Would a petrol Mazda6 be a good buy?

Hi,

Due to an economical write-off I'm being forced into a car change. Moving from a solid 1.8 Opel Vectra Comfort (Petrol)2003. My budget is €10k plus pre-accident value, approx €2.5 - 3K. Took a Mazda6 2.0 Diesel Exec. 2008 for a test drive and really like it. The mileage is high and I've been reading of a lot of problems with the engine in general. Not doing a lot of mileage these days so would consider a Petrol. Given the low value of Petrol cars at the moment and the problems with Diesel version, would a Mazda6 1.8 Petrol be a good buy?

Dee Kennedy (Cork)

Oct 2011 Filed under: choosing used car

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Expert answer

Hi Dee,

We have seen a lot written abotu problems with the diesel Mazda6 and some of it founded and some of it is plain fiction. What we would say is that like most modern diesel cars, when the mileage is high the cost of changing something called the Diesel Particulate Filter can be quite high and this is what is being reported quite a lot about the Mazda6. We get asked a lot about going back to petrol cars. We love petrol cars here and the simple fact is that if your mileage is pretty low it won't cost you all that much more to run it and there are massive savings to be made. These days, don't expect it to be worth much in a few years though, because most people are turning their back on larger petrol cars for good. But if you intended to get proper use out of it then it could be a super buy. 

Complete Car Adviser