Universal Pictures. Starring Mazda6 Station Wagon / Mazda test drives

Teaser (Alexander Kataev, July 11, 2008) Total mileage — 4,395 km
Our mileage — 680 km
Fuel consumption — 13.6 l/100 km (combined cycle)

The boss assigned me to look after the Mazda. But until Petrovsky gets his Peugeot 407 back, the editor-in-chief shamelessly takes advantage of his position, and I only got the car under the pretext of a photo shoot. Finally, the keys are mine — two weeks of waiting paid off.

The introduction happened late in the evening. A dark silhouette, exciting body lines, the cold glow of slanting headlights, the engine idling almost in a whisper. It's a wagon — He, but Mazda is always She. And a night meeting with a stranger says a lot. You get acquainted with her by touch, without turning on the lights — a compliment to the interior. With the new "six" — no difficulties. But if you moved from the previous one... However, I immediately dim the red-alert backlight: I'm tired, I want to go home, not to a party. And I'll drive slowly.

Mazda doesn't egg me on either. She plays something in the spirit of "Radio Jazz," sways the needles, lulls. And in Drive mode, she accelerates as if waking from thoughts. Or not waking. And there seem to be more minor bumps on the familiar road. And something keeps rattling behind. The luggage shelf. But that sound drowns in the jazz melodies.

Night introductions are a deceptive thing. What will Mazda seem like on an ordinary morning? And in the courtyard, they started construction, dug up the approaches to the parking lots. Welcome, or no entry. Where to park? And why is there no parking sensor? While I squeeze the wagon inch by inch into some nook, I think: how huge He is! But as I leave, I turn around: how beautiful She is!

Voice-over (July 18, 2008)

Total mileage — 4,760 km
Our mileage — 1,044 km
Fuel consumption — 14.4 l/100 km (city cycle)

They say you should feel every ruble invested in a car. I hear that ruble. Mazda pays off with the rich, expensive click of door handles, steering column stalks, and window buttons. With the ticking of the turn signal indicator and the Mazda beep that accompanies pressing any key on the center console. Even the seat servos purr pleasantly. But the unconditional feeling of an expensive car still doesn't arise for some reason.

The audio system is loud, but the sound is cheap, with poor detail. However, changing modes is accompanied by light show.

First, I hear about half of what Mazda thinks about Russian roads. Strong statements come through as tire slaps and light knocking from the front suspension, especially noticeable at low speeds. Worse, these knocks are accompanied by vibration in the steering wheel. The sound of the engine, which can't agree with the "automatic" on how best to spend my gasoline, is also somehow discounted. And something still rattles from behind: either the luggage shelf or the rear license plate frame.

Flashback (July 25, 2008)

Total mileage — 5,100 km
Our mileage — 1,384 km
Fuel consumption — 14.6 l/100 km (city cycle)

I remembered. At last year's Frankfurt Motor Show, I interviewed Peter Birtwhistle — the chief designer of Mazda's European division. And Birtwhistle said that the first Mazda6 compared to the new one is a bit naive, even childish. And the new one is adult.

He meant the perception of the car as a whole. The feeling of an adult car is certainly there. But the operation of the engine and the "automatic" personally gives me the feeling that Mazda is a lady of Balzac's age. In Drive mode, the car makes you drive with dignity — the way it's convenient for her. I've already understood: arguing is useless. And while the tachometer needle crawls toward the mid-rev zone, I wait patiently. A demanding press of the gas pedal is perceived by the gearbox as a signal to attack and it rushes to extremes: the needle soars, and Mazda makes a panicked lurch.

In manual mode, the "automatic" doesn't skip gears up or down on its own. The electronics sometimes take a long time to shift at steady throttle, and during full acceleration, the shift command needs to be given with noticeable anticipation.
However, shifts based on acceleration vector, like in motorsport, are the most convenient and logical algorithm: to downshift, push the lever away from you; to upshift, pull it toward you. But why does the decorative trim move along with the lever?

