Japanese car makers have long tried to give their cars a European look to help their appeal to European buyers. This hasn’t always worked, so Mazda’s new approach is to incorporate Japanese aesthetics in a way pleasing to worldwide eyes. Thus the marketing hype talks of swords, misty mountains, exquisite attention to detail and so on.
The reality is that the new 6 looks like an exaggeration of the old one, with a bigger grille, more rakish headlights and a smooth curve from A-pillar to tail. The bulbous bonnet and the way the front wings follow the shape of the wheels are typical modern Mazda, while the main way of identifying the hatchback tested here (apart from the rear wiper) is by the kicked-up rear-quarter window.
The new car is 65mm longer, 15mm wider and sits on a wheelbase 50mm longer than before, but it’s still closer in size to its predecessor than to the outsized Mondeo.
You might expect the chassis’ engineering to mirror the Ford’s in the way that a Mazda 3 uses a Focus-based platform, but apart from sharing a similar multi-link rear suspension with blade-like trailing links, it does not. The front suspension is by double wishbones and the engines are all Mazda’s own.
As well as weighing less, the 6 has a much stiffer bodyshell than before. This has allowed bigger and softer suspension bushes and engine mountings without, it is claimed, losing out on precision in the driving experience. Aerodynamics are improved, too, with a Cd of 0.27.