One manufacturer which tends to get overlooked in the charge for a new car is Mazda, which is a bit of a pity because their vehicles are an excellent buy.

I’d go further and say one of the best cars that I’ve ever driven was a Mazda and that was the Mazda6, - the sporty MPS model. It could make your hair stand on end.

And then when I had just a regular model I drove from Kyle of Lochalsh in Scotland to Oxford in one hit, a distance of some 550 miles, and the car was magnificent.

The Mazda6 is the company flagship and at the coming Geneva Motor Show the company will be showing off their new Tourer model for its world debut while Europe will be getting its first look at the new Mazda6. So exciting times ahead.

The latest update of the Mazda6 is the most comprehensive yet, offering enhanced quality in almost every detail of Mazda's flagship model. It features a more mature, elegant and refined exterior design, extensive interior revisions including completely new seating, boosted SKYACTIV powertrain performance, enhanced driving dynamics, greater aerodynamic efficiency, reduced NVH and an even broader range of i-ACTIVSENSE safety features, such as a 360° view monitor and an intelligent speed assist system.

Exclusive to Mazda, SKYACTIV-X is a ground breaking engine which introduces a new combustion method called Spark Controlled Compression Ignition. Set to become the world's first commercial petrol engine to use compression ignition, SKYACTIV-X combines the benefits of a spark-ignition petrol engine - expansiveness at high rpm and cleaner emissions - with those of a compression diesel engine - superior initial response and fuel economy - to produce a crossover engine that delivers the best of both worlds.

Mazda dealers across the UK have increased their average profitability by 38 per cent year-on-year and Mazda has 129 dealers in the UK and 16 repairing garages.

This comes at a time of reducing retail sales across the whole UK car market and is due to the hard work and dedication across their network by the Mazda team.

But their products are totally reliable and the Mazda6 is one example.

The current model is the third generation and costs between 21,000 to 29,000.

It is a good looking car now so just what we shall see in Geneva remains to be seen. There is already a good package with bags of good kit and an engine which has been quite brilliant for some years.

That’s the 2.2 litre diesel engine which you can have either with the 148bhp or 173bhp variation and which are nice and speedy. If you want to keep away from diesel then there’s a two litre petrol with either the 143bhp or 163bhp version.

With either petrol or diesel there is a pretty good six-speed manual gearbox and there’s the option of a six-speed auto on all but the 163bhp petrol version.

It is easy to drive at town or country with a light steering and particularly good on the motorways. That I can remember particularly from the Scotland to Oxford trip.

Because there’s excellent seating which gives you both height and lumbar adjustment it makes driving so much easier plus and there is excellent all round visibility, good large mirrors.

There is a good infotainment system with a seven inch touchscreen and rotary controller and shortcut buttons located by the gearlever. Most functions are easy to understand and everything except the SE trim gets sat-nav as standard.

Leg room and head room is good for three largish passengers and there is bags of storage bins through the car and the boot is good at almost 500 litres. The 60/40 split folding rear seats are easy to operate.

There is no doubt the new Mazda6 will be even better and I look forward to driving it later this year. I have yet to be disappointed by any car that Mazda have produced.