Gorgeous styling, luxurious interior, excellent driving dynamics — the Mazda 6 had everything except sales.
It’s easy to understand why some cars are sales flops. Hideous styling? The Edsel and Pontiac Aztek certainly qualify. Dubious quality? The Edsel and Aztek fit there too. Respectively, they’re the classic and modern-day epitome of a sales disaster.
But there are other quite fantastic cars that simply do not sell. Cars with gorgeous styling. Interiors that punch well above their class. Smooth, effortless power. A balance of ride and handling that many carmakers aspire to, but few actually achieve. Reliability you can count on. All at a competitive price.
The Mazda 6 is one of those cars. It should have sold like hotcakes. No, it was never going to dethrone the mighty Honda Accord and Toyota Camry that people bought again and again like their favorite cereal. But it certainly deserved better than last place among mainstream midsize sedans. And it was in last place by a lot.
There is an upside to being the least popular car in a segment that’s been supplanted by customer demand for the ubiquitous crossover SUV. You can get a great deal on one. And I did.
In the summer of 2019, I started casually looking through AutoTrader and other online sites. I wasn’t dead set on buying a new car, but I wanted to see what was out there. One car really stood out: the Mazda 6.
I had seen the then-current-generation Mazda 6 at new car shows over the years, and I liked what I saw. Reviews in Car and Driver were very positive. Like most Mazdas, it was the driver’s choice in its class. And the updates for 2018 — a turbo option, a revised interior, more sound insulation, suspension refinements and a few styling tweaks — made it even more appealing.
Then there was the price. The MSRP for a Grand Touring Reserve, the penultimate model in the lineup, was $32,595. It was about $3,000 less than the top-of-the-line Signature, but it had all of the important items: the turbocharged 2.5-liter engine, leather upholstery, heated and ventilated seats, a heated steering wheel, power front seats, plus all of the other features like a sunroof and multi-speaker Bose stereo included on the models below in the pecking order. Pretty reasonable for what you got, and the price put it right in the middle of the midsize sedan market.
But because sedans weren’t selling, and the Mazda 6 even less, they were languishing on dealers’ lots. And dealers were slashing prices to move the metal. One Mazda dealer about 30 minutes away was offering a staggering $7,000 off the MSRP for a leftover 2018 Grand Touring Reserve. That was a deal I simply had to check out.
For years, Mazda has offered some fantastic colors, including its signature Soul Red Crystal. The car with the great deal wasn’t red, but it was a very nice shade of blue, Blue Reflex according to Mazda. The styling updates, inside and out, looked even better in person than they did in a magazine.
The salesman wisely guided me to some curvy backroads for the test drive. The Mazda weighed 300 pounds less than Elvis, my 2010 Cadillac CTS — and you could feel it. The Mazda was light and responsive, with quick steering and a well-damped suspension. I don’t think I’ve ever driven a front-wheel-drive car that felt so neutral. I had no complaints about the vigorous acceleration from the turbo 4 and the smooth, thankfully conventional six-speed automatic. I have never understood the need for automatic transmissions with eight or more gears, and my experiences with CVTs have been uniformly negative.
So here I was with an undeniably lovely car whose driving dynamics met all my requirements. Brand new. $7,000 off MSRP. Plus an extra $500 Mazda loyalty bonus (I had brought my registration for the Miata). No, I didn’t exactly need a new car. But I don’t think I would ever come across another deal this enticing. I probably would have gotten more for the CTS if I had sold it myself, but I really didn’t want the hassle. I accepted the trade-in offer, rejected the extended warranty, and hit the fun back roads for the drive home.
Naming this new car was easy. I took inspiration from the classic 1960s song by Shocking Blue (better than the 80s Bananarama cover): The summit of beauty and love. And Venus was her name.
Venus proved easy to love. Part of my commute is 20 miles on a rural section of I-5, then another 10 on a four-lane state highway. She was quiet, smooth and very comfortable. The adaptive cruise control made the speed changes that became more frequent in heavier highway traffic not my problem anymore. I like a car that’s engaging when you want to have some fun — like freeway cloverleaf entrances — and effortless when you just need to get to where you’re going. Venus excelled at both.
I’ve always enjoyed road trips, and aside from the grossly underpowered Excel, all my cars have handled them well, even the Miata. One trip in Venus demonstrated the value of the turbo 2.5. U.S. 20 from Bend in Central Oregon to the Willamette Valley is scenic over the Cascade Range, but it can become a tedious drive when you’re stuck behind slow-moving RVs and 18-wheelers on the long stretches between passing lanes.
So when a passing lane opened up, I pushed on the accelerator, lightly, I might add. There was a little bit of turbo whine at first as Venus zipped past all the slowpokes. I glanced at the speedometer and was shocked to see I was doing 80 MPH. At part throttle. Going up a 5% grade. And I still averaged 30+ MPG for the trip.
Not only does Venus’ 2.5 turbo make effortless power, it’s also the smoothest and quietest of all the four-cylinder cars I’ve owned. Maybe it’s 20+ years of advancements in engine technology, but the Mazda is even smoother and quieter than the vaunted Honda engines in my 90s Accords.
Mazda has been clear about its upscale intentions while retaining mainstream prices, and it shows, particularly inside. While Venus lacks the Japanese Sen wood of the Signature model, the interior design and materials feel Audi-like. A friend had a 2018 Audi A4 at the time, and while her car was a bit nicer, it wasn’t $20,000 nicer.
Not counting my deep, sentimental attachment to the Impala and the pure fun of the Miata, the Mazda 6 may be the most all-around satisfying car I’ve owned. It’s truly an overlooked gem that any car enthusiast who needs something practical would thoroughly enjoy.
