As the wheel turns...
New update to the garage. My wife's 07 Mazda3 was approaching the end of its lease. We wanted something with a bit more space, but have only one young child, so there's no need for an SUV or van. For a while my wife wanted a (used) Lexus RX or something similar, until we both agreed that with her considerable daily commute and rising gas prices, it's really not necessary.
It was important to my wife that her next car be something that felt a bit more "special" (translation: stylish, equipped with a few more goodies than her more basic Mazda3).
I pushed for a Sonata and it was at the top of her list until test drive day. We took one out and it's a great car -- in fact, it exceeded my expectations, but the inability to equip it with a stick shift in anything other than the basic model is what ultimately had her pass the Hyundai over. Instead, she's chosen the last stick-shift-equipped '10 Mazda6 GT (4 cyl) that the dealership had on the lot. It didn't hurt that the deal we got was simply too good to pass up.
Having just returned from 700+ km round trip visit to my parents' place this weekend, I've come away being pretty impressed overall. It swallowed all of our overpacking for the weekend and provided smooth, comfortable, quiet and efficient transportation round trip (still breaking in the engine and already averaged 8.1 L/100 km with a bit of back-road fun on the way home). My only complaints: could use more power for sure. It's a big car to be hauled around by a 175 hp 4-banger; and the seats could be a bit more supportive (particularly laterally -- seats are for fat north americans for sure).
As a "family car" it provides enough handling prowess, row-your-own fun and features / styling to to make us feel good driving / owning it and enough frugality and size to be practical. It was 100% my wife's choice and I think she made a great one.
Details:
2010 Mazda6 GT with Luxury Pkg (HIDs, Bose stereo, proximity key, blind-spot monitoring silliness, etc.). Black on black leather. As for pics? Well, the weekend's travels have made it pretty dirty and I won't have time to wash it until at least the weekend, so you can see this and know that it looks exactly the same (but with a Britax child seat in the back).
http://www.netcarshow.com/mazda/2009-6_us-spec/1600x1200/wallpaper_03.htmhttp://www.netcarshow.com/mazda/2009-6_us-spec/1600x1200/wallpaper_2f.htm