~If you've peeked at the charts, you already know that Mazda's pumped-up 6 sedan was our performance champ, no contest. It whooshed to 60 mph in 5.4 seconds, a half-second quicker than the Accord, and covered the quarter-mile in 14 seconds flat. It was the skidpad champ, pulling 0.87 g, thanks to a set of sticky Bridgestone Potenzas (RE050A, 215/45) on 7.0-by-18-inch aluminum alloy wheels. That combination, plus big brake rotors that reduced fade, added up to an outstanding stopping distance from 70 mph-155 feet, just a foot more than the best-in-test performance of the Jetta. That's sportscar braking, and a wondeful asset to have when charting a stretch of back road.
~When we speak of back roads, we speak of this car's prime venue. The Mazda's combination of power, brakes, grip, limited body roll, on-demand all-wheel drive, and quick steering (2.6 turns lock-to-lock) made it great fun on our loop, a back-road bandito. Beyond that, the Mazda's turbocharged and intercooled 2.3-liter four was also a helpful traveling companion on freeways, with instant spool-up that delivered big lane-change power, even in sixth gear.
~The downside to the Mazdaspeed package is a shortage of refinement. Consider feature content, for openers. Although the Mazda's as-tested price was third highest, it was the only ride without a sunroof, the onlyone lacking leather upholstery, and one of the two lacking power adjustability of the front seats. Yes, yes, how we do suffer. But when it comes to luxury features for a given price, more is better.
~The Mazda's rather severe interior trim also drew flack, particularly the hard, shiny, plastic of the center console, center stack, dash, and doors. And if the styling troops have done a decent job of integrating the car's raised hoodline, required to accommodate the turbo's intercooler, they were defeated by the challenge of the enlarged grille opening that yawns in the lower front fascia. The bigger opening was needed to get more cool air in there, but it doesn't harmonize well with the other elements of the front-end design.
~We recorded complaints of the Mazda's stiffer-than-most ride quality and road noise, although most were willing to accept that trade-off in favor of the car's quick handling responses. But the other element that goes with this high-performance package - engine noise - was hard for our test crew to accept. The turbo four was serene at idle, but in freeway cruise mode, the Mazda's interior noise levels were highest of the pack. The Jetta generated louder readings at wide-open throttle, but there was a raspy, industrial quality to the Mazda's exhaust note at full cry that grated on all who heard it.
~"Like the Hoover that ate Godzilla," observed one tester. The bottom line: The Mazdaspeed guys nailed the sports part of the deal, but this car needs a little time at charm school.
