The Mazda 6 (called the Atenza in Japan) has scored the 5-star maximum rating in the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) 2009 combined safety performance test. The 2009 performance test combines scores achieved in 4 areas – Adult Occupant Protection, Child Protection, Pedestrian Protection and Safety Assist and is more stringent compared to the tests of the previous years.
“Mazda6’s maximum safety rating from Euro NCAP is a reflection of the progress Mazda has made in harmonizing driving pleasure with safety and environmental performance under our Sustainable Zoom-Zoom plan. Going forward, we will strive to fulfill our corporate social responsibilities by further advancing Mazda’s eco-friendly and safety technologies,” said Seita Kanai, Mazda senior anaging executive officer in charge of R&D and Program Management.
Some other Mazda vehicles have also gone through Euro NCAP testing albeit the old version of the crash test framework. The Mazda 5 and Mazda 2 were tested in 2005 and 2007 respectively and both scored 5-stars for Adult Occupant Protection rating.
After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history. An avid electronic gadget aficionado as well as big-time coffee lover, he's also the executive producer of the Driven motoring TV programme.
Bravo! proud for being part of zoom zoom family….
Zoom zoom…
Well DONE!!!…
Japanese cars have come a long way. Cheers.
Wow, good job Mazda!!
Most underrated brand
Grill = Vios
Body = Persona
Front = Yaris
–just my impression
Tested model Mazda 6 2.0 petrol Exclusive/Active/TS, RHD
Body type 5 door hatchback
Year of publication 2009
Kerb weight 1424kg
VIN from which rating applies JMZGH14F601153165
Seat tested Standard, cloth trim
Class LARGE FAMILY
I read somewhere in Autocar ASEAN that the new Accord only scored only 4 stars.
Ini lagi cun dari itu Accord /Camry….Mazda 6 -1st choice Jap large sedan , bravo!
really looks awesome , so much more freahs than camry,accord….i luv it…5 star is jus a bonus !
Unfortunately, unless the car you get comes with side and curtall airbags and all other "optional" safety features, this 5 star thingy is meaningless.
Of coz Mazda will sream 5 star in their advertisement but the car use in test is not the same as the one we'll get…
in the flesh, this car is brilliant. the white color is stunning. yes jap cars hav come a long way!
[quote comment="211718"]Most underrated brand[/quote]
you are spot on.. its too bad malaysians dont give this brand another chance.. i remember in the 80's, mazda's were very popular then.
Mazda6 outbeats Camry n Accord in many countries in term of choice for large family sedan..
The awards from those countries proof well…
Bolehland drivers always look at resell value…
I drove the very 1st generation of Mazda6, until now still feel great about it.
But again, Mazda6 are on different market.. sporting family market..hehe
BanyakMasukWorkshop;
actually its not that really IMO…i think many msians like supposedly "underated" brands ie ford, alfa, mazda..its just that their marketing stratergies are abit of a setback..
example , these cars are usually fully imported and therefore will be a bit more expensive than other choices…plus the dealership only offers limited service ie, no SSS servise for user convenience…just to name a few..
i think it all comes down to the (worth it) factor for a majority of us when it comes to buying cars.
ive been mazda fan for loooong time…hehe
[quote comment="211772"]
example , these cars are usually fully imported and therefore will be a bit more expensive than other choices…plus the dealership only offers limited service ie, no SSS servise for user convenience…just to name a few..
[/quote]
Well the Ford Focus is now cheaper than its Japanese rivals with higher specifications. Let's see if it picks up.
[quote comment="211772"]BanyakMasukWorkshop;
actually its not that really IMO…i think many msians like supposedly "underated" brands ie ford, alfa, mazda..its just that their marketing stratergies are abit of a setback..
[/quote]
another sad fact is, because they dont sell many cars, they also dont have money to come up with a good strategy. they also dont have very good PR teams…etc. its almost the chicken and egg thing.. if you dont spend money, its gonna be hard to sell cars, but if you dont sell cars, you dont have enough money .. really tough la. i remember having a conversation with someone from mazda some time back, and they said their volume is so low, mazda japan doesnt even bother about them.
Most Mazda spot on road are either white or black.
And potential buyers who can afford this range of car are usually those in 30's, where class and identity are more desired. Hence it is no surprise it is not doing that well compared to Camry and Accord. These 2 models mentioned both have metallic bronze, silver etc as options. Solid white and black are making this car looking young, way too young. (of course the design itself is young)
If I were an executive class of worker and 25 – 30 likely this 6 will be my choice.
And no doubt, Mazda does have better build quality compared to other Japanese car makers.
