Not Sad,but a little shocked

theChineyz

Member
:
MazdaSpeed6
Having been an on and off street racer for over 8 years starting with a crx and moving through the honda ranks, I definitely feel as if I have upgraded in automotive maturity with my purchase of theSpd6, my only problem is years ago a vehicle with this much power and beauty would have been embraced by the import community and would have seen the cover of import tuner,turbo magazine, and many other import publications. My question is "what gives" has the crowd that I once knew turned a blind eye to truly sporty cars or has it just been oversimplified by the Fast n Furious movement that took me out of the street/Drag movement in the end.Though I don't necessarily think that is a bad thing that i am not chased through traffic by ever "buzzed out" civic with lambo doors, I kind of yearn for that oldskool respect for power cars.


Jae

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2006 Liquid Platinum MS6
2006 Mazda3 Sunlight Silver Sedan Stock (traded)
1996 Honda Civic EK Hatch B16A 210hp (Sold)
1989 Honda Crx JDM Spec ZC 220hp (Sold)
 
theChineyz said:
Having been an on and off street racer for over 8 years starting with a crx and moving through the honda ranks, I definitely feel as if I have upgraded in automotive maturity with my purchase of theSpd6, my only problem is years ago a vehicle with this much power and beauty would have been embraced by the import community and would have seen the cover of import tuner,turbo magazine, and many other import publications. My question is "what gives" has the crowd that I once knew turned a blind eye to truly sporty cars or has it just been oversimplified by the Fast n Furious movement that took me out of the street/Drag movement in the end.Though I don't necessarily think that is a bad thing that i am not chased through traffic by ever "buzzed out" civic with lambo doors, I kind of yearn for that oldskool respect for power cars.

I think the problem is that no one really knows about the car. When I brought it to the dragstrip last summer, people thought that it had a V6 and was FWD. When I told them it was AWD they were so surprised!
 
I've noticed this too. But besides the fact that if the MS6 had more exposure, we would probably get performance parts developed faster, I really don't care that we are a little "unknown". I don't want to be like every other WRX or STI out there. I want to be a little more of a sleeper.

I think the reason we don't get the press is that our car is kind of in between a lot of cars. It's in between the WRX crowd and the Ford Milan crowd. We have a car that is perfectly balanced between speed, handling, usefullness and comfort.

Anyway, like I said, I've always like having some of the sleeper status the lack of press gives us.

Wayne
 
That makes alot of sense..

I can really see where you guys are coming from on this one. I also love the fact that we carry that element of surprise. I suppose I am just hoping this car can get some Japanese track play from either Best Motoring or Options just so we can see a little bit of that balance and not have this car fade into history as many very good cars have. After watching the stig effectively pull a smoking lap lap on the TopGear track in our underpowered euro brethren Im anxious to see how our beast stacks up.Thanx again from the input


Jae
 
I love the exclusivity of this car. It makes those that we blow the doors off of curious and dumbfounded (scratch) . I think most of us that got this car wanted it for its all around benefits ( 4 doors, awd, hp, handling, manual, creature comforts, etc....)

I have young ones, there's snow up here, and i can't afford a nice daily driver and a nice weekend car because I'm also paying (sad1) for my wife's minivan, so there had to be a compromise, this was the best choice imo. Also, insurance is pretty good for the performance. My insurance went up only $72/year but this is a new car.

Looks are subjective but I'm sure even the person who doesn't know anything about the car would think it's somewhat appealing (subjective). Don't want or need the attention of a loud or big winged car anymore.

Unless something unexpected happens this car will be driven to the ground, that's not to say I won't get another car when this gets paid off though (wink)
 
I don't really feel that exclusivity, since there are tons of regular 6s on the road that look like mine, but I like owning the top of the line of any car, that's unique because it's built in Japan, and internally is different, and the Mazda 6 in general is simply a fine automobile. I think the fact that it has more of a luxury car feel then an enthusiast sports car feel has something to do with it. It's midsize, and the enthusiast market loves compacts, so that right there plays a big role. I mean, who are we kidding. The car weighs 3600lbs. It's an ADULT CAR, so it's no surprise to me why it hasn't gotten the attention. The Speed 3 has taken all of that away, since it's just as powerful, yet considerably lighter and more nimble.

I'm coming from an STI to a Speed 6, and although I admit I miss the extra power, lighter weight, better handling and pure fun factor, I don't miss the toyish flash, harsh ride, negative attention, higher insurance, and the sub-par interior and exterior quality (although the STI has largely improved in a lot of these things since my 04 model). I grew up fast in 2 and a half years, and barring reliability issues/headaches in the future, this is a car I plan on keeping a long time. I like not getting all the attention, because I get enough of that in my S2000.

The Mazdaspeed 6 is a great daily driver, and as said earlier, it's a sleeper car that's not great and dominant in any one thing, but it's good in everything, and has a great balance of what an all around car should be. That is why I traded in my STI, and it's why I have never looked back. :)
 
Walk softly and carry a big, AWD, Mazda stick!

R
 
I think one of the cool things about owning this car is when someone actually recognizes what it really is when they see it. I was at a retreat in Alabama and was followed in to the campground by a dad and his three sons in an old Passat VR6. We parked near each other and when I got out of the car, one of the sons was asking all about the car, and they all checked it out. I was surprised he knew what it was.

Then on my way up to New England a couple weeks ago, I-95 was closed due to a tanker spill and my family and I ended up driving the back roads of CT looking for the Merrit. I was in this upscale residential neighborhood and was trying to find the nearest "main road," and I saw a guy walking his dogs. I pulled over and asked him if he knew where the nearest gas station was. He told us, then said, "nice car by the way... Is that the Speed6?" And he hadn't even seen the back of the car. I was very surprised. Asked me how I liked it, etc...

It's nice when someone recognizes this car for what it is... To everyone else, they just find out it's a sleeper when I pull away from them at the light. :)
 

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