2014 Mazda 6 GT Review – It’s Not Pretending To Be Something It Isn’t

I don’t know who came up with the whole “Look up (insert anything here) in the dictionary and you will see a picture of (insert person here),” but I’ve long since grown tired of the hyperbole. 

Look up “pretty” in the dictionary and you won’t actually see a picture of Halle Berry. You will see the definition of pretty, in words. 

To the dismay of many Cape Bretoners, when they look up “scenery” in the dictionary, they don’t see a picture of Cabot Trail. Instead, there’s a definition of scenery, using words.

Look up “free throw shooter” in the dictionary and you won’t see a picture of Jeff Hornacek wiping his brow. In fact, unbeknownst to cliché-prone sports commentators, you won’t see anything of the kind in the dictionary.

Look up “midsize sedan” in the dictionary, and you won’t see a picture of the Mazda 6. There are two reasons for this. First, we’re not looking at a picture dictionary, as we’ve already discussed. Also, North American car buyers simply don’t identify with the Mazda 6 when they first think to themselves, “Hmm… midsize sedan.”

A decade ago, the 6’s failure to conquer the midsize market had as much to do with its busy ride and noisy interior as it did with its slightly cramped rear seat. Three available bodystyles and enchanting dynamics weren’t able to overcome what many buyers obviously saw as severe deficiencies. Half a decade ago, the second-generation Mazda 6, a renamed successor to the 626 which came before, failed in spite of its classy good looks and a significant increase in size. Also, there were spiders.

Contrary to what Mazda’s SkyActiv marketing plan would have you believe, the third-generation Mazda 6 isn’t a revolutionary approach for Mazda. Oh, it’s all new. They’ve changed plenty of part numbers. But the 6 is once again intended to attract buyers who value good looks, relatively minimalistic interiors, and sporty dynamics. This is still the sedan for the buyer who wants a second-hand RX-8 but can’t fit that car into his or her lifestyle.

For the third time, enthusiast publications want to believe things will be different. Surely now the market will accept the midsize Mazda sedan. It’s so fun to drive, they’ll say. It looks so freaking good. There’s abundant space. It looks incredibly good. There’s a lot of stuff inside. And it looks really, really good. It looks better than all its rivals; perhaps even better than any other sedan currently available for sale, they’ll argue.

I operate GoodCarBadCar.net as your humble North American auto sales analyst. Yet I have no idea if the 2014 Mazda 6 will succeed at a level where its predecessors couldn’t. But my oh my, it should. The midsize market, as a whole collective, corporate, combined, collaborative cooperative, should accept this car. It drives really nicely. It looks quite a bit better than it drives. It’s available with, hear ye this, a manual transmission. You might not know what this is, but it involves a third pedal and a shifter that moves all around, not just forward and back.

Of course, Mazda Canada didn’t offer me a chance to spend a week driving and living in a new 2014 Mazda 6 with a manual transmission. Nobody buys that car. I was, however, given an opportunity to spend a week driving an absolutely loaded third-gen Blue Reflex Mica Mazda 6. That was enough time for me to realize that, yes, this car should succeed. But it might not. Five reasons the market might completely accept this car are listed here, below the five reasons the market might continue to treat the 6 as an afterthought.

It’s not a Honda Accord. This means there are vibrations at idle. It also means the Mazda’s sliding armrest slides when I don’t want it to, the rotary control knob on the centre console doesn’t operate with the smoothness I’d expect, and the steering wheel control stalks are too heavily weighted. And the 6 doesn’t quite find the balance between ride quality and cornering ability that Honda always masters with the Accord. Without sacrificing much agility, Mazda’s standard 17-inch wheels would have probably undone a bit of the 6’s crashiness, which is only manifested during conflicts between the 19-inchers and the worst potholes.

It’s not a Ford Fusion.  This means the infotainment centre is slow to react to inputs. The Mazda usually struggled to understand my voice; TouchMyFord’s Sync has no such struggles.

It’s not a Toyota Camry. The Camry has instilled in many the belief that cars should isolate occupants from all that’s going on in the world outside. The Mazda 6 doesn’t want to do this, and thus it does not.

It’s not a Nissan Altima. In the Altima, everything outside is visible. The windows are big; the beltline not too high. In the Mazda, nothing affects visibility more than the low point at which the roof meets the front windscreen. This brings the rearview mirror low and very close to the driver. Meanwhile, the A-pillar meets the driver’s door glass very close to the driver’s left eyebrow, depending on how bushy it is. The eyebrow, not the A-pillar.

It’s not a Kia Optima. Topping out at $34,195 with a $2000 technology package, the top-end Mazda 6 is a couple hundred bucks more than a fully-optioned Optima. True, the equipment levels don’t entirely match up, but the Optima does have a 2.0L turbocharged four-cylinder with 90 more horses than the Mazda’s naturally-aspirated 2.5L. I wasn’t bothered by the Mazda’s lack of absurd Optima Turbo-like speed. I was bothered by the 6-speed automatic’s reluctance to kick down a gear or two when I prodded the throttle, and by the way it felt like it was producing 154 horsepower, not 184.