I’ve been looking forward to driving the Mazda 6 for about two years now, ever since I learned that the replacement for the entirely forgettable 626 would be worthy of the “zoom zoom” tagline. Or so Mazda’s advance P.R. claimed. Would it truly be worthy? Many cars claim to be designed for the driving enthusiast, but fall short in reality. The Nissan Altima leaps to mind. (The hyperlinks lead to my reviews of related vehicles.) Would the Mazda6 also fall short?

My next car, like my current one, will likely be a sedan with six cylinders and a manual transmission. In my intended price range, there are not many candidates. Hence my interest in the Mazda6. Unfortunately, the 6 did not reach dealers until around the time my third child was born, so I did not get around to driving one until early April. And then the dealer did not have a car with my preferred powertrain. So I ended up test driving two cars, a 6i (four-cylinder) manual with sport package and leather interior and a 6s (six-cylinder) automatic without those two options. While I still intend to drive a six-cylinder manual, between these two cars I got a thorough sense of how well the Mazda6 matches up to its hype.

Mazda6 Reliability

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Styling

The 6 possesses a taut, wedge shape that, while pleasant, takes few risks aside from the sill extensions and spoiler of the optional sport package. Unlike the Altima, it will not attract approving looks from everyone and their mother. (My mother, who doesn’t notice much in the realm of automobiles, not only noticed the Altima but found it so striking that she asked me about the car.) Unlike, the new Honda Accord, it will not attract controversy. Elsewhere the 6 (“Attenza” in Japan) is adorned with trendy clear lens tail lamps. Mazda’s US arm decided these have had their day, so we get red lenses. Good enough. “Tasteful” and “subtly sporty” about sums it up. Nothing to die for or be disgusted by here.

Inside the good taste continues. Even the red instrument lighting and metallic-look plastic that covers the center stack and center console do not seem out of place. Unlike the Altima’s interior, the theme is cohesive and no detail left me wondering, “What were they thinking?” Overall, “subtly sporty” again.

Material quality is clearly superior to that in the Altima, and roughly equal that in the Accord. The Toyota Camry and VW Passat arguably use superior materials, but those cars are a few grand more expensive.

All is not perfect, though. As in many recent designs, the HVAC and audio system readouts are centralized in an LCD strip at the top of the dash not right next to the controls. What is the point of this? To operate these controls you have to look one place to find the knob then another to make the adjustment, at least until you are familiar enough with the controls to find them by feel. The cloth does look cheap, and the rounded shape of the front seat cushions promotes this impression. The seats look okay in leather, but a different design would be better. The armrests on the doors are lightly padded and a bit narrow. Since I like to drive with my left elbow planted on this armrest, a wider, better padded armrest would be welcome. Overall, the doors have the overly light feel common in moderately-priced Japanese sedans. A final nit: the passenger airbag cover (for some reasons not seamless like most recent designs) and storage compartment lid did not quite match the dash in color in either of the cars I drove.

Accommodations

Functionally, the front seats are far superior to the spongy units found in the Altima—a moderate degree of lateral support is present. A bit more would be welcome, but no other seat in this class of car serves the enthusiast better. Comfort is good, but nothing special.

The driving position is excellent. The steering wheel tilts and telescopes. A high seat and low cowl (base of windshield) yield great visibility forward and good visibility in other directions. The lack of rear seat headrests helps here.

In this safety conscious age, why no rear headrests? I suspect to enable another nifty feature, spring-loaded rear seat sections that pop forward when released. At any rate, owing to the raked beltline (base of side windows) the rear seat back is fairly tall.

Rear seat room and comfort are about equal the current Accord, which is to say good but not as good as those in the Altima and Camry. The cushion is a bit low to fully support the thighs of an adult male, while the seat back felt a bit too reclined to me.

The trunk is about average in size for this class. The hinges are the non-intrusive type. As I’ve mentioned, the rear seat folds, but it does not quite fold flat. Storage compartments inside the car are average for the class.

On the Road

Both engines were quieter than I expected. Perhaps too quiet for the car’s enthusiast mission. Even with the manual the 160-horsepower four feels weak except near the redline. Based on the horsepower rating I initially thought this engine might be adequate, but it’s not. Peak power is fine, but the midrange is sorely lacking. Even with automatic the six has plenty of power for most people. The sixes in the Accord and Altima feel considerably stronger, though.

The manual shifter is pretty good for a front-drive car, definitely better than those in the Altima and Passat. Still, I’ve driven some that are better, most notably that in the Acura CL-S. The automatic shifts very smoothly. While in the passenger seat (I test drove the cars with a friend who was very impressed by the car with the six) I had to look at the tach to know when the transmission shifted.

Handling is the new Mazda’s forte. The steering is about as light as it can be before I’d think it too light, but is quick, precise, and communicative. Easily the best steering in a mid-size front-drive sedan. Thankfully, I felt none of the sags and surges in assist that mar many variable assist systems. Torque steer was also absent. If the difference in interior quality and seating had not already knocked the Altima out of my consideration set, this steering would have. Nissan desperately needs to study this car. Honda could also learn a thing or two based on my impressions of the Acura TL-S.

For a front-drive car the 6 has a very well balanced, confidence-inspiring chassis. Between this and the steering, driving the car quickly becomes intuitive. It was still not quite as fun as I had hoped, but I suspect that pairing the six with the manual will fix this.

