I’ve recently just passed 25,500 miles and my one-year anniversary with my 2004 Mazda6 4-door sedan. It’s been a great year, with no unscheduled maintenance visits and no quality problems or issues with the car whatsoever.

22,000 mile checkup

I live around a lot of Mazda dealers, so I have a choice in where I take my car in for scheduled maintenance. For ordinary oil changes, I take it to a local oil change shop I’ve been going to for years. They know what they’re doing and are very good with this (without trying to sell me a dozen unneeded services, like Jiffy Lube does).

So for my 22,000 mile checkup, I went back to the dealer I had purchased the car from, because they quoted me a price that was half of that of other dealers (unbelievably!). It took them about 30 minutes to do the complete maintenance, and the bill was less than $100.

Snow Performance

I live in New England, so this was my first real test of the all-season tires that came with the car, as well as general snow-handling abilities. Overall, the Mazda6 sedan handles about average in snow. The tires are definitely not all that helpful in the snow, and next year I’ll look into a better set of all-season tires, or a separate set of snow tires. I definitely take it easier in this car than in my last car, which seemed to plow through snow with no issues (and no snow tires).

Tidbits

My first squeak is starting. It appears to be coming from the passenger-side front tire and seems to have something to do with the brakes. During my next scheduled Mazda maintenance, I’ll have them check it out. It’s only an occasional squeak, and it’s pretty quiet (you have to be listening to hear it). Probably one of the pads is loosening or such…

Sirius Satellite Radio

For Christmas 2004, I purchased a Sirius satellite radio and had it installed. The antenna is on the trunk deck, just below the rear windshield and centered. The head unit is attached to the center console, on the passenger side, low down by the 5-speed shifter. It is largely out of the way there, and easy to adjust and see. I love satellite radio and only wish I could replace the standard Mazda6 radio head unit (I have the Bose, which makes things even more complicated). As of yet, though, this isn’t possible without a lot of custom work.

I highly recommend getting satellite radio in your car, if at all possible, as a factory-installed option.

The car is still driving smoothly, and is the best sports car you can purchase for the money. Nothing comes close in terms of fun, driveability, and comfort. Nothing. I’ve tested a lot of other cars in the past year (friends, family members, etc.). Was even in an Audi S4 the other day. Harsh ride takes a lot of fun out of everyday driving (which is what most of us do!). Cramped interior in the S4 too, I can’t believe the premium people pay for that brand!!

So the gist is, Still loving it!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 8th, 2005 at 11:56 am and is filed under General, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.