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Comments
The armrest is a bit short, just doesn't come out far enough for me. But the cup holders are over the area where I'd like the armrest to be, and you'd be bumping your drink, so I can see why they designed it that way.
More of just "annoying" than anything that would keep you from getting the car.
I do LOVE the double storage in the armrest. Small one for change or little things, bigger one large enough for my wallet and a book.
But I have a question. If the hosts can kill a message for bad language or "off topic" issues, why can't they kill somebodies posts that repeat, repeat, repeat???
Just an idea.
I'll be glad just to HAVE cupholders! No car I've had in my 18 years of driving have had cupholders! LOL. You have no idea how frustrating that can be!
NEver noticed it afterwards. I guess, bieng a new car, ur ears are TRYING to pick up abnormal sounds, but you are picking up normal sounds and amplifying them.
There is a super oil site you should become familiar with. Do a google search for
Bobstheoilguy. You will never look at oil the same way again.
Mark.
Mark.
Plus the Mazda dealer in MA was not going to deal heavily on a special car.... it seems like they want to deal on the ones on their lot, not a specific model made to order or that they would have to spend a lot of effort to locate. With the I35 I got a much larger car with less sportiness but much more refinement, power and room for.... believe it or not...... only $3000 to $4000 more than what the dealer quoted me for a loaded 6i. But I will be recommending the 6 to drivers who want a great 4 door sports car drive but some practicality as well. Good luck to you 6 drivers, but I will be very happy with the I35 longterm
Oh and how light or dark is the green? in the brochure it looks like between the steel gray and the glacier silver. Haven't seen one yet in person since they're so new and rare. Thanks.
if you have seen the light green metallic color on Altimas on the road, it's very similar to that color, except brighter and lighter in shade.
I like it, it keeps the wheels looking sharp :-)
It's also cooler to touch on sunny days.
fowler3
I like the adhesive-backed weights they use on alloys these days. They remove more easily than the clip-on type and don't score your nice alloys. When you rotate your wheels, you'll find them.
I drove it immediately after driving a P5, which is quite nice too, and the 6 just seemed like a much, much better value.
Now all I have to do is get them to deal a little and I'll be all set. Any advice?
I am eligible for the S-Plan and my wife is eligible for the college grad discount. Unfortunately there are no rebates in our area right now. I think 2.9% for 60 months is the only deal.
Dunno what happened.....
In terms of the automatic transmission, I know I've mentioned it a lot, but it is a point of concern for me. After owning a less than spectacular auto VW (seriously, are all VW automatics like this- as I've heard on Golf's/Jetta's?), I want one that I can put it in drive and not think twice about.
Also, does anyone have the rear wing spoiler? I'm thinking of having one put on by the dealer, and I'm wondering how much- if any- it affects rear visibility. As much as I love the black interior and features of the sport package, I'd rather lose the lower body cladding and ride of the 17" wheels and go with just the spoiler.
I'm also curious about the stereo system. How is the stock system in terms of sound quality- bass level, loudness, treble, etc.?
I think that I will start looking extensively this weekend, and I should (hopefully) have something in the next 2-3 weeks.
Stick on weights can leave residue on the rim surface when removed and may not adhere very well if the surface isn't prepped.
As for the spoiler, I have the MZ6s with sport and rearward visibility is good. What I will say is that I've had to look twice to check the passenger side blind-spot just to be sure that the spoiler wasn't a car back there.
As for the stereo, sound quality is very good. I was a little worried because the Bose system only has bass and treble settings, but find the quality of sound exceptional. My ears favor the higher end of the sound spectrum, so I like to dilute the treble a bit and bring up the bass. In this respect, the Bose does admirably well when I set the bass at max and the treble at about 2 - 4. I then adjust the fader to favor a slight rearward speaker bias. The tweeters on the Bose system are still able to convey good highs while the back end deals with the lows. I'm a musician, and my ears are pretty tuned for sound and I've found the Bose very good.
Acoby@optonline.net
to go wash my hands after talking/shaking hands with
them. As for more objective things - 1) I've been refused a test drive because it was 20 mins before the closing time and the sales guy was just being lazy; 2) I went to test drive a Passat and the
guy did not know that they come in three trims GL, GLS and GLX - he only heard about GL and GLX; 3)
when I tried to ask what kind of a deal I could get on a Mazda6 they asked for MSRP with a straght face so I just said that I will look elsewhere.
