I can’t wait for the Subie STI version. Should be a good match for a Cayman
Just got a 2015 Mazda 6 after driving an Altima since 2008. LOVING the handling and looks of this thing. Though it’s not quite as awesome as the version Sparky customized for me way back when.
The new 6 series looks nice. The handling on my RX-8 sold me on the model after the first test drive as well. Mazda does make nimble and affordable cars that are still useful as daily drivers.
In one year I went from an EVO 8 to a 4 door Wrangler unlimited I started customizing and now a Ram 1500 Hemi. I am totally amazed at the ride of the new trucks. Very smooth, smoother than my wife’s new Grand Cherokee. Smooth, comfy, tons of room inside with the crew cab, able to punch it if need be with the 395 HP hemi. I’ve never been a truck guy but wow, it is so comfortable to drive, I can’t not imagine having one…or any money left over after paying for gas!
Wait, you went from an EVO to a truck and are . . . happy? That doesn’t compute unless you routinely haul things that won’t fit in an EVO!
Trucks are awesome highway vehicles! Thanks to the increasingly deplorable state of our highways as well. Not only do they generally have soft suspension but they’re heavy and much higher off the ground, minimizing road noise.
Trucks are not awesome highway vehicles. I seriously doubt the truck is going to compete with a decent upscale sedan on road noise and is most certainly not going to have an equally sophisticated suspension. Plus of course one is paying for using an absurd amount of extra fuel to use a truck as a highway cruiser.
I’m not knocking trucks, they certainly have their place, but competing with passenger sedans as comfortable highway cruisers is not their forte.
I didn’t say trucks were smart, economical, or responsible choice, or that they were all equal or even equally comfortable. But i do live in Texas, and have driven in a lot of trucks, and a high end truck really is quieter than any sedan i’ve driven in, including Mercedes C class. But of course i haven’t driven in everything possible. Most 4x2 trucks today are tuned for the highways though they don’t advertise this fact. To feel and hear a good old fashioned truck experience test drive a Tacoma; it’s like a carbureted wagon compared to a modern Ford or Chevy, and handles accordingly. Every pothole and bump shakes the whole frame.
It’s also dependent on the gravel type and quality of the highway. That coarse grain gravel that drones so loudly in my Mazda is nearly blotted out by the height and suspension of a truck. OTOH driving on smooth asphalt is like buttah and nearly silent.
Very nice, I placed an order for a 2014 Mazda 3s GT Hatch, I’ll put pics up next week once it arrives at my local dealer from another dealer in my state. I drove the 6 and really liked it , but the small trunk opening was pretty much the reason I had to go with the Mazda 3 hatch. Its weird how they do model years, I asked and there won’t be any 2015 Mazda 3s till closer to September, but they already had 2015 Mazda 6’s on the lot.
That 6 is a very nice looking car.
The spiders think so.
Wow, I missed that story until now. Crazy, a software patch to deal with real bugs.
Doesn’t affect the cool-looking 2014+ Mazda 6, though, just the pedestrian previous model. :)
Congrats on the 3, Lordkosc. That was my other top candidate, due to better gadgetry, but decided I wanted the roomier interior. What color?
They found a Meteor Gray which was my second choice, I wanted Titanium Flash but its apparently very hard to find on the almost fully loaded hatch model (none of that tech package crap).
I actually found the front interior room of the 3 to be almost the same as the 6, and I liked the seats on the 3 a bit better, I don’t really care about the back seat, I just toss work stuff back there usually.
I did prefer how they did the touch screen on the 6 though, it looks better in the dash than on top of it, but it wasn’t a deal breaker.
I am trading in a 2011 Mazda 6, that has never had any spider problems. Other than the one that builds a web across the inside of the front windshield every October. :p
DennyA, does your 6 have the 19" rims? They looked so good when I saw them on the showroom car.
DennyA can you report your real-world fuel consumption? What have you seen city vs highway too? Thanks!
I love the looks of the new Mazda6. Would love to see a Mazdaspeed version too :)
This.
Yep, it has the 19" rims. I have mixed feelings about them. They look really cool, but replacement tires are going to be pricey down the road.
Sure. I’m getting 31.5 during my commute week, which is 14 miles back-and-forth of which about 8 miles is heavy stop-and-go traffic and the remaining six is 60 mph freeway.
On a recent trip down to Portland, I got 35.7 driving down, with most of it being 70 mph except when I had to slow down for slower traffic or speed zones. 38 should have been reachable if I’d held to 60 mph and used cruise control more.
Definitely would be cool. That said, the car handles like a dream. It’s dramatically better than my '08 Altima or my '03 Mazda 6 – the steering/feel is just amazing. And it has plenty of oomph for fast highway merges, etc. It feels more responsive than the horsepower would indicate.
I’m mostly disappointed the diesel got delayed for US before I bought. Mileage is supposed be up to 30% better.
Randomly chosen from among many old threads that mentioned ‘Ford’…
Wow.
You know a big problem with Ford was that they were trying to price cars the same way they priced their SUVs and trucks, and it sucked. When i was looking for a car and not an SUV several years ago I test drove several Ford cars; the plain Focus was a low-rent covered wagon, the Taurus was impossible to find and had lots of weird lighting and was way overpriced for the interior, the Mustang was the official car of apartments in the South, and the Lincoln MKS was half way to the car i wanted with a decent interior, but had grandparent styling and a $15,000 bump in price for privilege.
Pity. I sorta like the Fusion. Sedans aren’t going away; the Japanese and Europeans are still invested heavily in them.