Learn me mazda6

Im thinking about a new daily. Love my neon, but 200 miles a day for wirk take their toll on me. Fun car, but....

Around me (central north Carolina) mazdas dont rust. They also depreciate like leftover tuna salad. Which means that i can get a sub 100k mile 10 year old one for $6k or so. 

There seems to be a LARGE difference in price over the years for similar mileage and conditions. Also. A bunch of styling changes. 

Anyway, what do i need to know? Any version better than the others for appliance duty? Probably staying 4cyl automatic for knee and mpg reasons. And theres just not many 5 speed cars out there. And my knee. 

You may benefit from knowing this Mazda naming logic:

i, S, and Sport: lowest option models such as cloth seats, 4 cyl, maybe manual 

Touring: mid market model that is well equipped

Grand Touring: up market model, loaded with all standard equipment

Surch, noob!  ;-)

i had an 03 sedan with V6 / 5MT, sport appearance package, leather seats, Bose stereo.   it's a 3.0L Duratec so not as silky as the KL series Mazda V6 but pretty dang good in it's own way.

in 04 they introduced the Hatchback which doesn't really look much different from the sedan, but has kick-ass utility because hatchback.   the wagon was also introduced in 04 but they're pretty scarce.

i bought mine in '10 with 124k, owned it 4 years/40k miles.   replaced front wheel bearings (one was noisy), water pump belt (tensioner pulley bearing failed;  in later years they eliminated the tensioner and went to a stretch-fit belt, so I did the zero cost update on mine).  I replaced all six COP coils when one failed at about 140k.  torn bellows between MAF and TB threw random misfires, that was a $20 rockauto fix.  IIRC, that's all it needed.   Occasionally threw P0420 but i never chased that down.

overall, i give the first-gen Mazda6 a 10/10, would definitely go back for the re-tap.

with the first-gen 6, "i" is 4-cyl and "s" is 6-cyl.   there was a sport appearance package that IIRC changed front and rear fascias plus rocker trim.  IDK if it also included the sport seats or if the interior package was a separate RPO.

The 4 cyl auto is pretty ok but not really better than a 4cyl/auto Mazda3 if there's only going to be one person in it. I've owned the 2.0/auto mazda3 and a mazdaspeed6 and worked on and driven the rest (every drivetrain combo in the 1g mazda6). I like the 6 a lot and can't say the 4cyl/auto is any kind of a bad car, but unless you're going to use the back seat for people you might as well get a 3 at that point. It's more economical and roughly as good in every other way but space. My old 2.0/auto 3 got 37-42 hwy mpg, which is right up there with... a neon. The only thing wrong with an auto Mazda3 when coming out of a neon (i've owned 2 1g neons as well) is... it's not a better drive than a 2.4/604-swapped 1g neon that would theoretically be really easy to build..

 /rabbithole , Mazdas are great. 

Part of the reason is ride quality as well. Main reason im looking at the 6 is the longer wheelbase, and hopefully more refined rough pavement manners. Getting people in and out other than the driver does happen a few times a month, and those people are usually heavyset and dont move well. 

Does that make sense for the 6?

I dunno, that budget would probably be a pretty nice "NF" Hyundai Sonata... or similar age Kia Optima EX.  Although, the Sonata's got 200#s extra weight to drag around, and the Optima ~80#s; which might make it "too not sporty".

But thanks for teaching me that that vintage of Mazda6's were also Double Wishbone.

They’re not $6k cheap,  but the current generation 6 started in 2014 and inthink can be had for a little over $10k for Sport trim cars. I loved mine, it was a great driving car. I bought the 6 over the 3 because it rode better, had a lot more backseat room, and was much cheaper to insure. 

I had a 2007 Mz6 Sport--2.5/6M.  It was a great handling car--beat Minis in HS.  The power seat is still the best seat I have had in any car--I'm very tall and the seat tilted nicely for leg support.

I drove a neglected 03-04 V6/MT Sport a few times. It was a nice fun little car, but needed too much work. I have heard that bad cats can kill the engine (V6 only IIRC) with particles being sucked back inside, but I can't say for sure.

sleepyhead the buffalo said:

I dunno, that budget would probably be a pretty nice "NF" Hyundai Sonata... or similar age Kia Optima EX.  Although, the Sonata's got 200#s extra weight to drag around, and the Optima ~80#s; which might make it "too not sporty".

But thanks for teaching me that that vintage of Mazda6's were also Double Wishbone.

Ack!! Triggered!

You did NOT just suggest that this man purchase a X&#@!!ng HYUNDAI over a Mazda! 

Hoping that was a joke.

In reply to sleepyhead the buffalo :

My brother had one of that generation sonata. Not impressed by all the stuff i had to fix on it for him. Not impressed by the car itself, either. Drove it to Florida once. So, as mych as i like a dark horse, nope!

The dark horse I'm considering is a honda fit....

