Test drove the MazdaSpeed 6 today! (56k)

[zythum24]

Finally did it. I went with a family relative to the dealership, since he knew the owner. We played like I was probably going to buy one, this way I could get the test drive, plus he'd let me drive alone since my relative and the guy are close friends.
I'm sure you've seen the exterior. Hood looks mean, at least compared to the regular 6.











Wheel and tire combo looks decent, the wheels could be a little better looking.


Projector headlights look incredible.





Pretty nice interior, comfortable leather, felt a bit like sitting in my current 6.


The stitching added a great touch of class to the interior. Dash was comfortable to look at, although I did feel like the gauge cluster area was a little bit busy when car was turned on.



Like an idiot I asked my relative to join me (and my wife was in the car as well..jeez). I was still able to rip into it a bit. Holy hell, it had PLENTY of power. Except for really low-end rpm's in first, it was extremely responsive. When I say low end, I mean like 1500 rpms. Beyond that I had to control myself.

We hit 80 on the highway and I barely felt it getting there, and it only took about 5 seconds to get there (not from zero obviously). First time I drove a 6-speed.


I felt like I didn't need 6 gears, although I'm sure it's good for cruising at high speeds (?).
Gas Mileage was pretty decent considering you are getting 274hp.



Sat down with the "Master Agent" and we spoke about pricing. I told him I was interested in leasing because I don't want to finance and I don't have 30k. We built a car, leather, moonroof, heated everything, black on black. They are offering a $2000 incentive, which gets deducted into the purchase or the lease payments. He asked me if I would be trading in my 6, I flinched inside, and then I said it wouldn't be worth it to give to him since I wouldn't get much for it. He offered me $500 for it.
We took it out of the equation.
After running some numbers, he told me that if I put down $3500 (that's with the taxes and first months payment) my monthly payments would be..
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$419 per month (after that incentive which comes out to $40 per month-he even claimed it was a discount because of my family friend-I was thinking that this guy was an idiot, so I asked him about the incentive and he goes, yeah, that's in there too.)
He had the nerve to tell me that although he knows that its high, the people that are shopping for the MS6 are the same people that are also looking at BMW's and Jaguars. I felt like telling him that if I wanted to spend this amount of money I doubt I'd be price comparing a BMW and a Mazda, but I bit my tongue.
I asked him about scheduled maintenance and he got nervous! HA! "Mazda isn't offering any maintenance programs at this time."

I asked him how quickly I could get it and he said the offer is good until Tuesday night and I could be driving Wednesday.
I took his card and told him that I have to convince the wife.
All in all I say it's a great car. I don't think I'd lease it though. After 48 months, my total payments would have been 23k, might as well buy it and in 4 years I am sure I could get over 10k for it. I think they made it a limited production because that might push sales. If they were a dime a dozen going for upwards of $450 (Navigational system would have put it way over 5, and there were some other goodies that I didn't take) I doubt that people would bite.
Good times though, worth the trip.

[midnightMX6]

Awesome cars, I would love to test drive one. How did the awd feel? did you get a chance to launch it at all....

[zythum24]

Unfortunately I had to behave a little. I did feel like I was hugging the road though. That grip was incredible.

[max626]

Sounds like you had fun, and from the looks of it thats one be opening in the grill to let air in lol

[colyeser24]

I drove it too. Twice already, once back to back with a regular 6 V6.

I love the way it handles. I can see myself getting lots of speeding tickets in it though. I took a turn in a 45 mile an hour speed limit at over 70 miles an hour without noticing. (Didn't look at the gauges) You don't notice speed in that car. Basically little to no body roll too. (part of the reason it's harder to judge speed)

Don't know if I would want that as a daily driver though. It's much bouncier. Even compared to the regular 6 V6. You really notice the difference driving the two back to back. (which is why I wanted to do it that way) You really notice when you focus on the HVAC controls or the radio LCD. As a passenger you even notice more than as a driver. I wish it had a setting where I could adjust the springs from sport mode to daily driving mode.

(I guess I have to wait for the Bose suspension or Bose suspension (bose website) to come out on cars)

The clutch is kinda weird. (granted I haven't been driving stick for long, so it's IMHO) I couldn't drive the car smooth from a dead stop, or changing between gears. On the regular 6 V6 I had no problem. The dealer drove it smoother, but not smooth either. My friend drove the Mazdaspeed smooth though. (she drove stick all her life though ) So maybe it's just the driver, although the stealership admitted to that too. They attributed it to being "sporty"

I can't say much about the turbo, because I'm not qualified, as I've never owned a turbo car and this is only the third car I've ever driven with a turbo. There is a bit of lag compared to V6's I'm used to driving that have power from the getgo, but that thing is very rev-happy. I'm above 4500 rpm very easily. It feels a bit slower unless I rev, but that might be a 4 banger vs. V6. (again I'm not very qualified to speak about turbo's) There is noticeably less lag than the Neon SRT4 I drove a while ago. The sound is very civil even when the car is rev'ed high. (almost kinda quiet, more car like than turbo like) In terms of sound I'd prefer the SRT4 (minus the popping noise) But the car is ment to be more civil as it's there to compete with Lancer b-spec and the Audi's rather than STi's and Evo's. I'd say it's more grown up and more of a sleeper than the other two.

You can barely notice the styling differences unless you know what you're looking for. The lip spoiler is barely noticeable and the differntly shaped rear bumper doesn't stick out much either. (Although I'd prefer the stock bumper for the ultimate Q-ship.) Front end is barely noticeable. The higher hood only sticks out when you have the car right next to the regular 6. Other than that it looks pretty much like it's supposed to be there.

The steering wheel is smaller than on the regular 6. Quite noticeably. Not too bad though. I could get used to it. Just weird at first having my arms so close together.

The exhaust sounds awesome. Not like a ricer at all. I had my friend with me (who absolutely hates ricer exhausts) and she loved it. Qouting her it sounds like a "cat purring". Very subtle and refined. Gosh I love that sound. (maybe a tad bit on the quiet side) The outlets are normal size (less than 2") by the way. The big cans you see in pictures are actually "fake". They're stainless rings attached to the bumper having absolutely nothing to do with the actual exhaust. (There is probably 1 1/2" of space between the two)

By the way the trunk doesn't fold down on the Mazdaspeed. (I've read on the Mazda6 forum though, that it still has all the functions of folding down hidden under the cloth and it's possible to reactivate them. They think it's to show "performance". The opening is supposedly smaller though because of the additional bracing.

The dealer also told me, that if I don't care about heated seats, it's cheaper to get aftermarked leather and it's higher quality too. Two tone and everything is available in the aftermarket. They quoted me a price of around $1000 for aftermarket installed.

Wonder how bad the insurance difference is between the Mazdaspeed and the regular 6 V6?

How's that for a more complete writeup?

-M