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Latest Update....Just hit 1500 Miles and working on Week 3 of ownership.
Started a new website for the 6, surprised at how few are out there still. Most of my future updates I'll just post there, including pics of any mods I do. The URL is:
http://geocities.com/my_mazda_6/atenza.html
A lot of the links won't work at first, writing the whole thing in my spare time, should be done by March 03. If anyone else builds a 6/Protege/Atenza site let me know, I'll include it in my links section. I've also got about 5MB worth of hosting space to work with, I'm going to try to include a gallery section of other 6 owner's mods once I get the time.
Fourth Day Of Ownership Review Below
Car:
Sterling Silver
Mazda 6
S Trim
V6
AT
Odometer is at 480 miles and I still feel like a kid with a new toy. I saw a Mazda 6 for the first time when I was surfing the internet, desperately looking for a replacement for my painfully slow, top heavy, gas hog '99 4 Runner. Ok I'll admit, for once those annoying internet ads actually worked. I had almost resigned myself to a Nissan Maxima, although there were many little things I just didn't think I would ever like....the taillights and headlights to name a few. The instant I saw the Mazda 6 I knew it was the car I'd been looking for. Three 3wks later I had it.
At the Dealer:
On the internet the prices seemed really reasonable, couldn't believe such a great car could be had for such a great price. However, once I arrived at the dealership, the whole 'great price' landscape seemed to change before my eyes. They hemmed and hawwed and eventually somehow got the price up around the $29,000 range. Of course I hadn't walked in there unprepared. I had my www.carsdirect.com quote in hand, along with dealer holdback, MSRP, Invoice, and current incentives. The long and short is, I ended up not paying a dime over MSRP which was $26,365, for every possible option except the Bose system. I made an attempt to get it with the Bose system as well, however they informed me it would be 12wks before it came, because they were only getting a limited amount of the v6's. Still not really sure if this was true or not, but it seemed very difficult to get the Mazda 6 with the v6. The dealer had 20 Mazda 6's on the lot and only 1 had 6 cyls so I kind of took his word for it. A word of advice is, if you haven't bought your 6 yet, make sure to arrive at the dealership armed with pricing information, or the car's appeal will overwhelm you and you will probably get took by the dealer in some way. Also make sure you are well aware of the trade-in value of your car before you ever step foot on the lot and don't accept a penny less. Dealers have ways of working pure magic with numbers and somehow you don't notice until weeks later, after the new car excitement has worn off.
First Day:
My car arrived 2wks later (no silver ones were available, one happened to be inbound so I ordered that one) and I picked it up. It was dark when I finished all the paperwork, and the first thing that caught my eye was how great the luminescent dashboard looked at night. The car rode like a dream and I have never had one that handled better. I simply couldn't resist......the first available stoplight I floored it.....and watched the headlights behind me disappear. The unbelievable part is how well it handles all that power. The Nissan Maxima certainly had more power, however, it was barely controlled. The 6 provides power when you need it withought feeling like you are even moving.
Second Day:
The instant I got in the car in the daylight, one thing was painfully obvious..it needed tint...baaaddd. Four hours later I was returning home with an excellent job done by the local word of mouth tint expert. For $155.00 got all 4 windows tinted as well as a strip added to the front windshield ( Pics fourthcoming ).
Third Day:
I have read several reviews downing the 6 for limited space. So far I have yet to see where that comes from. I think the world today is too infatuated with huge SUV's, and bigger than ever family sedans to truly appreciate what a well built car has to offer. If I can sit in a car withought scraping the door, roof, or passenger, I am satisfied. This car has the perfect proportions, I am still ecstatic over how easy it is to park compared to my 4Runner. The trunk is huge, and I have yet to fill it up. I don't even know how they fit the spare tire in there, and knock on wood I don't have to find out anytime soon.
Fourth Day:
The gas mileage never ceases to amaze me, I am so used to being able to watch the needle go down, its great when this one doesn't move. Most of the people knocking the 6's 220HP never mention the 19/27+ rating it gets in fuel economy.
So far I am still having all the fun in the world with this car, however of course I do have two very minor gripes: low-end torque is a bit on the low-end side, and the center console one piece construction. If the car where a stick shift I probably would have no complaints in the torque department, however being an automatic.....the car does take awhile to get to it's peak range. Once it reaches the 3800+ range it's a wonderful puller, but getting it there with an automatic is a bit tricky. I don't fully trust the manual shift mode yet, without a true clutch I think I will let the tranny make the decisions.
The other very minor gripe is the one piece custom center console. I love the way it looks, however I am an audiophile as well. Every car I have ever owned in the past has had some type of custom sound system. The contruction of the center console in the 6 however, makes it next to impossible to install an aftermarket system.
