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Comments
- Mark
I would say, 'Everyone knows Honda and Toyota cars are fine products, but so is the new Mazda6, may I show you some of its standard features that are options on other cars?' Don't bash, compliment and move on...leading with your product's merits. Don't mention the difference in price, unless it's lower, talk about the added value.
fowler3
That's been standard in the Jetta and Passat for 2 years now. My 2001 Jetta 1.8T came with side curtain airbags as standard equipment.
I can't believe that Mazda would do all this advertising showing the manual and then not make it available?! After driving a Miata for 5 years considering an automatic seems quite unchallenging!
Thanks
Jerry
- Mazda6 i
- Glacier Silver
- Black leather
- 17" rims
- ABS and Side airbags
- Premium and Comfort packages
- ACC
- NO spoiler and ground effects
- NO Moonroof
Has anyone been successful in the US trying to get a configuration that doesn't match what Mazda requires?
The funny thing is is that the Canadian specs do allow me to pretty much get that configuration. Are not the cars that will be sold in Canada being produced in the same plant that the US is getting? So why is Mazda making it so difficult to do this in the US?
I haven't seen a single manual tranny at the two dealers in the NC Triad area. But they will be coming.
arockwel, your specifications split up Mazda's option packages into single units. I doubt they will build one like that. For instance, the heated seats (Comfort Package) go with the leather option. Mazda does not offer black cloth without the Sports Package. Etc.
Mazda does say that ABS can be ordered as a stand alone option in February.
We don't understand why they made up the packages the way they did. Mazda said, in an e-mail to one poster here, that they were trying to simplify them. There may be changes later as they learn what buyers want, so e-mail your selections to Mazda.
fowler3
Fully loaded with automatics are a dime a dozen, every dealer here has at least one or two of them. So my question to you is; what percentage of Mazda6s’s is coming out of the assembly line optioned like I want.
Danto's reply #5226
You have a little delima. For some reason we are not building that many manual trans 6's. We are building more v6 manuals than 4's though. But far more are automatic than manuals. Sorry!
fowler3
P.S. Mazda may have underestimated the demand for manuals in the 6's the way they did with the Protegés. Then again, it may be the supply of manuals available -- more 5-speeds for V6's than 4-speeds for the I-4's. Keep in mind that today's manufacturing plants run on J.I.T. deliveries. What comes in is what is assembled, no warehouses full of transmissions waiting to be put in.
Most people right now won't pay extra for side air curtains. Of course, if the posts in these discussions are any indication, most car buyers today don't know the different between side airbags and side air curtains, either. That will all change if NHTSA or IIHS ever get around to testing for head injuries in side collisions.
I bought a redfire 6i w/ ULEV emissions only. I plan to put my own security system, speakers, and alloy wheels on the car. I've only ever seen the redfire color at night- today will be my first day seeing it in sunlight!
Dinu
I do not want the Sport Package, but I do want the 17" rims. How difficult is it to offer the 17" rims as an Accessory?
I also want Black Leather, not the Gray. Why can't they just substitutue Black for Gray? The Canadian cars will allow for this -- and they come from the same plant.
Also, the 4-cylinders in Canada are able to get ACC in their GT models.
Again, if they are coming out of the same plant, why can't I get this config in the US? I guess I should move to Canada. ;-)
audia8q: My first choice would be the 6i w/AT, ABS/TCS as a (stand-alone option after February), and the Premium package. Second choice would be 6i w/AT. The wheel covers are very nice for this class car, look similar to luxury car alloys and are much easier to clean off brake dust.
Most of the 6i's are coming in configured as AT only,so it will be easy to find them. Later dealer installed options would be fog lights, rear mud guards, better mats -- not the cheapo type used these days. Anybody remember cut-pile carpet mats?
The mats they use now look like they skinned stray cats and bonded the hides to cheap plastic bases. I would be surprised if they come from Tailand.
fowler3
Others who posted here earlier bought 6's in Central America (European models) and drove them north.
Where there's a will there's a way.
Let me know if it works, I'd love a Steel Grey with beige interior. The grey has gold mica flake in it. May be silver mica but in direct sunlight it reflects as golden.
As they produce more parts you may be able to buy a set of 17-inch alloys. The alloys for the Protegés became available as individual sets, but they weren't as inexpensive as those that came on the car. Figure three-times more.
