Where
was I before I dove off into that unnecessary tangent? Oh yeah, style. The refined style of the exterior makes way for a shockingly upscale environment in which to plant one's derriere (insert Speedo joke here). My personal and overwhelming favourite aspect of the interior was the white and black leather seats. Gorgeous. I wouldn't expect anything better in a $100K luxury flagship, at least as far as colour matching is concerned.
The leather itself was a smooth, durable feeling leather with heating function, but I could not stop telling people about how much I loved looking at the two-tone leather seats. If I had it my way I would have them removed and placed alongside my favourite household seat - the giant black leather La-Z-Boy. They didn't just look good, though, they also provided miles of stress free support and mindless comfort. After the highlight of the seats and leather, the centre stack was suitably dressed in touches of piano-black lacquer mixed with graphite-patterned plastics and satin silver trim, more technical than luxurious, and appropriate for the Mazda's sporting nature. But the seats, man, were those seats gorgeous.
Above
the main HVAC and radio controls was a thin readout screen that gave about all the information I could process with outside and desired temps plus heating functions, CD and track number and time in the usual Mazda red-on-black colour scheme. Gauges were similarly patterned in red on black and featured a big speedo' (don't go there) and tach with ancillary engine temperature and fuel gauges in the outer corners. In front of the instruments was a leather-wrapped (black only) steering wheel perfectly filled out and offering fingertip controls for radio, cruise control, etc.
Getting out on the road, while tricky at first, quickly became a regular pleasure as I took it out more frequently than your average tester. Getting to know the clutch became a mission that rewarded my patience and concentration with nice, tight throws plus a little bit of that firm, notchy resistance you expect in a sport-oriented car.
After mastering (okay, maybe master isn't quite the word, but give me
a break) the gears, I learned what a beast I had to unleash from under the bulging hood. Its 274-horsepower and 280 lb-ft of torque were ready from so low in the rev count (okay 3,000, but I consider that low), that it became hard to even tell that a turbo was kicking in, therefore quick shifts were rewarded with muscular acceleration.
Counter to expectations of a turbocharged engine, power seemed to dry up after 4,500 to 5,000 rpm, where the torque band just seemed to fall off abruptly even though I wanted to keep it up in the 6s to hear the engine and turbo whine in submission. As my editor and driving guru pointed out, this engine was really missing out on the variable valve timing that would have kept the power coming well past its current drop-off point. Of course, the turbo is mated to Mazda's 2.3 four-pot, so getting too fancy is not necessarily worth the investment for a mature and slightly subdued sports sedan. I can only imagine what it would be like with a second profile making the most at high revs and launching this car into the battle for all-wheel drive turbo supremacy with the STi and Evo. But that wouldn't really be very mature, now would it?
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| Contrast. The Mazdaspee6 defines it with its black and white leather interior. (Photo: Justin Couture, Canadian Auto Press) |
The leather itself was a smooth, durable feeling leather with heating function, but I could not stop telling people about how much I loved looking at the two-tone leather seats. If I had it my way I would have them removed and placed alongside my favourite household seat - the giant black leather La-Z-Boy. They didn't just look good, though, they also provided miles of stress free support and mindless comfort. After the highlight of the seats and leather, the centre stack was suitably dressed in touches of piano-black lacquer mixed with graphite-patterned plastics and satin silver trim, more technical than luxurious, and appropriate for the Mazda's sporting nature. But the seats, man, were those seats gorgeous.
Above
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| Bright, and full of info, the orange instrument cluster tells you all you need to know. (Photo: Justin Couture, Canadian Auto Press) |
Getting out on the road, while tricky at first, quickly became a regular pleasure as I took it out more frequently than your average tester. Getting to know the clutch became a mission that rewarded my patience and concentration with nice, tight throws plus a little bit of that firm, notchy resistance you expect in a sport-oriented car.
After mastering (okay, maybe master isn't quite the word, but give me
 |
| There's a reason why the hood bulges... (Photo: Justin Couture, Canadian Auto Press) |
Counter to expectations of a turbocharged engine, power seemed to dry up after 4,500 to 5,000 rpm, where the torque band just seemed to fall off abruptly even though I wanted to keep it up in the 6s to hear the engine and turbo whine in submission. As my editor and driving guru pointed out, this engine was really missing out on the variable valve timing that would have kept the power coming well past its current drop-off point. Of course, the turbo is mated to Mazda's 2.3 four-pot, so getting too fancy is not necessarily worth the investment for a mature and slightly subdued sports sedan. I can only imagine what it would be like with a second profile making the most at high revs and launching this car into the battle for all-wheel drive turbo supremacy with the STi and Evo. But that wouldn't really be very mature, now would it?