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It is simple. Mazda does not care that a few "tuners" want more power. They only care about sales. They know that the regular person is more concerned with looks, interior, technology, luxury trims, etc, which is why they redesigned the Mazda 3 and 6. They focused their whole efforts on improving looks, interior, technology, luxury feel rather than adding power. This allows you to have a sort of luxury vehicle experience at a fraction of the price, by sacrificing power. If they had added a turbo or v6 to these cars, it would've catapulted the price to the stratosphere. Everyone complains that it needs more power. Mazda heard those complain as early as 2013, you think they care? They continued producing the same design down to 2017 with only some minor looks and tech improvements, which proves my point. Now they have been annoyed so much, that they will come out with a turbo version. Good, but it will not sell very well and they know it.

At that price range, they would be competing with vehicles that destroy the Mazda 6 in every category. It simply cannot compete.

Manufacturers only care about making money. A big example of this, is the Toyota 86, previously known as Scion FRS and Subaru BRZ. It has been years since these cars have been around with people complaining and crying about more power, you think Toyota, Scion and Subaru give a crap that a few entitled cry baby kids want more power to this platform?

It would catapult the cost of the vehicle and it would compete with cars that would destroy it in sales. They are smart and chose to keep the FRS/GT86 a 4 banger with only 200hp and a simple interior to keep the price down, making it more affordable to their young target market, thus more sales.

We all bought the Mazda 6 3rd gen for the looks, interior and tech, plain and simple. We knew it lacked power. You could've bought a fairly used v6 camaro or mustang for the same price that your beloved GTs costed. For the same price, you could've bought a many v6 sedans on the market.
 
No, a new Mazda 6 GT is roughly the same price as a new V6 Camaro or Mustang, base 2017 V6 Mustang is actually about $5000 cheaper.
Which proves my point, if you want affordable power you can have it but you won't get the same interior refinement and tech that comes with the mazda GT

The only you gonna have both is by going german or even the infinity q50. You either have power by sacrificing luxury, tech, comfort or viceversa, you cant have both unless you wanna spend much more money

Id rather have the better interior and tech than a powerful engine
 
Congrats byakuya, on rolling to that milestone. Your experience, and that of tickerguy, give me hope that my 6 will see that mileage too - trouble-free!

My wife and I are relocating back to the east coast from No. Wisconsin and I'm looking at several 2500+ mile "commutes" back and forth over the next 8 months or so. (The miles pile up quickly going across the mid-west.) I think I have made a good choice with this car...great mileage and a good reputation. It doesn't hurt that its a stick, looks great, and is a ton of fun to drive!

My only "problem" is that the wife seems to like riding in her Jeep Grand Cherokee more. However, to my way of thinking, its nuts to roll a ton of miles on a $45k+ 22mpg SUV vs. a Mazda 6 that gets almost twice the mileage and cost almost half as much!

PS. I have the OVT tune too and love it. Best $500 I've spent on this car!
 
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Congrats byakuya, on rolling to that milestone. Your experience, and that of tickerguy, give me hope that my 6 will see that mileage too - trouble-free!

My wife and I are relocating back to the east coast from No. Wisconsin and I'm looking at several 2500+ mile "commutes" back and forth over the next 8 months or so. (The miles pile up quickly going across the mid-west.) I think I have made a good choice with this car...great mileage and a good reputation. It doesn't hurt that its a stick, looks great, and is a ton of fun to drive!

My only "problem" is that the wife seems to like riding in her Jeep Grand Cherokee more. However, to my way of thinking, its nuts to roll a ton of miles on a $45k+ 22mpg SUV vs. a Mazda 6 that gets almost twice the mileage and cost almost half as much!

PS. I have the OVT tune too and love it. Best $500 I've spent on this car!
Glad you're still loving it. let me know if you're in the area and we can have lunch or something - always up for meeting new enthusiasts :)
 
You're doing way more highway miles than I am. My rotors are toast (horrible warping) at 33k. Just ordered Centrics all around.
 
I recently traded in my 2016 Mazda 6 GT for a 2018 Mazda GT Reserve.. I had around 45,000 miles on the 2016 when traded it in last month. Other than routing service most reliable 4 door sedan I have owned.
 
