As title really !

Im looking at an Audi a6 avant or a mazda 6 estate and have come across these two………..

Audi a6
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Audi-A6-Avant-Estate-TDI-TDV-SE-SAT-NAV-/251025546604?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item3a7249dd6c#ht_1062wt_984

mazda 6

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201220470946739/sort/default/usedcars/maximum-mileage/up_to_60000_miles/price-to/13000/body-type/estate/model/mazda6/make/mazda/postcode/ox106dh/page/1/radius/1500/keywords/sport?logcode=p

now i know the audi is older but will it retain more of its value in the long run??

which would you go for and why??

cheers

steve

which would you go for and why??

The Ford Mondeo diesel. Better made than the Mazda, better value than an Audi.

Oh, but you didn’t list one. Oops! 😉

Mazda, it is well specced and a decent price with space. Audi nice but more expensive and not as much space, although not much in it.

Mazda for me.

Another vote for the Mazda.

Audi for me but that’s because I do like Audis.

I think you will like the driving environment better in the Audi, never considered a Mazda personally but I had an A6 and it was very very good.

Audis are pretty crap to drive but I can’t imagine a situation that would see me choose a Mazda 6 over one…

According to Top Gear, Audis are pretty crap to drive around a track, but I can’t imagine a situation where that is of any relevance to 99.999% of drivers.

FTFY

I’d have the A6. It is a lovely comfortable environment, which helps take the edge of having to be stuck in a metal box for hours.

Dave

The Mazda 6 shares a lot of its undercarriage with the mondeo as Ford owns part of Mazda.

Having had an older 02 plate a6 then the same era passat and then a Mondeo, I’d go for the a6 if I needed to again. Just felt that little bit nicer to be in for me

Mondeo/Mazda are good cars and cheaper
Passats are very similar to the a6 but normally slightly cheaper if cost is a factor

I test drove both – hated the Mazda, found the A6 quite nice. Neither set my world alight but I needed estate practicality so went for the Audi.

I have a 5 yr old (32k) Mazda 3 sport – owned from new – (full service history too) and it just feels loose and vague – it was okay at first but seemed to quickly go downhill over the first 2 yrs. no idea if the 6 will fare the same.

Is this the 3rd or 4th thread you’ve started on choosing your new car? 😀

I reckon you would be happy with either of those cars, IF they are in good condition. Having recently swapped a Mazda estate for a Audi estate I would go Audi every time for the improved refinement, quality and more solid feel. Thing is, if you are going second hand the condition of the cars is a more important factor than how they drove when new. Only course of action is to drive them and make your own mind up.

PS. The A6 is at least as big, if not bigger than the Mazda.

Cheers angeldust,

Granted it is abiut the third thread I’ve started lol.

We have looked at both and the audi is bigger inside and boot wise, 565 v 510 , audi also has more rear leg room.

We do like the mazda however to us its an unknown with regards to long term reliability whereas our friends have a golf with the same engine as the audi and its give no problems at all.

Audi is loaded to with colour nav, dual zone climate and rear parking sensors.

Going to look and hopefully drive the audi tomorrow.

Cheers

Steve

Audi all the way
I am a bit bias though as the engine has just gone on my Mazda 6 diesel n i is well p!ssed off

Ah sorry was mixing the A6 with A4…I’d still take the Mazda though…

And Mazda customer service is gash.

Mate just bought an A6 estate and was really disapointed with the boot space when he tried to load 3 bikes in.

Avoid the mazda 6 like the plague! They have dpf nightmares tat even mazda cant fix. Google it! Stung once i will never buy another mazda and as i found out customer service is shocking!

mastiles_fanylion – Member

And Mazda customer service is gash.

doctornickriviera – Member

Avoid the mazda 6 like the plague! They have dpf nightmares tat even mazda cant fix. Google it! Stung once i will never buy another mazda and as i found out customer service is shocking!

TBH that might be more the actual dealer?

The DPF issue is not just Mazda though is it, IIRC it was a set of regs pushed by the EU and the solution rushed by a fair few firms in many cases meant if you bought a DPF fitted car and you don’t do much high speed stuff the it will go wrong.

I do have a Mazda 6 diesel estate which has had the DPF light come on once (sorted at no cost by Mitchell Mazda) since then I have given it a 20 minute run at over 2000rpm every 2 months and the oil level has remained stable & the filter pressure is fine.

Having said that the A6 will be a nicer car I’m sure but then I guess it would have been a fair bit more to buy when new!
Oh and one last thing that Mazda is the 2.2D not the 2.0D which I think had the DPF issue sorted?

No mazda service dealer and mazda uk is awful.

