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My preowned Mazda 6 sedan: Likes & dislikes after 21 months & 53000 kms

Steering feedback and handling is exceptional. 6-speed torque convertor is smooth but gets confused few times.

BHPian shauryadabas recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hi everyone! I am writing this ownership review for my pre-owned 2017 Mazda 6 which I bought in Nov 2020. The car had 41k miles when I got hands on it, and today it stands at 74k miles. So, I have covered around 33k miles (53000 kms) in 21 months.

Looks too good for it's age I must say:

Why and how I bought it:

I came to USA in Aug 2019 to start my PhD at the University of Florida. Due to negligible transport facilities, I started my car search somewhere around early 2020 but it got postponed due to Covid. During the quarantine, I literally browsed through every used car available for my budget. After seeing some Mazda 6's reviews and learning about how sorted these are to drive, my heart stuck on this sedan. It was like no other car for me other than a red Mazda 6.

So, I kept on postponing till I found this red Mazda 6 at 41k miles in great condition only for 16k USD. That's correct, 16k USD, just ~12 lakh rupees for this beautifully well kept large sedan. This was the short period post Covid-1st wave when car deals were like a steal in US. (I feel so lucky when I see the prices of similar models these days, the same 15k USD cars I saw at that time are demanding more than 20k USD, even being 2 years older!!!).

Till now, I have driven it a lot in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Louisiana. It's a proper fun to drive car with good cruising abilities. I have not spent on it much apart from regular oil/filter changes and front brake pads/disc replacement once.

Following are my observations over time:

The pros

  • A very very beautiful sedan compared to it's rivals (Accord/Camry/Sonata).
  • Steering feedback and handling is exceptional.
  • Interior quality and practicality.
  • 19-inch wheels (look attractive).
  • 12-speaker BOSE system sounds crisp.
  • Reliable (similar league as Toyota).
  • Blind spot monitoring is a boon on expressways.
  • Adaptive full-LED headlamps are great!
  • Fuel efficiency considering 2.5L NA petrol is decent.

The cons:

  • 19-inch wheels and low-profile tires (harsh ride on undulations).
  • Missing Adaptive Cruise Control (almost standard on every car sold in US 2018 onward)
  • Acceleration is nothing to boast about, but fast enough.
  • 6-speed torque convertor is smooth but gets confused few times.
  • No Apple-Carplay/Android-Auto.

I have posted some pictures along with few details on each:

Interior looks premium. Quality, fit & finish are great.

Side profile looks clean with those lines and curves.

19 inch wheels and low profile rubber look enticing.

Has Sport mode which makes the drive more engaging but consumes ~2-3% more fuel. You can also see the electronic parking brake. The infotainment controller looks and operates just like BMW's IDrive.

Climate control switchgear is intuitive to use and feels robust. The screen gives 2013-2016 BMW vibes.

In-built Navigation shows useful info. On long drives, I mount my phone for the main navigation and also run this in-built navi as an additional assist.

My best numbers till date, this was a 2hr drive. 41.5 mpg equates to ~17.6kmpl.

Chilling in its unnatural habitat.

Final pic for this post.

All in all, it has been great experience with this car and I so much wish that Mazda comes to India soon. I am sure their SUV line-up, namely, CX-30, CX-5, CX-50 will be hit here if priced well.

I will be active with new posts about my Mazda 6. Thanks!

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