Bani new car shopping: Mazdaspeed 6

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bani
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Bani new car shopping: Mazdaspeed 6

Post by bani »

I'm shopping for a new car. To help sort out the decision I'm putting down my test drive notes 'on paper'.

2006 Mazdaspeed 6

Trim tested

Grand Touring with Moonroof and Navi

First impressions:

Conventional sedan, on light steroids.

Interior

Pseudo-luxury. Not quite up to Audi or Lexus quality, but close. Only a few interior trim items feel anywhere close to "cheap", but nothing particularly screams "quality" either.

The overall interior is depressingly black, with red LED lighting and a bit of silver here and there. Sort of like an interior designed for Darth Vader.

Instrument cluster is clear and well lit, readable but continuing on the depressingly black and red theme from the dark side of the force.

Front seating is very comfortable, with sporty side bolstered seats and leather interior continuing the overall evil empire appearance. Full 8-way power seating, full tilt and telescoping steering wheel give the driver excellent adjustability and driving position.

Rear seating is almost as comfortable as one could ask for in this class of sedan, with very nice seats, and generous headroom and legroom. Even 6 footers shouldn't feel cramped in the rear seats.

The car navi, as with most OEM car navis, is utterly worthless. The large display is easy to read and bright even in direct sunlight, but the display screams for a touchscreen interface. Instead, you're forced to use a stupid clumsy joystick which doubles as a pushbutton. Which means when you push down on the joystick to select an option, about 3/4 of the time you end up pressing it at an angle meaning you end up selecting something you didn't intend. Not to mention you need to navigate 5 or 6 levels of menus to operate the simplest functions. Trying to spell out destinations using the on-screen keyboard and the joystick is guaranteed to land one in an insane asylum. As a $2000 option it's a complete waste of money. Get a garmin instead.

Exterior

A conventional, sedate sedan design, with creases on the hood suggesting something unconventional might be hiding underneath (which there is, a 274hp engine with turbo and top mounted intercooler). Sorta like as if a honda civic took a small dose of anabolic steroids and got just a few bulges. Or as if strongbad applied his ab-abber 2000 design scheme to a car. Nothing quite as crass as a Subaru hood scoop though.

I'm not a big fan of the bulging tail lights.

And the mazdaspeed6 has one of the most ridiculous things I think i've ever seen a manufacturer attempt, fake exhaust tips!

Road Test

This car is trying too hard, trying to be something it's not.

At almost 3600lbs, this is a heavy car. The generous 274hp turbocharged 2.3L engine is an impressive device with lots of low-end torque and wide power band, although the power putters out around 5500rpms. Thus you find yourself rowing through the gears well before redline to keep the mazdaspeed6 accelerating.

And accelerate it does. This is a fun car for straightline acceleration, easily pressing you back into the seat as it zips up onramps and darts around traffic. It makes a nice noise too.

The ride is smooth and quiet, with road noise nicely muted and almost no wind rush. Thankfully the engine is not muted, and you can easily gauge your speed by listening to the engine.

But that's about where the fun ends. While the steering wheel gives excellent feedback, this car is just a colossal bundle of understeer. Even Mazda's AWD can't save this car from hopelessly wallowing around in the bends. It's just too big and heavy for it's own good.

And about that AWD. Yet again it's another imitation AWD with blinking lights and toy horn, batteries not included. Might as well forget about it, just drive this car like it's FWD -- because that's basically what it is.

The clutch is annoying too. The pedal has a long travel, but the engagement point is near the top. And while not quite as bad as the Audi A3, it's an annoyingly short engagement point which makes for jerky starts. Once the car is moving it's more or less OK, but this is definitely not a car for stop-n-go traffic, at least if you want to remain sane. It's probably the second most annoying clutch ever, only outdone by Audi's horrible on-off clutch in the A3.

The car has a rather large turning circle, which makes parking tedious. Combined with the annoying clutch, can make for 'exciting' parking experiences.

In the end, mazda's matchup of an overpowered engine with a car that's too big and heavy for its own good, tires (not to mention the fake AWD) which never quite seem up to the task of keeping the car under control, and a crappy clutch which make the car difficult to control, add up to endless frustration. The car feels almost, but not quite "there". It has way too many rough edges and the overall product feels rushed to market. It's a nice car but the glaring faults just ruin the overall experience.

Conclusion

This is a car with a serious identity crisis. It can't decide if it's a luxury car or a sports car.

In the end it really is neither. It doesn't deliver on a true sporty experience nor does it deliver on a luxury ride.

I can see why it's rotting on dealer lots, even with mazda's generous rebates.

Lose about 500lbs, ditch the fake AWD, put this engine in a smaller, lighter car, and fix the remaining rough edges and mazda would really have something.

But this sure isn't it.
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bani
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Post by bani »

you euros know this car as a 'mazda6 mps' :prof:
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