RE: Mazda 6 MPS: Shed of the Week
Discussion
Sam1990 said:
The rear seats do actually fold down. There's a latch hidden out of sight for both sides. You still have the bracing to contend with but I did manage to squeeze a 2 metre long desk top in my old 6MPS much to the Ikea parking lot audience's disbelief
Every day is a school day.Another piece of information I'll no doubt recall perfectly while forgetting vastly more important stuff
Interesting buy at £1200 - or, indeed, probably at old shed money after a haggle - especially if you have the skills to sort it.
Closest I've had to this was a 52 reg 2.0 diesel estate in that lovely blue they did. In fact it was that colour and Mrs PB's fondness for a Mazda - her first ever company car in the late 90s was a 626 - that resulted in it being bought. I let the oil get too low so it blew its turbo but, otherwise, it served us well as a family car in the late noughties.
Closest I've had to this was a 52 reg 2.0 diesel estate in that lovely blue they did. In fact it was that colour and Mrs PB's fondness for a Mazda - her first ever company car in the late 90s was a 626 - that resulted in it being bought. I let the oil get too low so it blew its turbo but, otherwise, it served us well as a family car in the late noughties.
fathomfive said:
Sam1990 said:
The rear seats do actually fold down. There's a latch hidden out of sight for both sides. You still have the bracing to contend with but I did manage to squeeze a 2 metre long desk top in my old 6MPS much to the Ikea parking lot audience's disbelief
Every day is a school day.Another piece of information I'll no doubt recall perfectly while forgetting vastly more important stuff
greenarrow said:
I ran a cheap 2 litre Mazda 6 of this vintage as a family car, for more than three years.
Totally reliable, very sweet chassis for a FWD bread and butter hatch and great steering.
However for shed money, I'd be looking to buy a well looked after 2.3 petrol model. The sport model. Yes much slower, but a lighter nimbler car and far less likely to throw up any big bills. Nice revvy n/a engine too.
I'm glad I'm not the only person who appreciates them, my wife has run a 2.3 Sport for 5+ years - I think it's a great drive (for what it is)Totally reliable, very sweet chassis for a FWD bread and butter hatch and great steering.
However for shed money, I'd be looking to buy a well looked after 2.3 petrol model. The sport model. Yes much slower, but a lighter nimbler car and far less likely to throw up any big bills. Nice revvy n/a engine too.
I've considered the MPS but I bought my wife a 3.0 V6 Jag X Type facelift for the same price as a decent MPS and it has half the mileage (55k) and I'm very happy with it.
Good car. I sold these when new so am a bit biased though.
New price was circa £24k - only options were colour (metallic standard) and sat Nav - came with leather/Bose/electric seats + memory etc. as standard.
Handled well, good ride and spacious. Were only available as a saloon because body was stiffer (especially with the bracing) than estate or hatch - newer GH model from 2007/8 felt much stiffer off the bat than this generation 6.
At the same time we sold the full Evo VIII range including Euro spec 260 - MPS was just as fast, better on fuel, much better equipped, cheaper to service (substantially) and much better ride - a much better daily than the Evo, but less exciting to drive. However, considering the same priced BMW at the time would be a 318 with a few options, which was smaller, much slower, no more comfortable and sparsely equipped, the Mazda was a great value car, which is why, in the UK, they sold very few!
I should add, if you wanted an 'estate' version of the MPS, Mazda did the CX7 with the same engine. They had a really nice interior and drove really well. Running costs were daily similar and performance was not as dissimilar as the on-paper figures suggest. They remain the sharpest driving SUV type vehicle that I have driven - the later 2.2 Diesel was more refined but nothing like as sporty to drive.
New price was circa £24k - only options were colour (metallic standard) and sat Nav - came with leather/Bose/electric seats + memory etc. as standard.
Handled well, good ride and spacious. Were only available as a saloon because body was stiffer (especially with the bracing) than estate or hatch - newer GH model from 2007/8 felt much stiffer off the bat than this generation 6.
At the same time we sold the full Evo VIII range including Euro spec 260 - MPS was just as fast, better on fuel, much better equipped, cheaper to service (substantially) and much better ride - a much better daily than the Evo, but less exciting to drive. However, considering the same priced BMW at the time would be a 318 with a few options, which was smaller, much slower, no more comfortable and sparsely equipped, the Mazda was a great value car, which is why, in the UK, they sold very few!
I should add, if you wanted an 'estate' version of the MPS, Mazda did the CX7 with the same engine. They had a really nice interior and drove really well. Running costs were daily similar and performance was not as dissimilar as the on-paper figures suggest. They remain the sharpest driving SUV type vehicle that I have driven - the later 2.2 Diesel was more refined but nothing like as sporty to drive.
Edited by Alex P on Friday 18th January 19:41
ianwayne said:
The killer of this car and its ilk is the VED regime. I have considered one but selling it again is an issue. Finding a decent one registered in very early 2006 makes a difference (£315 p.a.) It'll do for many of the 'cooking' Jags and Mercs too all except the rare / special models.
Any car with emissions over 225g /km and registered after 21/03/06 is £555 + per year from April 2019. (This one is a 2007). Scorn was given when I raised this issue on higher priced cars but at this price point it really is an issue. Over 2 years you'll pay in VED what the whole car cost. Before you even drive it!
Conversely, a high performance car registered after April 2017 and list price under £40k is £140 p.a. to the 2nd and subsequent owners, no matter what the emissions...
