Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Zoom, Zooming with the New Mazda 6

The new Mazda 6 is not a new car, at least not in terms of launch date. Be that as it may, it's still one of the best looking non-Continental executive saloons in the Malaysian market.

With its Kinetic design approach, the Mazda 6 quickly outshone the Toyota Camry's straight-line, less curvaceous design. Of course, Toyota Camry lovers disagree, but as we can see, the Kinetic design is so compelling that Hyundai has adopted it as a strategy to capture market share from Toyota using its newly designed Sonata.

Hyundai does nothing special to hide its copycat strategy, simply calling its design approach "It flows" (which is another way of describing 'kinetic'). And as a result, many a reviewer have hailed the new Sonata as being better looking than the Camry - and some have hailed it as being better than the Mazda 6 (e.g. Cars, Bikes & Trucks).

Anyway, having owned a Mazda 6 for several months now, I dare say, the car not only looks great, it feels great too. It has a commanding presence on the road, but not too much that every other racer boy or wannabe racer feels compelled to race with it.

That is to say, while it looks sporty, its not a sports car; not like how the previous Mazda 6 was set up to be.

You see, the previous Mazda 6 appeared to have been designed as a sports car first and then tuned down to be a family saloon. As a result, the suspension and handling still had a lot of hard characteristics that you'd find in a sports car - which was why some have described the old Mazda 6 as a sports car trying very hard to be a family saloon.

The new Mazda 6 is more of a luxury saloon, but not of the sort you'd expect to cater to old people. Staying true to Mazda's "Zoom zoom" approach to designing cars, the Mazda 6 feels less like a sports car but still responds well when you need to put peddle-to-the-metal.

The Mazda 6 in Malaysia comes in two variants - 2.5L with 18-inch rims and 2.0L with 16-inch rims, at RM175,000+ and RM150,000+ respectively. The prices are a bit steep for most people, but if you can afford them, I say both variants are worth the price you pay.

This is especially so because you get quality comparable to German marquees like VW, Mercedes, BMW and Audi, but without paying as much. And that is simply great if you share in my belief that you should always get the best value from the money you spend on cars.

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Addendum: Notice that I didn't mention the new Honda Accord. Well, that's because I don't think it's a very good car. Its expensive and tries hard to be in the Camry-Sonata-Mazda 6 league, but doesn't quite make the cut.

The new Honda Accord's seemingly random design approach makes the car hideous (especially the bulbous headlights) and anything but sleek. It's 2.4L engine is under-powered, such that a car far less expensive and less powerful like the Kia Forte 2.0SX can out-accelerate it, which doesn't bode well for the 2.0L version of the Accord.

Perhaps the only major thing the Accord has that's worth considering is the Honda badge.

The quicker the next variant of the Honda Accord comes out, the better.

8 comments:

  1. Grinner,

    Been a regular reader of your blog since fomec days. I didn't see the need to show myself until now. :-)

    Well written and subjects covering a wide area.. Should change your Blog Title page from just referring to cars.

    Anyways, thought I read in one of your postings..other than the Forte, you had bought Mazda 6 too?

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  2. Hi Nagai,

    The Mazda 6 is the wife's car. She paid for it.

    But I get to drive it too :D

    I helped her choose the car - convinced her to get it in lieu of a VW Passat CC.

    She's glad to have made the choice. The Mazda 6 is a better drive and gives far greater value for money.

    At the same time, my wife and I share a sense of common property. Although she paid for the Mazda 6 and I have to ask her permission to use it, if I really need to, then I can and should be able to use the car. The same applies to her using my Forte.

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  3. Hi there, my name is Aishwarya and i am a student from New Zealand. My project this year is to build a website. My website is about a Car Yard so i was wondering if I could use an image from your blog? Please let me know if i have the permission to use it.
    Thanks a lot

    image: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_MMBLenh7hFs/TIG9dbwYQbI/AAAAAAAAAeY/zRAbX45bac0/s1600/2011-Mazda6-Facelift-300.jpg

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  4. Dear Aishwarya,

    Thanks for writing in, asking for permission.

    Others who are less than scrupulous would simply use images from my blogsite without asking first.

    Anyway, feel free to use the images, bearing in mind that I may not be the copyright holder of many of the images I have on my site to begin with.

    In other words, use them at your own risk.

    Alternatively, you may opt to use officially released images from car manufacturers, just to be on the safer side.

    Also note, I disclaim any responsibility with regard to the accuracy of my statements/expressions or anyone's reliance on them.

    Best regards.

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  5. Salam Grinner, I'm a big follower of your blog & couldn't help to notice your preference of Forte after parting with your FF. I've a question, if you don't mind :), I fall under mid-income group who loves Ford cars but truly understand that monthly affordability & ownership is a 2 different things althogether. So, I'm looking at Nissan Almera 2012 or the upcoming Kia Forte 2013. My question, what do you think of after sales of Naza Kia & their mechanic technical knowledge? Or if you have any knowledge of Tan Chong's after sales quality, it'll help me a lot in my decision. Thanks in advance

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  6. Salam Ruzaimi,

    Thanks for following my blog and thanks for the question.

    I've heard all sorts of horror stories about Naza's after sales service - the kind that you hear when you ask about Proton's after sales service: "Serupa saja".

    Although I couldn't personnally verify the truth of these stories of poor after sales, I didn't want to take any chances. So, I chose a Kia service centre, the one in Glenmarie, Shah Alam called NSS Glenmarie.

    As far as servicing goes, NSS Glenmarie is very good. I have no complaints worthy of note.

    Coupled with an already good car, i.e. the Kia Forte, the experience has been quite satisfactory.

    I'm not sure about Tan Chong motors, because I haven't had the chance to experience it first hand. Each time I want to buy a Nissan, I end up buying something else.

    That said, I haven't heard any horror stories from my friends and acquaintences who own Nissan cars.

    What's more, Nissan also makes good cars, the kind that lasts decades. If nothing else, I'd buy a Nissan car because I'm the kind of purchaser who thinks about keeping his car for more than just a few years.

    And Nissan is that kind of car.

    Rgds,

    Grinner

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