coakleysd: Is that $1200 for just the front driver and passenger seats? If so, it seems kind of high to me. Did you have purchase your 6s from the dealers lot or did you order it? For $860 MSRP you could have had all leather seats, though black, with heated fronts and electric adjust driver's.
I wish that was the only cost for leather seats. There's also the required comfort package, ($220 MSRP). The moonroof generally goes with it ($700 MSRP), and I think most of the time if you get those, you also get the Bose, another $635. All that adds up quickly.
I'd like leather seats, but doing so would up the price by $2400 in order to get everything else that comes with it. I might go with aftermarket leather too, especially since you can get something other than straight up black.
oolman02: You're right I forgot that the heated leather you need the Cmfrt pkg, (heated seats & door mirrors) at $220 MSRP. So that makes it $860 + $220 = $1080 all around leathers vs $1200. I didn't know you needed a moonroof option and/or Bose too. When I initially orderd a 6s MT w/sprt pkg the sales manager took my order and asked if I wanted the following too, but they were not required or tied to oother options that had to be ordered: leather, cmfrt pkg, Bose and mnrf all as separate line items. Not unless ordering or option requirements have changed since Jan '03. I also thought I saw a couple (Sepang Green & Steel Gray) of 6s w/leather, w/o mnrf (didn't check if they had Bose) at the dealer's lot last week when I had my 6s in for scheduled maintenance. Either way, the leather gives a nice appeal on anyones 6 no matter the color.
Actually, you're right. I checked some of the inventory are there are a few that didn't have the Bose as well, and I even found one that has leather and no moonroof. It just seems most of the time Mazda put the two together, maybe they are finally wising up to all our complaining and are starting to make them more separate.
Although $1080 sounds like a lot, thats only 5% of a $22000 car. That's a small price to pay for as much time as we spend in our cars. Maybe I should reevaluate my selection of cloth seats.
toolman02: Go for it! What specs are you looking for on your 6? If you order the sprt pkg you get only a black interior, which isn't so bad. The seat surfaces are perforated so it shouldn't get that hot. I don't know how the seats will feel this summer, but I've ridden in a friends Bimmer with black interior w/perforated leather seats and it didn't feel that hot during the warm/hot summer. Good luck on your selection, belive me you won't regret it.
toolman01: I have the upgrade and it works when someone breaks your windows, bumps or tries to move your car when armed. Gives you a little added peace of mind I guess. I heard that the sensitivity can be adjusted, but haven't tried that yet. I also received a discount from my insurance company for this added feature. Do you need to get the Premium pkg as well as the Sports pkg on the 6i? Good luck and I hope you Zoom-Zoom soon!
>Do you need to get the Premium pkg as well as the Sports pkg on the 6i?
Do I need it? No. Do I want it? Yes.
I went ahead and got the factory leather and moonroof instead of the aftermarket leather, just to make things easier. So I got everything in my previous post, plus the Leather/Comfort/Moonroof, and the alarm shock upgrade. It should be around $21650. Is that a steal or what?
Has anyone that had to get the Bose audio due to option bundling changed out the speakers and the sub yet? I was wondering what you did and if its possible to swap out the Bose Sub. I heard its 9 inch and I have never seen an aftermarket sub of that size.
IIRC, Bose uses a weird impedance setting for their amps (2 Ohms - less common - or something else) which limits (or eliminates!) your choices when it comes to upgrades. Is this accurate?
Sorry forgot to ask if anyone has tried a amp change with the Bose speaker change out? That way you can avoid the weird impedance that the Bose Amp uses.
m6owneroneday: I think you'll have a hard time finding someone who's changed out the Bose system, even if they didn't really want it. Why shell out $600 and then replace the speakers?
True but I would want the 6 disc changer which is $500 already. So the BOSE upgrade would give me the preouts from what I hear. I don't like using Line out Converters. Plus I am picky about my audio. I am looking into Klipsch speakers for my computer. If thats any indication to how much I would spend on audio.
