I've had the chance to spend a little time in both. First was a couple of months ago at the 2010 Reveal with a 6 speed manual on a 7 mile test loop of both freeway and city roads. The other was a strictly city route through potholed and drainage dipped residential streets using an automatic. In both cases the car was powered by the 2.5L Four that felt much bigger than one would expect. I suspect the low curb weight of approx 3300 lbs was a large reason why it zoomed about so well. All the specs can be found at Mazda USA here.
The car itself has a great dash layout with a very good use of the real estate available for HVAC and every control you would want. In the model without the Navigation system it is a very strange empty "pod" atop the dash. Not a big issue, but it bothers me when to save costs use one dash assembly for all and just leave blank spots, a niggle on my part but bothersome none the less.
Driving the 6i is a very nice experience. Certainly much more refined a ride that still has a sporty, dare I say almost fun to drive feel to it. Very nicely damped. Big dips neither bottom out the suspension nor does it rebound launching you to the moon. Nice, very nice indeed.
The Automatic was a very nice 5 speed unit with a manual shift option if you desire. When in manu-matic mode in the center of the dash your gear selection is displayed close enough to the tachometer to be able to match best gear to speed or what you want to do. Another nit-pick and it doesn't apply to just Mazda, all are guilty of a too little number to easily ready, why not put it into a heads up display where you don't constantly have to look down for that tiny little number?
In full automatic mode the transmission tended to get to the highest gear possible prematurely and yielded a lot of down shifting even in mild traffic condition. In sport mode the tranny tended to stay in a lower gear a bit longer but in the process seemed to yield more pronounced shift feet as it went about its business picking best gear combo for the engine speed and what I was asking it to do.
The 6 speed manual transmission took a little getting used to. The shift pattern was fine, the transmission itself had only vague indents for the various gears making it difficult to determine at first exactly which gear you were in. I know...I tried 3rd gear take offs a couple of times and killed the car in the process, not cool when you are trying your best to pull off the "knowledgeable driver" look. So the tranny wasn't exactly intuitive at first I did quickly get the hang of driving it. I prefer a stick to an automatic and this transmission once I got used to it actually had an easy short throw between gears that made quick shifting and spirited driving a little more fun.
Just a little sidebar to ponder. There is raging debate on whether the manual transmissions will be finally be replaced in the coming years. The school of thought is that an automatic can be more precisely programmed to overcome its hydraulic pressure losses to yield better mileage and lower emissions than a manual transmission. Possible and we actually see automatics posting better EPA numbers than the manual versions on a few cars. It comes down to the testing procedure more than. (The 6i Touring automatic posted numbers 1MPG better in both city and highway compared to the manual version).
Automobile Magazine did a great piece a while back on the future of the transmission as the next big area of improvement to help a car meet its mileage and emissions numbers. Automatics, DSG (and other computer shifted manual transmissions) as well as manual transmissions were looked at. Their eventual determination was that for sporty cars the manual transmission will remain as that is half the fun of driving. The Automatics and their ilk will be a big part of the automobile future and see a bigger market share in the non-sport car segment.
Me? I will always prefer a manual, even if it means having one arm and one leg better developed (along with a sore knee and back when stuck in bump-n-go traffic). I simply makes driving more fun. In the Mazda 6i Touring you really do get much better zoom zoom zoom with the manual than the automatic. When you slip into regular driving in traffic and on city streets the automatic does its job well, it just is lacking that driver involvement that makes driving fun.
The Mazda 6i Touring in its current iteration is actually a very nice solid well hammered out car. Over bumps and dips there is no body flex or shudder. The ride is on par for the class and quiet as well.
There is ample room up front. The ergonomics were excellent and easy to understand and use right from the start. The rear leg room, even with the front seats pushed to the rear of their track was ample even for a large adult (6foot) like myself to sit comfortably. Ingress/Egress into the rear was among the best of the cars I have tested in recent months. At least it didn't require the machinations of Houdini trying to gain access which is a good thing.
The trunk was huge. Mazda claims it is class leading in size. I'd have to acknowledge that just sight estimation it is bigger than both the Mercury Milan and Honda Accords I have looked into recently. Something to consider if you have a family who likes to do road trips.
Overall the 6i Touring came across as a competitive car in the packed solid mid-size class. Fit and finish were certainly there. The Mazda line doesn't fare as well as Honda, Toyota in the JD Power quality ratings. This version may be a game changer for Mazda if long term it stands up as well as the initial impression.
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