Jason on Cars

I’ve gotten the chance to drive quite a few Mazdas in the past year, and they match up pretty well with my expectations. The sleeker ones are usually a little more sporty, the boxier ones a little more convenient. None of them had been real terrors on the road, and none of them really gave me a feeling of excitement. Perhaps Zoom-Zoom wasn’t for me.

This weekend I was driving from Portland to Seattle and back again, and had the opportunity to take the new MazdaSpeed6. I’m still not sure exactly where the spaces are supposed to go in the name, nor if it’s a Mazda Speed 6, or a Mazda MazdaSpeed 6, or even, Mazda mazdaspeed6. Regardless, I acquainted myself with their extra-sporty car and got on the road.

My initial thoughts were a lot of surprise in the low end of the RPM range. Lots of torque and lots of go while taking off. The acceleration is far different from other high-horsepower cars I’ve driven, but it was consistent through the gears and very responsive. Pulling into traffic was never a worry, and I always knew I had enough go to dodge through traffic.