Mazda6 Sedan

gordonwd

Ford recently had a mini-car-show in my company's parking lot, promoting the supplier discount that we are eligible for, which also now includes Jaguars and Mazdas. The only car there that really caught my eye was the Mazda6. I currently drive an A4 but am looking to replace it with something different and cheaper to maintain, but still fun to drive.

Does anyone know for sure where these cars are built? I think the old 626 was built in the Flat Rock plant, which is a major turnoff for me (not a big UAW fan!). I'm also looking at the TSX, which is built in Japan.

  Doug G

newcar31

Looks like you'll be going to the Acura dealer. The Mazda6 is built in Crack Rock, Michigan.

mazdamarla

yep - Flat Rock, Michigan.

robr2

What I meant is that it could have happened inadvertently, not that it isn't as bad. IMHO, too many people in general tend to take a pessimistic and negative view of everything that happens to them.

seaf

But a few months earlier there was a worker from the plant who posted here and said the Mazda team designed it and were very quality conscious about everything they do. So I'm optimistic about it. Most of the cars these days are built and tested by machines anyway, a lot fewer opportunities for human error to enter the equation.

newcar31

about the Flat Rock plant. The 626 was built there and with the exception of the Ford autotranny (not the fault of the union, or the Flat Rock plant), it has always been reliable.

Even considering that the Mazda6 is a new design, and it's built in Michigan by union workers, I'd still bet that it will be more trouble free than the average Audi A4.

chikoo

the front panel that goes over the wheel(fender panel) where is meets the door, there is a noticeable gap. and from that gap I can see black insulating foam lying loose between the outer panel and the inner panel and is more apparent at the bottom joint.

chikoo

Is it in Flat rock or some other "Engine" factory?

newcar31

The V6 is built in Cleveland. The 4 cyl is from south of the border.....I hope they use torque wrenches down there..lol

cop414

To seaf,
I posted the exact same question about 6 weeks ago. According to stretch you would have to reprogram the EPROM. (Was that it stretch?)-Which amounts to the main brain computer. I never thought of what you're saying-try changing it like you would program a pager or cell phone.
Please post if you figure anything out. I thought it would be nice to personalize the message with your name!
Taking my redfire 6i to NJ next week with my 2 kids for vacation-can't wait!!

mazda6s

Being optimistic and positive is a good thing, unless it distorts your perception of reality.

fuente

I was sold on Hondas but went to the Mazda dealer next door and the 6 put the Acura RSX and TSX and Honda Accord V-6 to shame. Horsepower does not = zoom zoom factor. I wave to everything in my rearview.

glideslopes

The Cleveland plant has quite a history. It is state of the art these days. If I'm not mistaken I believe the new Ford/Mazda/Volvo DOHC 24V 3.5 V6 for late 05 will be built there. This is going to be an engine to rival Nissans V6. Should be around 280 hp. Now wouldn't that be nice in an AWD 6?

qddave

I read about that engine the other day. It said nothing about Mazda, but you know they're going to put it in the 6, AWD or not.

If anyone is interested:
http://www.canadiandriver.com/news/030716-1.htm

fowler3

"Here's an idea - call a couple of upholstery shops and see if they can add some padding under the
factory seat cover. This would cost much less than aftermarket leather."

I tried that with my '98 Accord, which was a super pain in the butt every time I got in it. Not butt really, it was an agonizing back pain. On a trip I had to stop every 20 miles and get out.

The trim shop I went to said all Honda seats were too firm. They had one and couldn't do anything about it. But they tried to fix mine. Honda, and Mazda too probably, used high-density foam which doesn't give at all even when you press it with your fingers. The seat is molded as a solid block. They put in medium-density foam about an inch thick. It did nothing to change it. Lighter density foam will just compress when you sit on it.

I sold the Accord back to the dealer in 30 days. A loss I didn't mind at all. A week later I got two phone calls from HondaUSA.

Mazda's seats are firm, but not the rocks Honda uses. The seats in my Protegé have been very comfortable the past two years. They, too, are on the firm side, but are not painful. The side bolsters are flat making the seat wider. The ES has the sport seats with tight bolsters.