So can anyone explain why companies like JD power, and others say that the 6 is average to below average in reliability?
 
Well for me, my front facing camera failed, requiring replacement with ~8k miles and disabled the Smart City Braking System (SCBS) :(. Now, I don't see that as a huge problem as it was replaced under warranty and wasn't related to a major component that would stop it from going 100k miles plus, but would show up on stats to the negative. Perhaps others have had some electronic issues with more and more being added, but then all cars should get dinged for these safety features as well?
 
So can anyone explain why companies like JD power, and others say that the 6 is average to below average in reliability?
JD Power ratings can be purchased, at least to some extent. For example, check out this one where the Camry ranks higher than the Malibu, yet the Malibu still wins the award: https://www.jdpower.com/Cars/Ratings/Dependability/2018/Midsize-Car

Chevy has those commercials they like to run, and the commercials rely heavily on having a lot of JD Power awards. Now, could Fiat come along and pay JD Power to claim their cars are the most reliable? Maybe, though probably not. They will always rank Toyota as being reliable, because otherwise they'd lose all credibility.

The best source for this kind of thing is Consumer Reports. They don't take money for any kind of sponsorships, they are funded all from user subscription fees. When I bought my last car, I paid $8 to sign up for a month subscription to find out if the 3rd Gen Mazda 6 is reliable. Indeed, it scored top scores in reliability in almost every area, with a 3/5 score for paint quality and a 4/5 score for body panel quality and interior trim quality. Everything else, 5 out of 5.

Anyway, even JD Power gives the 6 top scores in mechanical reliability.
 
So can anyone explain why companies like JD power, and others say that the 6 is average to below average in reliability?
I'd like some of what they're smoking.

I just rolled 150,000 miles and have had ZERO issues. Scheduled maintenance and wear items (e.g. brakes, tires, both belts and a battery) only.
So can anyone explain why companies like JD power, and others say that the 6 is average to below average in reliability?
JD Power ratings can be purchased, at least to some extent. For example, check out this one where the Camry ranks higher than the Malibu, yet the Malibu still wins the award: https://www.jdpower.com/Cars/Ratings/Dependability/2018/Midsize-Car

Chevy has those commercials they like to run, and the commercials rely heavily on having a lot of JD Power awards. Now, could Fiat come along and pay JD Power to claim their cars are the most reliable? Maybe, though probably not. They will always rank Toyota as being reliable, because otherwise they'd lose all credibility.

The best source for this kind of thing is Consumer Reports. They don't take money for any kind of sponsorships, they are funded all from user subscription fees. When I bought my last car, I paid $8 to sign up for a month subscription to find out if the 3rd Gen Mazda 6 is reliable. Indeed, it scored top scores in reliability in almost every area, with a 3/5 score for paint quality and a 4/5 score for body panel quality and interior trim quality. Everything else, 5 out of 5.

Anyway, even JD Power gives the 6 top scores in mechanical reliability.
this is good info! Thanks!

Maybe that 2016gt with 70,000 miles for under $15,000 I found isn't a bad deal!
 
I had a leased 2016 6 Station wagon diesel with 150 HK and 380Nm. and an Automatic. In three years I drove 155,000 Kilometres which is about 95K miles, mostly Motorway, including German autobahns with no speed limits. My average mpg over the whole period was 38 mpg.
After a long session through Germany one evening with no traffic where I covered 500 miles in under 6 hours including a stop to tank up. The mpg fell to 31.7.
The only repairs apart from normal service was a sensor on the exhaust manifold that was apparently blocked by all the bio material in the diesel fuel. This caused the motor management to throw a fit. the instrument panel went into disco mode, with all lights blinking and the gearbox refused to change gear. This happened about three weeks before I was due to return the car.
I now have a 2017.5 diesel with 175Hk and 420 Nm it is noticeably quicker. I have had it for six months and drive about 26K kilometres. It's mpg from new to now is... 38mpg the same as the lower tuned version
 
Consumerreports is just bought as jdm and other. They do have biases and I’m sure get paid as well. People online take their advice as gospel when their results are nothing more than self reported.
Self reported as opposed to what? Taking every vehicle on a 200,000 mile test drive yourself?