In the city, I have no time to wait and no reason to rush. I have to take the initiative in an adult way and drive Mazda by the "handle." Fortunately, the manual mode is "honest," and gears shift quite quickly in most cases. Or maybe this Mazda is indeed for noticeably older people? Though it seems to me Birtwhistle didn't mean that.

Film break (Anton Bolotov, August 1, 2008)

Total mileage — 5,546 km
Our mileage — 1,830 km
Fuel consumption — 13.8 l/100 km (combined cycle)

I'm a technological patch in this cinematic narrative. The Mazda was given to me, one might say, forcibly — so it wouldn't sit idle while the guys are busy with tests. Allegedly, I have experience with red wagons, and the car, for once, must work as intended — carry many people and many things. Great! The dacha season is in full swing. I won't compare the Mazda 6 with anything — I'll just imagine they're trying to sell it to me.

Why buy a wagon if not to go to the store, to the dacha, to travel? But Mazda handles all this poorly. A family car should be a grandmother at heart — kind, quiet, reliable. But this girl only cares about looking good. She protests with the engine at any excuse, is rude with the tires. She does the work lazily, shielding her occupants from the outside world with a thin blouse of doors. But she's a beauty — that can't be taken away. Everyone admires her.

An inexperienced driver will surely like the inside too. What they don't like, they'll get used to. The front passenger too. But those in the back are less fortunate: almost no comforts. No air vents, no window shades. I'm not even mentioning fold-down tables to keep kids busy on the road. In short, it's boring. In the heat, the climate control freezes those in front but barely reaches the second row. The suspension is unjustifiably stiff. It's indecently noisy in the cabin. The nasal hum of the engine can be partially drowned out by a mediocre stereo. All the seemingly harmless bumps and elevation changes around the dacha, Mazda diligently scraped with the underbody, which noticeably dropped my intra-family driver rating...

On the dirt road, you feel sorry for both the car and the passengers. The shaking and noise force you to slow down to walking pace.

It's good that Mazda doesn't make, say, washing machines. Because after the purchase, it would turn out — you'd need to buy hoses and a detergent compartment. Selling a piece of space behind the seats is not enough — that's not a trunk yet. Without a simple net, a canister of washer fluid, a briefcase, shopping bags, and other belongings move around the cargo area in search of harmony and balance. If you plan to carry anything in your wagon (who would have thought!), go to the dealer and buy accessories. What, you might think, am I getting so worked up about some lousy nets? Whoever needs them will buy them. Of course, they will: a vertical net separating the trunk from the cabin for 10,085 rubles; a floor net for the trunk for 3,101 rubles. A trunk organizer: box — 1,202 rubles, base — 7,991, set of fasteners — 5,657 rubles. Think about it: you need to pay from a hundred and fifty to over a thousand dollars just to be able to use the trunk!

Everything else is taken for granted. There's no parking sensor even in the options list, but there's such a super-necessary thing as seat and mirror memory for three drivers. Four buttons on the steering wheel control the onboard computer, which writes something in small numbers for the front passenger. In complete darkness on an unlit road, driving faster than 50 km/h is scary — the low beams only pick out a few meters ahead. Interestingly, all buttons in the cabin are backlit except the ceiling light switch. I had to use my phone to find it... And while searching for the pump at night, I found a strange unit hidden inside the spare wheel with a wire going deeper. After turning it over in my hands, I finally got the answer to a question that apparently troubled more than just me. The white label read: "This is a SUBWOOFER."

By the end of the weekend, I finally realized that the Mazda6 wagon was not made for me. My family doesn't have three drivers who don't mind the noise — there are passengers who get tired of it. And those behind the wheel are unlikely to call themselves parking aces. We also have scorching summers, and nights — pitch black. We travel long distances, and the trunk isn't always packed to the brim, but it's not empty either — there's always something in it that wouldn't hurt to secure. And it seems I haven't reached that level of enlightenment to put up with dangling and rattling parts in the cabin and a fallen light cover in the tailgate. I'm not meant to meditate on the miracle trunk shade and attain zen in the red-blue backlight of the stereo. This is clearly not my story.