Paul Tan;
yah..ive noticed that..the new "kinetic" styling is qiute exiting. it will certainly add some spice to the available choices were entitled to now.
congrats mazda
with the new crash testing criteria, i forsee alot of supposedly safe cars failing other areas other than adult occupant safety.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, Mazdas and Fords are probably the best bargain buy in Malaysia. They extremely moderately priced, excellent built quality, great products and head and shoulders above their competitors such as the Civic, Altis, Accord and Camry. Unfortunately 90% of malaysia motorist and banks (the real reason why these cars got poor resale values) are tools who think that brand name matters.
I'm getting real tired of hearing the sentences such as "Honda maaa", "where you see toyota break down?" "Nissan got save some more fuel you know". Hopefully the paultan.org readers are included in the 10% who think cars are judge on their merits on their brand perception.
Video for Mazda 6 Crash Test
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxfn0RXvxs8
i wonder wat 's the rating for our Potong car's?
dualie;
alright then..get a lawyer and sue.
[quote comment="211744"]Unfortunately, unless the car you get comes with side and curtall airbags and all other "optional" safety features, this 5 star thingy is meaningless.
Of coz Mazda will sream 5 star in their advertisement but the car use in test is not the same as the one we'll get…[/quote]
mazda 6 2.5 in malaysia have all the safety feature ,so crash it and get 5 star for sure .
accord score 5 star in us, camry also score 5 star ,but they are have 6 airbags in place
[quote comment="211897"]i wonder wat 's the rating for our Potong car's?[/quote]
proton's i believe are currently in the 3 star range. although most of their cars are not on the website (not all cars are listed, as ncap is an independent company, not govt.), they would have passed all tests already. If not, they would not be able to sell those cars in europe. So basically all protons sold in the UK today, will have passed all the required ratings for safety & emissions as required by law. waja, gen2, savvy, neo, persona.
crash testing cost lots of money. people like mazda, or even bmw do not get their 5 star ratings easily. you need to crash many cars, and then improve on the car from what you learn in order to get a better rating. i believe each test car with all the sensors cost a bomb, and you can only use it once. i think proton lacks the money and resources of the big boys to do enough testing to get their ratings up. Once they;ve met the requirements, they are forced to stop. i believe if they have the resources to crash a few more cars after that, they will be able to learn and improve the ratings further.
a good example is the E60. after the first few rounds of crashing cars, they failed to get a 5 star rating, and went back to the drawing board. they came back and crashed a few more cars, and finally managed to get the 5 stars they were targetting.
Mazda6 2.5L comes with 6 SRS airbags, so no issue to score 5 stars rating.
In M'sia, Mazda could not sell more than other rivals, because with limited AP, the total units imported from Japan also limited through out a year.
Zoom Zoom…
I really have to persuade my wife to buy this instead of upgrading to another MPV, suggestions, please.
As for ratings, we should do more to up the rating. Even idiot 5 year old chinese carmakers are able to crash their models, why not us? Yes, yes.. I'm just generalising and have no facts to back me up.
i don think the airbags help in term of crash test result, the score come from the body build structure + others that could affect the driver & passenger. airbeg (like abs) is only a safety features that required by most developed countris.
[quote comment="212181"]I really have to persuade my wife to buy this instead of upgrading to another MPV, suggestions, please.
As for ratings, we should do more to up the rating. Even idiot 5 year old chinese carmakers are able to crash their models, why not us? Yes, yes.. I'm just generalising and have no facts to back me up.[/quote]
fair comments, but as i explained in my posting.. yes, anyone can crash cars.. but to crash enough cars to get data to help you build a 5 star car, costs lots of money.
I donno why some of you want to WISH Proton would do this or improve that. The truth of the matter is that in any other realistic competitive business environment, Proton will not survive even their first year in Business. The only reason Proton had gone so far has been because of the un-compromising support from the govt and unfair trading with import vehicles.
In China, you have numerous car companies competing for the same business. That force them to improve and they improve very rapidly. That is why you will see Chinese automakers slowly making a mark on the international stage. You can critic their low quality cars now, but remember these are early days.
Well the Ford Focus is now cheaper than its Japanese rivals with higher specifications. Let's see if it picks up.[/quote]
That would depend on how much Ford is willing to spend on marketing, in Malaysia. How does one break such embedded mentality and emotion towards Japanese carmakers. By flaunting the facts? Hey, if you got it, flaunt it.
[quote comment="212275"]I donno why some of you want to WISH Proton would do this or improve that. The truth of the matter is that in any other realistic competitive business environment, Proton will not survive even their first year in Business. The only reason Proton had gone so far has been because of the un-compromising support from the govt and unfair trading with import vehicles.