In the 6 I found the seats a little firmer but the center section gives when you drive over road imperfections, as if it has seat springs. And the seat cushion is a little shorter front to back than in the Protegé. Some owners might want to add padding in the front for better thigh support. The side bolsters grip a little tightly, but I could get use to that. Seats are like new shoes, they have to be broken in by the butt driving the car the most.

There's one other thing about the way Mazda designs seats, the backrest rolls under too soon at the bottom, which reduces lumbar support to zero, and this can cause lower back pain for some drivers. I use a small, thin pillow in the Protegé which corrected a minor pain problem. Very inexpensive fix.

In some cars I think they get mixed up between orthopedic and orthodontist when designing seats.;) If the latter, it will feel like a bite out of your rear.

fowler3

dinu01

So did you buy a 6?

If people only test-drove them...

Dinu

ian2

I found it to be in the perfect spot on the 6. I've only driven 1.5 hours at most though. However, I feel like I can go on for a few more hours without my body complaining. The 03 Accord on the other hand has a lumbar support that I find too high, so my back aches after only an hour of driving... only if I could move the cusion without moving the backrest. The seats on my 98 Civic has very limited adjustments, but I could easily drive 4 hours without taking a rest.

sevenseas

I recently used Edmund,s template to request a quote from local Mazda dealerships. Out of the four dealerships listed, 1 responded via what looked like an automated email response, another requested additional information such as options and colors, another did not respond at all (I believe it was Browning Mazda in Cerritos California) and the last was Galpin Mazda, Van Nuys, a rep. by the name of John who spent a few minutes discussing the vehicle, their interest in my trade in, financing and their competitive Fleet prices. None provided me an email quote based on the options listed in the template, as I had requested. I currently have an appointment with Galpin Mazda next Tuesday.

I was also told by John that they had the RX-8 in stock but I explained my strong interest in the Mazda 6 based on the vehicle being more roomy than the rx-8. In fact I had test driven a Nissan Sentra SER about a year ago and although I liked its power, overall I felt the car was cheap in materials and dated in looks. The Mazda 6s specs and looks meet my needs and I may purchase the vehicle.

I am hoping to get a Mazda 6 close to invoice with the 0% financing, which is currently being offered by Mazda until 9/2/03 (credit is good). Seems to me the 2003's should be discounted this late in the year. Any suggestions or comments are appreciated to improve my ability to get a good deal.

washdcm6er

I'd go to the dealership with Edmunds TMV reports in hand with the options that you want on the car. You should be able to get a 6 at invoice or no more than $300 over invoice (what I got) plus 0% financing. The first day I went to a Mazda dealership I had printed out general TMV reports with ballpark pricing. Once I picked out a car that I liked with the features I wanted, I test drove it and then let the dealership know I had to think about the car. They initially were offering the car to me at $700 under MSRP. I said I'd have to sleep on in.

That night I ran and Edmunds report with the exact options the car had. I went back the following day and I pulled out my print out of the car I was negotiating for and the dealership immediately offered the car to me at the Edmunds TMV, which was 500 over invoice and $1,800 under MSRP. I said that wasn't good enough and they knocked an additional 200 off. I accepted that deal. To this day I wonder what they would have done if I said..."I will pay invoice or this deal is a no go"...if you have great credit, demand to pay invoice at a dealership. There are other motivated Mazda dealerships out there if one doesn't want to give you a car at invoice.

ian2

I got my 6i 5MT with sport package fully-loaded through carsdirect at 100 below TMV and picked it up at Browning Mazda in Cerritos. I dealt with George, the fleet manager at Browning, and everything was handled very professionally. I'm not sure if I could've paid less for a model that's in such high demand!

newcar31

Before the engine was broken in, I had been getting 23-25 mpg in 70/30 city/highway mix. It has gradually started to get better and at the same time, I am gradually starting to drive the car harder. The last 3 tanks averaged 26.8 mpg which is excellent considering most of my driving is car pooling during rush hours. The A/C has been on the whole time.

