# Another great car we won't get in the US



## mlctvt (Oct 4, 2012)

Mazda6 wagon available with 2.2L Diesel and manual transmission. Also 2 gasoline engines available 2.0L and 2.5L. 
I just don't get it why Americans don't like sporty wagons and instead favor heavier SUVs with little to no more additional space, worse gas mileage and much worse handling. Aren't most SUVs just tall wagons anyway? 

http://www.mazda.com/publicity/release/2012/201209/120905a.html

http://blogs.automotive.com/mazda6-wagon-revealed-promptly-breaks-americas-heart-110079.html


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## wa-loaf (Oct 4, 2012)

Sad. Leaning more and more to the Jetta Sportwagon TDI as my next car.


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## Geoff (Oct 4, 2012)

I really want an AWD diesel compact wagon.   In Europe, you can get a Golf wagon with all the options....  Diesel + 4Motion/Haldex, DSG, and Xenons are my essential list for a VW.

I'm still at least 2 years from buying a car.   I'm hoping that there are more options then.


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## mlctvt (Oct 4, 2012)

wa-loaf said:


> Sad. Leaning more and more to the Jetta Sportwagon TDI as my next car.



Me too. It looks like VW has the diesel wagon market all to themselves. OK Audi has some too but they are in a different market. I'm not sure what the sales numbers are but the number of TDI Sportwagens I see in New England is amazing. We recently spent a 2 week vacation in Vermont and New Hampshire and they were everywhere. Seems like alot of people up north are getting these instead of another Subaru. Personally I know several old time Subaru customers who bought them.  I may be joining them in a few years.


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## wa-loaf (Oct 4, 2012)

Geoff said:


> I really want an AWD diesel compact wagon.   In Europe, you can get a Golf wagon with all the options....  Diesel + 4Motion/Haldex, DSG, and Xenons are my essential list for a VW.
> 
> I'm still at least 2 years from buying a car.   I'm hoping that there are more options then.





mlctvt said:


> Me too. It looks like VW has the Diesle wagon market all to themselves. OK Audi has some too but they are in a different market. I'm not sure what the sales numbers are but the number of TDI Sportwagens I see in New England is amazing. We recently spent a 2 week vacation in Vermont and New Hampshire and they were everywhere. Seems like alot of people up north are getting these instead of another Subaru. Personally I know several old time Subaru customers who bought them.  I may be joining them in a few years.



I would love AWD drive on the Sportwagon too, but whenever I start leaning back to Subaru I remind myself that I got around just fine in HS up in Maine with fwd and bald tires. A Sportwagon with snows should get me through most occasions.

I read recently the 80% of the Sportwagons sold are the TDI version.


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## riverc0il (Oct 4, 2012)

When I saw the thread title, before I even clicked I was thinking "Mazda6 Wagon Diesel". Just saw that recent from the auto show across the pond. It looks HOT and looks like it might get better MPG (with more power and torque to boot) than the TDI wagon. Looks like Mazda's cross over (what is it, CX5 or something like that) and eventually than Mazda3 will get the diesel skyactiv engine. But wagons are way better than crossovers and hatchbacks. I think I saw something about a Mazda hybrid somewhere? Mazda has some great cars and now they are finally stepping up to the fuel efficiency plate without ruining their fun nature. They could easily corner the manual market the way things are going. I think they still offer their minivan with a manual?


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## wa-loaf (Oct 4, 2012)

riverc0il said:


> I think they still offer their minivan with a manual?



The Mazda5 comes with a manual. Not really a minivan, but it seats 6 and has sliding doors. As seems to be standard with these things only the base model is available with the stick and you miss out on most options. I drove one and the stick is nice, but the car is underpowered.


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## deadheadskier (Oct 4, 2012)

riverc0il said:


> But wagons are way better than crossovers and hatchbacks. I think I saw something about a Mazda hybrid somewhere? Mazda has some great cars and now they are finally stepping up to the fuel efficiency plate without ruining their fun nature. They could easily corner the manual market the way things are going. I think they still offer their minivan with a manual?



Depends on the user as to which is better.  I personally would prefer the CX-5 over a 6 wagon.  I'd like the additional ground clearance as well as double the towing capacity.  I have designs on getting a small boat at some point to cruise around Great Bay.  The CX-5 has a 2000# towing capacity vs. 1000# for a Jetta TDI and I'd assume what a 6 Wagon would offer.  So, for my desired purposes, the cross over makes more sense.