.[/quote]
you are exactly right.
but since they are still around, and looks likely to be around for a long time yet.. why not hope for their improvement? and you cant deny, that in the last 3 years, there has been improvement. End of the day, its was probably a bad idea proton was started in the 1st place, but the reality is, it happened, and they are still around. to me, any solution should be suggested based on the facts of the day, not on what we wished happened.
would you prefer a proton thats getting worse, losing money, and being bailed out by the govt to stay afloat, hence burning more of our money as it goes into its grave slowly? or do you prefer a proton like the one today, still trying to improve, already making some money, continuing to build an export business and trying to be relevant to the rest of the world?
i would really hope to see your answer on this.
[quote comment="212313"][quote comment="212275"]I donno why some of you want to WISH Proton would do this or improve that. The truth of the matter is that in any other realistic competitive business environment, Proton will not survive even their first year in Business. The only reason Proton had gone so far has been because of the un-compromising support from the govt and unfair trading with import vehicles.
.[/quote]
you are exactly right.
but since they are still around, and looks likely to be around for a long time yet.. why not hope for their improvement?
and you cant deny, that in the last 3 years, there has been improvement.
End of the day, its was probably a bad idea proton was started in the 1st place, but the reality is, it happened, and they are still around. to me, any solution should be suggested based on the facts of the day, not on what we wished happened.
would you prefer a proton thats getting worse, losing money, and being bailed out by the govt to stay afloat, hence burning more of our money as it goes into its grave slowly?
or do you prefer a proton like the one today, still trying to improve, already making some money, continuing to build an export business and trying to be relevant to the rest of the world?
i would really hope to see your answer on this.[/quote]
That's why we're here, pushing for improvement. Some bash, others complain and a lot of us will give ideas, proactive advice and suggest alternatives, like GOGObama, we bocome Proton's free unpaid focus group.
Mazda too, reads their Jap blog/forum thingy to get direct access of customer behaviour, after all customer is king.
AFAIK, Only proton cars to have Ncap are Waja and above. Perdana fails the new NCAP test. Look at proton UK website. The cars shown there have NCAP rating of 2> I don't think there is a 4 NCAP for proton
Waja 3 stars,
Savvy 3 stars?
gen2 3stars?
Neo not sure if data is available.
Saga, don't think there is any yet.
mukhri88;
maybe u can bring your family for a test drive at, get a feel of the car
One of the best way to sell a car is to bring the desire in. Built up the x-factor value. For every famous brand car company, there is an impression that comes to your mind. German cars, expensive but very prestigious. Japanese, Reliable and good value for money in every way. Americans, Big in size, low price and a gas-guzzler. Proton? I remember Proton-saga, Pen-Dan-Sa-Gua in chinese. In general, Proton is very cheap and light, bad safety, and poor reliability.
Proton have Lotus. make use of it. don't just make a sports version of the car. Get a good driver and compete in WRC. Now Subaru and Suzuki is out, it is actually the best time to compete and win. even if you're last place in WRC, you still score points.
Again, blame it on our government for Mazda lack of response here…This car is sporty and appealing to younger ppl and of course some young at heart ppl..The problem is many Malaysian couldn't afford to buy it….When they finally able to buy a Mazda, they've already in their 30's and loosing the sparks for sporty car and also have to think of cars for family…..Just imagine how well Mazda cars will sell if the govt removed all those unreasonable taxes…Mazda 6 2.5 will cost around 100K!!
Not sure how has it been the Mazda 6 in our market, it still has the attraction. Unfortunately many nuts are still thinking there is no other than Accord and Camry (in the same price segment). You can still find guys arguing and exchanging fowl words between the Toyota & Honda die hard's.
And as for the Mazda not taking off well here, I dont blame the market or the government. OK, I blame the G for all the car prices, but Mazda dealer was not creative enough to push the car. They could not see the big picture of what their product can do. I bet if you give this dealership to Sime Darby, they would have set up 4S center in major towns by now. With propher marketing & promotions this car can outsell Camry & Accord within the year. Those who buy cars of this category are nut a bunch of @$$ also. We have already decided before we walk in the showroom. All we want it, how best can they package the car to let me sign the RCO.
I was an inch away before I pend down my signature on the Mazda 6 order. The Branch Manager just pissed me off with a inconsiderate, "get lost" attitude in my trade-in request. Plus they dont have any promotion, not even a key chain. The showroom is dead (Glenmarie).
But when I walked into UMW Toyota, there was life. They delighted me in every request. They took my car for more than what I had in mind. What can I say?
I agree with you Alistar, The sales person at the Glenmarie showroom is lack of knowledge about the car. I have to teach him, what the beast(Mazda6) could do !!! The Gov add pain , by increasing the higher purchase interest rate…All this crapy idea came just to save stupid Proton.I think Proton is nothing but a spoilt brat. They should look at Perodua , and learn how to improve without getting the people to spit at them all the time…
Could anyone tell where we can get good deal, for a Mazda6. I have a Honda City Type Z (Vtec) to trade in ?
Got my M6 2.5 silver color. Love the car & the sport rim