You may remember my two most recent threads about CarMax (good idea) and buying a car from Ohio (bad idea). The gist of them is my wife's hunt for a 2018+ Mazda6 in Soul Red, with the turbo motor, heated/cooled seats, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, etc. Basically the fanciest Mazda you can get. Grand Touring Reserve or Signature. This was a little difficult because of her color requirement. I wholeheartedly support her fight against boring car colors so the hunt was on. Last night, after like a month of searching nationwide, she found a Soul Red 2018 Mazda6 Grand Touring Reserve with only 10k miles on it, and every single option available (as far as I can tell). So we jumped in the car for the short drive and bought it. This car is really nice and exactly what she was looking for. Soul Red really is stunning in person (I look forward to the sun returning in a few months so we can see it in all it's glory), and the motor makes more horsepower and torque than my old truck! Progress, right?
The really nice part (after my Ohio thread) is that this car has spent it's entire life here in the Portland metro area.
Super cool guy low angle shot from our driveway:
Such a beautiful color, I hope you both really enjoy it!
Nice! My ex-wife's '15 Mazda 6 GT was a damn fine place to put away some miles.
Soul Red is an amazing color, got my 3 in the same color.
How can Mazda come up with something as gorgeous as Soul Red and then completely forget to do any other colors? C'mon, put that team on a blue and a green and heck, let's see their version of yellow.
I think you're going to really enjoy this. Keep us up to date!
I was one of the discouraging voices from Ohio. You've done well!
Keith Tanner said:
How can Mazda come up with something as gorgeous as Soul Red and then completely forget to do any other colors? C'mon, put that team on a blue and a green and heck, let's see their version of yellow.
I think you're going to really enjoy this. Keep us up to date!
Dude, seriously! What happened to the company that made the Smurf blue Miatas?!
We've got a ~1600 mi road trip coming up over Christmas so I'll have lots more opinions then. I'm glad to do that in this car instead of her old 2007 Milan with 184k.
parker
Reader
12/9/21 10:07 p.m.
Keith Tanner said:
How can Mazda come up with something as gorgeous as Soul Red and then completely forget to do any other colors? C'mon, put that team on a blue and a green and heck, let's see their version of yellow.
I think you're going to really enjoy this. Keep us up to date!
The pearl yellow on the 93 RX7 was beautimous. I painted my 240Z with it and it just glowed.
Colors have become so uncommon, people now rave about SUV red...... this is really sad.
Nice car! Congrats! Just saw one in soul red and it stood out to me. I've said it many times on here that I love those 6s. Never driven one with the turbo though.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Mazda has a blue.
At the end of the day, companies will only build what sells and unfortunately colors particularly bright ones don't.
In reply to 93EXCivic :
Not a blue on this level. Lexus does, though. Mazda oddly don't use their best blue on very many vehicles. I suspect it might be related to the factory being used.
The 30AE Miata sold out immediately, and the only thing that makes it interesting is a set of wheels and a whole lot of safety orange paint. If you don't offer colors, of course they don't sell.
AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) said:
Colors have become so uncommon, people now rave about SUV red...... this is really sad.
Mazda uses Soul Red on their racing prototypes and the MX-5. While you might see it on a lot of SUVs (because that's what people buy), you're really seeing race car red on SUVs :)
Keith Tanner said:
In reply to 93EXCivic :
Not a blue on this level. Lexus does, though. Mazda oddly don't use their best blue on very many vehicles. I suspect it might be related to the factory being used.
The 30AE Miata sold out immediately, and the only thing that makes it interesting is a set of wheels and a whole lot of safety orange paint. If you don't offer colors, of course they don't sell.
Certain colors do seem to give factory's fits during production. Both GM and Jaguar which used the same process, had problems with certain colors. ( for different reasons)
j_tso
HalfDork
12/10/21 2:42 p.m.
Top Gear on car colors
It's Soul Red Crystal now and it's a little darker, more ruby than candy red.
A neighbor has a white Mazda 3 and the white seems to have a cream/beige pearl to it compared to a newer Accord and Fiat Spider parked nearby.
Crystal basically has a black undercoat instead of grey. It's ridiculously deep. Came out around 2018 IIRC.
you're going to LOVE it!
one note.. having owned multiple Skyactive Mazda 6's pre turbo days..
Get smaller wheels.. it will greatly improve the ride and prevent those 19" wheels and rubber band tires from having a bad day.
I loved my 2016 Mazda 6 sport (base) with the 17" wheels.. highly recommend that.
j_tso said:
Top Gear on car colors
It's Soul Red Crystal now and it's a little darker, more ruby than candy red.
A neighbor has a white Mazda 3 and the white seems to have a cream/beige pearl to it compared to a newer Accord and Fiat Spider parked nearby.
Ooohhhh, that's why it looks different in person than I expected. I didn't realize Mazda tweaked the color for 2018. It is really deep, like Keith said.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Ferrari red is race red. This is an SUV color in a world of grey scale. It's slightly less grey, but hardly a spectacular color. Dodge is spraying some colors, Ford has a few, N spec Hyundais, and at Porsche you have to custom order them.
Sometimes a special edition Miata comes in a nice color, but the blues and reds now are high on grey scale too.
I think you're mistaking the color for the car. Ferrari red is nothing special - it's just laid over cars people lust after. But Soul Red consistently catches my eye when it's going the other way on the interstate. It pops like very few other colors on the road. It's used on IMSA prototypes, the car that is the very definition of a sports car, some nice sedans and fun hatchbacks - and some SUVs.
My original post was that Mazda needs to make a blue that's as good as Soul Red. I agree their blues need work. All of their other colors do. Even the 30AE orange wasn't a great color formulation, it's just proof that buyers aren't scared of color.
In reply to AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) :
Nope, soul red is gorgeous. Ferrari red is very plain in comparison.
dculberson said:
In reply to AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) :
Nope, soul red is gorgeous. Ferrari red is very plain in comparison.
Yep.
Like Keith said, it's just on cars we lust over. Well some of us, I know not everyone cares about exotics.
parker said:
Keith Tanner said:
How can Mazda come up with something as gorgeous as Soul Red and then completely forget to do any other colors? C'mon, put that team on a blue and a green and heck, let's see their version of yellow.
I think you're going to really enjoy this. Keep us up to date!
The pearl yellow on the 93 RX7 was beautimous. I painted my 240Z with it and it just glowed.
Competition Yellow Mica (J9).
CYM FDs are worth a lot more because a lot of people want that color. And it was only available on R1s. And some small number (300?) were imported.
Bill Cardell, the guy who started FM, had a yellow R1 new. Played with it for a while but I don't think he ever really missed it after he sold it. I think the 95 M edition Miata replaced it when I think about the chronology. Nice color, though - I think Mazda used it on the coupe Miata show car in 96.
Those Mazda 6s are nice cars. Damn shame they stopped making them.
