zoom44

i just saw on carpoints page "60+ reviews for 2003" for mazda they say the mazda6 will be out next spring and the rx8 wont be here until summer. i thought the mazda6 was going to hit showrooms before the end of this year? and summer sounds too far away for the rx8.

here is the link

Toadman

Mazda6 job 1 goes into production mid-October out of Michigan. Carpoint is way off the mark. The "6" is being launched at a precarious and unscheduled time right before the holidays(not Mazda's fault). Bet you can wheel and deal with MSRP if you go easy on family presents this year.

Jerome81

Why is it not Mazda's fault that the 6 won't start production at Flat Rock until October? Who else's fault would it be?

Toadman

Supplier and production issues, I heard. Automotive News, who never had anyone test-drive the car, wrote a scalding review of the 6 and it's "holiday-season" launch. A superb rebuttal by Mazda was published, with an attitude to boot. The car has sold out production(Atenza-marquee)) in Europe and making the Euro makers take notice.

applejax

Do you have access to this article? Any way to post it or provide a link?

Toadman

Automotive News
Have to be a subscriber.

Jerome81

Anyone a subscriber? Could you pass along the password??

It does really really upset me this car is not going to be here until December. While I'm not currently in the market, I was looking forward to the 6 overshadowing the launch of the all new Accord. But instead the Accord will gain a foothold, as well as sales from those buyers who always plan to buy their new car in the fall, when the picking and the latest cars are around.

December is probably the absolute worst time of the year to launch a new car, IMHO.

Mazda has a killer here, and while I'm sure it will still sell very very well when it does arrive, it is just too bad it can't be part of the fall highlights, and cannot steal the Accord's thunder, which it will do anyway

I guess this makes sense. I received a coupon pack from my Mazda dealer(looks like official mazda literature), with the new 6 on the front, back, and as a background on the coupons. It says "Coming this fall: The all new 220-hp MAZDA6." Yet on mazdausa, it says "coming in December." I would guess they thought it would be here in fall, printed the coupons, but after printing, found out it wouldn't be here till December.

BTW, saw a truck load of the new Accord's pulling into my local dealer yesterday. While I think the styling looks worse than the past generation, i should go take a look I suppose. I used to be a sincere Honda liker, but lately, I feel their cars have lost some of that little spunk that was never in a Toyota or Nissan. But I feel their cars are becoming even more staid, and while at one time they were more or less on the lead of things, they are now trying to play catch up. Yes, Honda does have great reliability and quality, and arguably the best engines in the world, but the little bit of fun they used to have keeps getting more and more diluted, especially with the current Civic. I used to really like the Civic, and I still like it, but cars like the Jetta and Protege are almost everything the Civic is, but have that bit of spunk the Civic used to have, but now lost.

I wonder if this new Accord is the same way? Perhaps its just that Honda used to always have the best blend of car for me, but with the resurgance of Nissan, Mazda, Volkswagen, etc, perhaps it is the competition that is making me think differently, rather than the changes Honda has made.