The stylish interior got good reviews. All of us liked the feel of the steering wheel and its easy-to-use radio and cruise-control buttons. Not so popular was the titanium-colored center-dash console where the HVAC and radio switchgear are located; the knobs are hard to see, too uniform in size, and not easy to use. Bedard put it best when he wrote, “As much as I like the styling of the HVAC and music controls, I keep turning the radio-station knob when I intend to adjust the temperature.” Others picked away at the placement of the seat-heater switches on the forward face of the center-armrest console. They were hard to find, and the amount of heat they generated was widely debated. They seemed to work fine for some drivers, they seemed to work poorly for others, and at least one editor said he could feel nothing (probably our insensitive managing editor). The large cup holders in the door panels drew huzzahs for their ability to hold big bottles and super-size pops.
The owner’s manual calls for the first service at 7500 miles. The dealer changed the oil and oil filter, rotated the tires, and handed us a tab for a reasonable $23. The manual calls for three identical services at 15,000, 22,500, and 37,500 miles, and they came to $25, $31, and $31, respectively. And respectably. The one big-deal service at 30,000 miles looked like the governor’s heating bill for the month of January—$333. It included a long list of inspections and the routine oil and oil-filter changes and tire rotation. Our Mazda dealer also replaced the engine’s air filter, even though the manual recommends changing it much later, at 37,500 miles. Add up all these service bills, and they come to $443, which is, as Martha used to say, a good thing. These undercut the service bills of our long-term Toyota Camry SE V-6 by more than $300. Over the course of 40,000 miles, our silver bullet was so well-behaved that it did not require a single unscheduled visit to the dealer for any kind of problem—and that is a really good thing, although we did have to add a quart of oil at 13,000 miles. In short, nothing broke.
As is our ritual practice, when the odo achieved 40,000 miles, we returned this long-term car to the track to see how its performance may have changed. We typically find that many cars perform better at 40K, possibly because the slightly worn-in engine produces less friction and puts more power to the ground. But that was not the case with the 6. With the passage of 10 months here, it lost some of its zoom-zoom. The 0-to-60-mph time slowed from 6.4 seconds on its maiden run to 6.9, and the quarter-mile time slipped from 15.1 seconds to 15.4. The quarter’s trap speed, however, didn’t budge from 93 mph. Braking from 70 mph worsened by 12 feet, to 190 feet, and skidpad grip decreased by 0.01 g to 0.83 g. The longer stopping distance and lower skidpad number were perhaps due to middle-aged tires, but we’re stumped over the slip in straight-line performance. We think most drivers—not counting C/D‘s rabid letter-writing readers—would be hard pressed to sense the difference.
Here’s the bottom line: The Mazda 6 s turned out to be a popular car with the staff of Car and Driver. Proof of that is the time it took to accumulate 40,000 miles—just 10 months, whereas most of our long-haulers need 12 to 14 months to do that, and sometimes longer. So, work on the road noise and ergonomics, Mazda. As for the zoom-zoom fun part, it is indeed a trip. Its reputation gets a huge lift owing to its low maintenance. It’s a stylish and sporty sedan, and a little more work from the home office could make the Mazda 6 a real jewel.
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