They could very much easily corner the Manual market, but I just don't see it happening.  They are going in the opposite direction.  They do still offer a manual on the 5, but my understanding is they don't sell many of them, so I wouldn't be surprised to see it go away.  In the 3 you can only get a MT with the entry model, which means no leather interior option, sunroof etc.  While not deal breakers for me, they are for many drivers.  The next generation 6 is only offering it in the lower horsepower entry trim as well.   Makes no sense to me.  If they are going to offer a MT in a model, it should be in the highest trim.  People he prefer driving manual do so because of performance more so than fuel economy and the fuel economy is pretty much even between AT & MT these days.

It looks like Subaru is the only option out there for those who want AWD and a MT outside of a couple of models from Audi and BMW.

Sucks.  You can get a diesel CX5 with AWD and MT in Europe, Japan, probably Australia as well.  I doubt I'll ever see such a car here.  Only way I see it remotely happening is everyone who is interested in such a car emails them stating so, but they're forced now to buy a Subaru instead.  Such a car could be a real Subaru killer.


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## SKIQUATTRO (Oct 5, 2012)

i was in my buddies cx-5 the other day and was floored.....great interior (reminded me of my audi) loaded, paddle shifters, bluetooth, awd, great handling....very very nice ride and should be considered.....


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## wa-loaf (Oct 13, 2012)

Bought a TDI Sportwagon today ...


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## riverc0il (Oct 13, 2012)

:beer:

Enjoy it!


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## bvibert (Oct 14, 2012)

wa-loaf said:


> Bought a TDI Sportwagon today ...



Nice, enjoy!


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## deadheadskier (Oct 14, 2012)

wa-loaf said:


> Bought a TDI Sportwagon today ...



Nice!

Pics?


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## wa-loaf (Oct 14, 2012)

Won't have it till later in the week. But it's red with black interior. Though very nice I skipped the sunroof. My outback didn't have one and I haven't missed it and didn't want to cough up the extra 2k for one.


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## Geoff (Oct 14, 2012)

wa-loaf said:


> Bought a TDI Sportwagon today ...



In this thread:
Another bunch of riverc0il-style smug hypermiler MPG reports.


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## wa-loaf (Oct 14, 2012)

Geoff said:


> In this thread:
> Another bunch of riverc0il-style smug hypermiler MPG reports.



Nah, I have too much of a lead foot for that!


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## riverc0il (Oct 14, 2012)

Geoff said:


> In this thread:
> Another bunch of riverc0il-style smug hypermiler MPG reports.


39.9 average MPG after a little more than a year. 

The great thing about the TDI is you can drive with a lead foot and you really won't do much worse. I've found if you keep your speed up on the back roads, you can actually get better MPG cause you can ease up on the hills and then glide down the backsides. I actually get worse MPG when I really try to milk it...


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## deadheadskier (Oct 14, 2012)

I average 35 mpg with my Mazda3.  I can feather it up to 37-38 average, but that's basically a gallon of gas difference on a tank.  Really isn't worth it to save $3.70.


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## riverc0il (Oct 14, 2012)

deadheadskier said:


> I average 35 mpg with my Mazda3.  I can feather it up to 37-38 average, but that's basically a gallon of gas difference on a tank.  Really isn't worth it to save $3.70.


That is really good. I've heard from a lot of sources that Mazda3's new engine underperforms rather than overperforms in efficiency.


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## deadheadskier (Oct 15, 2012)

I'm guessing it's because you don't get much torque out of the car until you hit 4000 rpms, which really zaps the mpg when you drive it in that range.  The car wants to be driven hard.  I could see someone with a heavy foot who drives in a lot of city traffic getting combined mpg more in the 30-32 range.


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## riverc0il (Oct 15, 2012)

deadheadskier said:


> I'm guessing it's because you don't get much torque out of the car until you hit 4000 rpms, which really zaps the mpg when you drive it in that range.  The car wants to be driven hard.  I could see someone with a heavy foot who drives in a lot of city traffic getting combined mpg more in the 30-32 range.


The tach never gets up that high. 5k is red line, the auto almost never goes above 3k unless you put it into manual mode. The torque is right there at 2k rpms, I give it a good push everyone in a while when I am feeling frisky or want to go for a good pulse and glide. City traffic would naturally be lower combined. But city traffic would get a lot more glide as well. Where I live, flat and 40-50 MPH (where this thing totally owns) is hard to do. I get much better MPG down in MA if I'm on roads without traffic.


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## o3jeff (Oct 19, 2012)

wa-loaf said:


> Bought a TDI Sportwagon today ...



