I was going to do a first impressions thing on my Mazda 6 as well, but there's no reason to clutter the vehicles board with Mazda 6 stuff.
97tbird hit most points on the vehicle but I have a few differences since I have a Sport model with the manual trans and no auto (which I hear is just fantastic). The color is Liquid Silver (silver).
I find the option packages to be a bit odd with the Mazda 6. I am surprised only the Grand Touring has fog lights as a standard feature. Fogs have never been a big deal for me, but still odd in my opinion.
Impressions:
I agree with everything 97tbird says about the ride. It is fun, tight, and very comfortable. The vehicle feels extremely well-built. Better built than my last 2 vehicles, which I felt had above average build quality to begin with. Electric steering to me is always a bit overdone at slow speeds but the Mazda does it better than almost any new car I've ridden in that has it.
My ride my vary a bit since I have 17" wheels. Very good ride that is not at all floaty or too hard either. You feel very confident pushing this car around.
Someone asked about 0-60 numbers. Results vary a bit, but it looks like this car does 0-60 in the 7.4 sec range and 1/4 mile in the 15.5 second range. Some report a couple tenths less or more depending on the write-up. It has way more power than I need for my commute.
Peak torque I believe is at 3250 rpms so it moves good without having to wind it up all the time. The 6 with the manual trans weighs in at 3170 lbs. I find this to be impressive for a 2013 car of it's size.
I was a bit skeptical about the seats at first. The material is odd... It's extremely soft but almost elastic-like mixed with cloth. Either way, after being in them for a while I really do like the seats. Extremely comfortable and they really hold you in place well. They might not be the best for bigger folks though, a bit narrow. My daughter actually had a spill in the back seat. It was only water but it actually beaded right off the seat and onto the carpet. Must have to do with that material they use. Works for me!
Road and engine noise is excellent. The car remains pretty [censored] quiet in the cabin at all times. The engine is also a quiet one, almost too quiet. If you are cruising for optimal fuel economy at the low RPMs you just cant hear the thing, but when you get on it it has a very satisfying tone and it is nice and easy to hear. I was very surprised with how nice the engine sounds.
The shifting is excellent. Short throws, awesome weight from both the shifter and clutch pedal (I have a hard time getting used to super light clutches like in many Toyotas), very easy to drive, satisfying too. The perfecting weighting is what really caught my attention. It also has the Hill Stop feature that works fantastic in this vehicle. I rarely if ever can tell it's there. The transition from when it releases the brake is seamless, better than the last 2 cars I've used with this feature.
No Bose stereo for me. The stock stereo is pretty nice though, not the best but it doesn't distort or rattle so I can tolerate it. Rattling bass or door panels from a bad speaker drives me crazy.
No automatic climate control for me either. I'm okay with this. Never been too picky with this stuff.
Here's a couple pics just showing how some stuff differs from 97tbird's Touring model. (excuse the so-so BlackBerry pics)
274 miles on the first tank still. This is all around-town driving, and with some heavier acceleration bursts here and there during the break-in period. I have some high hopes for this cars MPG. I do feel the AT will do consistently better with MPGs though.