Overall, I'm impressed with the mileage considering the size of the car and the power. The 2.3L has got lots of punch between 3000 rpm-6000 rpm. I've also noticed that after about 4000 rpm, the engine note changes and sounds meaner. I've experienced lots of 4 cyl cars, and this 4 cyl sounds really good.

vocus

88 Dodge Aries (used)
96 Chevy Cavalier (used)
99 Mazda Protege (new)
93 Bonneville SSE (used - bought for my mother)
01 Mazda Protege ES (new)
02 VW Jetta 1.8t (new)
03 Chrysler PT Cruiser Limited (new)

Learned earlier on that used cars were just a way of buying someone else's problems. And nowadays, it's about the same price for a new car with a warranty if you factor in the maintenance/repair costs from a used car. Used cars are also financed at a higher rate typically than new ones (especially with all the deals now).

carguy58

92 Ford Mustang(got from my Aunt. First car I ever had. That car got smashed up and the transmission went along with it a couple weeks later.)
98 Mazda 626 LX(lease purchase-purchased it a couple weeks after the trans went out in the Mustang.)
02 Acura CL Base(bought new)

The post above me(Vocus)has had 3 cars in 3 years. Thats alot of cars to own in a short period of time. Must have gotten a great deal on that PT Cruiser with the special financing or cash back though.

dinu01

89 Tercel DX 2DR HB Gold b/w April 1998 - June 1999: Not a chick magnet by any means, but was trouble free and got me to school in my last 2yrs of high school. Beats taking the bus, so I didn't complain. Besides, I didn't pay for it

93 Civic DX 2DR HB Black b/w June 1999 - July 2001: Good handling, not fast but nice to drive, except when it was in the shop to get various cooling system parts repaired - head gasket twice, cylinder head, rad, etc... A good car for college/university. My first black car and maybe my last.

01 Protege ES 4DR Silver b/w July - Present: Drove it for 2yrs until this summer when we had to get a 2nd car and while I still drive it occasionally, it's no longer my first ride. This is the car that made me an enthusiast and a Mazda fan and showed me how a car should handle (FWD at least).

91 Maxima GXE 4DR Grey - The current Dinumobile is a great highway cruiser and my first V6-powered car. Sucks less gas than anticipated, but it lacks steering feel, tossability and doesn't make me smile like the PRO does.

04/05 Mazda3 HB or Mazda6 Sedan: My next car. It will be a 5spd for sure Purchase date - 12-18 mths from now. Maybe 24 mths, but not longer.

03 RX-8: Wishful thinking.

Dinu

sevenseas

Thanks for the advice, by the way Browning Mazda finally responded, rep. Trisha stated she was out of the office for a couple days.

dinu01

For those w/the Sport AT

http://www.canadiandriver.com/articles/jk/030806.htm

Dinu

gee35coupe

1969 Beetle (my first car in 1987)
1972 SuperBeetle (never ran but was to replace my 1969 one)
1976 Toyota Corona Coupe (Bought while stationed in Japan)
1982 Toyota Tercel (When I crashed my Corona acting stupid)
1986 Mazda RX7 (Did 147 according to the speedo)
1992 Mazda B2200 (Slow)
1988 I think Mazda RX7 Turbo Anniversary Edition (Never ran right sold it in three months)
1992 MR2 Turbo (Ahh yess the car of dreams)
1982 Tercel SR5 (Loved that car from 100K miles to 200K miles and paid only $1500 for it.
1986 Toyota Celica (owned it for 4 months)
1993 Acura Vigor GS (very nice car that did 140 mph indicated)
1997 Toyota RAV4 (Completed the WHOLE lease on that one)
1990 Acura Integra (Bought for $2200 sold for $3600) It's a long story
1994 Acura Integra (Got rear ended)
1998 Honda Civic (Bought new but had paint issues so Honda bought it back sorta)
1987 Toyota FX16 (7500 redline ahhh Memories......)
1999 Honda Accord (5 speed cruiser. 125mph indicated for miles on end)
1987 Toyota Tercel (Saved it from the crusher)
1987 Toyota FX16 (This one was Silver... Ahh memories again)
1991 Acura Integra (I put a muffler on this one as opposed to the straight pipe on the first one)
1991 Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo (Couldn't drive it. Found out I didn't have the maturity for that kind of car.
1992 Acura Integra (Electric Blue stunner. Loved that car)
2000 Chevy Silverado (Stayed in the shop the first 4 weeks)
2001 Honda Accord V6 coupe (Very nice)
1991 Accord EX (Bought it and sold it 4 months later)
1993 Honda Civic (Surprisingly fast)
1994 Lexus LS400 (Still have that one)
1996 Honda Civic EX 4 door (Looked great on my Borbet Type C wheels)
1993 Honda Accord (5 speed white nice car)
2001 Mazda Protege (Great looking car)
2000 Honda Civic Si (Black little rocket)
2000 Honda Civic Si (Blue little rocket)
2002 Civic Si (Totalled in 1500 miles)
2002 Civic Si (Awesome little car. I miss it)
2003 Honda Accord (Still have it)
1995 Lexus GS300 (Tired of it looking at Elements or ANYTHING else)
1997 Dodge Dakota (whew)
I think that's it. Until I find out what I'm gonna get rid of my GS for.

