turbo6girl
Member
- :
- 2006 Mazdaspeed 6 Black Mica
So this past weekend my boyfriend and I decided to go to D. Dahle Mazda in Murray to test drive the new 09 6i and 6s to see just how different they feel. We didn't have any intention to purchase at that time but we did want to see what the differences were as he drives a modded 6i and I drive an MS6. So we get to the dealer, salesman #1 comes out asks us if he can help us.
"Just here to test drive an 09"
"Oh ok. Looking to trade in?"
"No. Just test drive to feel the differences"
So he goes in, grabs another salesman (salesman #2) and has him go on the drive along after my boyfriend gives him his license. We end up test driving a $25K Sangria Red 6i ATX GT with the moonroof/bose.
My boyfriends impressions of the car (snagged from another forum):
"First impression when I sat in it was hmm, there are a lot of buttons. I don't know wtf BSM is but I turned that off along with DSC. Seats were leather and felt good. The center stack had a lot of things going on and it was kind of overwhelming, honestly. Dual climate and all that was nice but I don't use A/C very much so that means nothing to me. The center stack info display seemed well out of reach. I'm so used to messing with it and now it's like a full foot towards the front of the car, haha. The gauges were nice but I think it's ridiculous not having a redline on the tach. Simple and stupid, I know, but I don't understand the point of not showing the redline.
So onto the drive. The steering is not BMW-esque heavy like the 1st gen. It's very similar to an Accord I drove recently, and probably closer to the Saturn Outlook I drove around for the first half of the year. But it does move where the steering wheel is pointed. It doesn't feel like it weighs 200lbs more and is 7" longer than my car, so props to Mazda for that, but demerits for semi-lifeless steering.
Transmission felt fantastic and responded very quickly. Throttle response was excellent--I'm certain it was better than mine. I think this was the most surprising part of the car in the positive category. But I gotta tell ya, the thing was ******* slow. And this is coming from another 6i atx. Sure, I have mods, but at 4000ft elevation those mods are completely negated so it should actually be a pretty fair comparison for a new 6i to mine. I'm serious about that too as my car is certainly running slower than it was when it was stock (timeslips coming soon!) Anyways, I was expecting more from the engine. It was very muted and seemed like it was in someone else's car or a mile away. Far too disconnected to evoke any sort of "zoom-zoom"
One knock against the transmission is that the gears are short as hell. I didn't get above 50mph but looking at the speedometer and tach as I accelerated through second, it looked like a third gear shift would've been necessary to reach 60? I guess that is how they should be geared when they have more torque and a 6200rpm "redline" but uh, yeah. Yeah.
Turning was good, similar to a 1st gen and once again nothing like the 3300lb 193" size of the car, but definitely a bit more soft. I think with a drop and shocks it could feel very similar to a 1st gen and possibly out edge it in some ways, but then again this car is bigger in both length and width, which obviously helps with turning.
Overall, the car is better than I expected in terms of driving, but it just...doesn't have any soul to it. It's been teched up but dumbed down (blind spot monitoring? is it that ******* hard to LOOK?) It's not a car I care to drive again.
Actually, a great way to describe it is like a music band. The first album or two have their rough edges but it's a great sound and cohesion. It hits home. But the third and fourth albums are over-produced, over-edited, and seem to lack the intensity of the first releases. Sure, there are some great riffs, beats, choruses, or lyrics here and there but it simply isn't what it used to be."
So we get back to the dealer about 10 minutes later, they had a pre-determined test drive route for us to take which had no highways and was too short IMO.
"Alright, so let's see what the 6s feels like"
"Ok, let me pull the VIN and I'll get the keys"
Sounds good, right? So my boyfriend and I are standing there discussing the TL they have sitting in their lot with illegally tinted windows and tinted tails (I previously asked salesman #2 how they could sell something that wouldn't pass safety) when salesman #1 comes out...
"My boy tells me your disrespecting a car that's not yours"
At first we thought he was joking, after standing there momentarily staring blankly at him with a "WTF" impression my boyfriend asks "What? Are you kidding me?"
"My boy said you were beating up on the car and disrespecting it"
"I didn't even redline it. I didn't get above 50"
We were both dumbfounded at his reaction to our test drive, especially because he pawned a new salesman off on us and wasn't even in the car when we went for the test drive.
"It's not your car. Why would you disrespect a car that isn't yours like that?"
My boyfriends response: "How I drove was perfectly acceptable for a test drive"
"It's not your car. It's not some base model 6 like yours. So that's enough. Beat it"
"Hah, if you want to be a b**** about it that's fine by me. Good luck selling the 09s buddy"
"Won't be a problem"
So, in closing. If you show up in a base model and 1st gen 6i don't expect to get any respect from their salesmen. I wonder how much differently we would have been treated if we had showed up in my Speed6. It's pretty pathetic, though, that the package type on your car would determine the quality of your service.
