Brand new Atenza Reflex Blue 2.2L Diesel - Pics and First Impressions

[MazdaVirgin]

The Australian top of the line Mazda 6 is known as the Atenza. It has all possible options like Blind Spot Monitoring , Forward Obstruction Warning, High Beam Control, Lane Departure Warning, Rear Cross Traffic Alert, Smart Brake Support and Smart city Break Support (this feature is an additional feature for all new Mazda 6's build date of 2014). All Australian Mazda 6 models have semi-automatic gearboxes.

Sort of like a USA GT automatic model with all the options.

The last picture is closest to the true colour of Reflex Blue. Depending on the camera and lighting conditions, the car tends to look like it is gray.

First impressions
DISLIKE - after pairing my HTC phone it loads the phone contact list...problem is it reloads this every time I enter and start the car. I must admit I have to do some more reading of the manuals.
LIKE! - Headlamps (Bi-Xenon) with Adaptive Front-lighting System where the headlights turns with the corner giving better visibility as you make the turn. the bi-xenon are nice and white (good for my old eyes)
LIKE! - diesel grunt. She takes off like a rocket
AMBIVALENT - i-stop. While it's good for fuel efficiency, it makes take off at the lights (after complete stop) a little slow. If I was going to drag someone I will have to disable i-stop.

Will be ordering the LED upgrade kit for all the interior lights soon.

 

[njbooth954]

best color option! I just picked up my 2014 Blue and love it. Kinda wish diesel engine was available here in the states. Congrats!

 

[MazdaVirgin]

Day 2
A bit of highway travel today - avg fuel consumption now about 7.0L / 100km (33mpg US) but still on the 1st tank of fuel.
Tried out the radar cruise control - works remarkably well. When it detects a car in the zone in front, the dashboard shows the Radar Cruise Control screen (same one when you turn on cruise control) and proceeds to slow down. If you change lane, the car speeds up to the preset speed. All is as it should be.

Taking a 3 hour highway drive tomorrow so will see how economical it can be.

 

[MazdaVirgin]

Update:
So 1st tank of fuel is gone and got over 900km out of it - that's a mix of 6 hours of highway driving and about 1 hour of heavy city driving and 3 hours of light city driving. Avg fuel consumption for this 1st tank is 6.6l/100km (35MPG). Best on highway was 4.4l/100km (53MPG) so it is conceivable to get 1300kms (800miles) from a tank of fuel on a highway only drive

Did not use the ipod to play music but Pandora on the phone (HTC One) via head unit's bluetooth connection was excellent.
The slight annoyance was the time for the head unit to download the phone's contact (about 3-4 minutes) but after that, it was good.

Tomtom navigation was OK on highway but got confused (slow response on its own location) when in the city with many tall buildings. Resorted to Google Maps on the phone instead.

Have ordered a set of LEDs to pimp out the inside lights. I don't need to change the headlights as my model has bi-xenon headlights.....lovin' the angel eyes!

Feel free to ask me questions..happy to answer them if I can.

Thanks to all the contributors on this forum...a very helpful bunch of people indeed.

Zoom Zoommmmm

 

[MazdaVirgin]

Update - More pics (LEDs)

Update: changed interior lights to LEDs. Bought from iJDMtoy.com.
1. Looking from front of car with LEDs on
2. Courtesy door light (bottom of door)
3. Front and Passenger reading lights and vanity light




Still to do trunk/boot light.

Re: infotainment system: have read complaints about USB and iPod music restarting from 1st song every time you start the car - true enough. CDs with MP3s works fine - i.e. recommences where you left off when killing the engine. Pandora via phone bluetooth works fine also.

Loving adaptive front light system (that 15% headlight movement makes a lot of difference around corners at night). High Beam Control/Smart City Braking (low speed collision avoidance) - have not tried them out in earnest as yet.

Planned: Ricochet Surface Protection (clear film just on front of hood/bonnet and front skirting to stop stone chips); window tinting.

 

[MazdaVirgin]

Update: Can not do boot light as the LEDs I bought did not fit (the T10s too large, need a T5).
But I did manage to also change the rear number plate lights from standard bulbs to LEDs using the 5SMT T10 LEDs. The number plate lights were a bit tricky - took the inside lining off the lid of the boot (gently does it with the plastic keepers) then pop the whole light fittings out from the inside. Getting the plastic cover off the light fitting require a small blade screwdriver and a bit of force but now it's done and very happy with the total look.