Bumper 2 Bumper TV

Male Speaker: This is Bumper 2 Bumper TV.

Greg Morrison: Here is a challenge for you, find a straight line on this car. It's not that anything is out of kilter, but appears that the Mazda6 is throwing away the rule book that says cars have to come with straight lines and boxy shapes.

The exterior of the 2009 model comes with a series of flowing curves that also reject much of the preppy design heritage of the past once associated with this mid-size Sedan.

Besides giving the 6 some head tuning good looks it also reduces the wind drag in routine driving, which translates into improved fuel economy. And on the towing model there is a familiar new safety option a blind spot information system that was introduced on the CX-7 Crossover.

So now that it has distinctive of a Japanese look on the outside what happened inside the glass and behind the doors. The interiors is reminiscent of a luxury sport sedan with the expected steering wheel controls and distinctive readouts on the instrument panel. The towing edition also comes with the obligatory keyless ignition and navigation system, but no rear view camera system even as an option.

And under the skin is a different approach to power plans. The Mazda6 breaks down into two models, the Mazda 6i and the Mazda6s. The 6i is a 2.5 liter inline four cylinder engine that delivers a 170 horsepower. In a week of city driving it delivered an average of 24.2 miles to the gallon. The 3.7 V6 is already familiar to anyone who has driven the CX-9 and it's capable of about 21.5 miles to the gallon in city highway driving. But in exchange there is an extra 102 horsepower to command.

Well, it's not whisper quite, it is reminiscent of the 929 Sedan, which went away in the mid 90's when Ford took a controlling stake in Mazda. This version of the Mazda6 with a new look and more aggressive engineering approach may just be what is needed, now the Dearborn is not involved in the process as much anymore. This is Greg Morrison.

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