Just thought I would share my disappointment with that dealership. I did call the manager, Roger, and explained the situation...however, I have had no desire to return to there to see if he will follow through on "resolving" the issue and allowing us to test drive the 6s like we wanted. We ended up rescheduling the services we needed done for Bountiful Mazda, who hasn't given us any problems to this date.
"Just here to test drive an 09"
"Oh ok. Looking to trade in?"
"No. Just test drive to feel the differences"
So he goes in, grabs another salesman (salesman #2) and has him go on the drive along after my boyfriend gives him his license. We end up test driving a $25K Sangria Red 6i ATX GT with the moonroof/bose.
My boyfriends impressions of the car (snagged from another forum):
"First impression when I sat in it was hmm, there are a lot of buttons. I don't know wtf BSM is but I turned that off along with DSC. Seats were leather and felt good. The center stack had a lot of things going on and it was kind of overwhelming, honestly. Dual climate and all that was nice but I don't use A/C very much so that means nothing to me. The center stack info display seemed well out of reach. I'm so used to messing with it and now it's like a full foot towards the front of the car, haha. The gauges were nice but I think it's ridiculous not having a redline on the tach. Simple and stupid, I know, but I don't understand the point of not showing the redline.
So onto the drive. The steering is not BMW-esque heavy like the 1st gen. It's very similar to an Accord I drove recently, and probably closer to the Saturn Outlook I drove around for the first half of the year. But it does move where the steering wheel is pointed. It doesn't feel like it weighs 200lbs more and is 7" longer than my car, so props to Mazda for that, but demerits for semi-lifeless steering.
Transmission felt fantastic and responded very quickly. Throttle response was excellent--I'm certain it was better than mine. I think this was the most surprising part of the car in the positive category. But I gotta tell ya, the thing was ******* slow. And this is coming from another 6i atx. Sure, I have mods, but at 4000ft elevation those mods are completely negated so it should actually be a pretty fair comparison for a new 6i to mine. I'm serious about that too as my car is certainly running slower than it was when it was stock (timeslips coming soon!) Anyways, I was expecting more from the engine. It was very muted and seemed like it was in someone else's car or a mile away. Far too disconnected to evoke any sort of "zoom-zoom"
One knock against the transmission is that the gears are short as hell. I didn't get above 50mph but looking at the speedometer and tach as I accelerated through second, it looked like a third gear shift would've been necessary to reach 60? I guess that is how they should be geared when they have more torque and a 6200rpm "redline" but uh, yeah. Yeah.
Turning was good, similar to a 1st gen and once again nothing like the 3300lb 193" size of the car, but definitely a bit more soft. I think with a drop and shocks it could feel very similar to a 1st gen and possibly out edge it in some ways, but then again this car is bigger in both length and width, which obviously helps with turning.
Overall, the car is better than I expected in terms of driving, but it just...doesn't have any soul to it. It's been teched up but dumbed down (blind spot monitoring? is it that ******* hard to LOOK?) It's not a car I care to drive again.
Actually, a great way to describe it is like a music band. The first album or two have their rough edges but it's a great sound and cohesion. It hits home. But the third and fourth albums are over-produced, over-edited, and seem to lack the intensity of the first releases. Sure, there are some great riffs, beats, choruses, or lyrics here and there but it simply isn't what it used to be."
So we get back to the dealer about 10 minutes later, they had a pre-determined test drive route for us to take which had no highways and was too short IMO.
"Alright, so let's see what the 6s feels like"
"Ok, let me pull the VIN and I'll get the keys"
Sounds good, right? So my boyfriend and I are standing there discussing the TL they have sitting in their lot with illegally tinted windows and tinted tails (I previously asked salesman #2 how they could sell something that wouldn't pass safety) when salesman #1 comes out...
"My boy tells me your disrespecting a car that's not yours"
At first we thought he was joking, after standing there momentarily staring blankly at him with a "WTF" impression my boyfriend asks "What? Are you kidding me?"
"My boy said you were beating up on the car and disrespecting it"
"I didn't even redline it. I didn't get above 50"
We were both dumbfounded at his reaction to our test drive, especially because he pawned a new salesman off on us and wasn't even in the car when we went for the test drive.
"It's not your car. Why would you disrespect a car that isn't yours like that?"
My boyfriends response: "How I drove was perfectly acceptable for a test drive"
"It's not your car. It's not some base model 6 like yours. So that's enough. Beat it"
"Hah, if you want to be a b**** about it that's fine by me. Good luck selling the 09s buddy"
"Won't be a problem"
So, in closing. If you show up in a base model and 1st gen 6i don't expect to get any respect from their salesmen. I wonder how much differently we would have been treated if we had showed up in my Speed6. It's pretty pathetic, though, that the package type on your car would determine the quality of your service.
Just thought I would share my disappointment with that dealership. I did call the manager, Roger, and explained the situation...however, I have had no desire to return to there to see if he will follow through on "resolving" the issue and allowing us to test drive the 6s like we wanted. We ended up rescheduling the services we needed done for Bountiful Mazda, who hasn't given us any problems to this date.
