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2003 – 2006 Mazda 6 How to Replace Alternator.

Pros
Excellent handling and ride, automanual transmission, nicely appointed interior.

Cons
Tight rear-seat accommodations, engine doesn’t live up to the power of its competitors.

Vehicle overview
It’s hardly surprising that Mazda’s 626 is lagging behind in the all-important family sedan segment. When the previous-generation 626 came up for redesign, there was an impending fuel crisis and the Japanese company was undergoing a financial upheaval that resulted in its takeover by Ford Motor Company.

Unfortunately for Mazda, performance, luxury and roominess are today’s buzzwords, even when it comes to bread-and-butter family sedans. Despite the recent economic downturn and hikes in fuel prices, big is in and small is out. Horsepower is in, fuel economy is out. Take even a quick glimpse at the current 626, and you see a car out of step with its marketplace. At the risk of sounding trite, the company had to take its advertising slogan to heart and add a little “Zoom-Zoom” to its family hauler.

Phillip R. Martens, managing director of Mazda Motor Corp., says the car that replaces the 626 is so completely different in terms of design and philosophy that it will no longer be called the 626. Instead, like Madonna and RuPaul, the new Mazda is now to be known by a singular moniker, “6,” with the last two digits being dropped as superfluous. Mazda marketing types, echoing a sentiment most recently heard by Acura executives, say this is the first step in having the car branded a “Mazda” rather than being better known as the 626.

The sedan, meanwhile, strikes a pose somewhere between the ultra-conservative Camry and the new avant garde Nissan Altima. Shorter and with less overhang than a Camry, the 6 is almost as swoopy as an Altima but without the distinctive head- and taillamp treatments. There’s also more than a hint of Audi’s A4 in the way the rear C-pillars curve to meet the trunk.

The 6 is not just another pretty face, however. The redesigned chassis is much stiffer, according to Mazda. Not only does this allow sportier suspension calibration without twisting the structure into knots, but also the newfound rigidity contributes to the car’s quiet cabin. In fact, Mazda claims the 6’s interior quietness is superior to many German luxury sedans. The company also says that its new chassis, containing some novel harmonic tuning tricks, is so silent that engineers were able to reduce the sound deadening material by half.

The front suspension uses an unusual combination of double wishbones and a long strut-type damper/spring to suspend each wheel individually. The company has clearly targeted German touring cars (rather than Japanese family sedans) with its firm dampers, a sentiment borne out during our short drive around a local racetrack in a prototype.

Like Nissan’s Altima, a five-speed manual transmission will be standard with both the Mazda-engineered 2.3-liter four-cylinder and the Ford-sourced 3.0-liter V6 (optional on the four is a four-speed auto; the V6 can be equipped with an available five-speed slushbox). Both engines feature Mazda’s S-VT Sequential Valve Timing mechanism that continuously varies inlet cam timing and phasing.

That puts the new Mazda in a very competitive position, splitting the difference between the Toyota Camry and Nissan Altima. The previously tepid 2.2-liter Camry now boasts 2.4 liters and 157 hp, while the Altima is now the segment’s overachiever with 175 hp. Worth noting, however, is that Mazda has more powerful versions of the engine directed toward Europe and its domestic market. The reason North America gets the lower output version is our crappy gas, so write to your congressperson or regional oil company lobbyist. Needless to say, the boost to 160 ponies is a good excuse not to opt for the more expensive V6. Even hooked up to the automatic, the base four provides more than adequate acceleration and decent drive off the line.

The 60-degree V6, though it’s based on Ford’s Duratec 3.0-liter, uses the addition of the S-VT system to produce 219 horsepower compared with the 200 hp normally generated by this motor. Maximum torque, however, is only slightly increased over the standard-issue Duratec with 202 pound-feet available at 4,750 rpm compared with 200 lb-ft at the same rpm. These ratings give the 6 a 27-horsepower advantage over the 2002 Camry V6, but leave it 21 ponies shy of the 240-horse Altima 3.5SE. The Mazda 6 is also short on torque, with the Camry generating 209 lb-ft at 4,400 rpm and the Altima producing a whopping 246 lb-ft. at 4,400 rpm. We think Mazda’s got some more work to do on the Duratec V6.