Newport Beach, CA – Wow, it has been an exciting summer so far for us here at Race Central.  Between the Indy 500, the NHRA’s Mile High event, the 87^th running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb and a whole long list of other races and events that we have been a part of.  I’m happy to be back in my office and bringing my column to you once again.  And this particular column comes perfectly timed with (but certainly not planned, we are not that organized!) the announcement of our newest partner, Mazda of Lakewood, one of the top MAZDASPEED stores in the country.
                 The tie in of course is the subject of this week’s column, the 2009 MAZDA6i Touring Sedan.  All new for the 2009 model year and completely redesigned to meet the rigid requirements of the American consumer as the last iteration was not as strong a seller as the folks at Mazda would have liked.  The task the engineers at Mazda were faced with was a tricky one in that they needed to keep the Zoom-Zoom mantra in mind while making the car roomier, add creature comforts, safety features, more power and reliability to keep the family sedan buying public visiting the Mazda showroom floor.
                 Was the goal accomplished?  Read on.  The tester the good folks at Mazda entrusted me with was the 4 banger version.  This little engine that can is a 2.5 Liter, DOHC, 16-valve, VVT inline 4 cylinder making 170 horsepower and 167 Lb-Ft Torque, the PZEV emissions option does not take away much, only two horses and one Lb-Ft are lost for doing your part to save the planet.  The family sedan buyer will find a very well equipped MAZDA6 waiting for them.  As there are seven trim levels I don’t have the space to run through them all here but to make it simple the models designated with an “i” are all equipped with 4 cylinders and the “s” designation means you have a powerful V6 for your right foot to command.  The value leader of the seven trim levels is the i SV which is very well equipped with a 6-speaker CD stereo system, A/C, tilt/telescoping steering wheel with audio controls, full power accessories, and the options increase from there as the trim levels move up the ladder. 
                The MAZDA6 i Touring you see here had all sorts of good stuff such as 8-way power driver’s seat, dual-zone climate control, 60/40 split fold-down rear seats, satellite radio, electroluminescent gauges, fog lights, chrome exhaust finishers, 17-inch alloy

wheels, keyless entry, push-button start, trip computer, Bluetooth, Bose audio with 6-disc CD changer, auxiliary jack, MP3 playback capability, cruise control, airbags galore, power moonroof and the list can go on for quite some time of all the good stuff you get, but, one last thing, and an important safety feature is the Blind-Spot monitoring system, the best I have come across yet, it’s not near as intrusive as other systems, but is always vigilant in its task.
                So brass tacks you ask…how much and how does it drive.  Sticker for the car you see here is $26,745 with the i Grand Touring the next and top dog of the 4 cylinder offerings, after that you are into the V6 models (3.7-Liter, 272 horses and 269 Lb-Ft of which I hope to get my hands on in the near future) that follow the same trim/options offerings making the MAZDA6 an easy car to shop compared to some of the confusing, gotta-have-this-in-order-to-get-that way the competition does their packaging and the competition is stiff in the family sedan marketplace coming from the Chevy Malibu, Subaru Legacy, Nissan Altima, Hyundai Sonata, Accord and the, well, rather boring from a drivers perspective Camry.
                The cabin of the MAZDA6 is a comfortable place to get down to the business of driving.  The best way to describe it is that this car has grown-up, matured, come into its own.  It has not sprouted grey hairs by any measure and is a fun to drive family sedan.  To add to the Zoom-Zoom quotient use the manual up/down shift function provided by the leather wrapped shift knob.  I was moving over the weekend during the Mazda’s visit and that meant running around taking things here and there, many trips to the hardware store, IKEA, and many other places I could think of to spend money on things that had to fit into the car so I could get it to the new place and try my best to unload it, put it together and install it.  As frustrating as all that was the MAZDA6 never ever let me down, it swallowed everything I through at it and brought a smile to my face hitting every apex I could find while schlepping “stuff” around.  Isn’t that what a family sedan should do?  Zoom-Zoom indeed.