment. It’s certainly the best application of Mazda’s current exterior design philosophy – the 6 Tourer is a rather striking car.

The interior is notably high quality too, with this Sport Nav model adding in leather upholstery and additional leather cladding on the dashboard and centre console surround to the 6’s already nicely-styled interior.

It all conjures up an image of a car positioned more at the premium end of the market than one might traditionally associate with the Mazda brand. Though the 6 might be the vehicle to change that perception, it’s far from alone in the range these days.

There is a distinct feeling of cocooning in the front of the Mazda that’s simply not borne out by the amount of room in there. The doors are fairly hefty and the centre console is deep – deep enough that its cupholders will entirely swallow two large coffees from your favourite chain – and chunky, but you’re not going to be banging elbows with your front seat passenger by any means. Headroom and legroom are similarly good.

You might find sitting in the centre seat of the rear bench a little awkward with the centre transmission tunnel – in other markets the 6 is fitted with an all-wheel drive system that necessitates it – but otherwise there’s plenty of space in the back too.

The boot is pretty impressive. While 522 litres with the seats up and 1,648 with them down might not be class-leading, the space is flat, level and usefully wide with a decent opening. The rear seats fold down by means of catches in the boot opening in a single touch too.

The driving position in the 6 is great, with all of the controls like the cruise control and the infotainment interface falling to hand in a logical fashion. Sport Nav models like ours also get a single-colour head-up display that includes speed, cruise control setting and navigation information directly in your line of sight so you won’t have to take your eyes off the road.

You won’t want to either, as the car is impressively keen to drive. Mazda has always made some good cars to drive, trying to translate what makes the MX-5 such a great enthusiasts’ car into more day-today family cars, and the 6 Tourer is a poster child for this. The steering is communicative and balanced, the gearbox is precise and a pleasure to use and there’s no end of grip to exploit.

The ride doesn’t suffer either, as Mazda seems to have a handle on how to properly damp a car. It treads the line between stiff enough for enjoyment but soft enough for comfort rather well, though perhaps on the 19-inch wheels it isn’t quite as accomplished over rough roads as its own lower-specification siblings.

Running costs for the 6 Tourer are equivalent to just about anything else in the class, with 61.4mpg being broadly the same on paper as other models from rivals. In day-to-day use you can expect to see low to mid 50mpg – again, not markedly different from alternatives.

There’s an impressive suite of equipment on board though. Along with the leather and head-up display mentioned earlier, the 6 Tourer includes adaptive LED headlighting, a 7inch infotainment screen with navigation, DAB and internet radio integration through Aha and Stitcher, Bluetooth connectivity, dual zone air conditioning, reversing camera with parking sensors, keyless entry and a Bose surround sound system. Safety kit includes rear cross traffic alert, smart city braking, blind spot monitoring and a driver attention alert system.

It isn’t a cheap car to buy though. In this specification the price is a little over £29,000, but getting key rivals to similar equipment levels will set you back more.