Anyone driven or owned one?

They appear to have a very good reputation for reliability and are a similar price to a Mk2 octavia. The 136bhp diesel engine should be decent if a bit slower than the octy (shared with the Mondeo?) and the interior looks good.

Worth a test drive or not?

I'd go for it, a chap down the road has one - loves it, say's its 10x better than his previous 3-Series (no comments on that please, different debate all together !!).

They look good, interior seems pretty cool, they are reasonably priced and the TDCI 130bhp is a nice refined engine

As I understand it, it shares a lot of components with the Mondeo (including the chassis and engine). If it's anything like the Mondeo I'd heartily recommend it, and the TDCI engine is more than a match for the 2.0 TDI from the VAG stable Let us know what you think of it if you drive one

Chris

We are also a Mazda dealer, get to work on them from time to time. They are pretty good cars. Very noisy up the road though. Cant say they excel and anything in particular but do everything well.

Yes suspension prts etc are shared with Ford, however I dont think the diesel engine is (might be wrong though).

Yes suspension prts etc are shared with Ford, however I dont think the diesel engine is (might be wrong though).

If it's the 136ps unit, it sounds like it might be the one out of the Focus CMAX which is was developed with the Peugeot group

Chris

On paper the spec is pretty good.

The TS2 model looks to be only a smidge more than an Octy elegance , but it has a sunroof as standard (essential for me) , climate and a pretty decent 7 speaker stereo.

I've sent off for a brochure anyway.

Depending on how far up in the midlands you are your allways welcome to come down and try one.

Yeah definately take one out for a drive!...as has been mentioned doesnt really excel @ anything in particular but competent @ everything:) ....watch out for excessive engine/tyre noise @ motorway speeds!...obviously not a problem if you only do that sort of driving occasionally!

Depending on how far up in the midlands you are your allways welcome to come down and try one.

I'm on the other side of Birmingham , but I work in your part of the world occasionally so I may well take you up on that.

Thanks

Yeah definately take one out for a drive!...as has been mentioned doesnt really excel @ anything in particular but competent @ everything:) ....watch out for excessive engine/tyre noise @ motorway speeds!...obviously not a problem if you only do that sort of driving occasionally!

Actually , most of my mileage is motorway driving :(

The "not excelling at anything" doesn't worry me all that much as I'm pretty sure the same could be said of an Octy II TDI. It's a very good car but doesn't stand out above the competition in any one area

Actually ' date=' most of my mileage is motorway driving :(

The "not excelling at anything" doesn't worry me all that much as I'm pretty sure the same could be said of an Octy II TDI. It's a very good car but doesn't stand out above the competition in any one area[/quote']

Well i would still take it for a drive...you may find it perfectly ok....exactly as the octy!

Mazda is just a more expensive Ford :P

I've been in a few of em, to be honest I liked them, the only areas I could criticise them on are the interior space - no match for a mondeo, and the quality of the plastics on the older non facelifted models left alot to be desired, felt awfully cheap inside, and the dimpled effect seemed to trap dust and was a nightmare to keep clean, however the newer ones seem a different world, nice solid plastics with a quality feel to them, much better than the rubber coated plastic sh*te that VAG use.

Never found the engines very inspiring - particularly the diesels and i'm sure it wasn't a mondeo diesel lump in the one I drove, but again I think the engines have been changed in the newer ones? as they seem more refined and now have adequate performance, strangely though I still liked em.

Mazda is just a more expensive Ford :P

Well the list prices are certainly cheaper than the similar spec mondeo , but when you take into account some of the massive discounts available on the ford you do have a point.

According to the figures on some of the sites like broadspeed you can get something like 6 grand off a higher end mondeo!

Drove the 2 liter petrol IIRC (could have been a 1.8 tho) - a while back now though at > 1 year - found it drove very well, handled well.

Much better than the Rover 75 I had for a few weeks around that time.

Definitely worth shopping around, not driven the diesel model myself. Ex-collegue of mine bought a '3' series and seemed pleased with that too.

I took the Mazda 6 2.0D out for a whirl the other weekend. It's a very good car really.

Nice level of equipment (TS2 trim) but what really stood out to me was:

Seats way more supportive for the upper back region than on my previous octy or current passat.

Body control exceptional - inspires a lot of confidence.

Quiet - are you sure this is a diesel? get's a little "snorty" when pushed hard, but it's quieter than a VAG PD unit........

Now for the negatives:

Gearbox action was very "snick-snick-snick" - tight, very very short. a little too short.....if it was a sequential box, i'd understand, but not on a traditional gate layout.....

Power........what power.......this was the 143PS model, but seemed pedestrian compared to what i'm driving it the moment. Actually, it felt pedestrian compared to my mum's vitara........and thats slow.