Don't believe all that you hear, the life of an auto journalist is not all fast cars and exotic locations. Yes, very occasionally we get to drive the latest wild ride from the super car manufacturers but much more often than that,
we're in your normal everyday vehicles. It was with this in my mind that I arrived at Mazda's head office to pick up my car for the week, another four door family offering from the Mazda stable. Yes! A nice Mazda6 that's been fitted with a four cylinder engine, well at least it will be economical.
This is where I usually say that "they handed me the keys" but they didn't, what they gave me was my very own Mazda credit card or at least that's what it looked like. After realizing that it didn't have a magnetic strip or any numbers printed on it I pushed everything on the card that resembled a button expecting to see a key flick out from it but-nothing. I walked off in the direction of the car park thinking "are we really becoming a keyless society"?
Approaching the vehicle I was suitably impressed, Mazda has a unique way of giving all its products a certain sporty look; even this sensible four door model carried 18 inch alloy wheels and a cute little trunk lid spoiler. Now it's probably not going to give the young tuner guys heart palpitations but for a guy like me sporting a slight middle age spread, it couldn't hurt my street credibility.
The interior followed along similar lines, black leather bucket seats; leather
bound 3 spoke steering wheel and a dashboard that wouldn't have looked out of place in a two seater roadster. I turned the key and started it up, actually I didn't, I turned a little knob where the key should have been. The vehicle sports a six speed gearbox. That's impressive, but then again I guess the more gears that you have, the more you're going to get out of that 2.3 liter 4 cylinder. After driving about a block or two, it was time to join the highway, so I pushed the accelerator pedal and aimed for a suitable gap in the northbound traffic.
Holy Shamolley!!....what have I got here, a Speed6? It's more like a speed fix! To call this car a wolf in sheep's clothing just doesn't do justice to the vehicle! Imagine that the wolf has just shoved a kilo of white powder up his nose and now you're starting to get the idea.
As I live in the countryside north of the city, I started to search out the twisty back roads where I could put the car through its paces. The vehicle
was totally in its elements and let me quickly run through the reasons why.
The 2.3 liter 4 cylinder DOHC 16 valve engine with a direct injection turbo system produces 274 horses, all of this is then coupled to a slick six speed manual gearbox. It has independent coil sprung suspension all round with stabilizer bars back and front. It also boasts a dynamic stability control system and anti-lock brakes with EBFD. Oh! And did I mention that the speed 6 is equipped with Mazda's multi-mode active torque split all wheel drive system and carries a limited slip differential?
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| (Photo: Kevin ''Crash'' Corrigan) |
This is where I usually say that "they handed me the keys" but they didn't, what they gave me was my very own Mazda credit card or at least that's what it looked like. After realizing that it didn't have a magnetic strip or any numbers printed on it I pushed everything on the card that resembled a button expecting to see a key flick out from it but-nothing. I walked off in the direction of the car park thinking "are we really becoming a keyless society"?
Approaching the vehicle I was suitably impressed, Mazda has a unique way of giving all its products a certain sporty look; even this sensible four door model carried 18 inch alloy wheels and a cute little trunk lid spoiler. Now it's probably not going to give the young tuner guys heart palpitations but for a guy like me sporting a slight middle age spread, it couldn't hurt my street credibility.
The interior followed along similar lines, black leather bucket seats; leather
 |
| (Photo: Kevin ''Crash'' Corrigan) |
Holy Shamolley!!....what have I got here, a Speed6? It's more like a speed fix! To call this car a wolf in sheep's clothing just doesn't do justice to the vehicle! Imagine that the wolf has just shoved a kilo of white powder up his nose and now you're starting to get the idea.
As I live in the countryside north of the city, I started to search out the twisty back roads where I could put the car through its paces. The vehicle
 |
| (Photo: Kevin ''Crash'' Corrigan) |
The 2.3 liter 4 cylinder DOHC 16 valve engine with a direct injection turbo system produces 274 horses, all of this is then coupled to a slick six speed manual gearbox. It has independent coil sprung suspension all round with stabilizer bars back and front. It also boasts a dynamic stability control system and anti-lock brakes with EBFD. Oh! And did I mention that the speed 6 is equipped with Mazda's multi-mode active torque split all wheel drive system and carries a limited slip differential?