Auto Trader Ten Point Test Rating - 78%

Many performance car buyers like their cars to go fast and look faster. Trouble is, they attract lots of attention - good and bad.

Other petrolheads prefer their quick cars to blend into the background, and leave their performance figures to speak for themselves. These cars are known as Q-cars - quick but quiet - and the Mazda 6 MPS is probably the finest example on the road today.

Read on for our verdict on the Mazda 6 MPS, or click the links below to skip straight to a section.

Looks | Looks Inside | Practicality | Ride and Handling | Performance
Running Costs | Reliability | Safety | Equipment | X-Factor | Rivals

1. Looks

The Mazda 6 is one of the more attractive cars in its class, although it's unlikely to win any awards for styling. The casual observer will have to look hard to identify the MPS from lesser models, with only bigger alloys, twin exhaust pipes, a bulging bonnet and MPS badging setting it apart. This is a good thing, because although it's quicker than most cars this side of a Subaru Impreza, it doesn't look like it. This means boy racers pass by without batting an eyelid, leaving you to choose whether you want to reveal the MPS's true colours.
8/10

2. Looks inside

The interior is very Mazda, with dark grey and black plastics accompanied by red instrument readouts. Although pretty uninspiring, the controls are where you'd expect them and the intense red bits are easy to read, even in bright sunlight. The seats are very supportive and comfortable, and the overall driving position is excellent. The seven speaker Bose stereo is excellent - and loud.
7/10

3. Practicality

There's bags of room inside the 6, as you’d expect. There's plenty of storage bins, including a cubby hole on top of the dash which would house the satnav, should one be fitted (it wasn't in our test car). Rear seat passengers benefit from lots of legroom. Sadly boot space isn't grand as its 455 litre capacity would suggest, as it's hampered by a small bootlid - exactly why UK buyers prefer hatchbacks than saloon cars.
7/10

4. Ride and Handling

The MPS offers a staggering amount of grip, thanks to a complex four wheel drive system. Power is split equally between the front and rear wheels when moving off, and transfers fully to the front under normal driving conditions. When the driver decides to progress a bit quicker, power is sent to the rear. The trouble is, it moves the power to the front wheels, meaning the MPS has a tendency to plough on straight when you really need the wheels to turn the car. It would be far better for it to stay in four wheel drive through the corner. That said, most drivers will find themselves running out of grip long before the car does. The ride is very good, an achievement given the combination of stiff sports suspension and low profile wheels.
8/10

5. Performance

Staggering. The MPS is capable of keeping up with most performance saloons and hot hatches. The big 2.3-litre engine offers 260bhp and 280lb/ft of pulling power - more than the Mondeo ST220 and Subaru Impreza WRX. The engine has plenty of grunt to make it tractable in slow city traffic, fast B-road driving or high speed motorway cruising. The 0-60mph dash is dispatched in 6.6 seconds, while top speed is 149mph.
9/10

6. Running Costs

Fuel consumption is likely to be the biggest enemy in MPS ownership. We clocked an average of 23mpg, which was slightly down on the 27.7mpg Mazda quote. However, we should mention that breaking the addiction to the surge of acceleration would drastically improve matters. Group 16 insurance isn't too bad for a hot saloon car, but a heavy wedge of CO2 emissions make it a bad choice for a company car. Residual values are poor, particularly in the first year of ownership, where it will shed up to £13,000.
6/10

7. Reliability

Mazda comes second only to Skoda for low repair costs and frequency of breakdowns in the Reliability Index, and evidence suggests the 6 should be no different. Used examples of the MPS may well be thrashed, so the buyers should tread carefully.
8/10

8. Safety

The Mazda 6 scores well in the EuroNCAP crash test programme, with four stars for occupant and child protection. The MPS' chassis has been heavily modified to cope with the extra power, so stiffness has been increased by 50 per cent. The MPS features driver, passenger, side and curtain airbags and larger brake discs than other models. Skid-preventing stability control and traction control also comes as standard.
8/10

9. Equipment

MPS buyers will find pretty much everything as standard on the car. Leather seats, bright xenon headlights, cruise control and a high-end Bose stereo all come as standard. The only notable omission was satellite navigation.
8/10

10. X-Factor

The Mazda 6 MPS isn't for everyone; many performance drivers want their cars to wear their pretensions on their sleeves. But for those that don’t the MPS is perfect. It can do 80 per cent of what the hardcore Subaru Impreza can do, with none of the drawbacks.
9/10

Rivals:
You might want to consider:

Subaru Impreza
Volkswagen Passat
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution

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