Started a new website for the 6, surprised at how few are out there still. Most of my future updates I'll just post there, including pics of any mods I do. The URL is:
http://geocities.com/my_mazda_6/atenza.html
A lot of the links won't work at first, writing the whole thing in my spare time, should be done by March 03. If anyone else builds a 6/Protege/Atenza site let me know, I'll include it in my links section. I've also got about 5MB worth of hosting space to work with, I'm going to try to include a gallery section of other 6 owner's mods once I get the time.
Fourth Day Of Ownership Review Below
Car:
Sterling Silver
Mazda 6
S Trim
V6
AT
Odometer is at 480 miles and I still feel like a kid with a new toy. I saw a Mazda 6 for the first time when I was surfing the internet, desperately looking for a replacement for my painfully slow, top heavy, gas hog '99 4 Runner. Ok I'll admit, for once those annoying internet ads actually worked. I had almost resigned myself to a Nissan Maxima, although there were many little things I just didn't think I would ever like....the taillights and headlights to name a few. The instant I saw the Mazda 6 I knew it was the car I'd been looking for. Three 3wks later I had it.
At the Dealer:
On the internet the prices seemed really reasonable, couldn't believe such a great car could be had for such a great price. However, once I arrived at the dealership, the whole 'great price' landscape seemed to change before my eyes. They hemmed and hawwed and eventually somehow got the price up around the $29,000 range. Of course I hadn't walked in there unprepared. I had my www.carsdirect.com quote in hand, along with dealer holdback, MSRP, Invoice, and current incentives. The long and short is, I ended up not paying a dime over MSRP which was $26,365, for every possible option except the Bose system. I made an attempt to get it with the Bose system as well, however they informed me it would be 12wks before it came, because they were only getting a limited amount of the v6's. Still not really sure if this was true or not, but it seemed very difficult to get the Mazda 6 with the v6. The dealer had 20 Mazda 6's on the lot and only 1 had 6 cyls so I kind of took his word for it. A word of advice is, if you haven't bought your 6 yet, make sure to arrive at the dealership armed with pricing information, or the car's appeal will overwhelm you and you will probably get took by the dealer in some way. Also make sure you are well aware of the trade-in value of your car before you ever step foot on the lot and don't accept a penny less. Dealers have ways of working pure magic with numbers and somehow you don't notice until weeks later, after the new car excitement has worn off.
First Day:
My car arrived 2wks later (no silver ones were available, one happened to be inbound so I ordered that one) and I picked it up. It was dark when I finished all the paperwork, and the first thing that caught my eye was how great the luminescent dashboard looked at night. The car rode like a dream and I have never had one that handled better. I simply couldn't resist......the first available stoplight I floored it.....and watched the headlights behind me disappear. The unbelievable part is how well it handles all that power. The Nissan Maxima certainly had more power, however, it was barely controlled. The 6 provides power when you need it withought feeling like you are even moving.
Second Day:
The instant I got in the car in the daylight, one thing was painfully obvious..it needed tint...baaaddd. Four hours later I was returning home with an excellent job done by the local word of mouth tint expert. For $155.00 got all 4 windows tinted as well as a strip added to the front windshield ( Pics fourthcoming ).
Third Day:
I have read several reviews downing the 6 for limited space. So far I have yet to see where that comes from. I think the world today is too infatuated with huge SUV's, and bigger than ever family sedans to truly appreciate what a well built car has to offer. If I can sit in a car withought scraping the door, roof, or passenger, I am satisfied. This car has the perfect proportions, I am still ecstatic over how easy it is to park compared to my 4Runner. The trunk is huge, and I have yet to fill it up. I don't even know how they fit the spare tire in there, and knock on wood I don't have to find out anytime soon.
Fourth Day:
The gas mileage never ceases to amaze me, I am so used to being able to watch the needle go down, its great when this one doesn't move. Most of the people knocking the 6's 220HP never mention the 19/27+ rating it gets in fuel economy.
So far I am still having all the fun in the world with this car, however of course I do have two very minor gripes: low-end torque is a bit on the low-end side, and the center console one piece construction. If the car where a stick shift I probably would have no complaints in the torque department, however being an automatic.....the car does take awhile to get to it's peak range. Once it reaches the 3800+ range it's a wonderful puller, but getting it there with an automatic is a bit tricky. I don't fully trust the manual shift mode yet, without a true clutch I think I will let the tranny make the decisions.
The other very minor gripe is the one piece custom center console. I love the way it looks, however I am an audiophile as well. Every car I have ever owned in the past has had some type of custom sound system. The contruction of the center console in the 6 however, makes it next to impossible to install an aftermarket system.