Hi everyone. I'm going to be adding the factory foglights to my steel grey 6s beauty. Is this something that I can or should do myself? I'm pretty technical minded (chemical engineer) and can follow instructions if that counts for anything :-)
The dealer wants an arm and a leg both for price AND labor. If I can save by doing installation myself, then I'd also spring for a shiny new sports grille!
I second the motion, if anyone knows what is involved with the installation of the factory fog lamps and sports grill that would be great. Ir eally don't want to have to pay for installation, I just want to make sure they don't do anything nuts like void my warranty. Any help on this would be great
seretse & milkman1: I have the 6s w/Sprt pkg fog lights but may add the lower f/l later. Not sure what comes in the fog light kit, such as relay(s), switches, wire harness, lamp housing w/bulbs, fuses, brackets, terminals etc. Some vehicles (like my Rodeo) already come prewired/with mounting brackets and wired to a power source for fog lights so you don't have to fish the wires and cut/drill holes. Probably can be installed with basic tools for DIY'fers. My 6s came with the sports grille already, but probably basic tools are sufficient and appears to be easy to remove the old chrome and installing the sports grille according to the owner's that have done it on previous posts. The screws are all accessible. Good luck!
I was thinking about getting the shock sensor upgrade and installing it myself (www.mazdastuff.com) has these for $44. I was wondering if anyone else has done this and how difficult it may be. I don't want to be taking apart the dashboard to put this alarm in. For those of you that have it installed, are you pleased with it?
hallwayz: What "additional Atenza parts" parts are you referring to? Not too many different parts from what I can tell between the Atenza and the 6. http://www.corksport.com has some, such as the rear "Atenza" badging, clear rear lights/lens.
I installed a 12" subwoofer in the spare tire well today. I'm still waiting for some expanding foam insulation to dry before I can trim it down. While I wait...
Take a look at the first picture. A 12" subwoofer is the largest that will fit, and even then mounting depth may be a problem. I installed the subwoofer on the top end of the trunk, as a center mount is impossible due to a bulge in the well. That bulge, however, is extremely important- the screw used to keep the spare tire in place is also used to keep my subwoofer in place. In the rear of the car, the well has many, many curves, but I did my best to create a piece of wood that outlined the rear of the car and I mounted that to my main baffel. I'm sure it isn't air tight, but the rear should act somewhat like a speaker port.
My baffel was 28 1/2 inches wide and a little over 28 inches long. I cut the sides and front at a 15 degree angle to coincide with the slope of the well (which is more like 30 degrees, but I wanted space for my foam). Since this baffel will bear weight when the trunk is full, cutting an 11" hole for my 12" subwoofer was not an option. Instead, I cut a design, with the largest hole being 2" in diameter in the center. It's a poor design, and isn't what I had originally planned. Nonetheless, it lets an adequate amount of air through and still will bear lots of weight above.
Since I mounted the subwoofer directly against the bottom of the baffel, the woofer surround laid up against the wood. This completely prohibits woofer cone movement, so I used a router to bore out room for the cone to move. I bore out 2 layers of the 5-ply, 3/4" wood, about 3/8". I calculated this to give me nearly half an inch of woofer excursion, which is more than the Xmax of my relatively inexpensive Infinity subwoofer.
Once the woofer, baffel, and back was assembled and glued, I put it in place and ran this expanding foam all around the edges. I really used a lot to ensure no rattles. The foam dries hard and can be sanded and cut. I will need to cut it once it dries to get a nice smooth, continues surface, and I can furthermore cut it again if I ever need to remove the subwoofer (and repair/replace it). Not an elegent solution, but my best one.
The sound is fantastic- much better than my box. The gain is incredible since the back of the enclosure is the car- steel, not plastic. Not only is their massive gains from this, but despite the gains it does not sound boomy- at all. The steel enclosure is rigid enough to give me nice, clean bass that fills the cabin.
