Mazda does not build many cars like the Mazda6: a 4-door sedan (automobile) / sedan / 5-door Hatchback#Liftback / liftback / 5-door Station wagon / wagon with Petrol engine, built from 2002 to 2024 in the decade of stability control, dual-clutch gearboxes and the first serious hybrids. Its designer of record is Kaname Sawai, Koizumi Iwao (1998).
The story
The Mazda 6 (Japanese: マツダ・シックス, Hepburn: Matsuda Shikkusu) (known as the Mazda Atenza in Japan until 2019, derived from the Italian attenzione) is a mid-size sedan produced by Mazda from 2002 to 2024, replacing the long-produced Capella/626.
The Mazda6 was marketed as the first example of the company's "Stylish, Insightful and Spirited" design philosophy, followed by the Mazda2 in December 2002, the RX-8 in August 2003, the Mazda3 in January 2004, the Mazda5 in the summer of 2005, the MX-5 in October 2005, and the CX-7 in November 2006. The 2003 Mazda6 is essentially the seventh-generation Mazda 626, part of the 'G' model code family.
What is underneath
Under the skin sits Petrol engine; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. The gearbox is a 4-speed Ford 4F27E transmission / 4F27E Automatic transmission / automatic (I4) / 5-speed Jatco JF506E transmission / JF506E automatic (V6) / 5-speed FS5A-EL automatic (I4) / 5-spe. The wheelbase is 105.3 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Its place in the line
Where it sits in Mazda's history is not in doubt: the Mazda Capella/626 / Mazda Xedos 6 came before it; the Mazda EZ-6/6e (China, Europe, Australia) followed it; it was built at Changchun. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Kia Sorento, the Volvo XC90, the Porsche Cayenne. Nearby in the Mazda catalogue sit the Mazda BT-50 and the Mazda T2000.
The money
EPA combined economy is 30 mpg, about $2,600 a year in fuel at the EPA's assumptions. Condition, mileage and specification move any single car a long way from a headline figure.