My saleguy did float the MSRP price to me, but only as a first step.. we never got further because I wasn't ready under any circumstances to buy then. Who knows how much they would have come down if I was seriously making an offer.
I wonder if anyone planning to buy a 6 in the next month or two should be pushing for invoice, given the fact that the '04s are coming soon. I can see some resistance for the 6S manuals at that price, but the rest should be had for a song.. or shouldn't they?
But he was just there to walk me through the paces. Made the deal over the phone with the Internet sales girl, who worked with the sales manager. Very willing to deal. MSRP was like $25,800 or something and moved them to $23,600. The car was built in 3/03, so it had been on the lot for 2 months.
It's manual, and has everything except the chrome appearance package and sport grill. I was actually quite shocked I could get them that low (I'm not that smart!) especially since manual is in demand. Just lucky I guess. Maybe the trick is working the deal via the Internet sales folks... I actually think Edmunds said that worked best in an article they recently did on the topic.
Anyway, have about 1200 miles on it and it's tight as a drum, drives like a dream.
In case anyone is interested, Mazda told me they expect the 04's to be available in September/October. The rep I talked to didn't know if they were changing anything, but I would expect more manual transmission and sport package models to be built this time around. Hopefully they won't make the same mistake twice.
This is a tough one to answer but I'll give it a try.
The base stereo was pretty rotten at first with the tone controls set flat. However, after putting some hours on the speakers and changing the settings about a million times has made it sound much, much better.
The automatic level control is set to 1 or 2. This does more than just change the volume at different speeds ... it acts as a loudness control of sorts. There is definitely a change in the bass when this is turned on.
Fade is between R1 and R3. This muddies the bass frequencies just a tad but it also cuts down on the mid/upper frequency screech and sounds much more natural.
Bass is +3 or +4 depending on the music. Mid is +2 and treble is +2 or +3 depending on the music.
FWIW, my musical selections tend to be heavy into jazz and I usually don't try to rock or thump myself with the stereo ... but it does get loud.
When the music changes from jazz to something more bass driven then the treble control tends to get noched up a bit.
The system gets very loud when the windows are closed but won't really kick with the windows down.
Basically, it sounds ok for a base stereo in a reasonably priced car but it isn't going to impress anyone who is really serious.
Did that make any sense?
-So is there anyway to override the automatic level control? I'm assuming that there are individual settings for bass, treble, and the like.
Basically, it sounds ok for a base stereo in a reasonably priced car but it isn't going to impress anyone who is really serious.
-I'm curious as to how many watts there are, and whether the base system is solid compared to...say a Chevy Cavalier stereo. If not, then would the Bose system be a wise investment? I usually put in better speakers for the cars I've had in the past, and I've toyed w/getting a subwoofer for the Golf before deciding to ditch it.
I don't consider it a real hazzard...I know I'm careful enough in my driving to live with it, and definitely prefer the look of the car with the spoiler.
Yep. You can shut the automatic control off and the system has seperate bass and treble controls. The base stereo also has a midrange control, the bose does not.
"-I'm curious as to how many watts there are, and whether the base system is solid compared to...say a Chevy Cavalier stereo."
Sorry, I don't know...
"If not, then would the Bose system be a wise investment?"
Well it is one of the few bose systems I've heard that seems to sound like real music. I auditioned one in a Mazda6 with some dixieland and came away reasonably impressed for an upgrade that only costs a few bills more than the 6 disk changer. This is a real change of pace because the bose stuff usually isn't very nice.
If I listened to techo or rock at loud volumes it might have been a different impression, too. It wasn't being tested for total volume or massive bass response. But the trumpets/saxes/bass instruments all sounded pretty good and I was willing to spend the extra for the upgrade.
But Mazda wouldn't/won't add the bose upgrade without the sports package. At least not with leather and sunroof. Honestly, I'd have bought the car 3 months earlier if they would have let me order the car that way.
So it'll probably come down to me upgrading the speakers and probably adding an amp at some point. I REALLY wanted to avoid doing that. It would have been so easy if they'd have just built the car to order.