Does anyone know if it would be possible to change or add to the digital readout when you start the car. I think it would be great if you could add to the "hello" that comes on the screen, like your name. I bet there is an easy way to do this once someone figures it out-kind of like programming any other electronic gadget-hold down this button for so many seconds, then use that button to choose different letters, you know what I mean. You can't tell me that most 6 owners haven't thought about this yet! The car is fantastic and this would just give it all the more "wow" to non owners. Come on you computer geeks-let's get on this. PS- I have a redfire 6 with the sport pkg, premium pkg, leather and the moonroof. I love this car. Zoom Zoom...
Has anyone had a squeak/rattle coming from the passenger compatment area. It's not the infamous sunglass holder. It sounds like two pieces of plastc rubbing together-it's nothing that I can find while driving-believe me I've tried. When I stop the car to check it everything seems extremly tight. Next step is to have my girlfriend drive it while I check around. She think's I'm nuts, and I guess when it comes to my cars I have to agree. Any suggestions-1200 miles and this seems to be the only problem so far.
cop414 & jason777: Sorry to hear of your squeak and rattle problems with your 6. I've had my 6s MT for about 3 months and haved logged almost 5K fun, trouble-free miles. This car is built solid! With all the potholes and ruts on the New England roads that I've encountered I still don't have any of the problems that others, like yourselves are experiencing. I even hit a deep pothole last week at highway speed (75mph), fearing that I damaged my driver's front tire or rim and screwed my alignment. Just a black tire mark rubbed that bottomed against the rim's edge (whew!)was all that happened.
mazda6sam: Try this one, http://www.mazdaformance.com/mazda6.htm The brushed fuel foor was port installed when I purchased my 6s. They also left the oringinal in my trunk so that I could switch it out depending on my mood. It looks fairly simple/straight forward to replace. The original looks you remove a couple of screws to take out the door and the brush assembly door slips in the opening with the door frame is fastened by 6 screws and nuts around the opening edge. The door is actually smaller than the original because it has a brushed frame around it, but does not hamper/affect when refueling. Also, there's a sticker on the inside of the door that states: PREMIUM RECOMMENDED.Good luck!
I have to agree on the filler door-very tacky-I guess if you're in with the backwards baseball cap-baggy pants crowd-but I think the style of the car looks "compromised" with it-just looks like something you'd pick up at K Mart. BTW has anyone tried to get a key made by your dealer-I should have tossed that into the deal at closing-they want $70.00 to cut the key and program it. I have the alarm system-I don't know if that makes it more expensive or not, but WOW!
I didn't know it was that expensive but the salesman did tell us not to lose them because they are expensive. They are security chip keys to protect against hot wiring/theft and are for all models with or without the alarm.
To each his/her own. Before I purchased my 6s I thought I would never add the chrome or satin fuel filler door (mines already came with it installed). I had thought about switching it out but it grew on me and it doesn't look that bad after all. It sets it apart in appearance from the original ordinary fuel door. It contrast nicely with the darker color car, but still looks good on the lighter ones too. Have received several compliments on it as well as the car itself. I have the original in case I want to switch it out, which won't be for a long while or not at all. And no, I don't think you would find something like this at K-mart. If you haven't taken a real close look at one or felt one you'll see it is good quality that's made of thick aluminum and has a hard clear anodized satin finish.
alcjew- sorry I didn't mean to "ruffle your feathers"-to each his own I guess!! I have never seen one up close, I'm sure that they are of good quality, I just don't care for the looks of it.
I have seen plenty up close and I know they aren't flimsy, I was simply speaking from aesthetics. Of course, it's my opinion and I never expected anyone to agree with me. In SoCal, we have lots of these "hot imports" (any other nomenclature gets me in trouble) and they always go for cheesy chrome add-ons so it just reminds me of that.
Do any of you no if mazda or someone else has came out with a performance chip, or a differnt dash mount so you can put an aftermarket cd player in the car.
buddy 2- The only place I know of for preformance chips is-superchips.com. I have checked their site and they do not offer any chips for the 6. I did not contact them though to see if they will in the future. If you do find a source please post. Thanks
I don't yet have a 6, but I plan on getting one soon. My only concern is being able to use my portable MP3 player in the car. In past experience using one of those tape adaptors has lead to pretty crappy sound. Pictures I've seen of the dash lead me to believe putting in a new head unit is not possible. So my question is would it be possible to add an Aux input I could plug my MP3 player into? Say I get the BOSE audio package with the 6-disc in dash, but I don't get a cassette player. Will there be an unused input I could turn into an Aux input somehow? Has anyone done this? Thanks.