The 6’s ride is something of a weak spot. The four I drove had the sport suspension, but the ride of the six felt busier to me. Supposedly the two suspensions are tuned to feel the same, with the six-cylinder car’s only stiffened to compensate for the heavier engine, but my experience suggested otherwise. I did not drive the cars on any Michigan-class roads (these test drives took place in Virginia). My initial impressions: the 6 rides better than the Altima 3.5, and was never downright harsh, but does not ride nearly as smoothly as the Accord or Camry. In terms of road and wind noise the ranking is similar.

Overall, the 6 drives as promised. For the enthusiast, the ride quality flaws are more than compensated for by excellent handling.

Pricing

I go into more detail on pricing in my individual 6i and 6s reviews. Overall, the Mazda 6 is very reasonably priced, started out just under twenty and topping out around twenty-six. This makes it about even with the Accord and significantly cheaper (in six-cylinder form at least) than a similarly equipped Altima, Camry, or Passat. If anything, price is a reason to buy the car, not a reason to buy something else.

The Dodge Stratus R/T would be a reasonable alternative for those who prefer domestic nameplates or who are on a limited budget, if only it was not so unrefined, cheaply outfitted, and prone to depreciation. Big ifs.

I’m of two minds with the $860 sport package. I would like the 17” alloys, but would rather do without the body kit. The spoiler especially is a bit much. For my own car, I’d probably skip it.

For 2003 Mazda has extended the standard warranty from three to four years, perhaps to match VW. The mileage is still 50,000. Better than the Japanese competition's 3/36 warranties. Of course, given Mazda's good reputation for reliability, they don't need the strong warranty as much as VW, but it still helps.

Update: 6i pricing analysis (August 2003)

For quick, up-to-date new car pricing, and especially user-specified price comparisons, check out the website I created: www.truedelta.com. Why yet another vehicle pricing website? Well, I personally lacked the patience to keep using the others. They were too slow and required too much effort, especially when trying to compare prices. So I taught myself some programming and created a site where there is no need to dig through option packages, prerequisites, and the like one by one -- the TrueDelta algorithm figures these out for you in one swift pass.

The Mazda6’s option packages are set up so you generally have to get a bunch of stuff you don’t want to get the things you do want. If I ever obtain a brochure, I might figure out all the ins and outs. For now, I’m just confused.

The 6i I drove was almost fully loaded: heated leather, sunroof, sport package, ABS, and BOSE stereo. Consequently, it listed for $24,345. This being the end of the model year, Edmunds suggests that the typical dealer discount brings the price down to about $23,000. On most Mazda6 models a $1,500 rebate is currently available, but cars with the popular sport package are excluded from this rebate. And I thought it was an expensive package at $960…

If you’re buying the four-cylinder car, I’d advise going much lighter on the options. You might want to get the leather if you agree with me that the cloth looks cheap, but for now I’ll evaluate the pricing of the base car as it lines up well with the popular Honda Accord LX. This brings the sticker down to $19,170, and after the typical discount and the $1,500 rebate we’re left with about $16,900. Not bad at all.

The similarly equipped Accord in LX form lists for $19,660, and after the typical discount goes for about $18,000. This puts it a grand over the Mazda. The Accord’s engine and transmission feel best of those here. The four-cylinder, which I sample with a manual in the Accord coupe, sounds more refined and feels stronger than the others, and the shifter has a slicker feel to it. In other areas, the Accord is smoother and a bit roomier than the Mazda, while the Mazda has sportier handling. If not for the Accord’s sweeter powertrain, the Mazda’s handling would make this an easy choice for me.

The similarly equipped base Altima 2.5S lists for $19,139, and costs about $17,700 after discount and a $500 rebate. The Altima has a larger rear seat and more striking styling but does not handle as well as the Mazda or ride as well as the Honda. Its engine is also rougher than the others.

The Camry in base SE form lists for $20,360, and costs about $17,100 after the typical discount and a $750 rebate. If Edmunds is accurate, this is some very aggressive pricing on Toyota’s part. The Camry is the most comfortable, upscale in feel, and refined of the cars here. Its handling in SE form is sportier than the Accord’s but less sporty than the Mazda’s. I don’t care for the Camry’s styling, but this is a very good price. Unless you highly value the sportier handling of the Mazda or the more refined powertrain of the Honda, it’s probably the one to get.

None of these prices include alloy wheels. You want alloy wheels, either as a factory option (about $400 if available) or aftermarket.

Last Words

I’m not quite in love with the two cars I drove, but the six with manual might yet get me. Clearly, Mazda really did design this car with the driving enthusiast in mind. It’s not aimed at the middle of the market like the Accord and Camry. It lacks the many cut corners that plague the Altima. The closest real competition for a driving enthusiast is the Infiniti G35. That car has the advantage of rear-wheel-drive, and thus has some inherent handling advantages. Still, the Mazda’s steering is quicker and sharper, and it’s price is much lower. If my current car died tomorrow, I strongly suspect that this is where I’d end up.

In the 2004 model year Mazda will be adding a five-door hatch and a wagon. Given my three kids, I'm looking forward to these, especially the hatch.

If Mazda wants to improve the car, they should plump up the midrange in both engines, refine the engines’ voices for more excitement in hard driving, and upgrade the seats and door panels. Maybe they’re saving some of this for the MazdsSpeed version?

The five-star rating is for the six-cylinder “s.” Deduct a star for the four.

To learn more about my reliability research and sign up to participate in it, or to perform thorough up-to-date new car price comparisons, visit www.truedelta.com. A link to this website and alphabetized links to my other vehicle reviews can be found on my profile page.

Amount Paid (US$): 23,000
Model Year: 2003
Model and Options: i manual with sport and leather; s auto with neither