Long-running series (Alexander Kataev, August 8, 2008)

Total mileage — 5,716 km
Our mileage is 2000 km
Fuel consumption is 14.2 l/100 km (combined cycle)

There is a plus in consistency. The same button on the remote, the familiar screensaver, familiar scenery. After a month, even talentless actors stop being annoying. We watch without listening, listen without looking. The "soap opera" works in the background.

Getting used to the Mazda is from the same opera. Press the button on the key — Bose greets with a melodic sob, and then — a dozen predictable plot twists on the way to the editorial office. Climate control reaches the desired mode exactly after three blocks. I use the CF-Net search engine without hesitation now. I find the seat memory button blindly. I also habitually twist in the seat when reversing.

But monotony is already evil. And here handling saves the day. The steering wheel is a precise, serious tool, every maneuver is a pleasure. Sometimes I want to deliberately provoke a drift and, releasing the gas, feel how the car obediently turns with the rear. True, on ruts and during hard braking, we constantly compete.

The self-moving shelf is a nice touch. But dismantling and installing the whole structure is not a quick task.

Our communication cannot be called "soapy." Who came up with the idea that a station wagon is boring? You should know how many old friends I found! And all of them have large-sized problems. Bicycles, shelving units, strollers — you could even check the luggage shelf into the cloakroom at the editorial office. The Mazda happily devours all this stuff, and I enjoy being the "rescuer." It's nice when a car gives reasons to smile — such a series won't get boring soon.

Financial report (August 15, 2008) Total mileage — 6021 km
Our mileage — 2305 km
Fuel consumption — 14.2 l/100 km (combined cycle)

The Mazda has been living in our editorial office for a month and a half. Is that a lot or a little? The mileage we've covered is still small — it's like 21 laps around the MKAD or the road from Moscow to Petrozavodsk and back.

So how much did this pleasure cost? For 406.04 liters of 95-octane, we spent 11,797 rubles 99 kopecks, which is about $480 at the then exchange rate. Plus 920 rubles went to car washes. No one smokes or litters in the cabin, we vacuum the mats and trunk ourselves, so a full cleaning is still far off. Interestingly, the washer fluid level light only came on this morning. Although when the front washer is activated, the Mazda generously sprays both the windshield and the headlights.

According to our calculations, during the test, the station wagon carried about 3,400 kg of cargo.

But no unexpected expenses. No oil, no repairs... We were never fined while driving the Mazda. And not even stopped! Maybe the image of a family car has an effect? True, no matter how hard I tried this week to drive calmly and save fuel — it was useless. One day yesterday erased all efforts: first I had to crawl in traffic jams almost fully loaded, then actively make up for lost time. In these worries, the Mazda drank a third of the tank.

Night life (August 22, 2008) Total mileage — 6616 km
Our mileage — 2900 km
Fuel consumption — 13.5 l/100 km (combined cycle)

Night transfer. Here it is, almost the perfect use for the Mazda! Meeting passengers from the airport. The schedule is tight: the needed flights arrive one after another at different airports. During the day we would be exhausted, but at night it's intimacy and reconciliation with the Mazda. She, in all her glory of highlights and backlighting, glides smoothly and easily over the fresh asphalt of empty streets. True, for confidence, I still hold her by the "handle." In the warm embrace of the seat with two-mode heating...

Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo... In 4 hours 15 minutes, 202 kilometers were covered. The range decreased by only a fifth, and the average consumption dropped by half a liter.

Passengers are glad they got the Mazda. Their fellow travelers, who were met in "heel-Citroens," look with envy. We leave: two people comfortably settled on the rear sofa and doze — loaded with cases, the Mazda rides softer. The "automatic" works just right: it smoothly pours its "condensed milk," and shifts do not disturb those tired after the flight. And I don't worry about consumption. It's decreasing. The engine seems to work at half strength. It's a pity that the "empty night city" mode is activated so rarely.