These package deals have always been a problem for buyers. Manufacturers get suckered into buying them by suppliers. Then they have to bundle them to sell them. Buyers want only one part of a 3-part package. If they make them stand-alone options they are stuck with unsold stuff. Perimeter alarm systems may be a necessity in some parts of the country -- I wouldn't pay extra for it, but would accept it, grudingly, to get the 8-way power seat. Alloys not a favorite either.
fowler3
You know it's kinda funny... the overall posts on edmunds give me some interesting feedback.....but our 2 mazda dealerships are seeing the least amout of interest in manual transmissions and safety options. Exactly the opposite of many on this board....The real actual sales and test drives were seeing almost exactly match what Mazda had projected.
They see the 6 as a sports car with four-doors. The average buyer sees the 6 as a much better medium size car with good handling, which they are just now beginning to appreciate. An affordable entry-level luxury car. That's why they are not interested in the ground effects stuff. It's meaningless to them.
The buyers you are seeing are all the 626 and Millennia and older Mazda buyers returning. It will be like this for a long time until Mazda gets its sports car buyer base built up, again.
audia8q, check the age groups. Middle age buyers rarely buy manual. Buyers over 50 never buy manual. With unemployment like it is, who has the money to buy?
fowler3
- Mazda6 "i"
- Glacier Silver
- 17" rims ONLY (no Sport Package)
- Black Leather
Any thoughts on this? Thanks.
You think I'm joking? My dad did that in 1923, he bought a sedan with a big engine and a coupe. Had the coupe body put on the sedan frame and sold the other car. That was when car companies used one frame and bolted the bodies onto them. Cars were much cheaper then, too. It took a week to switch them.
fowler3
Has anyone seen sepang green?
- Mazda6 "i"
- Glacier Silver
- 17" rims ONLY (no Sport Package)
- Black Leather
Any thoughts on this? Thanks.
sepang green is a late available color if its available at all. Mazda has been vague.
Actually, in one of the emails I got from Mazda, they mentioned the buyer that is interested in performance AND safety as the reason they would be offering the combo I want. So, maybe there are more guys like me.
Quote from Mazda:
"For enthusiast customers who highly value safety, we will now offer a MAZDA6i MT with the Premium Package, ABS/TCS, and SAB/SAC."
I agree with everything stated in the article except the oil weights and change intervals.
This is how I broke-in my new car two years ago.
http://www.driversedge.com/breakin.htm
Never going over 3,500 rpm and never using more than half throttle for the first 500 miles? That is ridiculous. It means your car will never operate over about 25% of rated power for the first 500 miles and such protracted, low-power operation can do more harm than good as it leads to glazed cylinders and high oil consumption as you never have enough cylinder pressure to get the rings to seat.
And such a break-in is irrelevent anyway, because nearly all cars have had periods of hard running between the factory and when you drive them off the dealer's lot, either in the hands of the lot boys moving the cars around during transit, or test drives off the dealer's lot. (There was a recent report watching BWM's being unloaded off a ship in S. Calif. The drivers are paid by the car, and their process is to floor the accelerator, twist the key, and leave the accelerator to the floor as long as no obstacle is in their way.)
With modern engines, a long, protracted, low-power break-in is unnecessary and potentially harmful. It's not how they break in high performance cars like Porsches on the dyno either.
You can prolong engine life if you take it a little easy during the first 1K miles or so, avoid sitting in traffic, avoid excessive idling, vary speeds, and avoid long periods of high output, like 80+ cruising on the freeways. But a brief period of full throttle or few brief periods to higher RPM is a good thing.
Most owner's manuals reflect this philosopy by simply saying to take it a little easy and don't cruise at high speeds on the highway. That's all you need to do.
- Mark
It's like they have a choise. Time is money. And it's even more so in the car manufacturing invironment.
This is exactly why only the high priced low-volume sports cars are being broken-in at the factory.
"MAZDA6: At first, I wasn't particularly impressed by this midsize sedan, but over 2,400 miles, it won me over, block by block, curve by curve. With an exceptional chassis and superb driving dynamics, this front-drive family car feels remarkably like a rear-drive German sport sedan."
Mazda sent an email to one poster saying the Sepang Green is on hold due to problems with the supplier. It's similar to a silver-green used on Jaguars, another Ford car, which may have exclusive use of the color. Chrysler also uses a similar green on the 300. To see a Mazda color that is close look at a Sage Green MPV.
It would be nice if Mazda offered beige trim in the Lapis Blue as an alternate to grey, if the Sepang Green won't be available. Or in the Steel Grey color. Some German cars come in Silver with beige, so it isn't an unusual combination. audia8q pass the word.
fowler3
Oh, and my old and new :-) I'm too excited to wait until morning.