There are inputs. You'll probably have to wire a jack to them. I don't know how the head unit works, but hopefully you can select the source from it, which will simplify your wiring job as you don't have to add a switch to the jack to tell the head unit to switch to it as the source.
Having test driven the Accord, CRV, Audi A4 and the Mazda 6i, my wife and I really like the Mazda (4 cylinder manual) best. Unfortunately, similar to others' experiences that I've read on this board, we can't get the car configured exactly as we want it (i.e., fully loaded except for the sport package).
Our test car had the sport package, and it seemed generally quiet, the main noise being tire noise on the highway. I understand that the 17 inch wheels that come with the sport package are a bit noisier than 16 inch wheels.
Does anyone have any idea how much difference there would be, and whether it is technically possible to change to the 16's if we want (the dealer suggested that the sport package suspension is tuned differently, and that it might not be possible, but this seems odd to me).
Would the Accord (yes, I know it's a much more boring car) be a lot more quiet? A little? The same?
I think they're interchangeable. Also, look for quieter tires, which may cause you to lose some lateral handling response to get the softer sidewalls. It also may compromise snow traction (continuous treads quiet a tire and improve mpg but get no "bite" on snow).
Comments
I wish that was the only cost for leather seats. There's also the required comfort package, ($220 MSRP). The moonroof generally goes with it ($700 MSRP), and I think most of the time if you get those, you also get the Bose, another $635. All that adds up quickly.
I'd like leather seats, but doing so would up the price by $2400 in order to get everything else that comes with it. I might go with aftermarket leather too, especially since you can get something other than straight up black.
Although $1080 sounds like a lot, thats only 5% of a $22000 car. That's a small price to pay for as much time as we spend in our cars. Maybe I should reevaluate my selection of cloth seats.
Redfire 6i MT (or yellow)
Premium & Sport Packages
ABS & SAB, ULEV
MP3 Player, Sport Grille, Wheel Locks
oh, and Leather
Invoice is $20,737... I'd gladly put myself into debt if they offered $500 over that.
I was also thinking about the shock sensor upgrade, but I can't find much information on it or how well it works.
Do I need it? No. Do I want it? Yes.
I went ahead and got the factory leather and moonroof instead of the aftermarket leather, just to make things easier. So I got everything in my previous post, plus the Leather/Comfort/Moonroof, and the alarm shock upgrade. It should be around $21650. Is that a steal or what?
The Bose doesn't sound THAT bad.
The dealer wants an arm and a leg both for price AND labor. If I can save by doing installation myself, then I'd also spring for a shiny new sports grille!
Advice please.
My 6s came with the sports grille already, but probably basic tools are sufficient and appears to be easy to remove the old chrome and installing the sports grille according to the owner's that have done it on previous posts. The screws are all accessible. Good luck!
thanks
Shawn
Click here.
Take a look at the first picture. A 12" subwoofer is the largest that will fit, and even then mounting depth may be a problem. I installed the subwoofer on the top end of the trunk, as a center mount is impossible due to a bulge in the well. That bulge, however, is extremely important- the screw used to keep the spare tire in place is also used to keep my subwoofer in place. In the rear of the car, the well has many, many curves, but I did my best to create a piece of wood that outlined the rear of the car and I mounted that to my main baffel. I'm sure it isn't air tight, but the rear should act somewhat like a speaker port.
My baffel was 28 1/2 inches wide and a little over 28 inches long. I cut the sides and front at a 15 degree angle to coincide with the slope of the well (which is more like 30 degrees, but I wanted space for my foam). Since this baffel will bear weight when the trunk is full, cutting an 11" hole for my 12" subwoofer was not an option. Instead, I cut a design, with the largest hole being 2" in diameter in the center. It's a poor design, and isn't what I had originally planned. Nonetheless, it lets an adequate amount of air through and still will bear lots of weight above.
