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From YourSITE.com Reviews and Road Tests There are very few exceptions to the following rule: Mid-size sedans are boring! The Mazda6s is one of those exceptions.
Luckily Mazda left the frumpy styling behind with the old name. The Mazda6 pairs all the best attributes of your run-of-the-mill grocery getter with enough interesting details and features to set it apart from the pack. There are two variations on the Mazda6 theme, the 4-cylinder 6i, and the 6-cylinder 6s. With 220 horsepower, the Mazda6s really demands attention. I had the chance to spend some time behind the wheel of the 6s, and I came away far more impressed than I could have ever imagined. Let’s start on the outside. The basic shape of every Mazda6 is cleaner and leaner than the competition. The lines are drawn tighter, and it looks less heavy. Picking on the Honda for a minute, the styling of the Accord reminds me of relaxed-fit khaki Dockers in a 38-inch waist. The Mazda6, by comparison, is a pair of stone-washed 501 Levi’s, 32-inch waist and snug on the bum. Not Prada or Gucci, mind you; just clean, simple, and classic.
The sportier 6s adds a bit of flair to the basic wrapper. The bumpers are completely different than those found on the 4-cylinder versions, lending a more aggressive look to each end of the car. Side skirts dress up the rocker panels and visually bring the chassis closer to the road. A trunk spoiler finishes of the plastic surgery. The sheetmetal gets a little help from the chassis components, the sport-tuned suspension and seventeen-inch alloy wheels filling the fenders better than those on the base model. Thankfully, the parts all work well to give the Mazda6s a more assertive road stance. Move to the inside and you’ll discover the cabin is slightly tamer than the exterior. Not that it’s a boring interior, it just happens to share almost everything with its entry-level sibling. Truth is, the inside of the Mazda6 more closely resembles a European car than its Asian contemporaries. The top of the dashboard, for instance, has a leathery texture and is finished in matte black, in contrast to the non-descript beige/taupe dashes the Japanese are typically so fond of.
The same can be said of the door panels and most of the rest of the interior, though the dark silver painted console and door trim looked a little on the cheap side- it just doesn’t convince you that it’s supposed to be metal. Anyway, that trim is all the rave right now, and can be found in everything from Subarus to Land Rovers. The seats in the 6s are best described as mildly contoured- not true sport seats, but not park benches either. Finished in leather, they at least look nice, and they do a decent job of holding the driver in his place during spirited jaunts. The leather itself appears to be of a higher quality than what typically rolls out of the Flat Rock assembly line (like the new Mustang). With the leather come heated front seats and door mirrors. I’m a big fan of the bun warmers usually, but these left me a little cold. Literally. Best I can figure, the temperature regulators were going through menopause; they changed temperature frequently, dramatically, and with no apparent pattern.
If I couldn’t count on a toasty bottom-side, at least I had tunes. Our test car was equipped with the optional Bose audio package. Along with the addition of a 6-disc in-dash CD changer, the system also includes an amplifier, subwoofer, and six powerful Bose speakers. I’m not a big audiophile personally, but I found the clarity and certainly the volume of the sound quite pleasing, if a little lacking in richness. But like I said, I’m no expert. So based on first impressions, the Mazda6s appears to have its sights set on buyers who have traditionally chosen a European sports sedan. The question then is how does it drive? Funny you should ask. Let’s start with the engine. At three liters of displacement, it’s certainly not the biggest in the class. The 220 horsepower it makes would have been considered phenomenal ten years ago, but then so was 56k dial-up internet service in 1995. All of the Mazda6s’s competitors are running broadband by comparison, in the 250 horsepower neighborhood. Smooth at idle, the engine feels slightly coarse as the revs climb beyond 4000. Power deliver is less than silky as well, with very little in the way of response below 3000 rpms. After a couple days of driving, I was capable of predicting whether I would have enough grunt to make a certain maneuver or not.
The engine is mated to either a standard 5-speed manual or optional 4-speed automatic transmission. Ours was of the stick shift variety. I must applaud Mazda for making the manual transmission available to those of us who still enjoy a more engaging driving experience. However, some of us have also become spoiled by the choice of six forward speeds. The 5-speed tranny states that the Mazda6s is a sporty sedan rather than a true sports sedan. Regardless, it shifts smoothly and precisely, and the clutch offered predictable take-up. The combination of engine and transmission is absolutely adequate if not totally awe-inspiring. It’s a willing partner for spirited drives, and actually quite entertaining once you’ve figured it out. Hell, it doesn’t even take much effort to make use of the standard traction control. Besides, power is only one part of the performance equation. How you use that power is just as important. The first impression of the chassis seems promising. Certainly it feels “sporty” as you go down the road. The disappointment, however, comes when you throw it hard into a corner. Rather than playing along like you had hoped, the front wheels revolt, insisting instead on continuing down the straight path they were traveling before you so rudely suggested a change of direction with the steering wheel. That, by definition, is called understeer, and that’s what the 6s does when you try to make it dance like a sports sedan. The modest power and lack of a six-speed can be dealt with, but the attitude of the chassis was the biggest letdown for me.
By now you’ve probably figured out that the 6s is not about all-out performance. To that end, steering input and feedback are par for the course. The same for the brakes; the four discs were sure-footed and predictable, and the standard ABS jumped in only when needed. In the end, the Mazda6s is an interesting offering in a field of uninteresting contenders. It conveys a sense of sportiness without all the baggage of being a true sports sedan. And let’s admit it, sometimes it’s better to just look the part than to have to play it.
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