I recently went through a new car buying exercise (see my other review of the 2007 Mercury Milan) deciding I wanted a Mazda 6i before I discovered the Mercury.

I think the Mazda line has the most compelling styling of any manufacturer. Cadillac would be the worst.

Everything about the interior and exterior of the Mazda 6 is exciting.

After purchasing the Mercury Milan, I spent a week with my daughter and had a chance to rent and put 900 miles on a 2007 Mazda 6i Sport Sedan. How could I decline the opportunity to test my purchase decision?

I wanted a small car that was large enough to carry four adults a long way comfortably. Gas mileage was very important. For some odd reason, I also wanted a manual transmission. Comfortable back seats and manual transmissions are pretty difficult to find.

I decided I wanted a Mazda 6i and was looking for a used car. I was still “looking” when I came across a new 2007 Milan still on the lot in March 2008. The invoice was 18 months old and I knew I had a motivated dealer. The Mercury Milan, Ford Fusion, and Lincoln MKZ are all made on the Mazda 6 platform. However, the cars are very different.

Engine

I rented the 2.3L I4 with an automatic transmission.

At 160HP, this is not a fast car. This car seemed much faster than my Milan although it's a bit heavier.

I took this on several road trips into the mountains surrounding Yosemite and had no trouble on the mountain roads or passing on two lane highways. The car would go when you asked it to. It got excellent fuel economy.

My daughter tried to sleep while I was driving the mountain switchbacks. Sorry, pulling Gs is more important!

Even though this car had an automatic, it had the auto-shift feature that is starting to show up on many cars now. If you move the shifter over to the right, you can select which gear you want and upshift or downshift as needed. This was especially helpful going downhill.

Interior

At 20,000 miles, this car was starting to show some wear and dirt, but since I had seen similar cars in dealerships, I know this can be cleaned up pretty easily.

The seats had rather hard bottoms for my taste. Support was good, but not great. Six hour days in the car were tiring.

Ride/Handling

The car handled really well. It seems well balanced between cushy and firm, but a little on the firm side. It is cushy enough to go over railroad tracks comfortably, while firm enough to provide very responsive handling. This car can make very quick corners.

I didn't care for the steering ratio -- it was too quick. This means that small adjustments of the steering wheel made large changes at the tires. It made driving too active.

Stereo

I’m very picky about sound quality and this stereo sounds very good. I was preparing for a vocal performance during this trip and enjoyed singing along with my performance CD. I would rate this stereo as about average. It had no features other than AM/FM/CD.

Amount Paid (US$): 120/wk
Condition: Used
Model Year: 2007
Model and Options: 6i Sport Sedan