Just drove a Mazda Speed 6

Man what a piece of Ford! lol j/k Someone will get that joke:biggrin:



It was actually really nice. Our systems admin at work owns one. He also owns a 04' GTO(i made a thread about that not too long ago also).

Nice 2 tone leather interior. The gauge cluster looks alot like an STI. Not the design but the color when on and off. Very quiet interior, power seats, just very nice.

The power was really nice. Very smooth overall powerband. Not much turbo lag, which may or may not be a good thing. Depending on who you ask. i was up to 95mph with ease. Didn't really try to flog it much at all and I ws there

The clutch is really wierd though.Its hard to explain but its either disengaged or fully engaged. Hard to slip it a little. I actually killed the car from a stop once Very touchy and has what i'd say 3 different feels. At first its kinda hard, then easy and then a little stiffer again.

Handeling was nice and it had plenty of braking power for its size. Much more than mine.

Anyways, I guess I have to eat my words on when I said it sucked.:laugh:

 

That sounds cool. Isn't that car about 30K though?

 

I drove one a while back, the engine was impressive, but the driver position and hood seemed off. if you look at the speed 6 the hood is actually taller, it looks a little strange. I wasn't really all that impressed even though I tend to be sort of a Mazda guy.

 

the speed 6 is actually quite a pile...clutch problems and engine problems plauge the car...test drove 1 before i bought the sti. and after a 5min mellow run the clutch was already burning...read the mazda forums and you'll get the full headache stories...my 2cents :eek4:

 

Haha, thats exactly what I was saying about it in another thread. I read the same stuff on the forums. Someone here disagree'd with me though...

The hood is wierd because it of how it feeds the TMIC. There are ram air ducts in the main part of the grill that push the air up into a cavity in the hood. Which then pushes the air into the TMIC with is right above the whole block:ugh:

After driving it he let me pop the hood and take a look. It was somewhat warm, nothing all that bad, but not cold.


Although, it did drive pretty nice IMO. Accept for the clutch issue. I don't know that I would ever buy one, but it is a nice 'low profile' car that you can drive around without being revved at.

 

Kind of off subject. My g/f got an 03 Mazda 6 with the V6. That car is nice. You can fit adults in the back seat. Its got some pep and it handles great. Also the best part. I have not had to fix one thing on it yet.

 

Hmmm. I didn't know the MazdaSpeed 6 was having troubles. The funny thing is, it's pure Mazda. No Ford driveline.


I question the clutch issue, since most people are really bad to their clutches. All the time I see over-slippage when starting to clutch drag on every downshift. Heal-and-toe people!!! Thats how I have over 100k on my clutch.


Sorry for the rant.

 

Well, his car has 1500 miles on it. So even the ****tiest driver couldn't toast it that fast. Well, maybe they could but he's not a terrible driver.

 

It sounds like similar claims of VERY weak clutches from the Evo crowd.

Both of these, plus the rumor that the WRX 5-speed was like glass all stem from ppl not driving an AWD vehicle correctly IMO.