CR has been around for many decades and has always been the golf standard. If they were accepting kickbacks, don't you think SOME ONE would have reported it by now? JD power taking money is common knowledge; car makers have to pay them to receive credit for their awards. But no one has accused CR of this except for pessimistic people pulling unsupported accusations out of nowhere.
 
Self reported as opposed to what? Taking every vehicle on a 200,000 mile test drive yourself?

CR has been around for many decades and has always been the golf standard. If they were accepting kickbacks, don't you think SOME ONE would have reported it by now? JD power taking money is common knowledge; car makers have to pay them to receive credit for their awards. But no one has accused CR of this except for pessimistic people pulling unsupported accusations out of nowhere.

Even if they aren't accepting money, they are biased towards many brands and models. Self reporting means nothing. This is why these reports should be taken with a huge grain of salt. The average person has no clue of anything when it comes to cars. Most of us here are minority compared to the average joe who are giving these self reports. Even I have more knowledge than the average dude who owns a car.

Problem here is many people take their advice as gospel and refuse to hear other opinions. The simple fact that is a paid service makes them unreliable. If you need to pay for a membership to find out what cars are more reliable than others, then you have bigger problems than that lol
 
Consumer Reports rates Toyota and Lexus very high and recommends almost all of their models.


Honda and especially Acura have dropped a lot from 5 years ago.


Mazda has good scores with the 3 & 6, CX-9 is still below average.
 
Consumer Reports rates Toyota and Lexus very high and recommends almost all of their models.


Honda and especially Acura have dropped a lot from 5 years ago.

Mazda has good scores with the 3 & 6, CX-9 is still below average.
The Toyota myth lol

The biggest myth in the automotive industry. Maybe this was true back in the 80s, not anymore.

This is one of the many reasons why consumerreports shouldn't be trusted. They include Toyota always on their top lists, just to seem relevant and that they know what they're recommending, otherwise, nobody would trust them. They are feeding off the myth and giving the food to you already chewed.

Notice how brands like Mazda, Hyundai, Kia, among others, are always low on their list. Every now and then they will put a less popular brands up in there for variety.

Worst part is most people are sheep and repeat this myth without any basis to back it up except. All the Toyotas I've seen never had any problems. You cannot kill a Toyota. Trust me, you can kill it.

Toyota hasn't produced anything relevant since the 90s and their new designs prove this. They are living off a myth from the 80s while companies like Kia and Hyundai are probably just as reliable as they are right now.

Let's not forget the fact that many, if not most Toyotas are not even made in Japan.


This is a myth that will not die any time soon.
 
Statistics is like a bikini, it reveals everything but conceals the vital thing. That is was CR ranking does. Lumping together a maufacturer's all models of all years all kinds of problems from nits like window stripping came off to biggies like transmission/engine failure and producing a number out of it is wide off the mark, just does'nt tell the story. I had my colleague's Lexus 350 transmission go bad barely 2k miles after the warranty was up.

Secondly statistics based on self reporting is highly inaccurate. Its basic assumption is car owners of every brand report issues to CR with equal uniformity, which is so far fetched.
 
What's not to say that many car owners are affiliated with certain brands that have an agenda to push it to the top of the list?

How does CR obtain this data? Surveys, there is no other explanation.

What's not to say that certain car manufacturers don't pay consumers to positively report on these surveys?

CR may not be receiving money, but brands may be bribing consumers to leave positive reviews.

CR is one of the biggest ripoffs there are. You're paying for a membership just to read what some biased average person filled out in some survey. The average person sucks and doesn't know shit about cars.

If you need to pay or read these reports just to make sure you buy a "reliable" car, then I have some bad news.

You don't anything else but some common sense and make sure you buy from a proper dealer, ideally a new car or certified used with warranty left.

But then again, the average person only buys cars for point A to B. They want an affordable car, that last the longest, that gives the highest mpg, while never breaking down and doing little to no maintenance and all in all while spending little to nothing

Not gonna happen Jeff.
 
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