Just yesterday I laid my hands on a swedish magazine, "Teknikens värld" that has made a thourogh test and comparison of these sport models:
* Audi A4 (Avant)
* Volvo V40
* Mazda6 sport wagon
It was a very good test, where they drove the vehicles for several days. Guess what?
Mazda6 wins - big time. With five stars they became the class leader according to the magazine.
Great value, handling, quality feel, load space, reliability, fuel economy etc all adds up to a big Mazda6 victory.
The only criticism is (no surprise here, folks) that they feel to much road noise gets inside the car. They also tested the 1.8 for comparison and it has less sound, but still too much they say.
Anyway, I still take the sound issue lightly, the Mazda6 is much quiter than my 626 from -99, and I don't consider that very unpleasant to drive either...

* Audi A4 (Avant)
* Volvo V40
* Mazda6 sport wagon
It was a very good test, where they drove the vehicles for several days. Guess what?
Mazda6 wins - big time. With five stars they became the class leader according to the magazine.
Great value, handling, quality feel, load space, reliability, fuel economy etc all adds up to a big Mazda6 victory.
The only criticism is (no surprise here, folks) that they feel to much road noise gets inside the car. They also tested the 1.8 for comparison and it has less sound, but still too much they say.
Anyway, I still take the sound issue lightly, the Mazda6 is much quiter than my 626 from -99, and I don't consider that very unpleasant to drive either...