My Mazda6 review

cardcheat · V-6

My Mazda6 review

thewizard16 · V-12

I'm pretty impressed with the Mazda6. It's the perfect near-midsize for the drivers who want sport, but aren't quite as concerned about luxury, etc. I'm a Camry person, as far as the midsize segment goes, but I'd definitely test drive a 6 if I were buying a new midsize.

cardcheat · V-6

Just curious, but what makes you a Camry man? I personally found the Camry to be a rather dull drive. Smooth and quite, but not exciting at all.

thewizard16 · V-12

quote:
Originally posted by: cardcheat
"Just curious, but what makes you a Camry man? I personally found the Camry to be a rather dull drive. Smooth and quite, but not exciting at all."

Well, if you didn't know, I currently have two of them, a 92 XLE V6, which despite more body roll than I'd like in cornering at speeds much higher than should be done (it's definitely not a sport suspension, but it makes up for it in smooth ride), isn't too bad. It's pretty quick, and the steering is well matched to the car. The 2000 LE is a 4cylinder and isn't an exciting drive at all, but it was a good deal, and it fit our needs the best at the time it was purchased. As far as the new one goes, I love the interior. My uncle bought an 04 XLE, and I drove it around for a few days while I was visiting. It was reasonably quick, much better than our 2000, and the interior was fantastic. The only thing the Camry really lacks, in my opinion, is the sporty handling, and the SE does much better at it than the LE or XLE does. It's not as sporty as say, the 6 or Altima, but most of my driving isn't sporty, so I'm willing to give up some sporty handling that would be used during 5% of my drive time, for a top-notch interior and quiet, smooth ride that I'll appreciate the 95% of my drive time. If I were shopping the 2000 Camry versus a Mazda 6, I'd get the 6, but I really like the new Camry, and it fits my needs better than the 6 would.

MX793 · V-6

My parents have a Mazda6s, pretty much loaded. It's a slushy, unfortunately, but it's still a nice driving car. I agree with comments that it drives like it's smaller than it is. Their previous 300M also drove like it was smaller than it was, but compared to the Chrysler the 6 feels really light on its feet. The V6 is smooth but isn't super powerful down low, it's more of a rev'er. But the power is plenty adequate for daily driving. The 5 speed auto is surprisingly smooth, especially the 3-4 upshift, which you can hardly feel. Wouldn't even know it had gone to 4th if the little digital display in the dash hadn't said so. Interior space, especially in the back, kind of surprised me as well. For the size of the car (it is smaller than a lot of the midsize players), there's more room in the back seat than I would have expected.

cardcheat · V-6

Fair enough, and no I didn't know you had two of them and I hope you didn't take that as an insult, I just wanted to hear your oppion. I currently have a 1998 Corolla that I bought a while back for similar reasons. It's a great second car that I just use for getting around day to day. Quite, smooth but very boring (more so then a Camry I'd bet, it's a 3speed auto

) but it serves it's purpose, and like you said said most of the time you do not need a sporty car, so can totally respect your oppion. But I think if you can have a sporty car that is almost as comfortable it's worth it because I am able to apperciate a fun to drive car on a daily basis. That's why I will be replacing my Corolla with my 3 when it arrives. Anyways I didn't really mean to compair the 6 to any other car I just ment to share my thoughts.

cardcheat · V-6

quote:

Originally posted by: MX793
"My parents have a Mazda6s, pretty much loaded. It's a slushy, unfortunately, but it's still a nice driving car. I agree with comments that it drives like it's smaller than it is. Their previous 300M also drove like it was smaller than it was, but compared to the Chrysler the 6 feels really light on its feet. The V6 is smooth but isn't super powerful down low, it's more of a rev'er. But the power is plenty adequate for daily driving. The 5 speed auto is surprisingly smooth, especially the 3-4 upshift, which you can hardly feel. Wouldn't even know it had gone to 4th if the little digital display in the dash hadn't said so. Interior space, especially in the back, kind of surprised me as well. For the size of the car (it is smaller than a lot of the midsize players), there's more room in the back seat than I would have expected."

I'm sure the V6 engine would certainly take care of a couple of my complaints, but that was out of my price range, so I never got the chance to test drive one.

thewizard16 · V-12

Oh, that's perfectly fine, no offense taken. I compared it to the 6 to show why I preffered the Camry. The 6 is better at sport (and the sporty styling), the Camry is better at luxury and overall ride refinement. They're both great cars, and I wouldn't be complaining if I were given either one of them. I personally love the Mazda 3, and I also like the (new) Corolla (I was never a big fan of the old ones, but I wasn't a fan of any compact during that time), but I honestly don't know which I'd buy if I were shopping the compact segment. If I were buying a normal model, I'd get the 3 for the added power, I think, but if I had some extra cash, I'd get the Corolla XRS (for the same reason).

thewizard16 · V-12

quote:
Originally posted by: cardcheat
""

The V6, especially the new 225hp one, is much more powerful feeling than the 4 cylinder models. The SE adds a sport suspension which helps a lot, but it's still not quite as sporty as the 6, in my opinion.