Car washes are also empty at night. Finally, there's time for the ritual of comprehensive cleaning — both the body and the interior. The result — 540 rubles. Although the guy grumbled: a hundred more work, like for an SUV. If we're going all out, after the bath, the Mazda drained a four-liter canister of "washer fluid" for another 70 rubles. Kirill Ivanov will find it useful. He's planning a long trip in the Mazda.

To the north and back (Kirill Ivanov, August 29, 2008) Total mileage — 8535 km
Our mileage — 4819 km
Fuel consumption — 12.4 l/100 km (combined cycle)

Unlike my colleagues, Anton Bolotov and Sasha Kataev, I didn't use our station wagon to transport things or family. I have little stuff, and no wife or kids yet. But I have business in St. Petersburg, and while it's summer and the road isn't broken yet, I headed to the Northern capital in the Mazda. The trunk is empty, the tank is full, in the cabin — just me and a friend. Time — one in the morning, ahead — almost 700 km.

After Klin, the lit section of the road ends, and for the first two hundred kilometers of darkness, everything suits me. The seat profile, the smoothness of the ride... We float like on waves towards the drawbridges and cafes on Nevsky. But in the Tver region, joy turns into indignation. The road here is the worst, but the xenon headlights don't shine, but rather seem to sniff at something under the wheels. You have to peer into the darkness looking for potholes and bumps — your eyes get tired very quickly from this.

The flip side of zoom-zoom also comes out: you feel like you're on a vibration stand. The floor shakes, the steering wheel broadcasts live from the contact patch of the driven wheels, the plastic lives its own life and creaks in time with the vibrations. You don't want to drive fast at all, and only music saves you from extra sounds.

But as soon as the road levels out — everything returns to normal. The Mazda again confidently holds the straight, allowing even a little relaxation. But only until it's time for the 374th overtaking of a convoy of four trucks. Overtaking lanes are not as frequent as I'd like, and they last only half a kilometer each. A kilometer at most. Here, power is needed like air, and usually an old intercity bus with worn brake pads sits on your tail. If in urban conditions 150 "horses" are enough, on the highway they only annoy with a dull hum at high revs.

Going for an overtake at the last moment, relying on adequate support from the "automatic," is like death. Switching to manual mode on the highway has practically no effect. Therefore, before overtaking anyone, you should think several times, calculate everything, and not even try to do it at the last second. Especially since your hand sometimes involuntarily grabs the bottle neck instead of the "automatic" selector — the shallow cup holders are located too close to the lever...

However, here comes the dawn — and the Leningrad region. A glance at the fuel gauge, and the needle is already ready to go for a second round. We're driving on fumes and wind power. As a result, on one tank, we couldn't make it to St. Petersburg by about 30 km. But the average fuel consumption for the entire editorial test dropped to 12.4 liters per hundred.

What I really liked was the layout and backlighting of the instrument panel. Despite the abundance of colors, everything is read easily and doesn't irritate the eyes.

