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Used test: Mazda 6 vs Skoda Superb: costs
Buy either of these smart and spacious executive cars at four years old and you'll save yourself a handsome sum, but which one makes the better buy? We have the answer...
Buying and owning
Costs, equipment, reliability, safety and security
There’s a healthy saving to be made on both of these cars bought at four years old; you’ll save around £15,000 on either of them. The Mazda 6 comes out the cheapest, though. It'll cost you around £10,000 against £12,000 for the Skoda Superb.
In fuel, the Superb proves slightly more expensive as well. Its official average is 50.0mpg, while the 6's is 52.5mpg. Both cars attract a flat rate fee of £165 per year in road tax – this is the same for all petrol and diesel cars registered after April 2017.
Being in insurance group 25, the 6 should cost you around £700 to insure. The Superb sits in group 19, meaning it comes in at around £580. Two fixed price services of the Superb is £456. The 6 will cost more, with Mazda's cheapest plan being £499 (although that is for three years).
The Superb is the better equipped of the two, with a few luxuries thrown into its modest used asking price. The 6 looks a little stingy in comparison but still gives you the basics, including climate and cruise control. If you like your posterior to be toasted on winter mornings, you’ll be pleased to hear that heated front seats are standard (from new) on the Superb. As for the 6, these feature only on the catchily named SE-L Lux Nav+ trim and above.
In our most recent What Car? Reliability Survey the Superb finished in 16th place out of 26 cars in the executive car class, while the 6 ranked 10th. Skoda as a brand finished in 13th place out of 32 manufacturers, but Mazda still performed better, ranking eighth.
The 6 and Superb scored five stars in the Euro NCAP safety test, albeit under quite old, less stringent criteria, with the latter doing a little better. And while the 6 gets automatic emergency braking, blindspot monitoring, lane-keeping assistance and rear cross-traffic alert (which warns you of approaching cars when you’re reversing into a road), lane-keeping assistance was an option on the Superb when new, and rear cross-traffic alert wasn’t available.
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