2020 Mazda6 Signature
(Long Live Sedan - Part 1)
It’s well understood that anything worthwhile doesn’t come easy. Take, for instance, catching the sunrise on a special road like Ortega Highway (Route 74); the sun will not delay its ascent because you wanted to sleep in until 10 am.
If you want to catch that fleeting moment of calm and serenity, you better be out of bed and on the road while the dark sky would try and convince you otherwise.
As people, we’re crafty, ingenuitive, and problem-solvers; we create tools and solutions to make the difficult a little easier. With bags under our eyes and no coffee cradled in the cupholder, the 2020 Mazda6 Signature was the car of choice for our rendez-vous with the sun.
May 10th 2020, 6 am somewhere in Orange, California - USA
There are no surprises getting into the Mazda, ingress provides ample room to slide in and down into the seat, the pillars leaving a wide opening, and the footwell provides sufficient room to swing in your feet--plenty for a six footer like myself. Given this is a sedan, you do not get the impression of having to significantly lower yourself into a seated position; the general seat height trends towards being higher than the car’s slim silhouette suggests. The Signature trim comes with Nappa leather-trimmed sports seats that are electronically 8-way adjustable for the driver and 6-way for the front passenger. As we left for our drive, the seats offered good comfort and back support, the perfect blend for making our early morning start easy. Even though the seats are considered ‘Sport Seats’, they provide minimal side bolstering to combat lateral forces; for this comfortable, well-appointed sedan, that tradeoff for more comfort was a smart call. Mazda takes a human empathetic approach to designing interiors; the seats are a good example. As Mazda has described, the seat structure efficiently creates an optimal posture for the pelvis to allow occupants to intuitively self-balance their torsos. It’s a subtle detail that will most likely go unnoticed, but your back will thank you later.
A quick glance around the interior immediately confirms the perception of a well put together car with premium materials in the right places. Your eyes first pick up those various materials around the cabin; the dark Sen Wood trim inlays that run along the doors and across the dashboard, flanked by both silver trim and an abundance of white Ultrasuede. Small amounts of black leather are used to wrap the steering wheel and cover the gear selector, helping to elevate these important touch points.
As we get comfortable in the car cruising on the highway, we take a moment to appreciate how quiet the cabin is. Very little wind noise comes through and the engine provides welcomed ambient noise, without being too loud. Confronting large seams and imperfections on the highway prove little trouble for the Mazda, as the car does a nice job of soaking up and softening major road craters, providing a relaxed driving experience. In fact, as comfortable as this car was, it also felt secure and planted on the highway and at city speeds, helping to reinforce a level of control and security. As we were approaching the 74, we couldn’t help but notice how relaxed we were not only as a result of the comfortable suspension damping, but also from the stability that the car communicated to us. Even riding shotgun, I felt this confidence through my seat and the car’s body movements.
Once we turned off the freeway and reached the 74, we were in a tranquil state of calm, thanks to the Mazda’s comfortable cabin and ride. But the next section of road, the final stretch as we approached our vantage point, was going to be an altogether different test for the car. Here, the 6 would have to cope with tighter back-to-back corners, transferring from left- to right-hand turns with little time between to allow for weight transfer. Given that the Mazda is a midsize sedan, we weren’t expecting much in this canyon pass shared with Porsches and McLarens, but we were pleasantly surprised. The sedan felt composed pitching into corners and retained strong grip once the weight shifted and settled in. Steering was nicely weighted and accurate, but provided less feedback to the driver--a fine compromise. Straightening out, the 250-horsepower galloping out of the 2.5 liter turbo 4-cylinder proved to be more than adequate for both the occasional spirited drive and for merging and overtaking. Overall, this car’s dynamics are very strong, particularly for its segment. Consider us pleased!
As we ascended and were reaching the lookout point on the 74 (there is actually a restaurant there called The LOOKOUT that we highly recommend!), we caught a glimpse of what pulled us out of bed so early--the sun overlooking a breathtaking view of the valley. We pulled off, exited the Mazda with our eyes fixated on the horizon; a vast sea of fog, curling up the mountainous shore surrounding us. And just like the ocean greeting the beach with its crashing waves, the fog too had movement, albeit, slow and soft, graciously rolling onto the mountains and slowly creeping around every rock and tree.
Let’s talk design. Mazda nailed the latest refresh--it elevates the car to a level not seen with prior generations. And it isn’t surprising; Mazda heavily uses traditional methods of clay modeling to create exterior body surfacing--literally, creating with the warmth of human hands. By using clay, the models can be refined with the use of natural light, to ensure the design falls in line with Mazda’s restrained and pure design language that is well executed on the 6. With our particular car--I wish it was finished in Soul Red Crystal Metallic, a color that truly comes alive outdoors in natural light, where the subtle contours of the car show off their grace. In fact, Mazda has even programmed the robots in the paint production process to spray metallic paint in a non-linear, fluid path that helps to accentuate the surface contours. Even with our Machine Gray Metallic example, up on the 74, as the sun rose from beneath the fog, the car’s surfacing reacted to its ever-changing position. As the sun continued to climb, it lended itself an ever changing perspective on the 6’s silhouette, all were flattering.
We hopped back in the car, with a satisfaction in knowing that we met our goal, and did so with ease and style thanks to the Mazda6. Being exposed to the crisp and intoxicating foggy air filled us with energy for the drive back. We thought we would put our revitalized vigor to good use by poking around the Mazda6’s tech. After a few minutes, it was clear that it was intuitive with a small learning curve. The center screen was easy to navigate, and had all the functionality that would be expected of a sedan in its class. The Apple CarPlay was quick to load once the phone was plugged in (Android Auto is available). An added bonus is the physical rotary dial and buttons used to control the screen--when Apple CarPlay is active, the home button located above the rotary dial brings you to the CarPlay home, not the infotainment’s home page. The same principle applies when pressing the hard music and navigation buttons. This made the interaction with CarPlay intuitive and streamlined. We noticed another peculiarity about the infotainment on this drive. And maybe we didn’t pick up on it during our morning drive because we were avoiding bright screens at all cost, but when at a stop, the Mazda6’s screen responded to touch. This may seem like a strange revelation, but from earlier drives in the week, we tried to use the screen as a touchscreen and realized our inputs didn’t register. Upon further investigation--actually, just more tapping--we figured out that the screen is in fact a touchscreen that deactivates touch when the car is in motion. We felt relieved knowing the Mazda 6 has both touch and the dial, because infotainment control redundancies are always a good thing.
When we reached the highway, we decided to put the Mazda6’s radar cruise to the test. Using the buttons on the steering wheel, we quickly discovered how to set it up and were impressed with how the car managed speed and distance. Even if a car in front was to move over a lane and slow down, the sedan would simply slow, and wait to resume its speed until the car was fully out of the lane; the Mazda6 helped to inspire confidence in the system. The digital gauge screen (central and flanked by physical gages on either side) was clean and uncluttered, but gave the flexibility to display greater information when you wanted it.
We got to the house, parked the car, and couldn’t be more thrilled about our early start. The Mazda6 is a thoroughly well-rounded car; it looks fantastic, it is comfortable and quiet. The technology doesn’t alienate us and the interior is, let’s be frank, quite bitchin’.
Sure, a sports car (perhaps an MX-5?) would have been more fun in the canyons, but the list of cars that could make that drive comfortable and still perform well on the fun roads is exceptionally short. The Mazda6 is on that list. Tomorrow morning, whether I’m commuting to the office, or driving down PCH, I’m taking the Mazda6.