-- Edited by thewizard16 at 21:14, 2005-03-01

cardcheat · V-6

quote:

Originally posted by: thewizard16
"Oh, that's perfectly fine, no offense taken. I compared it to the 6 to show why I preffered the Camry. The 6 is better at sport (and the sporty styling), the Camry is better at luxury and overall ride refinement. They're both great cars, and I wouldn't be complaining if I were given either one of them. I personally love the Mazda 3, and I also like the (new) Corolla (I was never a big fan of the old ones, but I wasn't a fan of any compact during that time), but I honestly don't know which I'd buy if I were shopping the compact segment. If I were buying a normal model, I'd get the 3 for the added power, I think, but if I had some extra cash, I'd get the Corolla XRS (for the same reason). "

The Corolla XRS was on my list of cars I was considering before I ordered my 3. I decided against it because the 3 offers compairable accleration with much more useable mid-range power, along with a number of more features.

Fire It Up · Moderator

The 6 with the appearnce stuff looks godly. We were gonna get a 6s...with leather, sunroof, Bose, and Sport Package (but auto - my parents are too lazy to do otherwise) but the goddamed dealer would never have what we wanted. If it was a 6s with auto, there would be no sport or leather, or if it had sport package, leater, etc, it would be a 6i, etc etc. We ended up buying an AV6 Sedan.

cardcheat · V-6

quote:
Originally posted by: Fire It Up
"The 6 with the appearnce stuff looks godly. We were gonna get a 6s...with leather, sunroof, Bose, and Sport Package (but auto - my parents are too lazy to do otherwise) but the goddamed dealer would never have what we wanted. If it was a 6s with auto, there would be no sport or leather, or if it had sport package, leater, etc, it would be a 6i, etc etc. We ended up buying an AV6 Sedan. "

AV6?

Why didn't you just order the model you wanted? Thats what I had to do with my 3.

Fire It Up · Moderator

quote:
Originally posted by: cardcheat
" AV6? Why didn't you just order the model you wanted? Thats what I had to do with my 3."

Accord V6

You mean send an order to the factory?

Fire It Up · Moderator

Also, which model of the 3 do you have?

cardcheat · V-6

Not the factory, but the dealer shouldn't have a problem ordering one from another lot. I have a 3s GT sedan w/ GFX package ordered. In other words 2.3L engine and pretty well every option minus leather and nav.

-- Edited by cardcheat at 20:48, 2005-03-02

thewizard16 · V-12

quote:
Originally posted by: cardcheat
"The Corolla XRS was on my list of cars I was considering before I ordered my 3. I decided against it because the 3 offers compairable accleration with much more useable mid-range power, along with a number of more features."

I really like the look of the XRS, and I admit, I'd probably have a hard time deciding between that and a 3s. What were the feature issues though, out of curiousity?

Fire It Up · Moderator

quote:
Originally posted by: cardcheat
"Not the factory, but the dealer shouldn't have a problem ordering one from another lot. I have a 3s GT sedan w/ GFX ordered package order. In other words 2.3L engine and pretty well every option minus leather and nav. "

Oh, that's what they did. And they couldn't do it.

cardcheat · V-6

quote:
Originally posted by: thewizard16
" I really like the look of the XRS, and I admit, I'd probably have a hard time deciding between that and a 3s. What were the feature issues though, out of curiousity?"

I wouldn't really call it feature issues as such, but the 3 had alot of little bonuses. Such things as bigger wheels (17's vs 16's), rain sensing wipers, stereo controls on the wheel, and heated side mirrors.

Do you (or anyone) happen to know the performance specs for the XRS? I would imagine the two cars to be very close?

-- Edited by cardcheat at 20:49, 2005-03-02

thewizard16 · V-12

quote:
Originally posted by: cardcheat
"
I wouldn't really call it feature issues as such, but the 3 had alot of little bonuses. Such things as bigger wheels (17's vs 16's), rain sensing wipers, stereo controls on the wheel, and heated side mirrors.
Do you (or anyone) happen to know the performance specs for the XRS? I would imagine the two cars to be very close?-- Edited by cardcheat at 20:49, 2005-03-02"

The Corolla XRS's acceleration 0-60 is "Car & Driver got 7.1, and we suspect ordinary people will find 7.5-7.8 to be the ordinary range" (from Corollaland, in their review of it)
The Mazda3s is manufacturer estimated at 0-60 in 7 seconds, so it might be a hair quicker than the XRS, even with 10 less horsepower. But, that could be because the 3s has more torque and makes it's hp at 1000rpms less. I think they should have used a Camry engine in the Corolla (like they did in the tC) rather than a modified Celica engine. I read on a Mazda3 forum that the XRS has a higher top speed, but the 3s has quicker acceleration so (in their words) it was a trade off of one or the other. After looking at the specs, I think I'd probably get the 3s after all.

Toyota Corolla XRS (4-door sedan only):
Base MSRP: $17,455
Engine: 1.8 liter inline 4
Max HP: 170 @ 7600 rpm
Max Torque: 127 ft-lbs. @ 4400 rpm
Transmission: FWD 6-speed manual (only choice)

Mazda 3s (4-door):
Base MSRP: $16,405
Engine: 2.3 liter inline 4
Max HP: 160hp @ 6500 rpm
Max Torque: 150 ft-lbs. @ 4500 rpm
Transmission: FWD 5-speed manual (auto optional)

cardcheat · V-6

Most places I checked said about 7.5 for the 3s, I think 7 sounds a little to quick for 160hp. So I'd say the Corolla has a small advantange in accleration. I just looked on C/D and the 3 seems to have the advange when it comes to roadholding (.82g vs .87g) and 70-0 mph braking (176ft vs 169ft)