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.

The best surprise was while cruising on the freeway around 65mph, and in 6th gear. In many other cars I’ve driven, the final gear is more of an overdrive and not really that useful if you need to pass someone. I’ve been far better off to drop it back into 5th or even 4th and pass the cars I need, then settle back into 6th. In the Mazda, I was very pleased in its ability to accelerate quickly and smoothly from a variety of speeds to a variety of speeds while staying in top gear. It made quick little passes around already speeding cars on the freeway thoughtless. It also had great visibility, which is something that I take very seriously. I never had to guess when changing lanes or pulling out, which is very confidence inspiring.

The inside of the car isn’t that different from your standard Mazda. It was very comfortable for the drive, and everything was pretty much where’d you expect. The controls were simple and easy to use, and the stereo sounded great for stock equipment. One feature that I thought was novel was the navigation unit was positioned on top of the dash underneath a pop up cover. I appreciate this as it was out of the way when you didn’t need it, and kept the main area free for better controls and dash layout. But when you needed some help with direction, you simply pushed a button and the navigation unit rose from the dash. You also controlled the navigation with a docked remote control that could also be removed and operated from anywhere in the car. I’m sure lots of young boys will appreciate the opportunity to be “in charge” of the navigation.

The styling is definitely more aggressive than the standard Mazda 6, but not outlandish nor in-your-face, which I appreciate. However, it also looks like a $23,000 car rather than the $33k it costs. I wouldn’t guess that this is the car for those trying to make a statement with their automobiles.

In the end, it was a fantastic road trip car. Quiet on the highways, smooth yet still responsive and fun in the corners, great acceleration at all speeds, and still had pretty acceptable mileage at 25mpg on the highway.

Can you get more car for the same money? Probably, but this car offers a lot of fun, and a lot of features without all of the pretentiousness that comes with other Makes at this price tag.