Since I mounted the subwoofer directly against the bottom of the baffel, the woofer surround laid up against the wood. This completely prohibits woofer cone movement, so I used a router to bore out room for the cone to move. I bore out 2 layers of the 5-ply, 3/4" wood, about 3/8". I calculated this to give me nearly half an inch of woofer excursion, which is more than the Xmax of my relatively inexpensive Infinity subwoofer.
Once the woofer, baffel, and back was assembled and glued, I put it in place and ran this expanding foam all around the edges. I really used a lot to ensure no rattles. The foam dries hard and can be sanded and cut. I will need to cut it once it dries to get a nice smooth, continues surface, and I can furthermore cut it again if I ever need to remove the subwoofer (and repair/replace it). Not an elegent solution, but my best one.
The sound is fantastic- much better than my box. The gain is incredible since the back of the enclosure is the car- steel, not plastic. Not only is their massive gains from this, but despite the gains it does not sound boomy- at all. The steel enclosure is rigid enough to give me nice, clean bass that fills the cabin.
All in all, I'm pretty pleased.
Come on you computer geeks-let's get on this.
PS- I have a redfire 6 with the sport pkg, premium pkg, leather and the moonroof. I love this car. Zoom Zoom...
Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory
Or,
EEPROM
Electricaly Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory
It's where the smarts of your car is at.
The seat belts are causing quite a bit of rattling in mine at the moment, it is at the very bottom of the belt.
Hope this helps.
Jason.
Genuine Mazda Euro Clear Tail Lights 03
Code: 0000-8Z-H15
Price: $217.50
cop414 & jason777: Sorry to hear of your squeak and rattle problems with your 6. I've had my 6s MT for about 3 months and haved logged almost 5K fun, trouble-free miles. This car is built solid! With all the potholes and ruts on the New England roads that I've encountered I still don't have any of the problems that others, like yourselves are experiencing. I even hit a deep pothole last week at highway speed (75mph), fearing that I damaged my driver's front tire or rim and screwed my alignment. Just a black tire mark rubbed that bottomed against the rim's edge (whew!)was all that happened.
thanks
Thanks for the pricing but the link is dead. Also, do you have the brushed fuel filler door? I posted already.
The brushed fuel foor was port installed when I purchased my 6s. They also left the oringinal in my trunk so that I could switch it out depending on my mood. It looks fairly simple/straight forward to replace. The original looks you remove a couple of screws to take out the door and the brush assembly door slips in the opening with the door frame is fastened by 6 screws and nuts around the opening edge. The door is actually smaller than the original because it has a brushed frame around it, but does not hamper/affect when refueling. Also, there's a sticker on the inside of the door that states: PREMIUM RECOMMENDED.Good luck!
BTW has anyone tried to get a key made by your dealer-I should have tossed that into the deal at closing-they want $70.00 to cut the key and program it. I have the alarm system-I don't know if that makes it more expensive or not, but WOW!
And no, I don't think you would find something like this at K-mart. If you haven't taken a real close look at one or felt one you'll see it is good quality that's made of thick aluminum and has a hard clear anodized satin finish.
sorry I didn't mean to "ruffle your feathers"-to each his own I guess!! I have never seen one up close, I'm sure that they are of good quality, I just don't care for the looks of it.
The only place I know of for preformance chips is-superchips.com. I have checked their site and they do not offer any chips for the 6. I did not contact them though to see if they will in the future. If you do find a source please post.
Thanks
Our test car had the sport package, and it seemed generally quiet, the main noise being tire noise on the highway. I understand that the 17 inch wheels that come with the sport package are a bit noisier than 16 inch wheels.
Does anyone have any idea how much difference there would be, and whether it is technically possible to change to the 16's if we want (the dealer suggested that the sport package suspension is tuned differently, and that it might not be possible, but this seems odd to me).
Would the Accord (yes, I know it's a much more boring car) be a lot more quiet? A little? The same?
Thanks for any information and suggestions.
Ken