shankm

What is the top speed for the mazda 6s V6 manual trans., mine cuts off at 120mph.

fedlawman

1979 Alfa Romeo Spider
1986 Honda CRX Si
1988 Honda CRX-Si
1991 Nissan Sentra SE-R
1994 Mazda Miata
1989 Ford Escort
1991 Ford Crown Vic
1993 Honda Accord
2002 Buick Rendezvous
2004 Acura TSX

chikoo

I have heard of Gold Package, but looks like I got the real GOLD pkg



It rained right after I finshed Polishing my car using Klasse

dinu01

http://d1gp.com/

http://www.mazdaextremestreet.com/d1gp/images/multimedia/Car07_th- umb.jpg

Dinu

dinu01

http://www.topgear.com/content/my_topgear/duffers/mazda/02/

http://www.topgear.com/content/my_topgear/duffers/mazda/03/

Do you guys have this issue?

Dinu

mazda6s

I've seen Mazdas in some European races (on the tube), but can't tell if they're Protege or Mazda6.

Anybody know???

dinu01

I have seen PROs on Speed many times and I enjoy watching those races, but no 6s. If anyone has any info where we can catch some M6s racing, please post!

Dinu

dinu01

Add Romania to that list of countries where the M6 was voted Car of the Year. In this case 10/16 judges rated the M6 #1 with their favourite factors being "a remarkable design, a choice of many performance-oriented engines, and excellent handling".

http://www.mazda.com.ro/view_comunicat.php?id=13

Dinu

PS: I don't wanna hear any comments from the H-camp saying "It doesn't count since it wasn't in the US"

pat

P.S. If you don't bring it up, why would they?

Point being that it is just as incumbent upon M6 enthusiasts to keep this discussion on topic as it is anyone else. "Pre-emptive strikes" are no more appropriate than any other off-topic comments.

See what I mean?

: )

dinu01

Good afternoon to you too!

Now back to the CART race!

Dinu

fowler3

the difference between the GFX on the Sport Package and the Appearance Package -- look at Chikoo's photos. You can see the "line", actually the separation point between the add-on appearance front dam (Silver pic) and the rear skirt (Gold pic). The bumper facia (cap) is the standard 6S model. Not that this is bad, I think it (the Appearance version) looks better than the Sport version.

Beautiful car, Chikoo! Good wax job!

fowler3

jhtlag

Weird, I can actually gist the Mazda6 review in Romanian. Is it based on Latin? some of the words are the same as French, others look Italian. Then again, "manevrabilitate excelenta" is pretty easy to understand as an English speaker. Hmmmm.

lag

mazdamarla

Well, I just re-filled my car on Saturday (no gas gushes this time thankfully), and my gas mileage on that prior tank of gas was 25.35 mpg. I'm pleased.

And by the way, my "low fuel" light came on, and when I filled up until the pump turned off automatically, I put in 14.584 gallons in my car. Our car has a 18-gallon gas tank, right? So I still could have (theoretically) driven another ~85 miles before going completely empty, right? (Not that I'd do that - it's just nice to know that you can get ~450 miles total on 1 tank of gas.)

