Is the Mazda 6 the best “driver’s car” in its class?

volvoclearinghouse said:

In reply to accordionfolder :

I guess it's all about what your perception is of speed and acceleration, how high your "thrill" tolerance is, and expectations.  My daily driver has 68 horsepower and weighs a ton and a half, but man it's fun to toss it into turns and rev the piss out of it.  Today I was chasing a car with triple the power down a windy road on my way to work, and staying right on his tail while going quite quickly.  

I'm sure a 6 would feel like a rocket compared to what I drive now, and I'd probably rack up several speeding tickets.  

Everyone has just gotten so spoiled.  A freaking base model Impala has 300 ponies, and I see them weaving in and out of traffic around here.  I'm old, and crotchety, and you all can hate me for this, but, I wish we'd go back to a base model car having about 20 pounds per horsepower.  Who really needs to accelerate that quickly, or go that fast?  Most people can't handle that sort of power, anyway.  It's simply ridiculous bragging rights.  

You can't even build a car nowadays, it seems so pointless.  You can invest dollars and sweat into something and end up with, what?  It _might_ be as fast as a stock Accord?  

I'm a multiple time Miata owner...and lover, so I understand the point.  However, who needs to accelerate that quickly, you ask?

 <----- This guy.  First, to be clear, relatively speaking I'm a conservative driver.  Even when running LeMons I'm the guy who gives up a second or two per lap because I won't go 10/10ths and won't stick my nose in where maybe I shouldn't.  So on public roads, yes I'll cruise the highway at 80mph and take twisty country roads at a brisk pace, but I won't be the guy weaving in and out of traffic or drifting through a corner.  Even still, if you're chasing down a car with triple the power, either he/she isn't trying, they're just being extra safe on a public road or they're a horrid driver.  I've had plenty of other "momentum" cars, such as AW11 MR2s.  But no matter how much I want to convince myself otherwise, I no longer enjoy the "drive a slow car fast" thing for my daily driver.  When I'm in rush hour traffic and want to squirt into a hole in the next lane over, I want to be able to do it.  When coming off a highway onramp, I don't want to have to drag race a tractor trailer...and maybe loose.  My previous DD was a '13 Elantra, which honestly I really liked.  But it was capable of 0-60 in maybe 8.0 sec if I whipped the puppy snot out of it.  If I drove it sanely, 0-60 was more like 10-12 seconds.  My G37 can do 0-60 in what...5.2 sec or so?  I just got the car (and my wife is using it), but while I have no intention of doing repeated 5.2 sec 0-60 runs all day long, it's nice to be able to do it in 7 seconds without even trying.  I enjoy that acceleration rush.  328hp in a 3650lb car is simply fun. 

So while I still love cars like the Miata, for me the Mazda6 was simply underpowered and was therefore ruled out for my new DD.  I just got tired of having to whip on a car to keep up with traffic.

In reply to Klayfish :

I get that.  Believe me, there's times I wished for more punch in my daily.  (I was not exaggerating when I said 68 HP and 3000+ pounds- but hey, at least it's got a stick!)  But have I ever _needed_ more power?  Nope.  I drive it 90 to 120 miles per day, and if I can't squeeze into a spot in traffic, I wait.  If I leave it matted and there's a long straight level piece of open road ahead of me, it'll just hit 87 mph.  There's nowhere on the East Coast that that isn't fast enough on a public road.

My wife's vehicle is a '91 Suburban, TBI 350, maybe 190 HP in a 5000 pound tank.  We drove it 75 miles each way to visit some friends last weekend, and I commented when I got home that there was not one time the whole drive it that I had to floor the accelerator.  And that was driving from north of Baltimore to south of DC.  That's some traffic right there.  

