My brother's Subaru Impreza SportWagon is in the body shop getting some body work done, (he accidentally brushed it against a pole in a parking lot ) and I was over at his house yesterday cleaning my own car up thoroughly inside and out, and had a chance to look at and drive his rental car. By the luck of the draw, he managed to get a brand-new car for rent.....a black 2006 Mazda6 V6 automatic with only some 300 miles.... ( it's not even broken in yet, so I went over the break-in rules with him ) This car is available with an in-line 4, Turbo 4, or V6, and, unlike many of its competitiors, is also available in 4-door Sport Sedan, 5-door wagon, 5-door Hatchback, and ( limited production ) 4-door Turbo MazdaSpeed AWD versions. This car, as its predecessor 626 did, generally plays second fiddle to the Camry and Accord in the marketplace despite its versatility and abundance of different body styles and drivetrains. While I did NOT give it a MAJOR review like I usually do ( I was preoccupied with getting my own car cleaned up ) after I was done I looked over the car from stem to stern and took it out with my brother for a quick spin, ( about 10 minutes ) so I can at least give it a mini-review:

Model tested: 2006 Mazda6 S V6 4-door sedan.
Color: Black with black / beige cloth two-tone interior.

Base Price: $23,010 ( yes, the price sticker was still in the glove box...it was virtually a brand-new car )
MSRP: $24,520

Drivetrain: FWD, 3.0L V6, 215 HP @ 6300 RPM, Torque 199 ft.-lbs @ 5000 RPM, 6-speed ( optional ) SportShft automatic.

PLUSSES:

Well-designed chassis ( Mazdas aren't called Poor Man's BMW's for nothing )

Good interior hardware and fit-and-finish

Solid pull-out door handles

Responsive, smooth-shifting transmission ( past Mazda auto trannies were often bumpy in the lower-gears)

Reasonably powerful V6

Easy entrance and exit

Well-designed gauges and controls

Fairly quiet ( also a departure from many past Mazda sedans )

Fairly roomy trunk

MINUSES:

Orange-peel paint ( made worse in black......every imperfection shoes )

Backwards-shifting autosport transmission shift lever

Interior dome light does not stay on for a few seconds after the door is shut and locked like the delay feature on some cars.

Power seat controls for driver but not front passenger.

Stereo readouts not near the controls.


This car brought back some memories for me....I liked and drove Mazda sedans for much of the mid-late 80's into the early 90's before switching to Toyota / Lexus. The new ones have changed quite a lot...they are more refined than the 80's ones were but do not have quite as much steering feel.

Anyhow....this car. The first impression of it as you walk up to it is a grown-up version of the smaller Mazda3, which replaces the Protege...it has a strong family resemblance. The sheet metal and doors feel fairly solid; the door handles VERY solid. Paint quality ( never a really strong Mazda feature ) could use a little improvement, at least on this black version we had. Luster was OK, but too much orange peel, like Chrysler / Dodge paint. Getting in and out of the car, in spite of its fairly low stance and my large physical size, was no problem....the doors are large, wide, and open way out. The key FOB is interesting. In addition to the usual lock / unlock / trunk / panic features, the key itself folds back into the FOB like an old jacknife and is spring-loaded...push a silver button and it flips out, ready for use.

Inside, the two-tone dash is handsome with well-designed gauges and controls ( like older Hondas ) and, like many other cars today, several buttons on the steering wheel spokes.The well-designed circular airvents have a solid, well-finished feel to them. I did not like the stereo's design.....it sounded well, with solid-feeling buttons, but the readout, like the Toyota Avalon, was up high on the dash whle the radio itself was much farther down....I'm not a fan of that design. Otherwise the interior was well-done visually, with high-quality cloth and materials and better-than-average fit-and finish. The seats, like most Mazdas ( and Subarus ) were quite firm...you sit on them rather than in them. Side support was OK but not race-car-like. One MAJOR screw-up inside, though you might get used to it if you drove it every day, is the reverse + / - pattern for the automatic 6-speed manual shift function. Most cars with this type of transmission have either a side-to-side motion ( like Chrysler's Autostick ) or a forward ( + ) and backward ( - ) for upshifting and downshifting. Not THIS car. You pull the lever BACK to upshift and FORWARD to downshift. Being used to the conventional pattern, I quickly learned to shift correctly when I momentarily hit second instead of fourth. Fortunately the engine on this brand-new car did not overspin fast enough to damage it or ruin the break-in.

On the road.....I already mentioned this was a quick spin, so I didn't really get much of a real checkout or a feel for it, but it appeared to have the same general firm, enthusiast-oriented chassis design and quick steering response that characterizes most Mazda products. Steering feel was not quite as BMW-like as some earlier Mazdas I have driven, but was well-done nonetheless.The ride was borderline firm.....not as stiff as the smaller Mazda3 ( which is harsh in the top hatchback version ) but just compliant enough to give it some family-sedan smoothness. The V6 had ample power for normal driving but was not a powerhouse....leave that to the AWD MazdaSpeed Turbo6. Brakes were about what you expect in this size and class of car.

The verdict? A good, sportier alternative to either the Camry or Accord, though in non-turbo form it doesn't quite have the power of their V6's. It is reasonably-priced and generally well-made, though the paint, stereo design, and the shift lever IMO leave a few things to be desired. And the multiple body styles add a degree of versatility that the Camry and Accord just don't have.