darylblake:

 

Thanks for the tips. Mines a 2014 wagon. 2.2L Diesel Turbo.

 

Its a very nice car, but yeh I have had a few problems with the DPF. You dont happen to know how hot it needs to be to get the burnoff cycle to work? 

I took this on the open road, driving 100kms all round the place but the RPM usually sits at about 2000 maybe 2200. When i took it into Mazda they said they rev it up to 2500 for about 10-15 minutes to do the burn off. Unless i stick it in drive manual 4th gear, there is no way I am gonna be doing 2500 RPM without going at least 120kms.

 

Yeah, mine's the same just a '13 not '14. The expensive tyres come with the 19" wheels on the Limited version of the 6, whereas I think the tyres on the smaller wheels on the GL and GLX (I think that's what they're called) are more conventional in availability and price.

The DPF is the only thing I truly hate about the car. I don't know the temperature it needs to get to for the DPF burn-off, but I understand the car needs to be travelling at 80km/hr or higher for it to complete properly. In reality, my experience is that'll never complete properly at city speeds, so it's lucky I live in a small city where it doesn't take long to get to a rural area. So whenever I notice the iStop light's gone out (and after confirming the fuel consumption is higher) I take the car out for a spin on the open road. It can vary quite significantly as to how quickly it completes, but usually it's between 10 and 15 minutes driving (same as you mention above). I've never bothered forcing the engine to rev higher by setting the gear manually, and it's always worked for me, but it's a huge hassle.

Again, this is something that reviews and dealers should be up-front about. When I talked to Mazda soon after purchasing my car, worrying about why the car's fuel consumption would go through the roof at various times, they didn't even know the reason for it!