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Sedans Mazda6 Mazda6 Wagon
1367 messages, Last post on Sep 26, 2008 at 4:20 PM
You are in the Mazda6 Forum. Your Hosts are pat & karens
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My first exposure to the M6 Wagon was when I drove by a dealer two years ago and saw one on the lot. It looked great. I swung in and asked questions and got a brochure. It has been on my list of cars to consider ever since. The only negative that came to mind was the V6 Ford heritage. Durability and gas guzzling concerns. I have since learned, thanks to this Forum, that only the block is Ford, with all the bits and pieces being unique to Mazda. Reports on mileage vary dramatically on this board. I suspect it has to do with differences in driving styles. That said, I doubt it will do as well as my 2005 Monte Carlo (3400 V6 auto) which gets 27 mpg in regular fill ups and 33 on the highway (and I drive fast). I bought a NEW 2006 basic wagon yesterday. I would have preferred an upscale with the leather seats, but none could be found with such a good price. I searched on cars.com and found several new 2006 basic wagons for $18,500. I chose a Pebble Ash (won’t show the dirt). As I was closing the deal by phone, the salesman offered me a further $500 discount because of some deal they had that was about to expire. So I got a new 2006 wagon for $18,000 plus a $350 dealer fee. There are some other new '06 basic wagons at that price out there. There are also at least 2 brand new 2005 wagons available from dealers. I think I done good. By the way, I live in Canada, so will drive the car home and pay the usual GST/PST tax at the border (the same tax I would pay if I bought the car in Canada) plus a special federal import tax of about $150. The car has to be certified that it meets Canadian standards (it does). This certification is a free service at any Canadian Tire store. The only difference in this car from one sold in Canada is that the air bag warning labels won’t be bi-lingual with French and the speedo/odometer will be in miles instead of klicks. No big deal. The only other difference will be the fatter wallet in my back pocket. $6,000 makes a big lump. I look forward to posting my first drive impressions. In a week or so I will drive it home, a nice little 600 mile drive. I have a couple of questions to ask of those with ownership and technical experience. I live on a farm. My driveways is 500 yards long. We take snow tires very seriously here. One poster mentioned the high cost of 17” snow tires. Can I buy some 2005 Mazda 15” alloy wheels and use those for snow tires? Cheaper wheels and cheaper tires. Are the stud patterns the same? The 626 automatic transmission (Ford) was a weak point of the car. One big help was to install a transmission cooler. This costs less than $100. I was wondering if this would be a good idea for the M6? My idea is to do it now, before trannies start to fail. Anyone here know for sure that the cooler on the M6 is adequate? Is the ’06 automatic a Ford product?
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I found this on a test drive report of a 2004 Wagon in a Canadian magazine. Fuel consumption, according to Transport Canada, is 12.6 l/100 km (23 mpg) in the city and 8.2 l/100 km (35 mpg) on the highway, a bit thirsty. The Imperial gallon is about 20% bigger than the U.S. gallon, so the gov't estimate is about 28 miles highway to the US gallon. Is this higher than what you get on a highway trip? |
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Replying to: ganderite (Apr 01, 2007 11:35 am) I'm not too sure if 15" wheels will fit over the brakes without any clearance problems. I guess it depends on the wheels themselves. My advice is to either invest in a set of 16" steelies, or a used set of 16" wheels from a Mazda 3 or 6. I've got 16" steelies with 205/60-16 Michelin Pilot Alpin PA2s, and they've been excellent in the three seasons that I've used them.
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Replying to: mz6greyghost (Apr 02, 2007 11:47 am) Funny you should mention the Alpins. I had a set on my Buick Rendezvous for the first winter. We found them good winter tires except for deep snow - which is our driveway problem. Once we got out on the highway, they handled slush and cold very well. I replaced them with cheap WalMart tires with real agressive treads. Noisy, but the cars here with those tires are like snowmobiles. We have nine cars here, and all except the Corvette are used year round, so we get a good feel for which snow tires work best for snow. The Wal MArt and Canadian Tire snows seem best - and they are the cheapest. Go figure.
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| I bought a set of 17" mazda 6 wheels off Ebay and great snow tires off the internet. I had about $600 total finto the project. We average about 120" of snow per winter and thsi was a great investment! | |
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Replying to: ganderite (Apr 02, 2007 2:11 pm)
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Replying to: mz6greyghost (Apr 03, 2007 3:59 am) The agressive tread tires are better in snow but noisy and a bit mushing on handling. A compromise, I guess. |
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Replying to: ganderite (Apr 01, 2007 11:35 am) On the transmissions, I used to own a 626 and I believe the I4 626 auto was a notorious-for-trouble Ford unit, the 6-cyl 626 auto was a seemingly more reliable Jatco unit, at least some of the Mazda6 autos also got a Jatco 5-speed, and I'm not sure what the 6-speed auto is but I think it is from yet another manufacturer. There are posts about strangeness with the Mazda6 automatics, but they seem to be more related to electronic issues than mechanical issues. Both of my Mazdas were/are equipped with manual trannys so I haven't followed those issues very closely. At any rate, congrats on your purchase and I hope you enjoy it.
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It's Tuesday, so that means Mazda chat night. If you haven't joined us before, stop in tonight for a little fun with the group! The Mazda Club Chat is on tonight. The chat room opens at 8:45PM ET Hope to see YOU there! Check out the schedule |
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Replying to: slickdog (Apr 03, 2007 9:30 am) That's also what the Alpins are classified as well. Better winter traction without the loss of driving feel (or fun).
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