On my visit at home, I stopped by the dealership and they had 3 hatches and 1 sedan. I have pics and as soon as I have time, I'll post them. The sedan was black, the hatches were strato blue(?), lava orange, and silver. But I didn't test drive any b/c Champion Mazda in Owensboro, KY, called this morning so I stopped by there on my way back to BG.
I don't know if my review will be as good as others b/c I was in shock the whole time I drove it. It's a Black Mica 3s, btw. But here goes:
Exterior: The black is very elegant. The wheels were 17" and beautiful. The car didn't look as tall as I had expected. Definitely not the Corolla-look.
Interior: The interior was black/red. The two tone cloth was kind of rough feeling, but since it's only part of it, it was ok. The steering wheel is awesome. The gauges are very RX-8-like and the red is very easy to read. The only thing I don't like is the speedometer starts to far down, so 45 mph is around the 8pm or 9pm area and it made it kidn of hard to decipher. I got up to 75 without realizing it. The trim was very VW-ish.
Trunk: The trunk is wierd. The deck lid is very short, so the part (not sure what the correct term is) with the mazda logo is very bulky and got in the way when I opened the trunk. The opening is big on the rear, but not on the top, but the trunk is gigantic.
Braking: Compared to my Protege, it's very sensitive. I almost gave the salesman whiplash I think. Very nice response though.
Steering: Turned like butta. Didn't really notice anything bad.
Audio: Nice audio I guess. I like the ALC feature where it compensates for engine and road noise. Also, nobody I don't think has mentioned the lights on the audio controls on the dash. I don't know how to explain it, but the bar between the buttons reacts when you change the station or volume. Very cool!
Ride/Handling: I think it's very comparable to the 6. Road noise wasn't as bad as I had expected.
Response: It had lots of get up and go, considering I was driving an automatic. Didn't really punch it too hard (I was being nice). Don't know if I like the sport tranny. It was okay though.
Overall: I had to wipe the drool off my mouth. It was very nice, and I look forward to purchasing one.
If you have any questions, ask me. I may be able to tell you.
Also, if you are in the Owensboro area, Champion Mazda is awesome. They weren't pushy at all, and very good guys to talk to. Much better than any of the other dealers I have worked with! Kudos!
I don't know if my review will be as good as others b/c I was in shock the whole time I drove it. It's a Black Mica 3s, btw. But here goes:
Exterior: The black is very elegant. The wheels were 17" and beautiful. The car didn't look as tall as I had expected. Definitely not the Corolla-look.
Interior: The interior was black/red. The two tone cloth was kind of rough feeling, but since it's only part of it, it was ok. The steering wheel is awesome. The gauges are very RX-8-like and the red is very easy to read. The only thing I don't like is the speedometer starts to far down, so 45 mph is around the 8pm or 9pm area and it made it kidn of hard to decipher. I got up to 75 without realizing it. The trim was very VW-ish.
Trunk: The trunk is wierd. The deck lid is very short, so the part (not sure what the correct term is) with the mazda logo is very bulky and got in the way when I opened the trunk. The opening is big on the rear, but not on the top, but the trunk is gigantic.
Braking: Compared to my Protege, it's very sensitive. I almost gave the salesman whiplash I think. Very nice response though.
Steering: Turned like butta. Didn't really notice anything bad.
Audio: Nice audio I guess. I like the ALC feature where it compensates for engine and road noise. Also, nobody I don't think has mentioned the lights on the audio controls on the dash. I don't know how to explain it, but the bar between the buttons reacts when you change the station or volume. Very cool!
Ride/Handling: I think it's very comparable to the 6. Road noise wasn't as bad as I had expected.
Response: It had lots of get up and go, considering I was driving an automatic. Didn't really punch it too hard (I was being nice). Don't know if I like the sport tranny. It was okay though.
Overall: I had to wipe the drool off my mouth. It was very nice, and I look forward to purchasing one.
If you have any questions, ask me. I may be able to tell you.
Also, if you are in the Owensboro area, Champion Mazda is awesome. They weren't pushy at all, and very good guys to talk to. Much better than any of the other dealers I have worked with! Kudos!