This is going to become a bigger and bigger issue. 500 slides in tax is a psychological barrier for a lot of people - me included - it just seems so binary and frankly money-grabbing, so I've drawn a line in the sand; if it's over 225g/km and registered post March 2006 it's a no and likewise, post March 2017 and in excess of £40k I'll look elsewhere thanks.
Any car with emissions over 225g /km and registered after 21/03/06 is £555 + per year from April 2019. (This one is a 2007). Scorn was given when I raised this issue on higher priced cars but at this price point it really is an issue. Over 2 years you'll pay in VED what the whole car cost. Before you even drive it!
Conversely, a high performance car registered after April 2017 and list price under £40k is £140 p.a. to the 2nd and subsequent owners, no matter what the emissions...
This is going to become a bigger and bigger issue. 500 slides in tax is a psychological barrier for a lot of people - me included - it just seems so binary and frankly money-grabbing, so I've drawn a line in the sand; if it's over 225g/km and registered post March 2006 it's a no and likewise, post March 2017 and in excess of £40k I'll look elsewhere thanks.
Edited by ianwayne on Friday 18th January 10:02
From the days when Mazda were being brave and making some interesting cars - I often wondered about these, MP3s and RX8s. They all looked tempting, but back then I was doing business miles to a turbo-diesel was my sorry choice! Sadly only the MX5 has survived.
I think they were one of many victims of the £500+ Band L/M road tax in 2006 - like the RX8, Honda S2000, Hyundai V6 Coupe and probably others I've missed!
I think they were one of many victims of the £500+ Band L/M road tax in 2006 - like the RX8, Honda S2000, Hyundai V6 Coupe and probably others I've missed!
We've had one for 7 years. Worst thing about them now (more than the known foibles) is IMO going to be rust. Rear end of the sills particularly as well as under the skirts. The front corner of the rear arch, inside the skirts and at the rear of the front wheel collects mud and then it sits there rotting things away.
If you're looking at one then give it a good poke into the carpet at the front of the rear wheel...about here.
It's very easy for lots of rust to be hidden by the skirts. You can't pull them off without breaking the clips (and the clips are only available from Mazda and £££££) and a good chance you'll break the skirts as well pulling them off so it's not something you can check.
eg
I think caught it *just* in time before it really got bad but had a fun while under the car rust treating and fixing those holes.
Because it's a computer controlled centre clutch rather than a viscous coupling if the hand brake was on while driving it would f
k things. So if you pull the handbrake (and it only needs to be pulled enough to trigger the handbrake warning light, long before the brakes operate) it disconnects the AWD. Also disconnects it in reverse or if it overheats.
It is the predecessor both in engine and AWD setup to the current Focus RS. The MPS however rather than the fancy twin clutch used a single clutch with a rear LSD but for that is surprisingly tail happy under power.
Killer as others have mentioned is the VED, we purposely went for a pre-Feb 06 car to keep the VED down...
Tyres are odd sizes and so expensive, go for 225/40R18's which are a fraction of the cost with a wider range.
If you're looking at one then give it a good poke into the carpet at the front of the rear wheel...about here.
It's very easy for lots of rust to be hidden by the skirts. You can't pull them off without breaking the clips (and the clips are only available from Mazda and £££££) and a good chance you'll break the skirts as well pulling them off so it's not something you can check.
eg
I think caught it *just* in time before it really got bad but had a fun while under the car rust treating and fixing those holes.
a7x88 said:
Handbrake wise - it didn't disable stability (at least on production examples) however it did disengage the magnetic clutch for the rear wheels - making it FWD. Unlike the common misconception these are not Haldex. In normal driving they vary from anywhere between 50/50 to 95/5. The only time the rear wheels are not driven is in reverse or with the handbrake on
Because it's a computer controlled centre clutch rather than a viscous coupling if the hand brake was on while driving it would f
k things. So if you pull the handbrake (and it only needs to be pulled enough to trigger the handbrake warning light, long before the brakes operate) it disconnects the AWD. Also disconnects it in reverse or if it overheats. It is the predecessor both in engine and AWD setup to the current Focus RS. The MPS however rather than the fancy twin clutch used a single clutch with a rear LSD but for that is surprisingly tail happy under power.
Killer as others have mentioned is the VED, we purposely went for a pre-Feb 06 car to keep the VED down...
Tyres are odd sizes and so expensive, go for 225/40R18's which are a fraction of the cost with a wider range.
Edited by Fastdruid on Saturday 19th January 00:34
gmaz said:
The CO2 was 245 which put it in such a high bracket. Amazingly when the same engine was fitted to a later 3MPS it was only 224, halving the VED.... It's not just VW that fiddles the numbers.
It wasn't fiddling so much as the VED changes were half arsed and with no time for preparation. Once a car was in the upper band it didn't really matter if it was putting out 224 or 444 so if there was no real hope of getting into a lower band they wouldn't bother. When it did matter however car manufacturers made an effort to trim a bit off. Hence the 3MPS being better than the 6MPS. Although the lighter weight and lack of AWD probably helps there as well, CO2/mpg is after all not just about the engine.
Fastdruid said:
Because it's a computer controlled centre clutch rather than a viscous coupling
Does anyone do a controller for it ?The thing that puts me off 4WD cars is that once on / over the grip limit you have no idea where it's going to distribute the power hence it makes it unpredictable.
If I could force it to maintain a set percentage that would be very appealing.
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