I'll continue to track my mpg to see if it improves as time goes on - I'm up to 1000 miles on my car now.

mazdamarla

Oh - and by the way - that was pretty much 100% city driving, too.

chikoo

>>> I think it (the Appearance version) looks better than the Sport version.
Beautiful car, Chikoo! Good wax job!<<<<

I too think that the app pkg is better than the sport pkg, especially from the rear. Not to mention that I did not like the black interior that came with the sports pkg., nor was I a fan of the harder riding 17".

chikoo

who btw are, u guessed it, Toyota and Honda "appliance users".

Both of them were kinda "shocked" at the interior appointments, including the dash. And then I took them for a ride when it was dark. And they were floored by the cool backlight.

They could not stop admiring the interior choice of black dash & grey leather with silver interior. In fact the honda guy remarked that it has now become so commonplace to use wood trim that u no longer feel like looking at it. "commonplace" is the word he used for woodtrim.

seaf

Also showed my new Mazda6 to Honda & Toyota (and recently VW passat) owners. And they commented on the nice interior, also the large trunk space, 4wheel disc brakes, and quietness of the engine.

cookie01

I spend a bunch of time at Ford dealerships this week (two) while my hubby thought about, then purchased an Explorer Sport Trac.
Thought it was a fluke when the first guy at the first dealership was oogling my M6. Asked me tons of questions about it and went on and on about how good it looked.
But then when we went to another dealer (to get an upgraded Sports Trac model and the right color) both the sales guy (sort of a dork) and the Sales Manager were asking me stuff like "how does it drive?" " what have you taken it up to?" "You got Bose???" etc, etc, it was to the point where I thought the sales manager was about to ask me if he could take it for a spin!! ha!
p.s. he drives a beemer.

newcar31

When my Dad first went for a ride in my 6i, he couldn't believe how well it rode and handled. My parents have a 2003 I35 that rides worse and handles worse than my Mazda6. My Mom had to have something more luxury than her Camry when they bought the I35, but my Dad actually likes my car better. He likes the interior better because it looks more modern, and has no leather (he doesn't like leather). He also likes the ride/handling better. The suspension of the Mazda6 is hands down 10 times better than the I35, which rides like crap and doesn't even handle very well. The I35 isn't THAT much bigger than the Mazda6, but it feels like driving a Crown Vic after getting out of the 6....which wouldn't be bad if it only had the ride quality of a Crown Vic. The 3.5L has the power of a V8, but it burns gas like a V8 too. Too bad my parents never utilize all that power.

dinu01

It's the language with the largest percentage of "pure" latin words still in use today,. Very similar to Italian and French, hence we can understand Italian ok and I can speak French

Chikoo: Your M6 looks great!!!

Ashu: Seen yours on cardomain (I think that was the site). Nice!!!

Dinu

cookie01

1987 light blue Accord hatchback used (82)drivers seat sorta tilted to the side..

1989 white ford escort GT new! Blast to drive and my first car with AC. (even my parents never got a/c in their cars.)

1995 light blue Dodge Stratus. Had a new baby and needed four doors. Hated that car, tons of quality and build issues

2000 leased dark blue Impala. Loved it. Would have got another when the lease was up, but the interior has not been upgraded and you can't get blue cloth anymore...sigh.

2003 the M6... should be keeping this about 5 years if it holds up nicely.

6_is_good

In response to a few questions:(I know this is behind the current topic but I was away for the weekend)

I just moved to New Albany Ohio(just outside Columbus) into a gated apartment complex. However, the keying incident occured the first night I was there. I believe the scratch was intentional. There is one long scratch down the fender to the door. There is a second scratch directly above the door handle that is very deep and about 6 inches long. I think it was put there to make sure I noticed the car was scratched.

The estimate came to 1100 dollars.

I will be geting it fixed next week through Progressive and a nearby autoshop. I will have to get a rental while that gets worked on.

seaf

Most Mazda6's should be around invoice right now, unless it's a V6 MT or one with sport package.