Comparison Test: 2009 Mazda 6 vs. 2009 Volkswagen CC

Four-door coupes are a state of mind, not a state of reality. The four-passenger 2009 Volkswagen CC Sport is no more a four-door coupe than a conventional five-seat sedan like the 2009 Mazda 6 i Grand Touring. Yet both of these midsize sedans are cool in a way that normally eludes front-wheel-drive, four-cylinder family sedans.

We think this has more to do with how the Mazda 6 and VW CC look than how they drive. That's not to say that they don't handle crisply or ride smoothly or accelerate predictably. They do all of that. But nothing that happens in the cockpit is quite so striking as the Volkswagen CC's continuously curvy roof line or the Mazda 6's cat-eye headlamps and bulging fenders.

Style, not performance, is what defines the 2009 Mazda 6 i Grand Touring and 2009 Volkswagen CC Sport. And if you're realistic about the kind of life a $30,000 commuter car is supposed to lead, you'll be OK with this compromise.

Almost Nobody Buys a V6
Of course, we could have injected a lot more performance into this test simply by choosing a Mazda 6 s Grand Touring with the 272-horsepower 3.7-liter V6 and a Volkswagen CC VR6 Sport with the 280-hp 3.6-liter V6. A V6-equipped Mazda 6 hits 60 mph in just 6.4 seconds (6.1 with 1 foot of rollout as on a drag strip), and a V6 VW CC will go there in 6.6 seconds.

That's quick, but most of you don't care about winning entrance-ramp drag races in a front-wheel-drive midsize sedan. Mazda tells us that 73 percent of 2009 Mazda 6 buyers get the 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine rated at 170 hp at 6,000 rpm (168 hp in this PZEV test car) and 167 pound-feet of torque at 4,000 rpm (166 lb-ft in PZEV form).

Volkswagen hasn't sold enough CCs to give us any definitive answers about the engine preferences of buyers, but since the VR6 model is priced far upmarket at $39,450, we'd guess at least 90 percent of 2009 Volkswagen CCs sold in the U.S. will have the turbocharged, direct-injection 2.0-liter inline-4. It's rated at 200 hp from 5,100-6,000 rpm and 207 lb-ft of torque from 1,700-5,000 rpm.

You can have a six-speed manual gearbox on either car, but since we're dealing in practical realities here, our 2009 Mazda 6 i Grand Touring has the optional five-speed automatic transmission and the 2009 VW CC Sport has the optional six-speed automatic.

Guess Who's More Affordable
Even with more power and an extra forward gear, the 2009 Volkswagen CC Sport is actually the cheaper of these two cars at $29,325. The catch is that while the Sport trim level has a livable amount of standard equipment, options are very few.

A clean, two-tone cabin makes the CC feel like a luxury car, though. Both front seats have full power adjustments, and the standard leatherette upholstery is as nice as most real leather in this price range. But start looking for amenities like a keyless ignition, dual-zone climate control, a navigation system or even a moonroof, and you simply won't find them.

For $915 more, our $30,240 Mazda 6 i Grand Touring tester has all of the above, along with xenon headlights, a blind-spot monitoring system, leather seats and attractive simulated wood trim.

The presentation doesn't feel as elegant as the VW's, especially if you get hung up on the Mazda's lower-grade cabin trim and slightly larger gap tolerances. But there are more passenger-oriented convenience features here. And because the Mazda 6 has a longer wheelbase (109.8 inches versus 106.7), a wider track (62.8 inches versus 61.4) and no designs on being a coupe, its backseat is more useful, too.

Near-Luxury Adjacent
But we're not penalizing the 2009 Volkswagen CC for its two-passenger backseat, because that's the very point of this car. The CC gives you a chance to buy something as stylish as the Mercedes-Benz CLS at less than half the price. If you want a normal three-passenger backseat, get a Passat, OK?

When it's driven during the commute hour, the VW CC lulls you into believing you really are in a luxury car. It rides exactly as you'd hope a midsize sedan would ride, heaping on the comfort over the rough patches while still offering the firm control associated with European engineering. Even with frameless windows, wind noise is minimal and the CC's 235/45R17 94H Continental ContiProContact all-season tires get noisy only over rain-grooved sections of highway.

Exiting the freeway, though, you realize this isn't quite a premium-brand experience. Brake pedal feel is soft, and the lack of immediate response is bothersome even around town. And when you shut off the car, those frameless windows reseal with a jarring thuunk instead of the pleasing, Benz-like whoosh.

In contrast, the 2009 Mazda 6 doesn't try so hard to justify itself as an indulgence. It rides more firmly, sacrificing some of the VW's plushness in favor of a little more road feel. Its skinnier P215/55R17 93V Michelin Energy MXV4 S8 all-season tires rumble plenty over most surfaces, though we'd guess Mazda has also used less sound-deadening material to keep weight and cost at bay in this significantly larger car.

