Mazda6 Estate wins at Towcar of the Year 2010
The Mazda6 Estate has proved its towing ability, for the fourth time, at The Caravan Club Towcar of the Year 2010. Awarded for its practicality and excellent towing ability the judges said: “The Mazda6 is a very worthy class winner.” The results of the Competition were announced at The Caravan Club’s annual awards ceremony held at the Royal Automobile Club in London today (23 September).
The Mazda6 Estate impressed the judges in the £20,000 to £25,000 Class: “With a flexible engine, bags of low-down torque and a six-speed gearbox that is not only good to use but well mated to the engine, it’s no surprise this is a very worthy class winner.
“Towing 1347kg, the good-looking estate car romped up the long 14% hill in third gear and tackled a 17% stop-and-restart quite easily. A super car at a great price,” the judges concluded.
Mark Cameron from Mazda UK added: “Whether you are towing a caravan to a motorsport event, a horse box to the county show, or a jet ski trailer to the beach, the Mazda6 Estate has proved over the years of awards from The Caravan Club Towcar of the Year that it consistently rates highly thanks to its flexibility, dynamic handling and great engine.”
The exact specification that was tested for this highly regarded competition was the Mazda6 Mazda6 2.2litre Diesel Estate TS2 163ps Manual and is priced at £20,170 on-the-road.
Twenty-eight cars were put rigorously through their paces in August at the Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire. An independent panel of six driving judges carried out track tests assessing each car’s towing ability as well as acceleration, braking and the ability to cope with demanding hill starts. The vehicles were divided into five price categories and two All-Wheel Drive categories (under 1800kg and over 1800kg). Vehicles are split into Classes to enable consumers in general, to make an informed choice regarding their car purchase depending upon the theory being that anyone thinking about buying a new car will first consider their budget. These results are important not only to caravanners but to any car driver who tows; boat and horsebox owners have an equally keen interest in these awards.
Mazda6: The Facts
In the UK, the second generation Mazda6 offers customers a 26-strong model line-up, starting at £15,685 (on-the-road), with a choice of four powertrains and five equipment levels, in a range of eleven colours, plus stylish 16-inch ,17-inch or 18-inch alloy wheels which were a ‘first’ for Mazda6. Each of the equipment levels – S, TS, TS2, Sport and Sports Luxury are highly specified within its price band and among the specification upgrades is a new standard equipment feature on 15 models from the £18,410 TS2 upwards which benefit from enhanced safety with the new lane-change ‘Rear Vehicle Monitoring System’.
From January the Mazda6 went on sale with the arrival of its all-new MZR-CD 2.2-litre turbo diesel engine and some specification upgrades and one additional diesel model – offering both the low power (125ps) and mid power (163ps) diesel engines in the TS hatchback.
