Estate vehicles have been one of those underrated cars in Malaysia, this is due to many Malaysian link estate vehicles to hearses. This reason alone singlehandedly turn buyers away from buying estate vehicle. I always find estate vehicles are more practical than sedan, and yet, they are more stable than SUVs.

Due to the lack of interest, not many manufacturers actually sells estate cars in Malaysia. Mazda is one of the few manufacturers that are brave enough to venture into this segment. The estate that Mazda is currently selling is the Mazda 6 touring, and Mazda has been selling it since 2013. Over the years, the Mazda 6 has been facelifted once while going through a few minor enhancement to keep it relevant to its competitor. Internationally, Mazda Corporation has announced that they are phasing out the current generation of Mazda 6 to make way for the next generation model. In order to give this model a good farewell, we shall take a closer look and see how well it stacks up with its competitor in 2021.

Since its launch, the Mazda 6 has always been the sleekest and sportiest looking D-segment vehicle, which breaks the mold of it being an uncle car. I dare to say that the design of the Mazda 6 actually encouraged their competitor to follow the trend and create their own sporty looking D-segment vehicle. Throughout the years, the Mazda 6 actually aged quite well, and it doesn’t look a day older compared to the newer competitors.

Looking at it, the strong and muscular lines flows throughout the Mazda 6, while flared wheel arch gives it a wider stance. The slim looking LED headlights, and sharp looking taillights reminds me of an Alfa Romeo vibe. Paired with the 225/45 r19 rims and tyres, it completes the overall look of the car.

Hoping on board, the Mazda 6 interior gives you a sense of quality with plenty of soft touch materials around the cabin. Compared to the newer cars like the Mazda 3 and CX-30, you can feel that the Mazda 6 interior is due for some upgrade to make it feel more modern and refine. The base colour for the interior is black colour, this is to continue with the sporty theme that was seen on the exterior.

Usually, the engine start stop button is located quite low down closer towards the driver, but the position of the start stop button in the Mazda 6 is fairly high up on the dashboard, which takes some time to get use to the position of it. Beside the button, the free standing infotainment screen do feature connectivity options such as Android Auto and Apple Carplay. On top of that, the audio from the infotainment system is pump through an 11-Speaker Bose sound system that I really enjoy while driving the Mazda 6. One downside for the infotainment screen is that when the Android auto is on, then touch function on the screen will be disabled.

Seating in the driver seat, the 1st thing that catches my eyes is the analogue instrument cluster, with a small digital display. I am not very particular about having a digital or analogue instrument cluster, as long as it’s easy to read, I’m all good about it. As someone with larger hands, the thin rimmed steering wheel don’t really suit me, I much prefer to have a thicker steering wheel to give me a better feel when holding on to the wheel. On the other hand, I really like the feeling of being cocoon when seating in the driver seat, as I can lowered the driver seat to quite a low down position. While driving, keeping my eyes on the road is also fairly easy with the heads up display doing a good job in showing me the necessary driving information without being distracting.

Moving to the back, the legroom and headroom space are rather generous with the front seat set to my seating configuration. I do notice that the rear seat cushion is on the harder side for my back to feel comfortable over long distance. On top of that, I would like to have some reclining ability for the seatback to further improve the rear seats comfort level.

With a boot space that measured in at 522 litres, there are more boot space than you need for a family of 5 to go on a holiday trip. If more space are needed, the rear seats can be fold flat to allow longer or bulkier items to be fitted into the cabin. Lastly, I would like to see Mazda adds the powered tailgate function on future estate model for greater convenience.

Powering the Mazda 6 is the trusty 2.5L 4 cylinder Skyactiv engine, which can be found on a few different Mazda models. This engine has the ability to produce around 185bhp and 250Nm of torque, and the engine is paired with the Mazda’s Skyactiv 6 speed automatic transmission. The 2.5L engine is smooth, and the power delivery felt linear because the torque starts kicking in around 3,000rpm. When I tried driving within the torque curve, the transmission will suddenly kick down to a lower gear to anticipate for hard acceleration. I find it a little annoying when it does that, and it feels like driving with sports mode on all the time when I’m just out on a gentle cruise. Overall, the engine performance is sufficient for a car this size.

Superb handling has always been the highlight for any Mazda models, and the Mazda 6 naturally inherit this characteristic. The steering wheel is precise and direct, it gives me the confident to know where the wheels are pointing while taking corners. When going over uneven roads, the Mazda 6 soaks up most of the bumps with ease, but from time to time, I do feel the rear of the car hop about when driving over bumpy roads at a faster pace. While the car felt planted overall, i do notice that the Mazda 6 has slightly more body roll compared to the Hyundai sonata which I was testing out previously.

As for braking, the Mazda 6 have sufficient braking performance for daily use. But when taking it for some enthusiastic drive, I can feel that the brakes are working extra time to slow the Mazda 6 down. On highway cruising, the Mazda 6 wind noise level is kept to a minimum, on the other hand, tyre noise do sip into the cabin. As the line-up goes, the Mazda 6 is one of the older model in Mazda’s line-up, it is evident especially in the safety department. It only features system such as blind spot monitoring system, rear cross traffic alert, and lane departure warning and lane keep assist on top of the usual passive safety system.

To sum it up, the Mazda 6 is one of those cars that I really enjoyed my time driving it. It may not be the newest kid on the block, but it still manage to stand toe to toe with its much newer competitors. And being an estate, the level of flexibility and practicality out performs a regular sedan. Priced at RM215,148, the Mazda 6 sits in a very interesting position as there are no other d-segment estate being sold in Malaysia. Buyers who are looking at either a d-segment sedan or large SUV should give it a try, it might be just the vehicle to suit your needs.

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