Pick it up yet?


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## wa-loaf (Oct 19, 2012)

o3jeff said:


> Pick it up yet?



It took the awhile to hunt one down. 2012 are all pretty much gone and 2013s are still coming in from the factory. They found one and will let me know tomorrow when it will arrive at the dealer. I'm hoping for next week sometime.


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## Philpug (Oct 21, 2012)

TDI w. Faux Wheel Drive here. Almost 60K with MPG right at 40MPG of hard driving.


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## wa-loaf (Nov 7, 2012)

wa-loaf said:


> It took the awhile to hunt one down. 2012 are all pretty much gone and 2013s are still coming in from the factory. They found one and will let me know tomorrow when it will arrive at the dealer. I'm hoping for next week sometime.



Got it today!



Kinda a crappy pic, but you get the idea.


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## deadheadskier (Nov 7, 2012)

Did they mount your snow tires right away for you?  :lol:


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## ScottySkis (Nov 7, 2012)

wa-loaf said:


> Got it today!
> 
> View attachment 6818
> 
> Kinda a crappy pic, but you get the idea.





Sent from my ADR6410LVW using Tapatalk 2

Congratulations, that looks like a sweet ride.


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## wa-loaf (Nov 7, 2012)

deadheadskier said:


> Did they mount your snow tires right away for you?  :lol:



Haha, I was trading in my awd outback for a fwd car in the middle of a snowstorm. I'm not going to pay dealer price for snows! Did get a 120k warranty in case there are any typical VW hitches ...


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## riverc0il (Nov 8, 2012)

Nice, enjoy the ride!


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## Warp Daddy (Nov 8, 2012)

Nice Wheels , good luck with it !


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## wa-loaf (Nov 28, 2012)

mazda6 coming with diesel for 2014

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/11/28/la-display-confirms-diesel-mazda6-for-us/


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## riverc0il (Nov 28, 2012)

But no wagon. Can't imagine the efficiency will be better than TDIs. It looks like it weighs a ton and the engine is stronger. Wake me up when the skyactiv-D gets to the CX-5 (my partner likes the crossover look, bleh, but I could stomach a Mazda diesel crossover, I suspect that will be high on the list of options when she trades up... especially if they mate the diesel to the AWD version... yea right).

The most interesting news from that auto show is the 3 cylinder from Ford that is rumored will get 40 MPG combined while still producing over 120 in HP. I don't think I could downsize to a Fiesta subcompact but I think Ford will do very well offering an ultra cheap car with MPG almost as good as top hybrids.


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## mlctvt (Nov 28, 2012)

riverc0il said:


> The most interesting news from that auto show is the 3 cylinder from Ford that is rumored will get 40 MPG combined while still producing over 120 in HP. I don't think I could downsize to a Fiesta subcompact but I think Ford will do very well offering an ultra cheap car with MPG almost as good as top hybrids.



Maybe that was the 1.0L engine I saw on the UK TV show Fifth Gear the other night? They were testing a new 1.0L Focus and comparing it to a 1.6L Focus. At first they were laughing at it because the engine was so small and the Focus is not really a small car. The engine is turbo charged. The 1.0L beat the 1.6L in a drag race by a large margin. They did mention the improved gas mileage too. Seems like a win/win to me but I think they may have a tough time convincing Americans to buy such a small engine?


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## riverc0il (Nov 28, 2012)

IIRC, it is the same engine but without the start/stop tech and it is going into the smaller body Fiesta which will probably do better performance wise than in the UK Focus. 

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/11/27/2014-ford-fiesta-1-0-liter-ecoboost/

The engine thing... I dunno. I think I read this is the first 3 since the Geo Metro. But low 120s HP is just fine for a subcompact car... I don't think anyone in the cheap subcompact market is really going to care about engine performance. But 40+ combined MPG with a low cost of entry? I doubt the engine is going to be an issue. The problem is you can't put that type of engine in the bigger vehicles that many people want. But it could set a new bar in the subcompact market.


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## deadheadskier (Nov 28, 2012)

wa-loaf said:


> mazda6 coming with diesel for 2014
> 
> http://www.autoblog.com/2012/11/28/la-display-confirms-diesel-mazda6-for-us/



from everything I've read through online car forum rumors, it will be offered in an automatic only  :smash:

I'd prefer a wagon, but could see us replacing our older 3 with the 6 Sedan if it came with a manual transmission.  We like the 3, but do eventually want 1 car that's a bit larger and more comfortable for 4 passengers.


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