I'm not saying you're a bad driver- you have race experience (same as me- the races of hard knocks, i.e. LeMons) and can handle that kind of power responsibly.  But I see wrecks around here every day that were clearly caused by some yahoo with a bigger right foot than a brain wrapping his 300 horsepower appliance around something else.  Because he likely went "aw, berkeley it" and floored the gas.  I don't understand how we as a society can muster up the ambition to ban 50 caliber automatic weapons but it's OK to allow someone who passed minimal driver education to aim an 800 horsepower Dodge down the public roads.  Not to get into a gun control debate here, but, really, that's just silly.  

No amount of stability control can make up for stupidity.  Your IQ ought to be the amount of horsepower you're allowed.  

volvoclearinghouse said:

In reply to Klayfish :

I get that.  Believe me, there's times I wished for more punch in my daily.  (I was not exaggerating when I said 68 HP and 3000+ pounds- but hey, at least it's got a stick!)  But have I ever _needed_ more power?  Nope.  I drive it 90 to 120 miles per day, and if I can't squeeze into a spot in traffic, I wait.  If I leave it matted and there's a long straight level piece of open road ahead of me, it'll just hit 87 mph.  There's nowhere on the East Coast that that isn't fast enough on a public road.

My wife's vehicle is a '91 Suburban, TBI 350, maybe 190 HP in a 5000 pound tank.  We drove it 75 miles each way to visit some friends last weekend, and I commented when I got home that there was not one time the whole drive it that I had to floor the accelerator.  And that was driving from north of Baltimore to south of DC.  That's some traffic right there.  

I'm not saying you're a bad driver- you have race experience (same as me- the races of hard knocks, i.e. LeMons) and can handle that kind of power responsibly.  But I see wrecks around here every day that were clearly caused by some yahoo with a bigger right foot than a brain wrapping his 300 horsepower appliance around something else.  Because he likely went "aw, berkeley it" and floored the gas.  I don't understand how we as a society can muster up the ambition to ban 50 caliber automatic weapons but it's OK to allow someone who passed minimal driver education to aim an 800 horsepower Dodge down the public roads.  Not to get into a gun control debate here, but, really, that's just silly.  

No amount of stability control can make up for stupidity.  Your IQ ought to be the amount of horsepower you're allowed.  

Trust me, I can't even begin to tell you how many wrecks I see out of sheer stupidity...remember what I do for a living.    If I had a dollar for every dumb wreck I've seen....  Plenty of morons on the road.  They'd be morons with a 3 cyl '87 Geo Metro, but obviously having a Hellcat just makes them more dangerous morons. 

It truly was just a personal taste thing for me.  Even if I only go from 25-60mph when I accelerate, I enjoy being able to do it quickly if I want.  It's fun.  And yes, if I'm the only car at a red light and the speed limit is 45mph, once in a while I'm going to rip off a 0-50mph run in 4.0 seconds simply for E36 M3s and giggles.   You're right, you don't "need" more power on the street.  No argument there.  But when I'm trying to get home, with a 60 mile each way commute, I'll use the extra power when safe to do so. 

I've raced plenty of slow cars in LeMons...Rolls Royce, Citroen, and currently spend a lot of race time behind the wheel of a Chevy S10 (the last one even had a boat body on it).  I have a blast on the track, even though it's a "slow" car.   

EDIT: In reading my post, jeez, I almost sound like I'm describing myself as a street racer.  I'm really not, quite far from it.  I'll put it like this...I don't always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis.    Truth is I never drink beer...or any alcohol, so I'm a total dork.

It's driver preference.  When I bought my '15 Accord Sport 6mt I drove the Mazda6 too.  I expected it to be more of a drivers car than the Accord based on what I'd read, but I preferred the Accord.  Neither one is a sports car.  Sporty enough to make you think you are  having some fun, but not so great that you can actually go very fast.  Mazda was not budging off of sticker at the time, as they had sold all of their '15's and the lot was full of 16's.  There were still a bunch of '15 Accords on the lots, and I was able to buy for just over $20k.  A heck of a great car for the money.  I kept it for two years before moving back into a full size SUV (Sequoia).