Hey everybody,

This is just a quick note to say that I finally saw a few new Mazda 6’s in person at my local Mazda dealership on Sunday. And I must say that the 6 is one IMPRESSIVE automobile to see in person. The pictures and images on the internet and magazines do no justice to this car. It is just striking to see it in front of you, and it has a sporty, European flavor to it. I was also very impress at how sharp the interiors are.

Well, as I was checking out the car, a sales woman approached me (which surprised me, being that they don’t open on Sundays) and we started chatting about the 6 and eventually the RX-8. She mentioned that everything is on scheduled for a June release, for “about” 26 to 27K.

Come oonnnn June
MB

 

If a saleswoman approached you on a Sunday at a car dealership that was supposed to be closed, then do you know what she did was illegal? Just some FYI.

 

I hope she was either misinformed or she was talking about just her dealership.

 

Must say I agree. I saw the 6 at the NYIAS and was impressed. However, when you see the car next to other cars you really appreciate the overall superiority of the design, both in and out. The driving position is amazingly comfortable for me and I'm 6' tall. Has more legroom than my Milennia. The seats hold you in place comfortably and the steering wheel and shifter fall right to hand. This really is an impressive car.

 

Where the hell is the torque in the V6?192ft-lbs?
20ft-lbs less than the Accord!

This thing has about as much as my mom's intrepid with a 2.7 liter V6 190ft-lbs@4850

 

Once again.. sigh.. It's not the absolute torque number that is important.. It's the shape of the torque curve. An engine that produces 90% of torque peak from 2K rpm to 7K rpm is better than an engine that makes 90% from 3K to 4K rpm while having a 7K rpm redline..

 

The specs on the Intrepid's engine are 90% of peak torque from 2400 to 6100. The Mazda 6's was 2200-5600 if I'm not mistaken. (I thought that the MPV's was 1800-5500 of 200 peak ft-lbs) Anyway the stall speed is 3000 rpms on the Intrepid 4 speed auto.

I was all set for around 210 ft-lbs and the JATCO transmission, but only 192 ft-lbs and it has variable valve timing, and only 217 hp. What gives?

Maybe when Ford implements the new 3.5 from the Freestyle and '500' the Mazda 6 will also get it too. Then those Altimas will get a taste of their own medicine, but by then the Altima will have the CVT from the Murano, damn! just can't win.

 

Mazda lists the curb weight of the Mazda6 as 3243 lbs (fed spec 3311) and Honda lists the v6 Accord at 3360 lbs. that should make a difference.

 

I took a test drive of the 6s (v6 and a 5 speed) with the sport package.

I found it to be quick and responsive. The gearing is fairly close, sot this allows you to stay in the power band easily. Published reports form Car & Driver and other mags will show it to be a few ticks slower than the Accor and Altima.

The brakes are excellent, steering is very good, and the interior is up to the best standards amongst it's competitors. C&D named it to the 10 best List for 2003 for good reason.

 

Just picked my 6 up yesterday. Its the V6 with the 5 speed automatic (you can't find a sport package without all the extras yet so I had to do without the 17s). Its a really nice car so far. If it wasn't for the dealer putting 300 miles on it (driving it here instead of picking it up from the other dealer) I would have been pretty happy. They also put pin stripes (which I didn't ask for) on and didn't clean it very well before delivery. But I still like it. I can't wait to buy a 8 in about 2yrs. I'm hoping they will have a mazdaspeed edition by then.

 

Mazda might have tuned it more for high RPM performance since it is a sport sedan. The MPV with an auto tranny will be tuned for better lower end torque.

Also, while 220hp is nothing to sneeze at (heck just 2 years ago 200hp was considered pretty high in the sedan class), I have heard that Mazda has a test mule running around that is pumping out about 250hp. I don't know if they bored and stroked the motor out and bumped the displacement, or if they've done even more to the existing 3.0L size. They said they want to have something ready should they ever really NEED that kind of hp. Obviously right now they don't, and I can't imagine anyone would ever feel they need 250hp in a front drive family sedan, as I already think the hp wars are getting WAY outta hand. I guess if Nissan and Honda are ever crazy enough to bump hp another 20hp, Mazda will shove that thing in.

Jeez the V8 RWD 5 series only makes 40 more hp than the Honda and Nissan. The 3 series makes 15 FEWER hp and I don't hear anyone complain about that, yet for some reason people think the 220hp in the 6 isn't good enough? Its lost on me.....

Anyway, I just saw the 6 for about 5 mins. i don't know if anyone here lives in san Francisco, but all the dealers there SUCK. I've taken in my 626 for parts a few times, and they're almost always dicks. This is 4 separate dealerships where I've been treated this way. I tell them I'm just stopping in, they ask me when I'm thinking of getting another car, I tell them at least 6 months, I just wanted to see the 6, I ask for a brochure and a card, they just give me the brochure without a card and tell me to come back when I'm ready to buy. ARGGGGGHHHH. Those guys can literally eat sh*t as far as I'm concerned. The kind of treatement of, we're not interested if you're not going to pay out today angers me and I'm a Mazda fan. They treat others that way once, and they've lost a customer for life. It isn't hard to help people out a bit, show them the car, and treat them nice, and they will come back and look at your car.

IMHO, Mazda's biggest problem in the future, now that they have great cars again, is their dealer service. If they don't fix some of these low-life dealerships, they will lose many customers. Just treating a customer great whenever they're in the dealer, even if they're just browsing makes it more likely you'll actually sell them a car now, or in the future, and also increases the likelihood they'll come back again to buy another Mazda when it comes time to upgrade again. Its so simple, I can't believe it isn't done already.

For a lot of people it isn't the car that they're buying, it is the experience they get from the dealership. If Mazda doesn't fix that, they're gonna be in big trouble.

 

Let me chime in and say I saw a 6s today at a dealership when I was browsing. Damn fine looking car. We saw a bottom-end 6i in Atlanta last weekend and weren't overly impressed, but the loaded 6s was really good looking. The interior looked really nice, too. All three on the lot were fully loaded 6s models, two with automatic transmission, one with the manual. Colors were blue, grey, and black.

I'm plannning on going later this week and driving the manual; that's my reward to myself for once I get the last dregs of my dissertation written (5 pages and some edits to go...) For the record, I defend a week from tomorrow (monday), so life is pretty crazy right now. I keep meaning to update the FAQ, since we have a slew of new information that's come out in the last month or so, but I haven't had time.

-Patrick