I own a Mazda MX-6. It's a '94. No, it's not the LS model... I have an economical 4-cylinder. That's what this writeup is about (can someone please make an MX-6 LS node, or is it too close to Probe GT? Maybe it could just go in here.)
First, some specs.1
Having owned one of these for a few months now (my first car, yay!), my take on it is that it is an excellent, even underappreciated vehicle. It accelerates quickly5, has very good brakes, feels like a faster car than it is, looks like a much faster car than it is, and just feels right. It has personality. And not that kind of "I wonder which part will fall off today" personality. Good personality.
It's based off of a joint Ford/Mazda design, and is actually considered a domestic car (contains more than 75% USA parts). It is build off of the same base as the Mazda 626, and the Ford Probe... it's almost identical to the Probe. But luckily, it doesn't look anything like that hideous mound of angles. The MX-6 has soft but agressive curving style, like the Mazda Miata.
My MX-6 is red with a black interior. It looks newer than most cars from '94, and as such, people think it costs a lot more than it did (or that it's a lot faster than it is). Perfect combination for a high school student trying to compete with new, flashy Honda Civics6.
- Specifications obtained from http://www.cars.com
- This is quite helpful when accelerating from a stop, as in racing.
- This statistic is with a manual transmission; I have an automatic, which makes it slightly less.
- Cars.com says this is 5... although there are really only four seats. And aduls can't really sit in the back seats due to lack of head room/leg room.
- My own perception of how it accelerates, compared to other cars I've driven. Considerably faster than my dad's old (now gone) '92 Mazda Protege, which I attribute to the higher torque.
- There are a lot more BMW 325's and Lexus IS-300's, but I can't compete with those. Closest I could hope to be compared to is an early-90's Acura Integra.