Here is the deal: I bought a Mazda 6 GT 2016 new. I love the car. Unfortunately I had to get the wheel repainted last week (under warranty) as some of the clear coat was coming off.

Since it took a week to get the paint job done Freemont Mazda gracefully lended me a brand new Mazda 3 (2019). This Mazda 3 blew me away! First of all the car is SO QUIET it is impressive also the steering and suspension setup is really well done: The car is razor sharp while remaining comfortable. I am now considering leasing one but I would still like a larger car. I also drove the car back to back against a Golf GTI 2019 and I can honestly say that I much preferred the M3's chassis. The M3 made me realise how noisy/choppy my 2016 M6 is.

Now onto our Mazda 6 turbo topic :-) After returning the 3 I though I'd test drive a CX-5 turbo since I have seen a lot of people raving about it. Freemont Mazda sells about 300 cars/month of which 200 are CX-5s so had to try one! Going from the M3 the CX-5 handles like a big boat. It feels nice inside and quite refined but forget the sporty fun ride, I did not like it at all. I realized that I am not an SUV guy so I thought I'dd better try the M6 turbo so I tried the 2019 M6 GT. I got the same boaty/floaty feeling I got with the CX-5 although not as bad. Surely the suspension is tuned for confort but it lost that sporty ride. My 2016 GT is way sharper and fun to drive. Mazda is trying to reach a broader audience and I understand that they are tuning their platforms to attract a broader public. On top of that the addional power from the turbo is nice but there is massive (expected?) lag so that really put me off. I'd be interested to understand if other members on the forum have noticed the same trend?

Now back to the M3. What is magical with the M3 is that it is the only Mazda that I have ever driven which is all:
1) Very quiet
2) Confortable on long journeys
3) Sporty + fun to drive.

Finally I found the M3 to be more peppy than my M6 GT even it has the same engine! I thought it might because the M3 is lighter? Looking at the weight figures my 2016 M6 GT is 3250lbs, the 2019 M3 is 3070->30248 lbs. So pretty much the same weight, same engine but the 3 is 1 second faster to 60mph and definitely feels faster. Anyone has insight on why that is?

Sticker price of the M3 below:


Mazda 3 sticker

PS: I enjoyed the adaptive cruise on the M3 very much, it works all the way to 0MPH (My 6 disengage at 15MPH which is frustrating)