Faults:

I have only had this car for 2 weeks, but it looks promising. Everything works.

General Comments:

I previously had the BMW 540i e39 2002 model, and I loved that thing, but I was going to go to school, and I needed something that used less gas, and if something broke, was not going to cost a fortune to fix, so I am trying not to compare this car to the BMW, but to my Honda I had.

I like this car, it looks good, it is reliable (Mazda), it drives fantastic, and my car has a lot of extras.

This car is fantastic under pressure; you can go into corners at ridiculous angles and speeds, and it just keeps on going safely, thanks to the 17" low profile grip tires.

I also got the Sport; that means it is the 2.3L 4 cyl engine. It has 165hp, and it delivers it very nicely with a lot of low end torque.

I also had the 2005 Honda Accord, which is the Mazda 6 rival, and I like the Mazda better; it grips better and the interior looks much better; the Honda is just too dull and boring, and a bit soft compared to the Mazda.

Like I said, the Mazda handles nicely; that's thanks to the tires, suspension and body roll.

The suspension is hard, but it is still not so stiff that it will make you angry and annoyed.

But there is a downside to this car; the steering is too twitchy and light, and the road noise and tire noise is such a disappointing thing about this car. I was just about to call it luxurious with the leather and all, but no the road noise ruins it, it ruins the fun, it ruins your mood, it just kills everything, and I hate it so much for that.

The car is just so poorly insulated; I would not have mind giving the car an extra 30 kg weight for some more insulation, it is just ridiculous. It's fine on short runs, but 1 hour and more you will be getting angry about stuff that you loved before. You can really notice it when you put a CD in and crank it up to you know "medium loud" and step out of the car and close the door... you will still hear the song loud and clear... and I know I've got the 17" wheels, but COME ON! I even evaluated the noise to be partly the tire's fault, but still wow! But on to more stuff.

This car is otherwise great on the inside. The driving position is good and the seats are good. I have all black leather; looks good and there is plenty of room in the back, plus the boot is huge.

I can give this car a solid 7.5 in overall rank... good car.

Faults:

Alternator was replaced at 10k.

Manual transmission at 20k.

Battery died 3 times in 5 years.

Headliner started to fall apart when the car was 4 years old.

Leather seats started to wear badly after 4 years.

General Comments:

The quality of Mazda 6 does not match the quality one would expect from a Japanese car.

Faults:

Here's a short list (I'm sure I'm forgetting some...)

- Dash board squeaks & rattles (from the beginning).

- Paint cracking issue on roof.

- Transmission/powertrain computer replaced due to extremely violent shifting.

- Metal-on-metal squealing noise from front-end when turning while backing up (mysteriously went away on its own after repeated inspections by the dealer).

- Warped rotors - at least 3 brake rotor turnings and 1 full rotor replacement (gave up on this issue).

- Brakes, to this day, continue to make a clunk sound when applied (calipers? linkage? gave up on this issue, too).

- Brake master cylinder.

- Console lights @ shifter went out.

- LCD fields on radio display stopped working.

- Broken engine mount.

- Alternator/alternator bearings.

General Comments:

Driving this car over the last 6 years has been like driving a completely different car every single day. Monday it's peppy and responsive, Tuesday it's a complete dud. Problems appear, disappear, then come back again.

It's a great looking car, but sadly, since the day I purchased this car it has been a real pain. So many things continue to go wrong with this car that I've just become numb to them as they occur, and refuse to even have them looked at.

The dealers (multiple) have proven to be really of no help at all - they can never seem to replicate the issue.

I will never purchase another Mazda product.