The Mazda 6 midsize sedan competes in just about the toughest market segment there is. But when buyers think Mazda, they think sports car and rotary engines, not roomy and practical family sedans. It's the Mazda 6's curse to be built by a company many people think is having too much fun.
It's not like the Mazda 6 doesn't come from a long line of Mazda sedans. While the company poked around the market's edges with rotary- and piston-powered rear-drivers during the 1970s, it didn't have a real sedan hit until the 626 arrived for the 1979 model year (the 626 was also offered as a coupe). Still a rear-driver, the four-cylinder 626's conservative sheet metal hid a supple chassis some critics compared favorably to more expensive German sedans. From there, evolution to the 21st-century Mazda 6 was a natural progression.
First, to get to the Mazda 6, the 626 needed to adopt front-wheel drive, which it did with the introduction of the second generation for 1983. And despite the drive wheel switch, the 626 remained a fun, distinctly fine-handling machine. The third 626 arrived for the 1988 model year and, importantly, production of the car moved from Japan to the AutoAlliance plant in Flat Rock, Michigan, operated by Ford and Mazda. The Mazda 6 now had an American home in which to be born.
But it wasn't clear sailing for the Mazda 6. The fourth- and fifth-generation 626 models were evolutionary designs that lost Mazda's signature emphasis on driving enjoyment. Mazda seemed to have let its bread-and-butter sedan go adrift. Then the Mazda 6 arrived to set things right.
The first Mazda 6 was introduced for the 2002 model year and compared to the dreary 626 it replaced, it looked like a rocket ship and drove like a Le Mans winner. This sedan felt the way a Mazda sedan should. In a brutal market, the Mazda 6 had its own aggressive personality.
An all-new, all-bigger Mazda 6 four-door engineered specifically for North America went on sale for the 2009 model year. Finally the Mazda 6 was fully ready to take on the competition — without betraying what a Mazda must be.
