Is 6 one better than 5? 2007 Mazda 6 & 2010 Mazda 5 - Ownership log

logdog (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to BlueInGreen - Jon :

Luckily, you know a guy with a press a little south of you!

The real fun will be in trying not to break anything while getting the knuckle off of a 15 year old rust belt Mazda :P

I took her car to work today: washed it, cleaned the windows,  and vacuumed the interior. It's crazy how fast stuff gets dirty when you're hauling kids around.

Good times.

Win. minimum carnage
 

The way the lower ball joints are setup on these is kind of a pain.

Turns out the Mazda 6 with cheap winter tires handles heavy snow fairly well for a low-slung sedan. Friday night was an interesting drive home.

You're making me miss having a Mazda around. 

Javelin said:

You're making me miss having a Mazda around. 

Ha. I drove a friend's (older high mileage) Audi Q7 for a bit the other day and was left thinking, "Wow, that's a nice car. It makes my Mazdas kinda feel like cheap tin cans."

But they are practical and kinda fun tin cans so I'm good with that.

BlueInGreen - Jon said:

Javelin said:

You're making me miss having a Mazda around. 

Ha. I drove a friend's (older high mileage) Audi Q7 for a bit the other day and was left thinking, "Wow, that's a nice car. It makes my Mazdas kinda feel like cheap tin cans."

But they are practical and kinda fun tin cans so I'm good with that.

They are kinda tin can-ish. But still great. I bet a little dynamat or similar sound deadener inside the doors would go a long way to making it more "audi". 

We had a '09 Mazda3 hatch as our small kids family car. Man I still miss that car sometimes. The wife liked Mazda enough after that to buy a new 2016 Mazda6 Grand Touring. Nice car but even then still some tin can to it. Apparently Mazda added more sound deadening in later years after ours. Hard to go wrong with a Mazda. 

I'd like to do some track stuff this summer just for fun, since I have open track days at Waterford Hills nearby or SCCA Track Night at Gingerman. 
 

So now I'm looking at the three Mazdas and debating which one should get the set of cheap 300tw summer tires I have in the garage and some good brake pads. The 6 probably makes the most sense what with the low center of gravity and better handling, but showing up to bomb apexes in a small van with sliding doors and car seat base in the back seat sounds like a good time, lol.

Rallycross sounds like fun too. I dunno. I probably will just spend all my free weekends working on the house anyway so... eh.

BlueInGreen - Jon said:

Javelin said:

You're making me miss having a Mazda around. 

Ha. I drove a friend's (older high mileage) Audi Q7 for a bit the other day and was left thinking, "Wow, that's a nice car. It makes my Mazdas kinda feel like cheap tin cans."

But they are practical and kinda fun tin cans so I'm good with that.

Yeah the Audis are really nice to be in. But when you're fording 10" of rain in 2 days along the Fury Road known as I-5 with 100 MPH Amazon semis and bald tire Altimas, you kinda want something you don't give a berk about. Also having 1 car that needs no maintenance would be nice.

Yeah, when your commute looks like this, it's nice to be driving a cheap car you don't care about too much.

My sister is borrowing my car while her old Hyundai gets fixed so I've been putting some miles on Mazda 5.2.

Two things on the to-do list for that one:

Driver side front wheel bearing is making a racket, 64k miles seems early for that but maybe because it wasn't driven much the past couple years? Whatever, parts are ordered for that.

Second thing was the exhaust, the mount right after the flex pipe had rusted off so things were moving around and clunking occasionally. Today when I had it on the lift for an oil change I boogered some metal on it with the mig welder. That should last for a bit, at least until the rest of the exhaust disintegrates.

#saltlife

In reply to BlueInGreen - Jon :

Lol at #saltlife

The 6 decided it was time for a new battery. At least it happened in my driveway and not while my sister was using it.

A new battery and a large package of spinach dip were procured from Costco.  The battery was less than half what I would have paid at Advanced Oreillys Zone, so I think the Costco membership just paid for itself.

I got mail today :)

I wanted fog lights and these cheapies were $20 on eBay.

I was this many days old when I learned that there is a Mazda 6...hatchback? 

I was previously under the impression there is a sedan and a wagon, but...what is this thing?!

In reply to Steve :

Reminds of the good old days when you could choose between a sedan, wagon, or hatch/fastback body.

If you see one driving around it looks similar enough to the sedan that you wouldn't know, but it's one of the most stealthily practical cars I've had.

In reply to Steve and BlueInGreen - Jon :

2003 was sedan only. Wagon and hatch launched in 2004 iirc. Quick visual distinction between sedan and hatch: all hatches came with rear wiper.

In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :

yeah really low key, i see them from time to time 

I wonder how that made it past the accountants. Looking at the roof lines they are almost identical, but the practicality has to be unmatched while keeping that sport sedan body style. Sort of can't believe such a thing exists while along side a sedan and wagon version!

Wheel bearing time for Mazda5.2

I feel like such a peasant working on the garage floor instead of the lift at work :P

Momma and the girls are visiting her grandparents tonight so I had plenty of time to get it put back together, despite the efforts of man's best friend.

Now I'm sitting on the couch in my undies, eating hot dogs, drinking a beer, and listening to all the music that I like but my wife doesn't :D Just because I can and there's no one to bother me.

Then I'll probably watch some of the Sebring 12 hr. on YouTube and fall asleep.

Life is good.

Got this message from my wife. My response: "Well at least it matches the other corner now." :P

In reply to BlueInGreen - Jon :

The broken light is unfortunate but for the bumper....

Unbolt the bumper cover,(mostly plastic fasteners), pour hot water onto the inside of the bumper/plastic to make it soft and plyable and just message it back into shape. A 30 minute job