Mazda has upgraded its Mazda6 Saloon and Estate models for 2016.
Featuring new updates designed to 'enhance driving enjoyment and improve refinement', highlights include technology updates, interior improvements and the introduction of G-Vectoring Control.
G-Vectoring Control (GVC) utilises integrated control of the engine, transmission and chassis ‘to enhance the connection between car and driver’, says Mazda. The GVC varies engine torque to optimise the load on each wheel, improving vehicle handling. By monitoring the steering and throttle position when you enter a corner under power, the GVC momentarily reduces the amount of torque delivered to the front wheels, thereby transferring a fraction more weight onto the front axle which allows the front wheels to turn more precisely. Even on a straight road, Mazda says the GVC can reduce driver fatigue and increase passenger comfort by taking away the perceived need for the tiny corrections that some drivers make when driving straight.
Retaining an unchanged engine line-up, the upgraded Mazda6 comes with a choice of four engines: a 145ps and the 165ps 2.0-litre SKYACTIV-G petrol, plus the 2.2-litre 150ps and the 175ps SKYACTIV-D diesels. With diesel models accounting for around 75 per cent of UK sales, the 2.2-litre SKYACTIV-D engine features two key improvements designed to increase responsiveness and reduce engine noise: ‘Transient Control’ and ‘Mazda’s Natural Sound Smoother Technology’ (NSS).
By reducing turbo lag and boosting torque, Transient Control provides a more positive throttle response, ensuring that the Mazda6’s diesel engine reacts ‘better than ever’ to the driver's intentions, while refinement has been enhanced, mazda, via the introduction of the Natural Sound Smoother (NSS) technology.
Designed to reduce diesel knock noise during starting and low-speed acceleration, the NSS suppresses resonance from the piston and connecting rod by using a dynamic damper inside the piston pin to suppress the three critical frequency bands in which engine components typically vibrate most loudly.
The refreshed Mazda6 also has a ‘comprehensive improvement’ in sound insulation, including the adoption of upgraded door seals, tighter tolerances between panels and sound deadening materials added to the underbody, rear console, headliner and doors, while laminated front side windows further suppress wind noise.
On the inside, the revised model features a new leather steering wheel that, on the Sport Nav trim, is heated. Other premium upgrades to the range-topping Sport Nav models include an enhanced head up display that features colour and Traffic Sign Recognition (TSR) for the first time, plus electric memory seats that now also adjust the head-up display. While from SE-L Nav models upwards auto power-folding mirrors are standard, and Mazda’s Smart City Brake Support (SCBS) low-speed collision mitigation braking now features pedestrian recognition.
The revised Mazda6 arrives in dealerships later this autumn, with pricing remaining unchanged, the new enhancements come at no extra cost.