Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General Mazda 6 YUM....

RX7 > All

The new RX8 and 6 are hot though.

Toadster:

I picked up a blue Mazda 6s about a month ago. It's a great car! I go the 5spd auto because I live in a shore town and couldn't take the SVT's stick anymore. Traffic here is friggin nuts. Anyway, it's fully loaded, every option, and has the optional sport grille. The sticker was $27k and I ended up paying $22,800, which was $1500 below the dealer's invoice. I picked up the car on the last day of the month and they needed to push it out to hit their bonus, that's how I got such a sick deal on it. I really have no complaints on it. I got the Bose stereo with 6cd and it really isn't all that bad, especially if you listen to CD's. It's got heated seats and mirrors, and I can't wait to try them out this winter. It has A LOT of extra features and is a very well thought out car. Even the projector headlights are a very nice touch. I really felt like the SVT was too stripped down, more of a performance car than the Mazda. I'm at a point where I want to sacrifice a little performance and gain a lot of luxury. From the first time I saw the car on TV I knew it was my next car.

well, this post got me curious - so on my way back home from a mountain bike ride this evening i stopped by the mazda dealer to see if they had any MTX 6s's. didn't expect them to be open, but they were...and they had a couple of manual V6 ones on the lot, surprisingly enough. so, i took one for a test-drive. dark gray, pretty well loaded - sticker of $25xxx.

my thoughts? one of the closest things on the market today to a CSVT - mainly b/c one of the things that makes or breaks a car for me is how it sounds, and the duratec in the 6s sounds darn good. not much of an exhaust note, but i'm sure that can be remedied easily.

the clutch was a bit soft and spongy, and the shifter seemed a little less direct and had longer throws than i remember from my CSVT, though bear in mind it has been 2 years since i owned it. might be a good use for a mild short shift kit, but i'd have to live with it for a little while and see if i got used to it. for one thing, i have to remember that i'm now accustomed to a miata, which has an even better feel and shorter throws than my RSX-S - a paragon of manual-tranny precision itself.

highway acceleration and midrange power overall seemed pretty stout - maybe not quite as frenetic as i recall from my CSVT, but still impressive nonetheless. very comfortable cruising at 80+ mph, as well - something that my jeep doesn't do all that well (at least, not without reminding me that the gas mileage at those speeds is abysmal when driving a brick). the car also seems to have a lot more room in the back than the contour....both in the back seat and, to a lesser extent, in the trunk.

interior fit and finish seemed good, though i wonder how the long-term ownership experience will treat the silver-painted parts and the harder-plastic bits...probably fine, but that was just my initial reaction.

all in all, two thumbs up. my brief test-drive definitely impressed me....not that it's an M3 or anything, but for a low-to-mid-20k car, i really enjoyed it.

my .02...

The 6 has a advantage. This platform was designed to be the new X-type and the Volvo S60. (next gen versions) And so, instead of making a mediocre family car and a POS luxoboat, it's more of a fairly good luxocar and a great family car.

Seems interesting, but I don't trust Mazda after our last 626. As well, I much prefer the RX-8.

Mazda already makes a 5-door hatch and a wagon, for everywhere else, they said the wagon was here next year and the 5-door may be a possibility (They think they will get the Saab 9000 Effect - Existence of costly hatchback model will snuff out sales of both itself and sedan models)

<cough> Needs AWD <ahem>