That looks like leather in the 6 - or is it just the shining lights?
Happy Zoom-Zoom!
Dinu
That's not leather. I actually have the beige cloth- but the picture you see is in a largely unlit parking lot in the still of light. I'm surprised it came out as well as it did.
I really like the beige interior because it has more of a three-tone scheme to it- light beige seats, dark brown dash, gray console. It looks pretty neat, I think... and I hate beige.
http://www.tirerack.com/upgrade_garage/WheelSearch.jsp?autoMake=Mazda&autoModel=6+I+Sedan&autoYear=2003
I had my wife SOLD on a new 6 until we went to look at the real life Lapis Blue. We were 50 feet away when her face went into "suck on lemon" expression.
I too felt a bit dissapointed. A blue Protege has a much nicer color. Can they paint mine that color please?
Can they put Sirius in mine at the factory, please? Again, the answer is no.
In my case, at least, that means NO SALE. I drive 50,000 miles a year. I am NOT destroying a new dash (which Mazda claims in an e-mail is apt to happen) putting in an aftermarket system. I want a direct connection Sirius radio in my car or I will buy a car that can have one.
Why on earth did Mazda go with that proprietary radio? Do they realise it will cost them at least some sales? Do they care?
I might go with the sport-shift AT though, given how lousy traffic gets around here in parts of town. Driving an MT in those conditions would drive me nuts.
I can see why designers like to do this though. It looks much nicer than a blockish region in the dash. However, I prefer my stereo controls actually be on the stereo itself.
I like the second picture, that resembles a P5 with a Mazda6 front end. If Mazda NA had offered the 5-door mini-wagon body in '99, I'd have a P5 instead of my Protege sedan. Oh well.
That MPS pic looks nice. Would be a nice Mazda3 sedan.
That last one looks like the high-speed locomotive concept for the Protege/Focus platform I saw about a year ago. Too bull-nosed for me.
I was OK with waiting for the 6 hatch and wagon in the fall, as the Mazda3 would be introduced shortly afterwards.
Hey, it'll help Mazda6 sales, as it seems a number of folks are holding out for hatch and wagon versions as I am.
I knew Mazda was making my life difficult with the RX-8, 6 hatch, 6 wagon and Mazda3 coming out in the next year or so.
I trade every 30 months and I'm not impressed!
Are you all in denial?
Snap out of it. Wake up!!
This car has worse re-sale than Saturn's L-200!
Wake up! Unless their Residuals change, the "6" is doomed on the auction block.
Ahhhhh, never mind you don't care about Trade-in.
Just gimme that Hot color, and leather, and sunroof, and big alloys, and spoilers...
Thanks Guys, I'll be there looking for the good deals at my local lots in 3 years....
No maybe Mazda will kill it too!
Just like their other great car the AMATI, errr, Millenia Miller 2.3... You know what I'll just wait for the RX-8, now there's a nice vehicle..
Ahhhh, just disregard everything I just said I know you will anyway!
Now on to the 6. I don't think what you've posted is realistic J.
A 19.000 car cannot be $7.000 in 4 yrs, unless we're talking Cavalier or Accent.
A 2000 PRO ES w/sunroof, all power, alloys, 5spd, A/C, spoiler must have been $22.000 CDN new. It now sells for about $13.000-14.000 2 (well soon to be 3) years later.
The 6 cannot do worse than that. If it does, my next car will definitely be a used 6 GS w/spd and sunroof
Dinu
Bwaa ha ha ha!
The smart thing to do is buy a 2 year old car and let the first owner take the biggest depreciation hit, but then you never have the newest stuff. If you wanna play, you gotta pay.
This sounds like it could be the new Lord of the Rings movie
"The smart thing to do is buy a 2 year old car and let the first owner take the biggest depreciation hit, but then you never have the newest stuff. If you wanna play, you gotta pay"
That's why I'm buying a used 00 PRO next November to add to my current PRO. I want a 03 ES badly (standard 16" alloys, ABS w/EBD, power locks, windows and mirrors, spoiler), but I don't wanna pay a higher insurance rate and car pymt on top of that. I'll just save $10.000 and if needed I can get $2.000-$3.000 off a credit line and pay it off in a couple of months. I just don't want $500 car payments and $400 insurance monthly.
Dinu
DISCLAIMER: All figures in Canadian funds.