Interesting... I came away much more likely to investigate the 6 further. The
automatic behaved reasonably well given the circumstances, and in fact starting
in manual 1st gear and going to 2nd (giving it plenty of time before hitting
the rev limiter) and leaving it there worked out great. My wife has a Pro5,
and I was already considering the 6 but was worried it was more sedan than
sports-sedan. I thought it held it's own. The test drive area was nice to
clearly get a feel for the differences between the light & surprisingly nimble
Pro5, and the stock springs and tires 6s compared to the competition cars. It
was also nice to get to drive the 5 speed manual and compare it. The automatic
was definitely.... like a automatic. No shock there. The 5 speed was quite
nice. I was impressed by the 6, and obviously it can take some abuse!
I came away thinking the Mazdaspeed Protege was clunky, didn't rev smooth, had
a funky shifter, and even after all that I wasn't too impressed with the
power... although admitedly that was mostly due to the tight stupid slalom
course.
I had 700 points (or will once they do a final audit of the clocks), which was
good enough for 5th at the time (noon Sunday)... where did that end up by the
end of the day?
I asked the RX-8 lady about them doing it with that car next year, and why they
didn't have an RX-8 available to test drive. She said they don't have any
production models of them yet, and didn't want to risk the hand-built models
they had. She said they were definitely considering doing the RX-8 next year
but wasn't sure it was exactly what Mazda really wanted to be pitching since
it's such a low volume (although much more than I would have thought) seller.
All in all, quite a fun event. I wish the courses had been a little more open.
Makes you appreciate both how challenging and how annoying a tight autocross
course is. Would have also liked a few more runs on the practice course to
perfect the left foot braking.
--Darren
"Bryan Heitkotter" <bryan64@earthlink.net> wrote ..
> > The object was to SELL the Mazda 6, fwd and all.
> >
> > --John Kelly
>
> And yet, after driving three 6s and then hopping into the Miata at the
> end
> of the day, I was left underwhelmed by the 6 and comforted by the
> responsiveness and feel of the Miata. I think I actually have less desire
> for the 6 now than I did before. Although to be fair I have not driven
> one
> with a manual transmission.
>
> Bryan Heitkotter | 87 MR2
> http://www.pbase.com/bryanh
> Straightaways are for fast cars. Corners are for fast drivers.
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