What's the news?
The Mazda6 saloon has been back to the plastic surgeon more times than Joan Rivers and Kim Basinger combined, but Mazda has booked it in for yet another nip-and-tuck to keep it fresh in the face of new opposition from the likes of the Opel Insignia Grand Sport and the facelifted Ford Mondeo, which is due next year.
The most obvious visual change is a set of new headlights and the new 3-D 'floating' radiator grille, more or less lifted from the CX-5 SUV. Inside, the cabin has remained much the same, but there is now the option of more upmarket-looking Japanese 'Sensu' wood trim if you fancy. While the aged infotainment hasn't been updated, there is now the option of an improved active cruise control, which can bring the car to a stop and set off again in heavy traffic. There's also a new 360-degree surround-view camera system.
Because the car is being given a public debut a the Los Angeles motor show, the focus for now is on US market engines, which will now include the turbocharged 2.5-litre petrol SkyActiv-G engine. It's already used in the US-market-only CX-9 crossover, so we're not sure whether or not it will come to Europe, but sadly that seems unlikely. We say sadly because it's got some pretty serious power figures, including 227hp and 420Nm of torque. Mazda hasn't released CO2 figures for that engine in the Mazda6 yet, but we suspect they'll preclude an Irish market launch. As with the CX-5, we'll most likely get carry-over 2.2-litre diesel and 2.0-litre petrol engines when the updated car arrives on these shores early next year.
How many more Mazda6 facelifts will we see? Hard to say. We do kind of get the impression that Mazda thinks that the shrinking market for large four-doors means that it's not worth investing in an all-new model, so it'll be 6 facelifts from now until the Sun expands to consume the Earth. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing...