Test drove a new 6i VE auto last week - Mazda 6 Forums : Mazda 6 / Mazda Atenza Forum

CrazyOkie · 03-27-2007, 12:28 PM

I stopped by our local Mazda dealer last week and test drove a new Mazda6i, the value edition with the automatic transmission.

I'll start with the only con - I wanted to test the 5-door, they didn't have any out on the lot that I could drive. They did have one in the showroom, volcanic red, very pretty car. Sat in it, had the poor salesguy show me every little feature about the car including all the trunk features. Tons of room to haul all my soccer gear around but still got that nice midsize sedan seats and size. All in all, perfect for what I want.

Then we went out and found a 6 I could drive. It had just started to rain, very lightly, so the roads were slick. Perfect for a test drive because I wanted to see how the 6 would handle wet roads. We get a fair amount of rain and snow in Maryland so good handling in wet weather is essential.

The car was easy to steer and very responsive; the manual shift on the automatic worked very well. When we stopped driving back roads and got onto a major road, the car responded very well to me hitting the gas - no wheel spin and no complaints. Acceleration was good, perhaps not quite as good as the 3 I drove 2 weeks ago but still not bad. No, it's not going to win any drag races but I've always been more interested in handling than straight line speed. Probably why I like the drift and circuit events more than the drag events in the Need for Speed Underground series. All the basic equipment and functions are easy to reach, fairly easy to use although it will take some learning. I will have to get the satellite install though since the 6 doesn't have any aux in plugs and I've neither the time nor the interest to do that myself.

Bottom line? It's now definitely and firmly on top of my list of choices. I've still got a Fusion and an Aura to test, maybe a Mustang and maybe, maybe, a G6 and the Camry. I know the wife wants me to try a new Taurus but that's waaaay too old fogey for me right now.

MikeyD · 03-28-2007, 05:32 PM

to be honest try the v6 you can talk them down with price especially by the end of the month towards easter and get some incentives by factory to come with that. Its much much more responsive & i think you'll like it more.. if you dont then pontiac g6's are very nice cars, my buddy has one and i ride with him all the time.

somberlaine · 03-28-2007, 07:55 PM

I just bought a Mazda 6i VE manual and I too test drove both the Mazda 6 and the Fusion. Aside from the fact that the AWD V6 Fusion was much more expensive and has so many options that come standard on the Mazda6 (ABS, Curtain Airbags etc.), it has a cheap interior and totally unresponsive. The Fusion was also so heavy and you can hear the engine moaning and groaning. I haven't driven the four banger, I am sure it is a different story.

CrazyOkie · 03-29-2007, 01:27 PM

Test drove an Aura today, for the comparison. It was a base Aura XE. 6 cylinder with a 4-speed automatic.

First impression: From the outside, not a bad looking car but a good deal bigger and blander than the 6. On the inside, it comes across as extremely cheap, plastic interior. Faux-wood plastic panels? Extremely cheap plastic on the doors and dash. Yuch.

Driving: Not bad; corners okay, not as good as the 6 or the 3 but for a sedan, not bad. For a bigger car it steered pretty well really. Blind spots are minimal, better than the 6. Acceleration under normal driving conditions is fine; however, when I hit the gas to merge onto the interstate I damn near lost control of the car. I tried it again just to verify it wasn't me or the road conditions - nope, it was the car. That was not pleasant, and since I often drive down into DC you need to hit the gas sometimes to get on the highways.

Bottom line: definitely goes to the bottom of the pile. If the interior hadn't scare me away, the issues with acceleration sure did. Add that to GM's reputation when it comes to quality and reliability, this is definitely not a car I'll look at further.

Blue Mazda · 03-30-2007, 08:04 AM

Quote:

Test drove an Aura today, for the comparison. It was a base Aura XE. 6 cylinder with a 4-speed automatic.

First impression: From the outside, not a bad looking car but a good deal bigger and blander than the 6. On the inside, it comes across as extremely cheap, plastic interior. Faux-wood plastic panels? Extremely cheap plastic on the doors and dash. Yuch.

Driving: Not bad; corners okay, not as good as the 6 or the 3 but for a sedan, not bad. For a bigger car it steered pretty well really. Blind spots are minimal, better than the 6. Acceleration under normal driving conditions is fine; however, when I hit the gas to merge onto the interstate I damn near lost control of the car. I tried it again just to verify it wasn't me or the road conditions - nope, it was the car. That was not pleasant, and since I often drive down into DC you need to hit the gas sometimes to get on the highways.

Bottom line: definitely goes to the bottom of the pile. If the interior hadn't scare me away, the issues with acceleration sure did. Add that to GM's reputation when it comes to quality and reliability, this is definitely not a car I'll look at further.[/b]

Well hey, the Aura was the North American Car of the Year. That's got nothing to do with the fact that nothing else substantial came out this year, no, not at all........

CrazyOkie · 04-03-2007, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Well hey, the Aura was the North American Car of the Year. That's got nothing to do with the fact that nothing else substantial came out this year, no, not at all........

[/b]

Yeah, that really surprised me too. That's the best new car in North America this year? I see where it probably made it though, they were looking at the top of the line XR with the moroccan leather seats. I think the seats were so comfortable it made them swoon and not realize the cheap plastics or the poor transmission.

HawaiianEagle · 04-07-2007, 04:35 AM

Quote:

No, it's not going to win any drag races but I've always been more interested in handling than straight line speed.[/b]

man the 6i wins it's fair share inclduing soem surprises such as older stang 5.slows and definitely some beemer 325/318i's..

CrazyOkie · 04-13-2007, 10:19 AM

Nothing new this week, but one thing I've thought about since I drove the 3 and the 6

In both cases I drove the ATX. In manual shifting mode, the 3's ATX was considerably better than the 6's. On the minor side, the shifting pattern made sense - for the 3 you push up to shift up, pull down to shift down. The 6 is the reverse. Not a big deal but not intuitive either.

The bigger problem with the manual shift mode in the 6 is that unlike the 3's it won't hold at the redline - the car goes ahead and shifts for you. So it doesn't feel as sporty or as much like a manual, whereas with the 3 I felt like I was driving a manual that lost it's clutch pedal. It's a little thing, but little things can add up to a lot. Now I'm starting to lean more towards the 3 -

Mazda 3s (5-door)
Pros: ATX, acceleration, ESC
Cons: cargo space

Mazda 6i (5-door)
Pros: cargo space, color choices (I like the look of the Bright Island Blue a lot more than the Aurora Blue on the 3)
Cons: ATX, acceleration, no ESC

Ruled out: Mustang V6 (fuel economy), Camry (too bland & ubiquitous), Civic (too ugly), Accord (see Camry), Corolla (SEE Camry), Fusion (4 cyl is too weak, 6 lacks fuel economy), Aura (cheap plastic, fuel economy, torque steer)

And yes, I know the V6 will greatly increase the 6's acceleration - but fuel economy plays a factor here too and that's why I'm not considered the V6. This is going to require a lot of thought - this next purchase is intended to last me 10 years or more so I'm making sure I make the right choice.

03-28-2007, 05:32 PM	#2 (permalink)
MikeyD Rally Racer Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: WHO DEY BENGALS!!! (cinci) Posts: 1,549 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Groans: 0 Groaned at 0 Times in 0 Posts iTrader: 0 reviews	to be honest try the v6 you can talk them down with price especially by the end of the month towards easter and get some incentives by factory to come with that. Its much much more responsive & i think you'll like it more.. if you dont then pontiac g6's are very nice cars, my buddy has one and i ride with him all the time. __________________ '06 Lapis Blue 6spd ATX Sport

03-27-2007, 12:28 PM	#1 (permalink)
CrazyOkie Learners License Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 10 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Groans: 0 Groaned at 0 Times in 0 Posts iTrader: 0 reviews	I stopped by our local Mazda dealer last week and test drove a new Mazda6i, the value edition with the automatic transmission. I'll start with the only con - I wanted to test the 5-door, they didn't have any out on the lot that I could drive. They did have one in the showroom, volcanic red, very pretty car. Sat in it, had the poor salesguy show me every little feature about the car including all the trunk features. Tons of room to haul all my soccer gear around but still got that nice midsize sedan seats and size. All in all, perfect for what I want. Then we went out and found a 6 I could drive. It had just started to rain, very lightly, so the roads were slick. Perfect for a test drive because I wanted to see how the 6 would handle wet roads. We get a fair amount of rain and snow in Maryland so good handling in wet weather is essential. The car was easy to steer and very responsive; the manual shift on the automatic worked very well. When we stopped driving back roads and got onto a major road, the car responded very well to me hitting the gas - no wheel spin and no complaints. Acceleration was good, perhaps not quite as good as the 3 I drove 2 weeks ago but still not bad. No, it's not going to win any drag races but I've always been more interested in handling than straight line speed. Probably why I like the drift and circuit events more than the drag events in the Need for Speed Underground series. All the basic equipment and functions are easy to reach, fairly easy to use although it will take some learning. I will have to get the satellite install though since the 6 doesn't have any aux in plugs and I've neither the time nor the interest to do that myself. Bottom line? It's now definitely and firmly on top of my list of choices. I've still got a Fusion and an Aura to test, maybe a Mustang and maybe, maybe, a G6 and the Camry. I know the wife wants me to try a new Taurus but that's waaaay too old fogey for me right now.

Remove Advertisements Sponsored Links
Mazda 6 Club Advertisement

03-28-2007, 07:55 PM	#3 (permalink)
somberlaine Learners License Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Alexandria, VA Posts: 4 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Groans: 0 Groaned at 0 Times in 0 Posts iTrader: 0 reviews	I just bought a Mazda 6i VE manual and I too test drove both the Mazda 6 and the Fusion. Aside from the fact that the AWD V6 Fusion was much more expensive and has so many options that come standard on the Mazda6 (ABS, Curtain Airbags etc.), it has a cheap interior and totally unresponsive. The Fusion was also so heavy and you can hear the engine moaning and groaning. I haven't driven the four banger, I am sure it is a different story.

03-29-2007, 01:27 PM	#4 (permalink)
CrazyOkie Learners License Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 10 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Groans: 0 Groaned at 0 Times in 0 Posts iTrader: 0 reviews	Test drove an Aura today, for the comparison. It was a base Aura XE. 6 cylinder with a 4-speed automatic. First impression: From the outside, not a bad looking car but a good deal bigger and blander than the 6. On the inside, it comes across as extremely cheap, plastic interior. Faux-wood plastic panels? Extremely cheap plastic on the doors and dash. Yuch. Driving: Not bad; corners okay, not as good as the 6 or the 3 but for a sedan, not bad. For a bigger car it steered pretty well really. Blind spots are minimal, better than the 6. Acceleration under normal driving conditions is fine; however, when I hit the gas to merge onto the interstate I damn near lost control of the car. I tried it again just to verify it wasn't me or the road conditions - nope, it was the car. That was not pleasant, and since I often drive down into DC you need to hit the gas sometimes to get on the highways. Bottom line: definitely goes to the bottom of the pile. If the interior hadn't scare me away, the issues with acceleration sure did. Add that to GM's reputation when it comes to quality and reliability, this is definitely not a car I'll look at further.

04-13-2007, 10:19 AM	#8 (permalink)
CrazyOkie Learners License Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 10 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Groans: 0 Groaned at 0 Times in 0 Posts iTrader: 0 reviews	Nothing new this week, but one thing I've thought about since I drove the 3 and the 6 In both cases I drove the ATX. In manual shifting mode, the 3's ATX was considerably better than the 6's. On the minor side, the shifting pattern made sense - for the 3 you push up to shift up, pull down to shift down. The 6 is the reverse. Not a big deal but not intuitive either. The bigger problem with the manual shift mode in the 6 is that unlike the 3's it won't hold at the redline - the car goes ahead and shifts for you. So it doesn't feel as sporty or as much like a manual, whereas with the 3 I felt like I was driving a manual that lost it's clutch pedal. It's a little thing, but little things can add up to a lot. Now I'm starting to lean more towards the 3 - Mazda 3s (5-door) Pros: ATX, acceleration, ESC Cons: cargo space Mazda 6i (5-door) Pros: cargo space, color choices (I like the look of the Bright Island Blue a lot more than the Aurora Blue on the 3) Cons: ATX, acceleration, no ESC Ruled out: Mustang V6 (fuel economy), Camry (too bland & ubiquitous), Civic (too ugly), Accord (see Camry), Corolla (SEE Camry), Fusion (4 cyl is too weak, 6 lacks fuel economy), Aura (cheap plastic, fuel economy, torque steer) And yes, I know the V6 will greatly increase the 6's acceleration - but fuel economy plays a factor here too and that's why I'm not considered the V6. This is going to require a lot of thought - this next purchase is intended to last me 10 years or more so I'm making sure I make the right choice.