Mazda is seriously option challenged.
fowler3
As for Bose, I sat in an MZ6 for about 30 mins with my CD wallet with me. Played everything from classical to house and I came away impressed. You know a stereo is good when you hear instruments playing that you've never heard before in other cars.
Thanks in advance!
I read something interesting on Epinions about PIO. I remember reading something about this before, but I'm not sure what it meant. Here's what I found in a review:
-...but you can order the car however you like- Mazda doesn't impose any of its package restrictions on port installed options (PIO).
What exactly is PIO? My impression is that those are dealer-installed options, but I'm sure there's more to it. So would this technically mean that if I were to order a 6i off the lot with just ABS, that I could add options such as a moonroof and cassette player to be installed later? Or would certain options still be off limits? And would the prices on PIO's be closer to invoice? I'm curious about this, as it would make the decision to buy much easier and satisfying.
Also, a quick note. In terms of cost, I've been wrestling with either the Protege or the 6i. The Protege would certainly be cheaper to own and maintain, but it wouldn't quite bring that satisfaction of the 6 in terms of the value for the segment. I've been use to owning compact cars, and I'm leaning towards having something sturdier with the same "tossability". I can certainly see those traits in the 6, but I don't want to bury myself in terms of cost either. My VW is already up there in cost for the econo-box segment as is. Just a quick rambling.
Many of the port installed items CAN be dealer installed but generally the costs are a bit higher...Some of the port installed items cost the dealer more than MSRP from the factory for just the part and that does not include installation of the item, if needed (blame mazda, not the dealer).....so don't be surprised if the dealer installed prices dont match up with factory installed prices.
even though.. you didn't respond to my question about the last available date to order (the '03's before production shuts down) until it was too late!
I have to also agree with you & barryso, the Bose system rocks, very crisp & clear. Well worth the investment IMO.
I'm lucky in that my company has a partnership arrangement with Ford, Mazda, et al, where I can get Ford Employee pricing, no haggling. That, combined with my test drive of the 6, sold me on it.
I wanted a certain combination of options. Salesperson was very helpful, and we both checked the order to make sure that for any options included, I had any required options. I put down a small deposit, and placed the order.
Almost *four weeks* later, I got a call from the sales manager at the dealership, saying that the car could not be made as ordered. Reason was - get this - an "i" trim-level car could not be made with the combination of ABS and leather seating! (Mazda has no available documentation noting this, and the issue was supposedly not noted until the order was to be processed at the factory.) Actually, it could be made, but not without me ordering "about $3K more" worth of options.
The option they presented - they could have a 3rd party install leather seating for about $200 more. They're claiming it would still be covered under the 4 yr/50K bumper-to-bumper warranty.
I don't know about you folks, but I'm not keen about the leather seating being done after-market, and I have no idea how it gets covered under the warranty. I'm also not crazy about the fact that they want me to pay more for an issue caused by the company's inefficiency.
Any ideas on where to go from here? The ones I see right now are:
1) call another dealer to find out if the story is bull
2) try to negotiate them giving me the aftermarket leather for the original price (if I'm satisfied about the warranty)
3) try to get them to negotiate a deal on the "s", which comes w/ABS standard and could be ordered with the leather from the factory. (Price difference, apples to apples, is near $2000.)
4) contact Mazda USA directly and ask them what the deal is
Option 1 runs the risk of the other dealer either not being truthful or falling into the same trap. Option 2 introduces an option of unknown quality. Option 3 basically rewards Mazda's incompetence by me giving them more money. Option 4 could take a while and not yield anything.
In the big scheme of things, the $200 extra really isn't that much, it's just more the principal of the thing that's got me riled.
NOTE: at this point, both the salesperson and sales manager have been very easy to deal with, and I have no real reason to doubt their veracity. But this thing has soured what was an enjoyable buying experience. Thanks for letting me vent.
You may want to wait for the '04 model year, as Mazda may change some of the option packages.
As far as the aftermarket leather is concerned, it is a better quality leather than the manufacturer uses, and their are many more color options too. So, you are paying a little more, but you are getting a little more.
Not sure that I understand your warranty concerns though. Will Mazda fix damaged/torn leather under warranty?.. I wouldn't think so. Please explain.