Alright, I'm in the market for a Mazda6 right now and I've got a couple questions. I'm not a huge fan of Ford, and it looks like the 3.0 was a Ford Taurus engine, are there a lot of problems with these engines? And are the transmissions made by Ford as well? Also I'm thinking about picking up an 03 that I've found, any major differences between years? Will 03s still have the sat ready cd players? And the one I'm looking at seems to be a GT, it has heated seats, v6, 5 speed, bose cd player, and automatic climate control, would it be a GT? Did all years of the GT come with HIDs? Thanks.

 

the Grand Touring came out in 07 or 08, not sure. I do know that 03-05 there was the 6i and 6s, sedan, 5-door, and wagon, so 6 models in all. Anything else you have, like heated seats and Bose are options. I don't think HIDs were available, not 100% sure, but my 04 6s 5 door just has regular halogens. Not sure what you mean by "sat ready CD player". Do you mean does the audio system have an available input for satellite radio? If so, yes it does, at least the optional Bose system does.
It is a Ford engine, not sure about it being Taurus-specific. Have not had too many problems, did lose a coil, which I understand is fairly common with these. It's responsive, has a nice sound, but is a little underpowered and gets mediocre mileage. Nevertheless, the car is a lot of fun to drive, and I'd much rather have this than a Camry or Accord.

 

Not a big ford fan myself, but this engine is pretty solid and performs decently. I regularly beat the hell out of mine in autocross, and i have had no problems with the engine what soever.
Unfortunately I know nothing about the 03 trannys as i'm pretty sure that was before they made the switch to the 6spd autos.
None are "sat ready" what they have is the ability to get adaptors to let them hook up to one. I'd recomend trying to get ur hands on the auxmod basic.
As for the HID's, there are almost no 6's that come with them stock. We have kits that allow them do be fitted to the car, but it is not a factory option.

As for impressions of the car it self, I absolutely love mine. It's a ton of fun to drive, has all the room i could ever need (I have the 5dr so there is a bit more room than the sedan), and has plenty of zip while still being extremely reliable. My only complaint is that in order to get much power out of the car you've gotta rev it up, as there isn't much in the ways of low end grunt.

-Cameron Keffer

 

I also heard that every mazda radio has an aux jack in the back of the radio. Is this true? Or did it start a certain year?

 

FWIW....I've got 83,000+ miles on the 3.0L in my 2004 Mazda6 and over 132,000 on my 2000 Taurus (also the 24V 3.0L Duratec) It runs/drives like new (both of them.)

It's been a very reliable powertrain.

 

AFIK the aux jack on the back of the radio is there, but i wouldn't swear to it.

-Cameron Keffer

 

I know the Bose system has the input. There is a button on the front panel labeled MD/TAPE