We're very glad we are the ones test driving the Mazda6, not the people who developed the car. Seriously, we wouldn't want to be responsible for a vehicle that has to face a list of competitors which takes two days to read out. However, the 2014 Mazda6 laughs at this and then suddenly stops and asks its competitors: “Why so serious?”
The Japanese model promises to awaken a special feeling inside of you, the one a MX-5 Miata driver has on a track day morning, albeit at a different scale. It does this in a segment where sportiness for the best-selling models usually reaches its climax with a set of big wheels. Sure, some of its enemies have hot versions, but the incarnations that people actually buy come with a long list of assets where emotions can’t be found.
And if we are to give names for the aforementioned competition of the Mazda6, you’ll probably call us followers of the otherworldly cult. That’s because we think we saw the model in two places at the same time.
The Mazda6 first entered the battle of the European D-segment, a fight that’s as old as the continent itself and sees names like the VW Passat strike fear in their opponents. Nevertheless, the Mazda6 is also competing in the first line of the American mid-size class, where the Toyota Camry knows no mercy for its enemies.
Mazda’s 6 has some big wheels of its own, but the model relies on a bit more in its aim to impress. However, if you want to find out its story, don’t try to call Mazda’s head office in Hiroshima, the people there are really busy following the latest instructions. A few years ago, they probably held a huge meeting where employees were shown a few Mazda aficionados and were give a clear direction: “make everybody behave like them!”
Many, many conversations in the highly emotional manner that defines the Japanese people followed. We don’t know their language, but we do know that the international translation, the engineers’ “Skyactiv” and the designers’ KODO, have worked brilliantly on the Mazda CX-5.
Yes, Mazda began reinventing itself with an SUV - everybody wants one these days, so the choice was obvious. However, it was now time to see what the changes would do for one of the automaker’s established models, so we had to drive the Mazda6.
The Soul Red finish of our test car meant that we started off well, but we couldn’t help wonder is what’s under the metal matches the latter’s declarations. We were going to put this to the test courtesy of Mazda’s new 2.2-liter diesel engine, a unit that’s set to land in the US later this year.
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