Faults:

Not much over the last couple of years I have had the car. Last week however the car became sluggish and the engine light came on. Taking it to a diesel specialist soon as my local mechanic was unsure, hopefully nothing too serious.

General Comments:

Sporty, good looking, fun to drive, and very spacious estate tourer, the Mazda 6 is a fun family car to own.

Engine is punchy and economical.

Seats are perfect for my height. Love being in this car. The car has all the electrics you would expect. Comfortable.

It's a very good , but no better than a Vauxhall Insignia or Ford Mondeo or whatever.

Not too confident in it lately though - I have read horror stories of the diesel engine problems in these cars, hopefully my problem will be something simple. But lately I'm thinking I should have went for a petrol engine Mazda 6...

Faults:

Where to begin. EGR valve started going faulty with rough running; the car would hesitate and idle erratically. £700 to fix.

Clutch/flywheel = £1000 !

Start / Stop system would not operate sometimes and when it did it always cut in at the worst moments.

Oil leaking from somewhere. Oil light sometimes comes on even though the oil level is at the correct level.

Climate control has a mind of its own.

Slight rust here and there.

The list goes on. The car was bought approved used, full Mazda history and I continued to drive carefully and service it on time, yet it still gave all these problems.

General Comments:

On the positive side, the Mazda 6 performs well, is economical (when running correctly) and the interior is very comfortable. It is also a very good looking car in red.

However, the reliability issues I have had have been terrible. This is easily one of the worst cars I have ever had, yet the most modern and expensive at the same time. Some research around the web says the diesel Mazda 6 has known issues. This engine is a disaster. Avoid the 2.2 diesel. The car feels like scrap at only nine years and about 90K miles. A long time ago my 1980's Mazda 626 (relatively problem free as well I might add) lasted sixteen years and 180K miles! This car cannot compare! What a step backwards in quality.

Mazda main dealer was terrible, rude and uninterested when I returned with the problems; only a couple of things were fixed under warranty.

Previously had a 2006 Ford Mondeo to this car (petrol); had some issues but was overall a better and more reliable car than this. Would I buy Mazda again? Possibly, always like them, and it is such a good looking fun to drive car so it is a shame, but I'd definitely go with a petrol engine next time. Not exclusive to Mazda to be fair - a lot of modern diesel cars are like this, diesels are overrated in my opinion!