I had to spend 2-3 k fixing a recurrent mazda 6 dpf problem, oh and i do lots of motorway driving.

You lose faith when the delers cant fix it

Awful cars awful service … Buy the audi!

If you are worried about depreciation, spend less – much less.

So buy older, when they’ve lost even more money.

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=93840

Looks like mazda havent fixed the problem with the 2.2 diesel either.

For me it was the DSC (stability control) part of the ABS system. The car was just out of the 3 year warranty (and had a full service history) but the dealer we bought from couldn’t care less telling us to speak to Mazda if we wanted a refund (we paid some £700 to have it repaired by them as we were about to go on a long journey with our young children).Mazda UK took the same attitude saying it was out of warranty. I did extensive research and found multiple examples of the same fault in all models built around 2007 if fitted with DSC – I sent all of this to Mazda and eventually got 50% contribution for what was quite clearly a manufacturing fault.

Since then we have also had electrical faults that we just live with (central locking failing, electric windows not working). And it is still only 5 years old and low milage.

Ohh, and another inherent (and well documented) fault means it eats tyres even when driven carefully – a set of fronts last around 10k.

Oh and my wifes audi 2l tdi has done 140 k miles since new without any major problems. My mazda engine starting developing probs at 60 k and was effectively unfixable by 80 k!

Ps i dont like mazdas!

‘Mate just bought an A6 estate and was really disapointed with the boot space when he tried to load 3 bikes in.’

Is it ‘easy’ to load 3 bikes into any estate car? There are only a few estate cars available that offer significantly more boot space (E class estate, Superb estate) so I suspect it was your friends expectations that were at fault here. Did he look at the boot space before he bought the car, or was he assuming that a gaping chasm would appear when he opened the boot for the first time 😉

I saw an 06 plate Mazda 6 yesterday and the rear wheel arches were starting to rust quite badly. They were worse than a 6 year Vectra I had 10 years ago and VX were known for rusty arches.

DPF light comes on when its service time. Great undocumented feature that… Shat myself the first time it happened expect imminent explosions and cartwheeling penguins and Catherine wheels. One service it was feeling a bit sluggish so they remapped/calibrated the engine/timing/thingy/dunno and it had loads more poke. This is a 2.0d.

How about a change of direction, mercedes e class estate, must be an auto though. huuuuuge inside and good value, servicing can be costly at a main dealer though. or if you can find one for the right money and you don’t mind the odd looks mercedes r class. can be very good value as they are pig ugly 🙂

I must just be lucky with cars then (though I do drive like my hair’s on fire most of the time!!)
In 30 years of driving & 14 cars I have only had 1 car totally fail on me (cam belt at 85mph 😳 in a P100 pick up and that had 260,000 miles on the clock)

To be fair I didn’t test drive an A6 as it was out of my price bracket at the time, but I just find most VAG cars don’t look all that behind the wheel??

but I just find most VAG cars don’t look all that behind the wheel

They do have a simplicity to them agreed.

I was at a meeting with several architects last week – most of them arrived in Audis and every one had an iPhone 4 in black. I think that says something.

I do think that a 10 yr old Audi interior will look a much nicer place than a 10 yr old Mazda interior too…

Of the two I’d have the Audi but I’d much rather have a Honda Accord Aerodeck.

I want an A6 with the 3.0 V6 TDI and the CVT gearbox. Relaxed-cruising-tastic.

I had an A6 and I sometimes drive my parents Mazda 6. There is no comparison when you sit in them.
A6 all day long.

I also think the Mazda 6 looks very dated already whilst the Mondeo still looks box fresh, especially in higher level specification.

The Audi – Mleh. But it WILL look better than either in ten years time.

On looks alone, and knowing nothing about either, I think I’d choose the Audi.

The Audi, because I had a Mazda6 and the turbo broke which trashed the engine.

There really seems to be lots of bad experiences of the Mazda 😯

You wouldn’t really expect that from a ‘reliable’ Japanese manufacturer.

My MX5 was the most reliable car I’ve owned, but they do appear to have jumped the shark since about 2005.

I can’t believe an estate gets much bigger than an A6 without becoming a van, they seem massive to me.

hi all.

ok so we went ad had a look at the Audi.

To be honest we came away feeling slightly underwhelmed by it. the interior was bland and didnt really go with the exterior colour at all and looked to light and as though it marked easily.

near enough every panel had a dent/mark on it and we couldnt see through them to see how nice the car could be.

the boot was long but not very deep so gave the impression of being big but actually wasnt that useable as a space.

so we have decided to give the a6 a miss and now we are still deciding between the passat or the mazda 6 still.

cheers

steve

I like Passats. Mostly the same as the A6, but cheaper.