Still, the Volkswagen would be lucky to have the Mazda's brakes, which respond in far more linear fashion as you push through the pedal travel. And because the 6 has a traditional hydraulic power steering pump, there's life to its steering that can't be felt in the 2009 VW CC's electric power steering (EPS).

Quicker VW
End the story here and we'd all drive off in the honest Mazda. But there's one big difference between the Volkswagen CC Sport and the Mazda 6 i Grand Touring: You feel it every time you step out for a passing maneuver.

The torque curve of the VW's engine is as flat as a tabletop. You'll never crave the sound of this direct-injected 2.0-liter turbo, but you'll never find it lacking in vigor or smoothness. In addition, the VW's six-speed automatic is on its game with downshifts, particularly in Sport mode.

Highway travel in the Mazda 6 i is considerably less relaxing. The normally aspirated 2.5-liter engine has little in the way of torque below 4,000 rpm. Moreover, this is not an especially free-revving four-cylinder, so you feel like you're working the engine hard in passing situations — even if the soundtrack isn't altogether unpleasant. The five-speed automatic dutifully holds lower gears when needed (very often), but lacking a Sport mode, it sometimes takes a little longer to get to that gear than we'd like.

This five-speed is also slower to upshift in manual mode, which only piles on the hurt at our instrumented testing facility, where the 2009 Mazda 6 i Grand Touring takes 9.4 seconds to reach 60 mph (9.0 with 1 foot of rollout). It goes through the quarter-mile in 16.9 seconds at 83.2 mph.

Meanwhile, the 2009 Volkswagen CC Sport is as quick as some six-cylinder family sedans, with a 0-60-mph time of 7.3 seconds (7.0 with rollout) and a respectable 15.2-second quarter-mile at 92 mph.

More Fuel-Efficient Mazda
As hard as the Mazda has to work, though, it still returns better fuel economy. The EPA rates an automatic-equipped 2009 Mazda 6 i at 21 mpg city/30 mpg highway versus 19 mpg city/29 mpg highway for an automatic-equipped 2009 Volkswagen CC Sport. Notably, the automatic is the more efficient transmission on the Mazda, while the VW does better with the manual.

But why believe the Environmental Protection Agency when you can consult Inside Line? We take the Mazda 6 and the Volkswagen CC on a 222-mile loop with an even mix of city and highway driving. A single editor refuels the cars at the very same pump at the start and finish of the loop, and there's a driver change at the halfway mark to minimize variation in driving style. Full throttle is a no-no, and climate control systems are set to 72 degrees Fahrenheit (or as close to that as we can get with the VW's simple manual settings for the A/C).

The Mazda 6 wins easily, returning 27.8 mpg to the VW CC's 26.1 mpg.

The Dynamics of Ordinary Cars
It's harder to draw a line between the 2009 Volkswagen CC Sport and the 2009 Mazda 6 i Grand Touring on a back road. Understeer and body roll are never far off in these midsize front-drivers, but at a moderate pace, both are comfortable going through high-speed sweepers and both look attractive doing it.

Certainly, the Mazda 6 feels slower coming out of corners. After an hour, though, it's the car to be in because its brakes haven't cooked. This is also true at our test track. The 6 ends up with only a 1-foot advantage in the 60-0-mph test — 122 feet versus 123 feet — but unlike the VW, it shows no fade in successive stops.

A 64.1-mph slalom speed gives the four-cylinder Mazda 6 an edge through the cones, too, but since the CC's stability control system is undefeatable, the car is possibly capable of better than 63.5 mph. Oddly, the VW's stability control doesn't interfere on the skid pad, where the CC (with its wider tires) runs a 0.82g to the Mazda's 0.79g.

My Midsize Sedan Is Left of Center
You know the 2009 Volkswagen CC Sport is quicker. And you know the 2009 Mazda 6 i Grand Touring has better brakes and steering. But you can't judge these cars on their driving dynamics. You have to love their style.

And if you press us, we'll tell you we prefer the style of the VW CC. On the outside, it's the most distinctive four-door anything in this price range. On the inside, it's only a step or two away from being a true luxury sedan.

Nevertheless, the Mazda 6 squeezes out a 1.6-point victory in this test, even though its contoured bodywork doesn't come together with the CC's striking cohesion. From its gigantic backseat to its more generous equipment list, the Mazda 6 is the more useful of these two sedans. And as lovely as the Volkswagen CC is, maybe it's irrational to think that beauty could ever be more important than everyday practicality in a car with four doors.

The manufacturers provided Edmunds these vehicles for the purposes of evaluation.