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :

Fit is a honda neon. 

In reply to Professor_Brap :

Oof. Maybe not.

Neon coupe wheelbase 104″

2010 Honda Fit wheelbase 98.4″

 Dusterbd13-michael said:

My brother had one of that generation sonata. Not impressed by all the stuff i had to fix on it for him. Not impressed by the car itself, either. Drove it to Florida once. So, as mych as i like a dark horse, nope!

That's fair.  My short time with one has me two ways with them.  Enough that I might end up taking a second bite of the apple... assuming I can find enough garage space, and matrimonial good will. 

I agree to go for the ride quality.  Even if the Maz3 and Maz6 use the same engine, the Maz6 will be a better place to spend the day.  

I understand what you are facing.  Long rural route drive across state a few hours to see caseload clients.  You need a place where you can have some peace.  You seemed to like the fwd Impala that you had for a while as an "assigned company car".  Sorry that couldn't last but something down that route might not be hateful.  

The Maz6'ers are good.  Go as new as possible.  Have owned both and I like the 2.5L engine better than the 2.3L engine.  I had that 2.5L in a Mercury Milan.  These may be worth looking at also.  Discontinued model that is based off the Maz6 platform.  For 2010 the Milan/Fusion also got the 2.5L (before was the 2.3L.)  

Also, we once spoke about driving the car your superiors expect you to have.  As much as that easily seems to warrant a FU, the issues is a real one.  Some times ya just have to play the game that the rule makers want to make.  Drawing attention as a "team player" on this front can very well have benefits on other fronts.  A Mazda6, even if it is the sporty side of the Camry/Accord/Impala/Fusion class puts you square in the area they want you to be in.   A Honda Fit is not the right image car here.  

Sample Mazda6

All that said, and I do not think you need another project but here is a Mazda5 that needs an engine.

I also recently wrote a lot about the Mazda CX-7 SUV.  Most of the CX-7's should be avoided but...

2010+ in fwd 2.5L (distinguished by cloth seats) is a good choice.  

Im going to skip stuffing an engine in. Goal is fluid change, detail, tint, drive. We also own a mazda5, and even though i like it, i dont think its the right choice here.

Ill have to look at the fusion/milan. Dont know a thing about them, and have honestlynever owned a ford.

If the gm stuff like my old comany car was a little less troublesome, id jump on it. It was not a bad place to spend time, except for the stereo. And the mileage wasnt stellar, but not bad either. Just always had little issues until the trans grenanded at 115k and they told me to drive my own stuff and claim mileage. 

Look at a Chrysler 200 and Calibers. They last FOREVER with fluid changes and are quite comfortable. 

Part of the reason is ride quality as well. Main reason im looking at the 6 is the longer wheelbase, and hopefully more refined rough pavement manners. Getting people in and out other than the driver does happen a few times a month, and those people are usually heavyset and dont move well. 

Does that make sense for the 6?

Yes, it makes sense. 

Also, if you get a 1g mazda6 you'll be close enough to having owned a ford. I think the Mazda6 is way less boring than the Fusion/Milan, although as much because of what  you look at on the inside as for how it drives which is more similar. 

I also like the next gen up quite a bit and you can probably get a good one of those for 6k too. In a 1g mazda6 6k should get you the nicest ones out there other than the top of the mazdaspeeds which you aren't shopping anyway since they're manual only.  

If you're looking at the 1st Gen cars, just buy the best one you can. They're smaller than a Camry or Accord, but they get the job done and can be made to handle pretty well. The 3.0 is well known, a bit underpowered but pretty reliable. That said, they're not *much* bigger overall than a Mazda3 hatchback. I wouldn't avoid the Mazdaspeed versions.

The second gen cars are bigger. We have one today. The water pump went out in it before 70k miles. The solution to that was to find a used junkyard engine and put that in as it would have cost about the same to get the water pump replaced and the timing reset. There was no warning this was happening, as the coolant just goes into the oil pan. This is the Ford 3.7- I'd avoid those. It seems the failure rate on the water pumps is a well known issue.

Professor_Brap said:

Look at a Chrysler 200 and Calibers. They last FOREVER with fluid changes and are quite comfortable. 

Oh dear god no. 

there is 7 calibers on autotrader with over 200k. 7. there's 141 2007+ toyota camry's with over 200k. So much no. 

We had an 08 i Sport, and it was a very good over the road car.  Could use more power, but it got good gas mileage.  We looked at Fusions at the same time, and they usually had more features (the 6 didn’t even have an aux port for the stereo), but the 6 had more comfortable front seats by far.

I had an 06 iSport hatch back with the 2.3 and the 5 speed auto from 29k to 130k miles. It was a great car, gave me no mechanical issues and the functionality of the hatch was great. It felt sporty for what it was, and soaked up long trips like a champ. I’d still own it today if I hadn’t gotten bored and bought an NB to daily.