As for me, I paid off the loan for Venus years ago. Thanks to COVID and a continuing hybrid work schedule, Venus has accumulated just 50,000 miles over seven years. With retirement approaching, that number will climb even more slowly.
It’s possible I won’t buy another car before I stop driving entirely. And given how much I continue to enjoy Venus, that’s perfectly OK.
The Mazda 6 may not have been a contender in the marketplace, but it’s a winner to me. And I got the prize.
I’ve been very fortunate to have mostly good cars and several great ones. Thanks for coming along for the ride. This is the end of the road for my own cars in the Cars of a Lifetime series, but stay tuned. I have some memories of my parents’, grandparents’ and friends’ cars still to come.
Related Reading:
Post-COAL: 2014 Mazda 6 – Leveraging the CC Effect
QOTD: Mazda 6 or Jaguar XE – Which Car Looks More Like a “Jag”?
COAL: 2016 Mazda6 6MT – “The One That Got Away”
QOTD: Is This the “Golden Age” for Mid-Sized Sedans?
A wonderful car, as you so eloquently described. Style, power, handling, great accessories! I had an ‘18 GTR, should have never sold it.
In 2017 we were looking for a new car to replace my wife’s 2007 Prius. She loved the MPG of the Prius but I hated the way it drove. We narrowed it down to a 2015 Accord Hybrid and a used Mazda6. My wife was sold on the Accord, but was willing to consider the 6 since I was so interested in it.
I loved it for all the reasons you mentioned, but the high dash and high belt line made it uncomfortable for my wife, who is 4′ 10″ tall. She really tried to like it, but the Accord was a better fit and it was primarily her car. It wasn’t as athletic as the 6, but it was so much better than the Prius.
We replaced the ’15 with a’ 21 and that with a ’24 CRV and just leased a’ 26 Accord to replace that. We love our Honda hybrids.
I’ll give my reason for not buying a Mazda 6 or Mazda 3 – I can barely get into the driver’s seat, or out of it when I’m done driving. The windshield and A pillar are sloped back so much, the top of the windshield is just a few inches from the top of the central B pillar. My head bangs into the windshield support and I can barely bend my head down enough to enter or exit the car. What a nuisance. And like the previous poster’s wife, I found the windshield and door pillars too high to get a good view out (and I’m 5’8″). I felt like a little cat sitting in the driver’s seat of a parent’s car.
I also found the seats, while they look like they’d be comfortable, jabbed me in the upper back.
I was a big Mazda fan in the 1980s. None of the cars they made back then had these issues.
I do like the soft-touch interior surfaces in modern Mazdas.
The Mazda dealer once let me drive one of these when the Miata was in for something. If ever I had a need for a larger sedan – most definitely.
Since going to a 2022 Miata with a similarly-themed interior I can vouch for your comments – it compares very well with my lady’s ES350.
If it existed in the US market I would have gladly had a Mazda6 AWD station wagon instead of a CX-5. I rarely needed all of that ground clearance and would have welcomed a lower center of gravity plus station wagons are cool. My 5’1″ wife might have liked it better too since she always complained about visibility. I still recommend Mazdas although the touchscreen heater on the new CX-5 is a disappointment
I greatly prefer a hatchback or wagon over a sedan and have owned 3 times as many hatchbacks as sedans
It sold quite well in Australia.Mazda has a very good reputation here for value and quality.
You will not be surprised that it did quite well over here, too.
But it was about the last D segment still standing…
I agree that the Mazda 6 is an underrated car. Quite fun to drive, well made and good value for the money. Had some driving time in one and I liked it, although I did not really appreciate the multimedia system controls; I understand the reason for not enabling touch when the car is moving, but I did not find it particularly intuitive.
The first generation sold well in Europe in the early 2000s but with the market shifting to SUVs, and probably hampered by some issues with the DPF and EGR on diesels (which we still the majority of sales at the time), the third generation did poorly and was finally axed.
In my eyes, the station wagon version was one of the best all-around vehicles of the last ten years. As a second hand car still on my screen.
Mazda cars, going back to the 323 and 626, have always been underrated. I knew better after getting my 86 626 and having four others who knew me do the same. Still enjoy my 91 626 every week. A solid nice driving car being a manual. When my wife needed a new car it was a 2018 Mazda 3. I’m not in the market but if I found a decent condition pre 2020 6 I would buy it. The only reason I’d wouldn’t buy new is because I simply won’t touch anything newer with extensive electronics/computerization whether manual or not.
I bought a 2017 version of this car for my son when he moved away from home. Initially, he was reluctant to accept this particular car; he wanted something more upscale and sporty. However, after he lived with it for a while, he came to like it. Over his three years of ownership, the only thing he replaced were the tires. It was an excellent vehicle! While I had no prior experience with Mazda, I would strongly recommend one after this.
I have become more of a Mazda fan with each passing year. My elderly 2007 3 hatch is still a ball to drive, and has proven to be largely trouble free, especially for its age and 160k+ miles.
I don’t see these often at all, but like their looks.
They sold very well over here plus the boatloads of similar cars ex JDm all sold too though I hear now the isnt a difference between JDM and export cars and Mazda doesnt do CVT trans which is why my Sis and BIl keep buying them and of course the deals he gets helps, FWD done properly makes an excellent drivers car.
Agree with everything the writer said. I own a 2016 Mazda6 Sport automatic bought new in 2015, so only 186 HP for me. But it feels quicker than a NA engine should. It is the best overall car I’ve ever owned and only required scheduled maintenance. The styling still looks fresh 10 years later, at least to my eyes.