After nine hours on the road, the city greeted us with sunny weather and smooth asphalt. And most importantly — you get out of the car without an aching back and numb legs. In a day we're driving back, and only one thing bothers me: in 300 km I won't remember what I was sitting on behind the wheel. I'm just being carried by some car. It carries comfortably, but absolutely without emotion. I haven't had this feeling in any car I've driven around the country. That's why I won't be a buyer of the Mazda 6. Neither the wagon, nor the sedan, nor the hatchback. In my opinion, a car can't just be owned — it needs to be loved and understood. With the Mazda, no spark flew even after fifteen hundred kilometers. Science fiction (Alexander Kataev, September 12, 2008) Total mileage — 9216 km Our mileage — 5500 km Fuel consumption — 12.7 l/100 km (city cycle) Have you seen the Mazda Kazamai concept car? While the car was being prepared for the Moscow premiere, the Japanese gathered journalists in their design center and offered them a game of "Draw a crossover." And then allegedly brought their wishes to life in the concept car. So we decided to play something similar: we'll tell you what we'd like the Mazda6 wagon to be, and imagine that the Japanese will listen to us. We're not against fixed trim levels. But we'd prefer a less expensive option package: without the Bose audio system and leather seats with power adjustments, but with the coveted parking sensors and a tire pressure monitor. We like fabric seats with the same adjustments and heating better. And with the 62 thousand saved, you could buy equipment for the trunk. Although, honestly, a couple of floor nets would be enough for us. Give the "wagon" the keyless access system that's offered for the sedan and hatchback! And a power liftgate for the massive fifth door. We're ready to sacrifice trunk volume for a full-size spare tire. And a miracle curtain — for the ability to open the rear window. Even though it's from the realm of fantasy, let a rain sensor watch over it too. Long winter nights are ahead — we vote for a less gloomy interior color scheme and rear seat heating. The trip to St. Petersburg isn't the last long-distance outing, so give us a couple more compartments for small items. And a console with a navigation screen — like on European versions. And could you slightly increase the ground clearance? However, what we truly want is just one thing — the newest 2.2 turbodiesel with 185 hp. With four hundred newton-meters, our "automatic" would find common ground. And fuel costs would be lower. But for now, such a combination is fantasy even in Europe. Horror (Robert Yesenov, September 26, 2008) Total mileage — 9816 km Our mileage — 6100 km Fuel consumption — 12.8 l/100 km (city cycle) I've been driving the editorial Mazda6 wagon for two weeks now. For the most part, the "Japanese" is to my liking. Especially pleasant is the feeling of tranquility that comes behind the wheel of the Mazda. Yes, that's exactly how my soul reacts to the unsung duet of a peppy engine and a lazy "automatic"! Some are annoyed by their falseness, but I'm only pleased — the Mazda relieves me of the inappropriate desire to hustle after a workday. Our life with the Mazda flowed smoothly until the morning of September 24. And then in an instant, my calm (and along with it, the editorial calm) was crushed by a "tired" Chrysler Voyager minivan, whose driver simply miscalculated the distance to the Mazda's rear bumper. Khalturinskaya Street — sounds gloomy. That's where I ended up at the tail of a small traffic jam towards Bolshaya Cherkizovskaya. The ill-fated Chrysler rolled up half a minute later. Fortunately, we were just standing in a traffic jam, and the rear end of the wagon didn't suffer much: a barely noticeable scuff and a couple of chips on the bumper. Even the traffic police inspector arrived relatively quickly and processed all the documents amid questions about my work and the editorial Japanese beauty. For a car journalist, worse than the accident itself is calling the representative office with a confession. Even if you're not at fault, the car is damaged. Ask our editor-in-chief — he'll tell you how easy it is to end up on the blacklists of accident-prone journalists and how painfully difficult it is to get off them. And how much it harms the publication's image, especially a young one... The damage is minor, but the residue remains. The wagon is, of course, insured under CASCO; however, I still found out the repair costs. Replacing, painting, and installing the bumper (without parking sensors — our case!) will cost 10–15 thousand rubles. The bumper itself is estimated at around 14–15 thousand. If our car had parking sensors, we'd have to pay extra for removal/installation. This time it seems we got off lightly. At Mazda, they said "it's a common thing" and asked to bring a certificate from the traffic police. That's what I'll do in the near future. The saddest part is that this isn't the first "passive" accident involving our familiar cars. Recently, Vlad Klepach was involved in a much more serious accident: he was just standing in a traffic jam on Sadovo-Kudrinskaya when a car from the oncoming lane crashed into his Golf GTI. Episode (Ilya Gurevich, October 17, 2008) Total mileage — 12,300 km Our mileage — 8600 km Fuel consumption — 12.6 l/100 km (combined cycle) The plot always develops so that in the heroes' lives, after a white streak comes a black one — and then white again. A couple of weeks ago, our heroine experienced her unpleasant moments, having been in an accident, and now, ideally, everything should be fine for her. Well, this time I was tasked with accompanying her in joy. Without a doubt, the strongest side of the Mazda 6 is its appearance. It feels like, besides a couple of scratches, the Mazda received psychological trauma and is undergoing a rehabilitation course. It's as if on antidepressants: on straights it falls into a state of sleep, slowly shifting the "automatic's" gears and shuddering on bumps. But in corners, something suddenly comes over it. It becomes sharp. It starts muttering something about zoom-zoom — and provokes you to add speed. My opinion: the Mazda6 should only be a wagon. It's more practical and, perhaps, prettier. The wagon made a mixed impression. Under the striking design hides a far less striking filling. But in the end, I got used to the Mazda's strange character and it began to appeal to me. More and more with each day. I no longer pay attention to the "flaws," and what once seemed absurd, like the CF-Net system or the rain sensor's operation, began to seem convenient. It's a pity that my episode is quite routine: our long-term test is coming to an end. One of the last scenes in this script is to be written by Sasha Ageev, who drives the previous Mazda6 wagon. Cut! (Alexander Ageev, October 29, 2008) Total mileage — 13,470 km Our mileage — 9770 km Fuel consumption — 12.8 l/100 km (combined cycle) DRIVE.RU spent four months with the Mazda6 wagon — keeping the car in the editorial office longer makes no sense. There's no point in discussing reliability, and we've studied the operational features to a sufficient degree. We have nothing more to tell — that's the general editorial opinion. We've told you what the "Japanese" is like today, tried to look into tomorrow, sharing our wishes. Finally, we wanted to have a small retrospective, and my blue first-generation Mazda6 wagon will help us with that. Who would have thought the new car would be so familiar! I forgot my glasses on our first joint evening, but everything in the cabin was in its usual places. And the seating geometry and visibility are almost identical to my car. Except the new wagon has slightly smaller mirrors. The cabin and trunk are a bit more spacious here, but, oddly enough, the old one performs the functions of a family car better. The reduction in compartments for small items was attempted to be compensated with three 12-volt outlets and an input for external audio devices. In my car, there's only one cigarette lighter.

