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| 2006 Mazda Mazdaspeed6 Review | |||
| Whether you're about to spend $40K on a brand new car, or half that on a used car, it is always important to learn as much as you can about the used car. Read these car reviews to learn about all aspects of the vehicle. Each of the usedcar reviews cover interior and exterior features, options, road tests, and more. | |||
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Introduction
| Road Test
| Inside & Out
| Other Thoughts
| Last Word
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| Road Test | |||
Is it the next level, though? Five years ago, the very mention of 274 horsepower would have made the common family man choke on his chalupa, but in modern times that's just 6 more than garden-variety Camrys and 6 less than the new record-holder, the Passat. Oh, but wait, the Toyota and Vee-Dub feed the power through that horse-killing machine known as an automatic transmission. As a result, both are stuck doing the 0-60 run in right around 6 seconds while Mazda's purebreds trot to the finish line in 5.4 (same as a 1990s BMW M3 or Audi S4!). So to answer the question, assuming it was about acceleration: yes, this is the next level. It's also the fastest Mazda of the moment, showing its blackened taillights to even the RX-8.The availability of a stick (actually, it's mandatory) is just one illustration of how Mazda's path to performance is more interesting than most. Here's another: a Hitachi turbocharger shoves more than twice the pressure of the atmosphere (15.6 psi) into the engine's 2.3 little liters. And this: helping the turbo out is direct fuel injection (a hyped topic if you've been listening to Isuzu and Audi lately), a more efficient method of injecting fuel that makes heat less of an issue - pretty important on a turbo car - and allows power-boosting higher compression ratios. Put it all together and we get each liter of engine packing 119 horses, promising a power delivery with all the subtlety of getting hit by a UPS truck. Well, it's more complicated than that, so here's how it goes down: the turbo starts spinning at 2,500 RPM, saving the big bang until 3,000 (incidentally, the point where torque climaxes) then you start blowing past clusters of cars at a time and feel unstoppable. Keep your foot on the floor, though, and the rate of acceleration (and adrenaline) seems to taper off a bit. In other words, in the MazdaSpeed 6 you get a hollow bottom end and a good top end sandwiching a furious mid-range (zoom-BOOM-zoom?) and Mazda's efforts to mellow out the transition made the boom more of a whoosh. Further dampening the sensations is the surprisingly non-descript exhaust note. While working on the powertrain, Mazda successfully cured the clutch of its vague feel, but like the RX-8's it's still a tad tricky: it engages near the top in a sudden manner, while the slightly aggressive return spring and slightly insensitive gas pedal team up to divide and conquer your feet. Get the hang of it, though, and you're free to concentrate on rowing the shifter's six gears with the same slick precision found in a standard 6 (though it occasionally get snagged en route to 3rd). And as for the middle pedal, it feels as excellent as its scant 113-foot stopping distance implies. The 6's suspension wasn't altered too drastically either. It now rests 4.9 inches off the ground and stands on front legs with 25% higher spring rates and a 1mm fatter stabilizer bar (24mm). Logically, the rear got stiffened further (37%) with a 2mm fatter bar (23) and reinforced crossmembers to boot. (The press materials make no mention of shocks, though Mazda's website claims 25% stiffer front shocks, hmmm.) The wheels measure 18 inches in diameter by 7 across (just like on the V6-powered 6), and no one even touched the steering rack. Of course, the 6 had the liveliest chassis before anyone touched anything, so it's a given that the MazdaSpeed 6 would impress with its alertness, fluid feel, and sublimely sensitive steering that reliably relays subtleties of the surface that most Japanese cars would deprive you of. The MazdaSpeed mods just make the connection even more secure and body roll even less evident. It's also nice to have good grip (0.87g), really nice to have limited-slip center and rear differentials helping to redistribute power, and just great to be able to swing out the tail (by a little if you lift the throttle in mid-bend, by a lot if you nail the brakes). Still, with the front tires always doing at least half the work (the power split only varies between 100/0 and 50/50) and pulling more than half the pounds (all 3,589 of them), they're usually the first ones to go. The all-wheel-drive greatly enhances wet-weather traction, but in a car like this that should only be half the point. Mazda's conservatism does have its upsides. While the thicker stabilizer bars definitely amplify side-to-side head toss on more mountainous bumps, the difference on most roads isn't as pronounced, so the stiff ride remains civil. Road noise remains the greatest intrusion when the asphalt gets ugly, but with down-to-Earth tire sizes, also remains within reason. Another point in the 6's day-to-day livability is 23 MPG (even with several turbo windups and triple-digit visits) - which goes to show what six cogs and a little turbo engine can do for ya. Following that, the 6 has an asset Evo owners only see in their dreams: a cruising range in the 300s. Unlike other cars of its ilk, the MazdaSpeed 6 was clearly aimed at those who drive on straight streets as much as curved ones - always an agreeable approach. A little too agreeable, if you ask me. |
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