On a long trip, the front passenger now doesn't rush to move the seat back to free up space behind — on the contrary, they want to sit further from the dashboard. In the trunk, instead of a convenient organizer, there's now a foam tray with small recesses. The new wagon has fewer practical niches: the box in front of the windshield disappeared, and the armrest doesn't have a full second tier. The trunk curtain, if needed, can't be removed with one motion. The separate lights for rear passengers were replaced with one common lamp.

Passengers notice not only the stiffer suspension but also its increased noise on bumps. Up front, something also rattles. Although the general principle of "more speed — fewer potholes" works for both cars, the new Mazda is much more interesting for the driver: it responds more sharply to the steering wheel, is more spirited and understandable. My wife, who is always tense and indecisive behind the wheel of our car, simply drove when she switched to the editorial Mazda — fast, easy, confident.

We also got to celebrate a wedding with the Mazda. The entire next day, my wife was behind the wheel of the editorial car. And for the first time, I was calm in the passenger seat. Not every car helps strengthen family relationships on the road. And that's worth a lot.

True, you'll have to get used to the "automatic." Subjectively, my car with a "manual" is noticeably more dynamic, especially when fully loaded. So if you're thinking about a two-liter wagon, be sure to take a ride in the version with a manual gearbox — you might discover the Mazda from a new side.

Against the background of its naive predecessor, as the Japanese themselves call it, the new, sharper Mazda6 looks advantageous. But behind a mass of special effects such as cornering lights, welcome lighting, or the not very convenient CF-Net system, functionality is lost. But there is more zoom-zoom: Mazda is always ready to have a dialogue with the driver. And yet, the philosophy of the "shed," I think, requires individual chassis tuning. And such a driver's car deserves a more advanced "automatic" transmission.